Zebre 3-36 Ulster

ULSTER GOT THE job done in Parma as they put six tries past Zebre in a scrappy 36-3 victory at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi to maintain their perfect start to the United Rugby Championship season.

It wasn’t Ulster’s best performance by any stretch of the imagination as they led by just seven points at half-time, but they pulled away with a strong third quarter and closed it out professionally in the dying stages to ensure it would be a stress-free night in Italy.

Nick Timoney outlined his continued progression with two tries, exciting young winger Ethan McIlroy displayed his potential with two of his own, while Ireland head coach Andy Farrell will likely have taken note that centre James Hume and full-back Will Addison also went over for scores in the win.

On his first start for the province, 19-year-old scrum-half Nathan Doak came closest to opening the scoring in the first quarter, opportunistically sniping for the line from five metres out but being wrapped up by two Zebre tacklers, before McIlroy went over for his first of the night.

It was a soft one for the Italians to concede — not that Ulster minded — as off first phase ball from a scrum, Billy Burns showed good hands to find McIlroy on the touchline and he had just enough time and space to get the ball down before being forced into touch.

Burns pulled the conversion wide, which allowed replacement fly-half Antonio Rizzi to make it a two-point game with a penalty just after the half-hour mark, but just when it looked like it would be tight at the break, McIlroy struck again.

This one was set up superbly by Hume, the centre drawing David Sisi and then stepping around him before slipping in the winger for his double.

Despite their valiant rearguard in the first half, the odds were still in favour of Zebre wilting after the restart and so it proved, and it was in the third quarter that Ulster took the game away from their hosts in emphatic fashion, especially when the Italians ran into disciplinary issues.

Replacement tighthead Ion Neculai saw yellow only a minute after coming on for repeated scrum infringements either side of Craig Gilroy setting up tries for Will Addison and Hume with nice flicked passes to wrap up the bonus point, and Maxime Mbandà followed his team-mate into the bin when he cynically hauled down a maul that was motoring over the line.

There was a legitimate question over whether it should have a penalty try or not, referee Sam Grove-White opting not to go under the posts, but it wasn’t to matter as Timoney barrelled over for his first of the night shortly after for Ulster’s fifth.

Try as they might, Zebre couldn’t add to Rizzi’s first-half penalty, Asaeli Tuivuaka’s chip and chase down the wing the closest they came, and instead Timoney wrapped up the scoring two minutes from the end when he set Sean Reidy through a gap and was on his shoulder for the return pass to go over.

Scorers for Zebre

Pen: Rizzi

Scorers for Ulster

Tries: McIlroy (2), Addison, Hume, Timoney (2)
Cons: Burns, Doak, Lowry

ZEBRE: Junior Laloifi; Gabriele di Giulio, Giulio Bisegni (Antonio Rizzi 12), Tommaso Boni, Asaeli Tuivuaka; Carlo Canna (Jacopo Trulla 32), Alessandro Fusco (Guglielmo Palazzani 72); Danilo Fischetti (Andrea Lovotti 56), Luca Bigi (Oliviero Fabiani 52), Matteo Nocera (Ion Neculai 52); David Sisi (Renato Giammarioli 59), Leonard Krumov (Andrea Zambonin 50); Maxime Mbandà, Potu Junior Leavasa, Giovanni Licata.
Yellow card: Ion Neculai (53′), Maxime Mbandà (62′)

ULSTER: Will Addison (Ben Moxham 64); Craig Gilroy, James Hume, Stewart Moore, Ethan McIlroy; Billy Burns (Michael Lowry 58), Nathan Doak (David Shanahan 66); Eric O’Sullivan (Callum Reid 61), Rob Herring (Brad Roberts 58), Tom O’Toole (Marty Moore 40); Alan O’Connor, Mick Kearney (Sam Carter 48); Matty Rea, Nick Timoney, David McCann (Sean Reidy 59).

Referee: Sam Grove-White [SCO]

The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!