Dragons 13 Ulster 20:ULSTER BOOKED their place in the Magners League play-off semi-finals with an emphatic win at Rodney Parade. The Ulstermen had not triumphed at the Dragons' lair since September 2006, but a Nevin Spence double and a close-range effort from Pedrie Wannenburg in the first half set them on the road to victory.
Tom Riley’s second-half try handed the Dragons a glimmer of hope, but Brian McLaughlin’s men held on for the victory.
The only other points came through the boot of Ian Humphreys, while Jason Tovey and Matthew Jones added the points for the Men of Gwent.
Following their Heineken Cup heartbreak, Ulster were determined to salvage one semi-final from their season and they made no mistake with a clinical performance in south Wales. They now meet Leinster at the RDS on May 13th.
“I’m pleased with the way we controlled the game in the first half,” coach McLaughlin said. “In second the conditions changed and it was all out defence. But we hung in there, worked hard and deserved the victory.”
Ulster had the first opportunity to score following a nervy start from the hosts. Craig Gilroy and Adam D’Arcy combined as the Ulstermen countered a wayward Aled Brew kick, but D’Arcy was unable to hold on to the final try-scoring pass.
McLaughlin’s men got their reward for their early adventure on five minutes after the Dragons failed to roll away from the tackle and Humphreys took advantage.
Ulster extended their lead on eight minutes courtesy of Spence. The blond centre swatted off Tovey to burst through the Dragons midfield before beating Steffan Jones on the outside to squeeze over in the corner.
Humphreys failed with the difficult touchline conversion but the touchdown handed his side an early 8-0 lead.
The Dragons hit back on 22 minutes thanks to the boot of Matthew Jones, on as a blood replacement for Tovey.
But Ulster came back with a roar and could have grabbed a second try following a Darren Cave break had it not been for the Welsh region’s impressive scramble defence.
But Spence pounced for an opportunist try on 28 minutes to put Ulster in the driving seat. Gilroy lost the ball in the tackle driving for the line, but he was able to flick it backwards and Spence was on hand to scoop it up and dive over. Again Humphreys failed to add the extras.
The Dragons clawed their way back with a Tovey penalty on 35 minutes to cut Ulster’s lead to seven points.
But it did not last long and Ulster quickly doubled their advantage thanks to Wannenburg.
Again lady luck appeared to be on Ulster’s side. After kicking to the corner, in heavy rain, Rory Best over-threw at the lineout. But the ball bounced over Gavin Thomas, who then failed to control it on a second attempt and the big South African pounced for a crucial try. Humphreys made no mistake with the conversion to hand his side a 20-6 lead at the interval.
The Dragons could have struck-back after 50 minutes but Jones hit the upright with his penalty attempt, but Riley handed his side a lifeline when he touched down eight minutes later.
After going through several phases the centre twisted out of several tackles at close range to score. Jones dissected the posts to bring the hosts to within seven.
The try breathed life into the hosts but Ulster showed a hard-nosed edged to cling-on and came away with the spoils.
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS: S Jones; A Hughes, T Riley, P Leach, A Brew; J Tovey, W Evans; P Price, L Burns, D Way, L Charteris (capt), A Jones, D Lydiate, G Thomas, T Faletau. Replacements: M Jones for Tovey (16 mins, 42 mins), J Bearman for Faletau, H Gustafason for Price (both 62 mins), M Watkins for Riley, T Willis for Burns (both 70 mins), B Castle for Way, A Coombs for Jones (both 72 mins), J Evans for Thomas (78 mins).
ULSTER: A D’Arcy; C Gilroy, D Cave, N Spence, S Danielli; I Humphreys, R Pienaar; T Court, R Best (capt), D Fitzpatrick, J Muller, D Tuohy, P Wannenburg, C Henry, R Diack. Replacements: P McAllister for Court (58 mins), T Barker for Diack (65 mins).
Referee: A Lewis (Ireland).
