Ulster grab bonus point at the death

Ulster 32 Zebre 0: Ulster huffed and puffed their way to turgid, but bonus-point win over Zebre in a low-key game last night at the Kingspan Stadium where a very subdued crowd had little to really get their vocal cord juicing flowing.

It took man-of-the-match Nick Williams to fire them up initially with two first-half tries with Peter Browne grabbing another and replacement scrum-half Paul Marshall getting that vital fourth try two minutes from the end. Paddy Jackson chipped in with three conversions and couple of penalties as Ulster remain fourth.

It was two rapid-long-range penalties in the opening 10 minutes by Jackson that set the platform for Ulster who had immediately taken control. Looking to make up for a series of lacklustre performances which had seen them slip from top to fourth, Ulster reinforced their solid start within a try in the 11th minute when Williams crashed over following a big line-out drive. With Jackson converting Ulster were 13 points to the good in as many minutes.