Ulster Beat Benetton in style – 28-8.

Marin sticks the penalty early to give Benetton a 3 point lead

Rob Herring denied 200 cap try due to blocking.

Benetton down to 14 – Billy Burns chipped out wide into Benetton hands, but it didn’t matter as Gilroy astutely stole the ball mid air and touched down for 5

Doak sent McCann through the gap then ran a perfect trail line to collect the ball and dot down over the whitewash – Doak converted

Herring finally got his try off the back of a mall – wasn’t an easy touchdown as Herring still had work to do from the back but managed to get it over – Doak confidently converted.

Tavuyara got 5 points after Hume was sin binned but unable to convert for the extra 2

In the last moments of the game Doak spotted his opportunity for the bonus point try and sniped from the side of the ruck with help from Sean Reidy to go over then comfortably added the 2. This made it two on the night for Doak.

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This game did nothing to quell the hype around Nathan Doak and did everything to stoke it. 2 tries, plenty of conversations and always in the middle of the action setting up big moves. Ulster’s fluidity on Friday was worlds apart from the Ulster we saw against Zebre, and this isn’t due to personnel change, this was clearly work during the week. Their attack had much more sting, they look like they had a few tricks up their sleeve and definitely had more ideas. Their defence was strong, only letting in one weak shouldered try which in the end got them out of their 22 and onto the next attacking stanza of the match. Ulster’s squad depth shows more and more promise every week as the youngsters gain confidence and the all-crucial field time. I am of firm belief that this storm of injuries will actually be a blessing in disguise for the season to come. The young players earn the afore mentioned game time and many of the usual first 15 starters won’t start the heavy workload until a few games into the season. Albeit, nursing an injury would certainly be exhausting, I’m sure players come back from injury feeling refreshed and with massive motivation to play.