Late Trimble try rescues victory for young Ulster

ULSTER director of rugby Les Kiss was thrilled with the resolve his young side showed as they fought back for a narrow victory over Benetton.

It was two of the senior squad members that came up trumps, with wings Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble dotting down.

The latter scored the decisive try with just two minutes remaining while Christian Lealiifano’s conversion sealed it.

Ulster were reeling after Robert Barbieri touched down in the second half, but Kiss was delighted with his young squad.

“I’m really happy with what the guys did, it was a really young team,” said Kiss. “Fair play to Benetton, they’re a physical side and they came to play. We were tough. We had some real character periods in defence in that second-half. It’s great to get the result.”

The hosts held a 13-9 lead at half-time. Tomasso Allan kicked all of Benetton’s first-half points, but Bowe’s 18th minute effort put Ulster in front at the interval – Andrea Bronzini had got yellow for the Italians.

The visitors came again the second-half and Barbieri touched down before the hour, while a Marty Banks penalty put them six up with a 73rdminute penalty.

But with time running out, Ulster fought back and their most capped player, Trimble, touched down four minutes after he was introduced. Wallaby Christian Leali’ifano added the critical conversion

It was a crucial win with tough away days against Dragons and Harlequins next up. That game against the Premiership giants is the first of the back-to-back Champions Cup games, and then the busy Christmas period kicks in with three inter-provincial derbies.

But Kiss is confident Ulster are on track to remain in contention in Europe, and further their Conference B claims in the PRO14.

“There are a lot of good things in the performance, what we will be later on is what we are after,” said Kiss.

“At times you go through those patches and find out what you really need. We have a few things to think about but we got the win and that’s what is important.”