Ulster's poor form continues with loss in Italy

A late penalty from Rhyno Smith saw Benetton move into the top five of the United Rugby Championship following a 31-29 victory over Ulster at the Stadio Monigo.

After back-to-back wins against Zebre Parma over the festive period, the Italians secured their fourth triumph in a row to climb above Munster.

Tomas Albornoz, Onisi Ratave and Ignacio Brex crossed for Benetton, with Ulster responding through Eric O'Sullivan, Rob Herring, Mike Lowry and a penalty try.

Ulster enjoyed the bulk of the play during the opening stages and they were rewarded with O’Sullivan’s second try for the province.

A penalty into touch gave Ulster a lineout 15 metres out and quick ball through the backs saw number eight Nick Timoney break through three tackles before he was stopped.

The ball was recycled back inside and O’Sullivan strolled through a gap in the Benetton backline.

FULL MATCH DETAILS

Benetton responded and were level within four minutes off the back of a big forward drive.

Their pack pushed Ulster back to within five metres of the line and the ball was quickly shifted to fly-half Albornoz to dance over the line and convert himself to make it 7-7.

Just short of the midway point of the first half they were ahead with a superb try.

Albornoz was again at the heart of it as he broke through a series of tackles before a superbly-weighted kick from centre Brex was plucked out of the air on the left touchline by Ratave to run in under the posts.

Albornoz put a straightforward penalty over shortly before the break after James Hume was penalised for offside and John Cooney’s penalty on the stroke of half-time made it 17-10 to the Italians at the interval.

The Benetton fly-half restored the 10-point advantage with a drop-goal two minutes after the restart.