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Match Report: Ulster 30 Aironi 6

by

John McMurtry

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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 . . .

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4 responses to “Match Report: Ulster 30 Aironi 6”

  1. Peat

    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.

    Reply
  2. the mote

    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.

    Reply
  3. garibaldi

    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!

    Reply
  4. the mote

    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.

    Reply

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