CHARLIE Davies is frustrated that his patience didn't pay off out west but is backing Newport Gwent Dragons to bounce back when they return to home soil to take on Ulster.

The 25-year-old scrum-half made his first start of the Guinness Pro12 in last Friday's 25-15 loss to the Scarlets in Llanelli.

Davies, who headed to Rodney Parade from Wasps in the summer, produced a lively display before Sarel Pretorius came on in the final quarter and sniped over for a try.

The Dragons have endured a sluggish start to the season yet again and need to turn over Ulster if they are to avoid being cut adrift at the bottom end of the table.

"It was a frustrating evening against the Scarlets," said Davies. "We had a good build-up in training but just didn't execute when we needed to.

"They are small margins, we missed a few tackles and the Scarlets are not top of the table for nothing, they finish any opportunities you give them.

"It was gutting because there had been a real buzz in training with the excitement of getting stuck into a first Welsh derby.

"You need to execute your individual role but from 1 to 15 we probably didn't do that against the Scarlets. There are lots of things to work on but I am sure we will bounce back against Ulster."

Welsh-qualified Davies got used to biding his time while at Wasps after finding the number 9 jersey dominated by livewire England scrum-half Joe Simpson.

It was a similar story in the first few rounds of the Pro12 with Pretorius and then Luc Jones given the nod.

Davies made three appearances off the bench – one as a makeshift centre in Glasgow – before finally getting his chance in Llanelli.

He said: "I've had to be patient with Sarel and Luc getting starts. They are both good scrum-halves and I spoke to Lyn (Jones, director of rugby), who said to wait, keep working hard and then take my opportunity.

"It was a difficult evening to assess things. I felt it went reasonably well and I tried to implement things that I do well.

"But it's a team effort, it wasn't quite good enough and it was disappointing not to get the win in my first start.

"You have all got individual roles and have to do your best for the team. It's not about making yourself look like the main man."

Whoever is thrown the Dragons' 9 jersey must wait to see whether they line up against South African ace Ruan Pienaar.

The 31-year-old is reporting back from World Cup duty but didn't get too much game time because of the form of Fourie du Preez and Ulster will be keen to get him back into the fray ahead of their Champions Cup opener against Oyonnax.