Ulster cling on and jump up the table
ULSTER jumped five spots in the URC rankings to put themselves firmly in the play-off picture after holding on for a nervy 38-34 victory over Benetton at a packed Ravenhill last night.
Richie Murphy’s side went into the contest in 10th position, five places behind their Italian opponents, but last night’s victory has catapulted them up to fifth – with the top eight qualifying for the play-offs n a few weeks’ time.
Once again, Ulster had a lot to thank John Cooney for, the veteran scrum-half kicking five conversions and a penalty on their way to a bonus-point victory.
Ulster had five tries from tries from Tom Stewart, Reuben Crothers, Jacob Stockdale, Will Addison and Cormac Izuchukwu but were never able to pull away from the Treviso-based outfit, who were superbly served by Italy stars Michele Lamaro and Six Nations player of the tournament Tommaso Menoncello.
Stockdale was particularly impressive for the hosts, hurting the Italians consistently with his running in a performance that harked back to his remarkable form for Ireland in 2018.
Elsewhere, Werner Kok scored a hat-trick of tries to help the Sharks to just a fourth URC victory of the season as they beat the Scarlets 32-27 in Llanelli.
Both teams are out of the playoff picture with three games remaining but the South Africans will hope to end a disappointing season on a high note. Vincent Koch also crossed for the Sharks with fly-half Siya Masuku kicking three conversions and a penalty.
Ryan Elias, Kemsley Mathias and Ioan Nicholas scored tries for the home side.
Scarlets were quick out of the blocks and took an early 3-0 lead after the Sharks were penalised for offside.
But the Sharks immediately hit back with Kok’s first try.
He got his second just before the break when he picked the ball up from the back of a ruck and dived over under the posts.
And he completed his hat-trick with six minutes remaining to put the game out of reach for the Scarlets.