Benetton Treviso 20 Ulster 24
Ulster have suffered enough set-backs in Europe this season without adding a layer of trauma from the Pro12 but they came so close to blowing a 24-0 lead on Sunday at Stadio Monigo.
That lead was built up with three tries in the opening 25 minutes, even with a man in the bin, but Ulster failed to build on that and not only didn’t get a bonus point but nearly handed the win to the Italians in the dying seconds.
Paddy Jackson, who was the main instigator of Ulster's brilliant opening half performance, could only watch in horror as centre Michele Campagnaro intercepted his pass in midfield with a clear run to the line as Ulster had pushed forward in a final fling at getting the bonus point.
Up in the stand, where the vocal home following went wild, Neil Doak could barely watch.
“I didn’t see him drop the ball after the intercept,” admitted Doak afterwards, but the groans from the passionate home fans were enough to tell him Ulster had escaped.
“Professional sport, there are fine margins across the board. Unfortunately for us it got that stage where it was pretty tight and after having a good start.
“I said to the guys - away games are all tough and we got that foundation to kick on and unfortunately we didn’t do it. But I am delighted to get the four points.”
Ulster laid out their intentions from the outset, going for the corner with a penalty in front of the posts and two minutes later the pressure paid off when Jackson chased his own grubber to score his first try of the season.
He added the conversion and a penalty to lead 10-0 after 18 minutes despite having Craig Gilroy binned for an infringement when it seemed Treviso were poised to score in the corner.
A strong counter-attack by Ulster saw Gilroy mark his return to action by slipping the final pass for Ruan Pienaar to canter over.
A wonderful inside pass from Jackson sent Tommy Bowe who passed a late fitness test on a thigh injury, over for his 59th league try.
But that was as good as it got for Ulster. Sam Christie pulled back a try for Treviso and his New Zealand compatriot Jayden Hayward converted to make it 24-7 at the break.
Ulster sent penalties in front of the posts to the corners in the second half but came away with nothing each time.
Treviso grew in confidence and got real hope when Italian flanker Francesco Minto scored after a good drive. Hayward continued his splendid kicking to convert and then haul back the deficit to just four points, but Ulster held out in a nervous finish.
Treviso:
Tries: S Christie, F Minto
Cons: J Hayward (2)
Pens: J Hayward (2)
Munster
Tries: P Jackson, R Pienaar, T Bowe
Cons: P Jackson (3)
Pen: P Jackson
Treviso: J Hayward; A Esposito, M Campagnaro, L Morisi, A Pratichetti; S Christie, E Gori; M Zanusso, D Giazzon, R Harden; T Vallejos, C Van Zyl; M Barbini, A Zanni (capt), D Budd.
Replacements: F Minto for M Barbini (1-14 mins), A Anae for D Giazzon, F Minto for M Barbini and M Fuser for T Vallejos (46 mins), D Rae for M Zanusso (57 mins), A Lucchese for E Gori, J Ambrosini for L Morisi (both 71 mins), M Swanepoel for Van Zyl (73 mins). Not used: J Novak.
Ulster: L Ludik; T Bowe, D Cave, S Olding, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar; C Black, R Best, W Herbst; A O'Connor, D Tuohy; R Diack, C Ross, R Wilson.
Replacements: B Ross for W Herbst (41 mins), J Payne for D Cave (51 mins), L Stevenson for A O’Connor (60 mins), S Reidy for C Ross (61 mins). Not used: R Herring, A Warwick, P Marshall, P Nelson.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
