Ulster 30 Dragons 12:AFTER A turbulent week and all the accompanying fallout that came in the wake of the official announcement of Brian McLaughlin's impending redeployment, Ulster's players certainly responded by delivering a bonus point win amidst the almost traditional Ravenhill wind and rain.
It was their third consecutive maximum-pointer which further boosts their Pro12 League play-off hopes – and all this after having Willie Faloon and Ian Whitten binned in the second half.
Paddy Wallace’s call-up to provide Ireland cover saw Nevin Spence promoted from the Ulster bench with Michael Allen being drafted in. The Dragons started brightly and had plenty of possession throughout but were unable to finish with any accuracy.
The visitors opened the scoring with a seventh-minute Jason Tovey penalty. Ulster replied with two quick tries, the first from Robbie Diack when a short lineout throw caught the Dragons sleeping and then a minute later, from the restart, when Craig Gilroy’s burst through some weak first up tackling allowed Adam D’Arcy put Pienaar clear to score under the posts.
Pienaar converted his own score to put Ulster 12-3 ahead. The Dragons hit back with two more Tovey penalties but after 30 minutes Pienaar’s first penalty made it 15-9 to Ulster at half-time.
The Dragons wasted an early overlap on the restart but Tovey’s fourth penalty cut the deficit to 15-12. However, from the kick-off the Dragons let the ball bounce and McComish snaffled possession and drove on. From the ruck, Ulster spun the ball right and Gilroy charged through for their third score. Pienaar was unable to convert but then Ulster were reduced to 14 men after Faloon was binned for not releasing.
Ulster survived his departure and then sent on Ali Birch when the 10 minutes was up.
It looked a critical point in the game as the Dragons – dominating territory and possession – went for the corner off two penalties with no reward for their efforts.
Italian referee Carlo Damasco carded Ian Whitten for apparently deliberately slapping the ball down in a Dragons attack and Ulster were forced to end the game down to 14 men again.
To Ulster’s credit, they marched up the field and won a penalty which Pienaar goaled to make it 23-12 and in a final flurry an overlap on the right put Stefan Terblanche over. Pienaar’s final conversion ended the game.
ULSTER: D’Arcy, Gilroy, Whitten, Spence, Terblanche, Humphreys, Pienaar, Black, Kyriacou, Afoa, Stevenson, Tuohy, McComish, W. Faloon, Diack. Replacements: Danielli for D’Arcy (57), P Marshall for Humphreys (64), McAllister for Black (48), Brady for Kyriacou (55), Barker for Stevenson (73), Birch for W. Faloon (64).
Not Used: Macklin, Allen.
NEWPORT-GWENT DRAGONS: Newport-Gwent D’gons: M. Thomas, J. Smith, Hughes, A. Smith, Brew, Tovey, W. Evans, N. Williams, S. Jones, N. Buck, A. Jones, Sidoli, Groves, Waters, G. Thomas. Replacements: Tuilagi for J Smith (68), Bedford for W. Evans (68), Buckley for S. Jones (61), Way for N. Buck (59), Brown for A. Jones (60), Ellis for Waters (74).
Not used: Price, Robling.
Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy).
