Ulster Fall To Third Straight Defeat

There was no home comfort for Ulster on Friday night as despite a two-try haul from Pedrie Wannenburg, the province lost out to a confident Benetton Treviso side.

Ulster were encouraged by the return of two key players in the back line, the fit-again Darren Cave regaining his place at centre and Ian Humphreys was back at out-half.

Elsewhere, Jared Payne, also recently rehabilitated, started at full-back after his role as replacement last week at the Dragons, while Andi Kyriacou, Tim Barker and Mike McComish were new inclusions up front.

Benetton Treviso came into the game with the better recent form, having garnered wins from their last two fixtures against Glasgow Warriors and the Scarlets.

But Ulster, who were on a two-match losing streak, were first to flex their muscles. Humphreys nudged a kick through from a first-minute scrum, and the ball only just eluded the onrushing Nevin Spence.

Incredibly, this was to prove Ulster’s best scoring opportunity of the entire first half. The visitors got on the scoreboard as early as the seventh minute as Kris Burton knocked over a penalty from in front of the posts.

The game lulled through a pattern of kick-and-chase efforts for the next 10 minutes with neither side producing any real threat.

An ankle injury forced Payne into an early exit in the 15th minute, with Adam D’Arcy taking over at full-back, and after a missed penalty attempt from distance from Burton, Ulster finally produced something in attack on the half hour mark.

An enterprising move with good recycling looked promising but fell apart with Craig Gilroy, who had done well to gather a loose pass, penalised for holding onto the ball too long after being tackled.

Then, to the general disbelief of Ravenhill, Treviso winger Brendan Williams evaded a flood of defenders during a mazy run which carried him more than half of the length of the pitch. He was stopped just a metre from the try-line.

Ulster could not hold out as referee Stefano Penne banished prop Declan Fitzpatrick to the sin-bin and then awarded a penalty try to the Italians for repeated infringements at scrum time.

Burton’s successful conversion and a miscued Humphreys penalty attempt on the stroke of half-time left Treviso with a 10-0 lead at the break.

Unhappily for Ulster, the second half was only a marginally more positive affair. Let off the hook after Burton’s 46th-minute penalty fell short of the posts, things suddenly started to click for Brian McLaughlin’s men.

The first home points of the night looked to be on the board in the 52nd minute, but Humphreys’ penalty from the 10-metre line was adjudged to be off target.

Then Burton kicked his team 13 points clear on the hour mark, and the gap widened further still when the out-half latched onto a soft D’Arcy clearance kick and ran through unopposed to for a well-taken 59th minute try.

He added the extras to put Franco Smith’s side almost out of sight at 20-0 in front. However, the prospect of a home defeat – their first since last December – pushed Ulster up a gear at this stage.

Their South African flanker Pedrie Wannenburg stormed over by the posts after some patient build-up play in the 64th minute, Humphreys’ conversion raising the home tally to seven.

And Wannenburg was again in the right place at the right time six minutes later, collecting a somewhat loose Ulster lineout and stretching over the line for try number two. Humphreys’ conversion effort fell just short however, and the gap stood at eight points.

But at this point the Ulster revival ran out of steam. Treviso were content to see out the match deep inside the home 22, even adding a further three points courtesy of Burton’s boot in the dying seconds.

It was the first time they have ever registered three league wins in succession and the result leaves Ulster with a sour taste in their mouths after the completion of the first phase of the RaboDirect PRO12 campaign. Their next game is away to the Scarlets on Saturday, October 29.