Ulster 17-17 Benetton

Ulster scraped a nervy draw with Benetton thanks to a last-second penalty try at Kingspan that leveled their PRO14 game at 17-17.

It was a hugely disappointing night for the province that had begun with such promise.

After only 47 seconds, Michael Lowry and Stuart McCloskey cut holes in the Benetton defence, feeding Louis Ludik to score the opening try in the left corner.

However, in the 11th minute the Italians replied through Federico Ruzza as the lock smashed through a tackle to reach for the line, with Ian McKinley slotting the conversion.

The Benetton captain then nailed a penalty a minute before the break to give his side a 5 point advantage.

That was undone only 5 minutes into the second period when Ulster's Rob Herring touched down on the back of a rolling maul from a lineout.

Despite the slight threat of an Ulster resurgence, the Italians were calm in possession, and soon scored a well-worked second try.

Waves of pressure saw the ball reach the hands of right winger Ratuva Tavuyara, who crossed in the corner just before the hour, with McKinley adding the extras.

It created a 7-point margin that Ulster were unable to close until the final seconds.

A driving maul was heading for the line before being hauled down by the Italians, which left Nigel Owens no option but to award a penalty try to level the game.