13 November 2008, 7:59 pm ::
Match Report by Christine McNally
Ulster 62 : 6 Portugal
Ulster had a victorious night at Ravenhill with a score of 62:6 over International side Portugal, the man of the match being quadruple try scorer, Ulster's number 13, Darren Cave.
Ulster opened the scoring with a try from Darren Cave in the first three minutes of the game, Humphreys stepped up for the conversion, but was inches wide of the post and the score remained Ulster 5:0 Portugal
Portugal's number 10 Pedro Cabral then put 3 points on the board for Portugal with a 5th minute penalty kick. Ulster fought back and drove home another try, this time from Nagusa, but again the conversion was short of the post. Ulster 10: 3 Portugal
Ulster's third try came in the 16th minute from Ulster's number 11 Mark McCrea, but no conversion came Ulster's way, the score sat at Ulster 15:3 Portugal
Darren Cave went over the line in the 25th minute for his second try of the night, which Ian Humphreys converted bringing the score to Ulster 22:3 Portugal
A 29th minute penalty kick was missed by Portugal's number 10 Cabral, but four minutes later another penalty, again taken by Cabral put 3 more points on the board for Portugal. Ulster 22:6 Portugal
Ulster's Mark McCrea broke from the pack down the left wing for his second try of the night, but an unsuccessful conversion left the half time score Ulster 27:6 Portugal.
4 minutes into the second half Darren Cave scored a hat trick of tries and thanks to a conversion by Humphreys the score was Ulster 34: 6 Portugal
Another try for Ulster by Neil Hanna in the 53rd minute and a third conversion by Humphreys set the score at Ulster 41: 6 Portugal
Darren Cave stormed in with his fourth try of the game and Humphreys replacement Niall O'Connor, kicked the conversion for a score of Ulster 48:6 Portugal
Paul Steinmetz came off the bench in place of quad try scoring Cave.
Then a flood of points came from a 64th minute try by Ian Whitten, converted by O'Connor, two minutes later Nagusa stormed down the wing for his second try of the night and again O'Connor converted. The score Ulster 62: 6 Portugal
The score at full time; Ulster 62:6 Portugal
Ulster team:
(15-9) Bryn Cunningham; Timoci Nagusa; Darren Cave; Ian Whitten; Mark McCrea
Ian Humphreys; Cillian Willis
(1-8) Bryan Young; Neil Hanna; Declan Fitzpatrick; Matt McCullough; Ed O'Donoghue; Thomas Anderson; David Pollock (Capt); Robbie Diack
Replacements:
(16-25) Nigel Brady; Justin Fitzpatrick; Jarlath Carey; Kieron Dawson; Isaac Boss; Niall O'Connor; Paul Steinmetz; Chris Henry; James Sandford; Chris Cochrane
Portugal team:
(15-9) Lourenço Kadosh; Aderito Esteves; Diogo Gama; Francisco Mira; Gonçalo Foro; Pedro Cabral; José Pinto
(1-9) Gustavo Duarte; Joao Correia (Capt); Juan Severino; Valter Jorge; Gonçalo Silva; Julian Bardi; Antonio Duarte; Eduardo Acosta
Replacements:
(16-25) Laurent Balague; Bernardo Duarte; Joao Junior; Nuno Taful; Diogo Fialho; Afonso Sousa; Frederico Oliveira; Miguel Leal;Yannick Ricardo; Vasco Gaspar