The Ireland winger sustained a knee injury during last autumn's Rugby World Cup but returned to Ulster duty in style as he broke a tackle to dot down under the posts on 12 minutes - one of four first-half tries for the visitors.

Ruan Pienaar, Craig Gilroy and Jared Payne also dotted down and although Guglielmo Palazzani crossed for Zebre, they still trailed 26-10 at the break.

It was more of the same after the interval as Zebre's winless Guinness PRO12 run since January 3 goes on thanks to a second for Bowe and Payne completing his hat-trick with two further scores.



Ulrich Beyers did dot down for a consolation for the hosts but they failed to improve a record which has only seen them record one victory over an Irish province in Guinness PRO12 history, that coming against Ulster in September 2014.

Ulster's away form has been spotty this year, with their only league win on the road since the calendar flipped to 2016 coming against Treviso back in January.

But it took them just two minutes to get on the scoreboard in Parma as Paddy Jackson produced a moment of brilliance to set Pienaar away for the try with Jackson duly adding the conversion.

Zebre did make it 7-7 when scrum-half Palazanni took advantage of a ferocious drive from his pack to touch down and Carlo Canna converted but five minutes later Bowe restored his side's advantage.

The speedster burst through a weak tackle in the Zebre 22 to go over underneath the posts and although Canna slotted a three-pointer to narrow the deficit, try number three came midway through the first half.

Pienaar's perfectly-weighted grubber kick was expertly collected by Gilroy for a score in the corner and after a period of relative frustration for the Ulstermen, they secured the all-important bonus-point try on the stroke of half-time.

Payne took advantage of a nice move to dive over and although Jackson's perfect record from the tee went begging as he missed the conversion attempt, Ulster looked more or less home and dry with a 26-10 lead.

That became 33-10 just after the interval when Bowe fed Stuart Olding after a scintillating break and he released Payne for the full-back's second try before the Ireland international became a hat-trick hero on 51 minutes by finishing off further good work from Olding and Gilroy.

Beyers briefly gave the home fans something to cheer as he notched a breakaway try on the hour mark but Ulster, and the returning star Bowe, had the last word two minutes from time as Darren Cave fed the 67-cap Ireland international to cross the whitewash.

To buy tickets for the GUINNESS PRO12 Grand Final click here. Also follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12.