Pienaar scoring Ulster's fourth try against Aironi. Picture rugbypicture.co.uk
Ulster’s Heineken Cup campaign got off to a flying start last night, as the men in white ran over four tries to claim a bonus point win over Italian side, Aironi.
Ulster were ready for action last night, and immediately showed the threat they posed as centre Darren Cave broke through the Italian defence and sprinted towards their 22. As Aironi raced back to try and halt Ulster scoring, they were penalised by the referee and Ruan Pienaar slotted over a penalty just two minutes into the match to take his side into an early lead. Ulster 3 – Aironi 0.
After a promising beginning, both teams tried to settle back into the game, but a number of errors on both sides meant the intensity slowed down. Aironi fly-half Ludovic Mercier levelled the scores on 5 minutes after Ulster were penalised for crossing, but he missed his second attempt on 10 minutes. Pienaar opted to kick on 14 minutes, but was unfortunate not to add to his points tally when the ball bounced off the left upright. Three minutes later, Aironi were awarded a penalty and Mercier redeemed his earlier mistake, to edge his side out front. Ulster 3 – Aironi 6.
Ulster were undeterred and remained focused from the restart as they slowly crept towards Aironi’s try line. Aironi’s scrum collapsed under the pressure from the home side and after a good pick and drive from Robbie Diack; Andrew Trimble was waiting on the right wing, and touched down in the corner to score Ulster’s first try of the night. Pienaar’s conversion was just wide of the posts, which gave Ulster a narrow two point lead. Ulster 8 – Aironi 6.
The half hour mark saw Italian Marco Bortolami sent to the sin bin for deliberately killing the ball but Ulster were unable to take full advantage of the opposition. The only points scored were from the boot of Pienaar, and as Bortolami returned to the pitch on the verge of half-time the score was Ulster 11 – Aironi 6.
As the second half got under way, a hesitant Nick Williams failed to react to Ian Humphreys’ kick to the corner, and as Humphreys chased the ball, he touched down in the corner easily. Pienaar’s conversion was once again off target, leaving Ulster sitting at 16 – 6.
The hour mark proved to be Ulster’s next chance to widen the gap, as Johann Muller and Rory Best made a lot of ground before passing the ball wide to Trimble and Simon Danielli, who dived into the corner for Ulster’s third try. Humphreys took over the kicking duties and found himself on target, bringing the scoreboard to Ulster 23 – Aironi 6.
Sixty-three minutes into the match and it looked like Ulster had bagged their bonus point try, but the referee called the team back for being offside. However, the home side didn’t need to wait long, as Diack once again cleared the ball and set Pienaar up for a try on 67 minutes. With their bonus point secured, Humphreys continued the kicking duties and successfully converted the try. Ulster 30 – Aironi 6.
The last five minutes of the game gave Aironi their first real chance to score, but they were held back by a strong Ulster defence and as the final whistle blew, Ravenhill went crazy for the team. Ulster had continued with their winning ways, getting off to the best start possible for their Heineken Cup campaign and giving the squad a huge boost of confidence as they prepare to face Biarritz next weekend.
Final score: Ulster 20 – Aironi 6
Thoughts on the game?
A fantastic start to Ulster’s Heineken Cup campaign and a much needed bonus point win!
Ulster showed on a few occasions the threat they can pose to any team, but basic errors made by the players put an end to some promising set pieces. There were a few missed chances for the team to score more tries than they did – especially when Aironi were down to fourteen men.
However, I will gladly take the bonus point win from the match and I think it will have given the squad a huge boost of confidence for their fixture against Biarritz next weekend.
Robbie Diack had a brilliant game last night and was deservedly Man of the Match, while Jamie Smith made some excellent breaks when he had the ball.
All in all, here is one happy supporter heading into the next match.
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4 Responses to “Match Report: Ulster 30 Aironi 6”
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It was a job done but a job done badly. Aironi defended well when they had to but the truth is that Ulster where in the most part the authors of their own incompetence– too many wrong options– too missed opportunities a stronger side than Aironi would have capitalised on the errors . Repeat that performance against the Scarlets and we would be looking at a very different scoreline.
I like the win but I refuse to admire the performance.
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A good start, Europe is a long road & points won in Biarritz not out of the question.
Ulster can & must improve.
‘the mote’ seems a hard taskmaster & as far as I recall the Scarlets aren’t in our H cup pool, in fact Ulster don’t play them until mid February 2011!
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The Scarlets are only an example of a team who would capitalise on errors.
I don.t consider myself a hard task master just a realist i rdfuse to get carried away by a bonus point gained on a miskick bad bounce and a mistake because that is the truth of what Humphreys try was.
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Mote, there were fifteen minutes left to get a try if that one hadn’t been scored where they instead took the foot off the gas. They went to do the job and did it.
That said, you read the interviews and I don’t think the players would disagree they could have done it better. Biarritz is now the test and they will go into it confident and tenacious because of their form, but also realistic and knowing where they need to improve. There’s worse things in the world.
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