Ulster makes it a full house for Ireland
URC REPORT: Ulster moved back up to second in the table with a 12-0 victory over the Dragons at a wet and windswept Rodney Parade.
The result means all four Irish provinces won this weekend.
The Welsh region never looked like ending their miserable run against Ulster, with the Dragons having not beaten the province in 11 attempts since March 2015.
Marcus Rea and John Andrew scored Ulster’s tries, while Nathan Doak added a conversion.
The Dragons, playing with the strong wind, had the better of the early exchanges, with Dan Baker and Harri Keddie making a couple of powerful surges to keep the Ulster defence on their mettle.
Ulster broke out and an error from Dragons fullback Josh Lewis gifted the visitors a five-metre scrum, but after a couple of forward rumbles they knocked on for the pressure to be relieved.
That was as near as either side got to a score in the opening quarter as both struggled to come to terms with the appalling conditions, with both the rain and wind intensifying.
The Dragons then came close to breaking the deadlock when scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou was just off target with a long-range drop-goal attempt.
The Dragons suffered an injury setback when lock Joe Davies had to be replaced by Huw Taylor and they looked to have sustained another blow when Doak crashed over.
However, TMO replays showed that the young scrum-half had been held up by the combined efforts of Rio Dyer and Sam Davies.
A minute before the interval, Ulster took the lead with an excellent try. A clean break from James Hume split the defence to send Doak racing for the line. He was hauled down by Jonah Holmes but the visitors recycled to provide Rea with a walkover.
Six minutes after the restart, Ulster had a second try when Andrew finished off a driving line-out, with Doak sending over a magnificent touchline conversion.
Sam Davies missed a 20-metre penalty from in front of the posts when his kick was blown astray as the final quarter finished scoreless, while Dragons prop Mesake Doge picked up a late yellow card for a dangerous challenge.
Player of the match
Doak showed excellent judgement in the difficult conditions to reward the industry of his forwards.
His support play saw him nearly bag his side’s first try and he fired over a superb touchline conversion.
Play of the match
Ulster belied the conditions to score a splendid opening try.
Irish squad centre Hume made a superb 35-metre break to leave the home defence floundering.
Doak was up in support and, when he was dragged down, Rea strolled over.
The scorers
For the Dragons
None
For Ulster
Tries: Rea, Andrew
Con: Doak
Teams
Dragons: 15 Josh Lewis, 14 Jonah Holmes, 13 Adam Warren, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Dan Baker, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Harri Keddie (captain), 5 Joe Maksymiw, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Taylor Davies, 1 Greg Bateman.
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Mesake Doge, 19 Huw Taylor, 20 George Young, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Ioan Davies, 23 Will Talbot-Davies.
Ulster: 15 Rob Lyttle, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 James Hume, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Ben Moxham, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 Nick Timoney (captain), 7 Marcus Rea, 6 David McCann, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Kieran Treadwell, 3 Tom O’Toole, 2 John Andrew, 1 Andrew Warwick.
Replacements: 16 Brad Roberts, 17 Eric O’Sullivan, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Cormac Izuchukwu, 20 Matty Rea, 21 David Shanahan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Stewart Moore.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Gareth Newman (Wales)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Source: @URCOfficial
