THE fly-halves stayed on the pitch at Ystrad Mynach last Wednesday after the rest of the Newport Gwent Dragons squad had finished their preparations for the Guinness Pro12 game with Ulster.

There, under the watchful eye of academy coach Shaun Connor, they went through a few extras, kicking out of hand and from the tee.

Sadly the Dragons came a distant second in the kicking contest at a rainswept Ravenhill.

That won't have come as a surprise given their struggles so far this season in what is a crucial part of the game.

They have kicked too often and when they have put boot to ball it has too frequently been done inaccurately, while Wales wing/full-back Hallam Amos has conceded three tries through chargedowns.

The exception was at Stade Francais, which just so happened to be their best display of the season. They resisted the temptation to put boot to ball and when they did it was executed well with Angus O'Brien pinning the Parisians back in the last 20 minutes of the game.

But last week they were the ones struggling to get out of their own half on a grim Belfast evening, playing under pressure and only being saved by some tenacious defence and Ulster handling errors in greasy conditions.

At one stage, just past the hour, the Dragons committed a sin that was alarmingly similar to the one that cost them a try against the Scarlets; they had scrambled back to earn possession but subsequently chased a poor box kick badly.

Unlike for Gareth Owen's try in Llanelli, a poor pass in wet weather by Paddy Jackson to Stuart Olding meant the ball wasn't run back but instead the Ireland full-back pegged the Dragons back into the 22.

It is frequently pointed out that the team that does it best is the All Blacks; they test opponents with a variety of accurate kicks, they challenge for them and put the pressure on the receiver with their chase and frequently find space with them.

The Dragons, who need more kicking options in the backs, desperately need to improve their execution and hopefully in time the efforts of Connor, who was a fine orchestrator, will help.