Following Benetton’s 34-19 win over Ulster in the URC, here are our five key takeaways from a competitive game at the Stadio Monigo.
The top line
Both teams would have seen this as a chance to kickstart their respective URC campaigns, and the start certainly reflected that.
In the opening 20 minutes of the game, the sides exchanged three tries, with Ulster nabbing two through Nathan Doak and Michael Lowry and Benetton scoring through Matt Gallagher. The tries themselves were even more frantic than the action overall, with Gallagher hacking a loose ball up the pitch to eventually score, and Lowry hitting the Italians with an interception try from within his own half.
Things quietened down a touch, with just the one try added in the following 10 minutes as Jacob Stockdale marked his return to action with a fine score.
With the first-half winding down, Benetton added their second try of the game through Ignacio Mendy.
Trench warfare ensued at the start of the second-half, but a yellow card to Ulster’s Nick Timoney allowed Tomas Albornoz to pull his team ahead for the first time in the game with a penalty kick.
Things quickly turned sour for Ulster too, as another yellow card to Stewart Moore allowed the floodgates to open. With Ulster down to 13, Benetton just put their foot on the throat with tries from Mirco Spagnolo and Alessandro Izekor to round off a fine win.
Benetton now climb to seventh in the URC table, and are within touching distance of the likes of Munster, Sharks and Bulls, while Ulster drop even further away from a place in the play-offs.
Game of two halves
This might seem a cliche, but this game really was the ultimate game of two halves.
The opening 40 was pure chaos. It was filled with exciting, attacking rugby and had five tries to show for it, including the two bonkers breakaways, but the second 40 was completely different. Almost as soon as the sides came back out of the sheds, the focus of the match just shifted towards the tight exchanges and both sides looked to put in more smash-and-bash.
Despite the change, the game was no less entertaining as the teams posed virtually the same questions of their opposition, it just came in slightly different channels.
Things did liven up again when Ulster saw men sent to the naughty step, but it still didn’t quite hit the fluidity of the opening stanza.
Ulster scrum woes continue
The scrum has been Ulster’s undoing this season, and unfortunately, it proved costly yet again. Twenty-year-old Jacob Boyd conceded two penalties in the first-half – taking their season tally up to 29 scrum penalties conceded – as experienced Italian international Giosue Zilocchi targetted him. Whilst this tells a story in itself, the blame shouldn’t be fully put on the young loosehead as he started alongside Irish international Tom O’Toole, who found himself wanting in his duel with Thomas Gallo. Rob Herring also couldn’t change the direction of travel.
Today, momentum felt like it was with the visitors after their fast start, but the scrum issues allowed Benetton to drag themselves back into the game, and to be honest this has been the case for much of Ulster’s season. It’s becoming increasingly worrying for Richie Murphy.
Basic fundamentals, like the scrum, could really help Ulster build a platform to improve from in the coming weeks and months, but yet they are struggling to get any form of positivity in this department.
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Naughty Ulster
Ulster were their own worst enemy at times tonight, and aside from the aforementioned scrum issues, let themselves down with a HEAVY penalty count. Alongside the three yellow cards, which let Benetton take the lead, Ulster conceded a whopping 16 penalties throughout the match.
They also came at crucial moments to get Benetton on the upper hand. Too many times, they conceded a penalty at the breakdown just as they looked to pounce inside Benetton’s 22, or they conceded one in their own half which then saw the Italians motor down towards the try-line and score.
The worst of the lot, by far, was the O’Toole infringement, who conceded a penalty whilst his teammate was scoring a pivotal try that could easily have got them back into the game. Luckily for the prop, who had just come back from a six-week ban, he avoided a card.
Again, this is just such an easy fix for Murphy’s side, but these self-inflicted acts of stupidity continue to be a big issue and something that is piling the pressure on them on this rotten run of form.
Benetton building?
Whilst the focus of this is on Ulster’s issues, and rightfully so considering they repeatedly shot themselves in the foot, the Italians will likely take this game as something to kickstart their season.
Benetton have been pretty inconsistent in 2024/25, particularly in the league, but at times tonight they were utterly rampant. When it clicked, it really clicked.
They just had this venom about them when they got going, and took the game away from Ulster in a matter of moments. The likes of Albornoz, Gallo, Manuel Zuliani, Gallagher and Mendy had a field day when momentum fell towards them, and these bright sparks should fill them with hope for the rest of the league campaign. As a result of their bonus-point win, it now moves them up to seventh, but it could be just the start of their revival.
This shot in the arm also puts them in a really nice spot ahead of some fairly winnable games. In their next five matches in the URC, they take on Connacht, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Lions and Stormers, and wins in these could get locked into the play-off spots.
They’ve now also set themselves a standard, and whilst it won’t always be gifted to them on a plate like this one, they should take plenty of positives from it.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/benetton-v-ulster-five-takeaways-as-self-inflicted-acts-of-stupidity-cost-richie-murphys-side-against-rampant-italians
