Ulster opened their 2024/25 season with a 26-19 win over Benetton at a sun-drenched Ravenhill on Saturday evening.
First half tries from Rory Telfer and John Andrew sent Ulster into a 14-7 lead before Federico Zanandrea’s converted effort gave the visitors a slender 14-12 lead at the break.
The Italians came out the better side at the start of the second half and Nicholas Gasperini’s touchdown in the 47th minute helped the visitors extend their lead to seven points.
It was a scrappy third quarter from the hosts and just when Benetton looked like they were going to coast to victory, the Ulstermen hit them with two tries to dig out a seven-point win.
James McKillop was only on the park a matter of minutes when he teed up centre Jude Postlethwaite to race clear and score under the posts. James Humphreys conversion tied the game at 19-all before David Shanahan nipped over from close range with six-minutes remaining to seal the victory.
But despite kicking off with a victory, head coach Richie Murphy had mixed feelings about the first run-out of the season.
“It wasn’t quite what we wanted,” said Murphy on what he got out of his team’s performance.
“We got a physical test which was good. First half was obviously a little bit more rugby. The second half was very stop start.
“We would like to have got the ball in play a little bit more, but I suppose from our end, there’s nothing like playing a game.
“So, like you know, things that had been working really well in training we get tested under match physicality, and it breaks a little.
“But it’s great for us to be able to review that. Try and practice it, work on it for next week and obviously get ready for the week after.”
Pre-season encounters often tend to be scrappy affairs and Saturday’s tussle was no different.
Handling errors and constant substitutions are the order of the day and tend to lead to a stop start nature.
But when the contest looked to be going the way of the visitors, Murphy was satisfied that it was his side that brought some rhythm to their play, but as he explained, he’ll be looking for more continuity in their play next week.
“The last try was pretty nice and something that we have been working on for a while. Some of the continuity stuff was a little bit disappointing. I thought we could play a little bit more.
“But the pressure of match and feeling the contact level being different from what it is at training obviously, probably made us go back into our shell a little bit.
“But from this week, looking back, reviewing, there’s things that we can very much improve on going into next week. And Exeter away will be a different task.”
One aspect that did please the coach was the character and resilience of youth that steered Ulster home in the final 10 minutes.
James McKillop, James Humphreys and Tom Brigg all brought a freshness from the bench that helped seal what was looking at one point as an unlikely victory.
“It definitely was slipping away and the game had become slow and slow games don’t really suit us. But we managed to get a couple of set-pieces and get down the touchline. A really good pass from James Humphreys which got us down to their half and the try came soon after that.
“Then we obviously got a penalty, line kick and we scored off a strike play. So, really happy with those lads.”