Big Nick bagged a brace as Ulster re-invigorated their league campaign with a bonus point win over Zebre on Friday night at Ravenhill.

Despite claiming the bonus point win it was still a scrappy and disjointed performance from Ulster who will need to improve considerably before their next outing against Glasgow.

A stop start first half saw Paddy Jackson land two early penalties before Nick Williams crossed for his first try on the 11th minute, off the back of a poorly defended line out maul.

Jackson knocked over the conversion to give Ulster a 13 – 0  lead but they had to toil for another twenty minutes before Williams crashed over for his second, this time off the back of a scrum. Jackson again converted to push the lead to 20 – 0. In between Williams’ efforts Rory Scholes crossed, only for the try to be disallowed for an infringement by Luke Marshall and, despite a period of Zebre pressure in the Ulster 22, as the half came to a close, the teams turned round with Ulster leading by twenty points.

The second half continued in much in the same vein as Ulster laboured to find continuity in their play. Williams looked to have bagged his hat trick ten minutes in but it was chalked off for an alleged knock on.

The crowd began to get a touch ansty as Ulster chased additional scores and there was a palpable  relief when Peter Browne dotted down off the back of a ruck to cap a fine personal performance. Jackson missed the conversion but Ulster were three tries to the good with one to go and eighteen minutes left to get it.

Much to everyone’s relief, the bonus point try finally arrived on the 77th minute when Paul Marshall found himself on the end of a Darren Cave break which had been moved on by Jackson and Stuart Olding. Jackson’s conversion pushed the score along to 32 – 0 but there was still a fair bit of grumbling from the brethren after another patchy performance.

Ulster: Craig Gilroy, Rory Scholes, Luke Marshall, Stuart Olding, Jacob Stockdale, Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar, Kyle McCall, Rob Herring, Ricky Lutton, Peter Browne, Franco van der Merwe, Robbie Diack, Chris Henry, Nick Williams. Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Black, Andrew Warwick, Roger Wilson, Sean Reidy, Paul Marshall, Sam Windsor, Darren Cave.

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Images courtesy of Ian Humes Photography