A late penalty by Rhyno Smith gave Benetton a huge win in the URC as they swung a dramatic ending to defeat Ulster this afternoon.

You could not script the ending, Ulster had a try that looked to have won it and then Rhyno Smith with a beautiful penalty to steal the win for Benetton.

Ulster threatened early as Billy Burns kicked a dangerous chipped pass in behind the Benetton backline that forced Rhyno Smith to run the ball out of play, the resulting maul which followed the lineout was strong as the forward line showed their muscle, Rob Herring made a great drive from the back but a solid defensive shape by the visitors allowed them to keep Ulster scoreless.

Despite being pushed back by the hosts Ulster kept the pressure on and tried once more to breakdown the hosts backline, they worked well in the phases offloading wide where Nick Timoney made a powerful drive, John Cooney was quick to spot a gap in the Benetton backline and offloaded to Eric O’Sullivan who crossed for the opening score.

Referee Ben Whitehouse went upstairs to ask the TMO had he been the cause of an infringement with Benetton prop Federico Zani that allowed the space for O’Sullivan to score, the try was awarded and Cooney’s conversion gave Ulster a 7-0 lead after nine minutes.

The lead only lasted four minutes, Michelle Lamaro looked to have gotten the opening try for the hosts but spilled position shy of the line, they would go again as Ulster were penalised in the build up, a powerful maul saw them hold possession five metres short, they would offload wide and a gap opened up for fly-half Tomas Albornoz and he made no mistakes in crossing the whitewash, before converting his own try to tie the game in the 14th minute.

Wind well and truly in the sails of the hosts and four minutes later almost out of nowhere they notched their second try, Ulster cleared their lines after Benetton looked to pressurise them with a kick in behind of their own, Albornoz gathered the clearance kick and scampered toward halfway dancing and pirouetting past he tackles to gain ground.

Lock Niccolò Cannone showed his kicking skill to play a beautiful crossfield pass to Onisi Ratave on the touchline who was in acres of space to skip toward the line and cross for the second Benetton try, the conversion good as Benetton led 14-7 after 19 minutes.

Ulster would find opportunities limited to create scoring chances for the remainder of the opening half, kicked back into their own half as notably Albornoz was wreaking havoc with his kicking game, guilty of turnovers Nacho Brex punished Ulster with a 50-22 to give them a great scoring chance as the minutes ticked by toward the end of the half.

Ulster did enough to stop the break but an offside in the build up gave Albornoz a free shot at goal from close range, he had an audacious drop goal attempt before the half hour mark but off the tee he was unphased to move Benetton 17-7 clear after 36 minutes.

Cooney would put points on the board for the visitors with a penalty in the final act of the half as Benetton were penalised in the breakdown, he made no mistake to end a drought spanning from the ninth minute as Ulster went in seven points down at the interval, having started the better of the teams.

Albornoz again showed his threat just two minutes after the restart, the hosts again applying pressure on the Ulster defence with Ratave forcing another goal line drop out, they stayed inside the Ulster half and eventually the Argentine fly-half opted for a drop goal to put ten points between the teams.

Stuart McCloskey produced a sensational kick in behind to force Benetton shy of their try line, a knock on allowed them the opportunity to create a scoring chance to carve that deficit, Cooney offloaded to Michael Lowry as they went wide following the scrum, a clever grubber kick by Lowry was chased down by Jacob Stockdale to touchdown over the whitewash, after a TMO review Stockdale never made the grounding as Benetton could clear and take a deep breath.

They would get that second try just a short while later, a powerful drive seeing Herring bundle over to get a crucial score to bring Ulster back into proceedings, Cooney missed the conversion to leave the score 20-15 after 54 minutes, however Rhyno Smith kicked a monster penalty from just inside the Ulster half to add another three to the board leaving Ulster with more work to do.

Another free flowing move saw Benetton get third third try as Brex raced through to touchdown, men out wide for the hosts and Ulster just could not catch him and Ratave gave his teammate an extra bit of speed by pushing him over the line, the scoreline 28-15 after 63 minutes the hosts were beyond in control of the tie as Ulster had little reply.

Lowry setup a dramatic end to the tie as he managed to get over with a smart move after 68 minutes to give the hosts a wakeup call that Ulster were here for a result, Cooney’s conversion making it a six point game as Ulster were in losing bonus point range.

Then game the deciding factor, Ulster with a lineout five meters from the line, the driving maul moving ever closer before the referee pointed for the posts to award a penalty try six minutes from time, however late drama as Smith would prove the match winner off the tee.