Record-breaking Andrew Trimble celebrated his 190th Ulster cap tonight at Kingspan Stadium by helping his side power to a seven-try 48-7 victory over Benetton Treviso.
Craig Gilroy contributed two of the seven scores – the first a belting effort which saw him start in his own half and evade six defenders on his way to the line. Paul Marshall added another, while forwards Dan Tuohy, Sean Reidy, Peter Browne and Lewis Stevenson all scored from close range as the Ulster pack flexed its muscles.
Trimble’s return from injury to the starting line-up was one of four personnel changes implemented by head coach Neil Doak, as an otherwise unchanged back-line featured Louis Ludik at full-back, Gilroy on the left wing, Luke Marshall and Stuart McCloskey in the centre, Peter Nelson and Paul Marshall at half-back.
Tuohy, Robbie Diack and Reidy all came into the team at lock, blindside and openside flanker respectively, with an unchanged front row of Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring and Wiehahn Herbst packing down in front of Tuohy and Browne, selected for his second consecutive cap.
Meanwhile, Roger Wilson traded the number 6 jersey for number 8 in the absence of Nick Williams, who was unavailable for the game due to personal reasons.
Trimble was in action as early as the second minute, kicking and chasing toward the right corner, then forcing full-back Jayden Hayward into touch as he reclaimed the ball under pressure.
Ulster kicked a subsequent penalty to touch and persistence from their forwards along the five-metre line – with virtually everyone from one to eight getting hands on ball as play spread left to right – saw Tuohy touch down in the sixth minute. McCloskey added the conversion.
The hosts’s makeshift place-kicker added a penalty to his tally moments later, and as Hayward fluffed his lines with a chance for three points on the quarter hour mark, Luke Marshall acrobatically vaulted a lunging tackle on the right touchline to set up the next Ulster attack.
It came to naught as McCloskey screwed an eventual penalty wide, but a pacy burst from Nelson and well-drilled rolling maul soon got Reidy in for his first try in provincial colours.
McCloskey again tagged on the extras before yet another driving lineout took Ulster close to the line, only for tighthead Rupert Harden to infringe and book himself ten minutes in the sin-in. He was soon joined by number 8 Roberto Barbieri as the Italians repeatedly resorted to foul means to obstruct the Ulster progress.
The inevitable third try came once Treviso eventually allowed the set piece to proceed, Paul Marshall fishing the ball out of the back of a scrum and exposing the two-man gap to scamper over himself.
Gilroy provided the coup de grâce just before the break, picking up from Trimble on his own 10-metre line and scything his way through six would-be tacklers to secure the bonus point and treat the Kingspan Stadium crowd to one of the finest individual tries seen in recent years.
Trailing 27-0, Treviso responded brightly as the second half got underway, out-half Sam Christie capping a good five-minute spell of pressure to stretch over for his side’s first points, converted by Hayward.
The try proved just the wake-up call Ulster needed, as yet another lineout drive on 55 minutes made the space for Browne to pick up from Wilson – halted by a tackle two metres out – and dive between the posts.
Just past the hour mark, Gilroy added the sixth score off McCloskey’s diagonal run and short pas. Nelson converted this time off an upright.
A new-look Ulster, with all eight replacements on the pitch, powered their way to another mauling try – Stevenson’s very first in his five seasons with the province.
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