Ulster go joint top in URC with win at Dragons

The Irish province went back to the top of the United Rugby Championship, level on points with Leinster,and never looked in danger of suffering an upset in Newport.

It was a textbook display of playing into the elements by Ulster in the first half – they won the toss and not only limited the damage but led 5-0 thanks to flanker Marcus Rea’s try in the 40th minute.

Safe in the knowledge they would win the collisions, their discipline was superb and their basics were sound to avoid giving the Dragons anything easy.

Hooker John Andrew went over soon after the restart to pretty much secure the game but the Dragons, to their credit, didn’t wave the white flag when things looked as grim as the weather.

It was a day made for burly throwback number eight Dan Baker and he carried manfully for 72 minutes.

However, the Dragons were nilled for the first time since the derby defeat to the Ospreys on New Year’s Day 2017, when the boggy pitch only just passed an inspection to the dismay of Dan Biggar.

Dean Ryan’s men have now gone nine games without success and their solitary victory of a miserable campaign came against Connacht in Galway in October.

This wasn’t as deflating as their failure to beat Benetton in their previous game or when they imploded against a weakened Perpignan in France.

There was no shortage of effort but it there was an inevitability about the outcome – and the same will apply at Munster on March 5 when it will be a surprise if the defeat isn’t heavier.

Harri Keddie carrying hard for the Dragons

The Dragons were without their six Wales forwards, four of whom are set to feature in the Six Nations clash at Twickenham, on a day when pack power was vital.

Director of rugby Dean Ryan had expressed a desire to play with width to avoid a physical confrontation with Ulster’s big units, either throwing a midweek red herring or negligence when it came to monitoring the weather forecast.

What was important was the kicking game, ability under the high ball and set piece solidity after the inevitable handling errors.

The Dragons had an early chance after Sam Davies kicked nicely into the 22 to put the pressure on the Ulster lineout.

It wasn’t up to the task but the hosts wasted a precious chance by going off their feet five metres out.

Ulster spent most of the opening 10 minutes in their own half yet had the next big chance thanks to back-to-back errors.

A wonky lineout gave them a scrum and they kicked from it to put full-back Josh Lewis under pressure.

He could only carry over his own line to give the men in yellow a five-metre scrum that was followed by hard carrying but the Dragons held firm and forced a knock-on by lock Kieran Treadwell.

Nonetheless, Ulster were killing the clock and the closest the home side came to opening the scoring was when Argentina scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou was just wide with a drop goal after Robert Baloucoune’s clearance kick from a mark into the wind.

Ulster just weren’t giving them an easy route into the 22 and the task got harder when lock Joe Davies was forced off by injury to be replaced Huw Taylor, a flanker by trade who was covering the second row in the absence of Wales duo Ben Carter and Will Rowlands.

The visitors were close to opening the scoring after 33 minutes when hooker John Andrew peeled off a lineout drive and passed to scrum-half Nathan Doak, who was held up over the line by superb defence from Davies with the help of wing Rio Dyer.

The clock was ticking but Ulster got their noses in front before the break thanks to a superb break by centre James Hume, who played in Doak.

The scrum-half was denied by a fantastic last-ditch tackle by Josh Lewis but the Irishmen kept their composure for openside Rea to flop over on the left wing for a 5-0 lead at the break.

That turned into 12-0 six minutes after the restart after it went penalty-penalty-penalty-try.

Ulster worked into the corner and stayed patient with their drive for Andrew to cross before Doak impressively conquered the wind to convert from the touchline.

This was now a test of the Dragons’ character and, with an injection off their bench from internationals Elliot Dee, Mesake Doge and Rhodri Williams, they enjoyed a strong spell.

That should have resulted in them getting on the scoreboard courtesy of a Huw Taylor jackal in the 22 but Davies missed from in front of the posts, beaten by the conditions.

Ulster weren’t playing as smartly with the conditions as they had without them and it remained 12-0 past the hour.

Baker’s big effort came to an end with eight minutes to go – flanker George Young, son of former Newport forward Robert coming on for a debut – but the Dragons finished with 14 men.

Replacement Ulster back Stewart Moore was tackled by Young and was caught on the jaw by Doge. It was deemed to be reckless but with mitigation to lead to yellow rather than red.

Ulster could have gone for the kill but instead the game drifted to a conclusion, the final act being a booming penalty attempt by Doak that hit the left post with the clock in the red.

Dragons: J Lewis; J Holmes (W Talbot-Davies 64), A Warren, A Owen, R Dyer (C Coleman 75); S Davies, G Bertranou (R Williams 48); G Bateman (A Seiuli 54), T Davies (E Dee 48), C Coleman (M Doge 48), J Davies (H Taylor 32), J Maksymiw, H Keddie (captain), O Griffiths, D Baker (G Young 72).

Ulster scorers: tries – M Rea, J Andrew; conversions – N Doak

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Attendance: 3,892