Ulster face arduous task after indiscipline proves costly

Gwent Dragons 24 Ulster 15: Ulster coach Alan Solomons has demanded his side go back to basics after their opening-week disappointment against the unfancied Gwent Dragons.

The South African native, who saw his compatriot Percy Montgomery secure the Dragons win with a 78th-minute try, also admitted his side now face a huge challenge to progress past the group stage.

"We certainly didn't deserve to win," fumed Solomons. "We made the breaks and put ourselves in a couple of good positions to win the game but we just couldn't finish them off.

"And a lot of that has to come down to the way we let ourselves down at the set piece. They defended well enough but we lost half of our own lineouts and both their tries came from turnover ball."

The boot of the ever reliable David Humphreys had given Ulster some hope of snatching the game away from the Dragons in their European debut, even after Ben Breeze's try from a turnover scrum had put the hosts in the driving seat.

But another mistake on their own line gave Montgomery the easiest of chances to finish off a neat back move and Ulster's hopes of taking anything from their trip to Wales.

Ulster now face Stade Francais at home but Solomons duly admitted his men cannot afford to make similar mistakes against Leicester's conquerors.

"It's an uphill struggle for us now," said Solomons. "Were going to have to go back to basics for that one because if we don't we will get punished, there's no doubt about that.

"Stade are a star-studded side and we can ill afford to play like that again. But we must also take into account that it just wasn't going for us today. Were just going to have to build again."

Despite some of the luck and the training-ground essentials going awry, Ulster must have been wondering what had gone wrong as they left the field at half-time trailing to a Dragons side they had contained for the majority of the half.

Only the boot of Dragons outhalf Lee Jarvis had kept the hosts in touch with Humphreys's two penalties in the opening exchanges.

Despite the scoreline it was the visitors that had looked the more dangerous, Humphreys, Neil Best and Paul Steinmetz all finding the space to break the home defence only to be hauled back by last-ditch tackling by Jason Forster and centre Steve Winn.

James Topping was also given a chance to test the alertness of returning Dragons full back Percy Montgomery, the former Springbok making his long-awaited return from suspension for pushing a touch judge last season. But the experienced international was more than a match for Topping, managing to guide him safely into touch.

The turning point came on 23 minutes when the indiscipline returned, prop Simon Best found himself in the sin bin for an infringement at the ruck and it was just the impetus the Welshmen needed.

And despite Humphreys's drop goal on 30 minutes numerical advantage told four minutes later when Ulster lost the ball at their own scrum at the five-metre line and Breeze was allowed to get over the try line.

Ulster responded with a Humphreys penalty on 51 minutes to keep themselves within touching distance of the lead but problems at the scrum gave Jarvis an easy penalty chance to make it 17-12 minutes later. And they continued to hammer at the Ulster defence, their battering-ram approach getting them within yards of the try line with no reward.

Humphreys made them pay for failing to capitalise on their momentum, slotting over his fourth penalty to make it a frantic final period. But any hopes of a late game-winning score from Solomons's side were dashed when Montgomery dashed round the posts, the grateful recipient of a turnover yards from the Ulster line with just seconds left on the clock.

GWENT DRAGONS: P Montgomery; N Brew, H Luscombe, S Winn, B Breeze; L Jarvis, G Baber; A Black, S Jones, C Anthony, I Gough, P Sidoli, J Ringer, J Forster, R Beattie. Replacements: P Young for Jones, 42 mins; R Snow for Black, 53 mins.

ULSTER: B Cunningham; J Topping, R Constable, P Steinmetz, T Howe; D Humphreys, N Doak; R Kempson, M Sexton, S Best, R Frost, G Longwell, A Ward, N Best, R Wilson. Replacements: P Shields for M Sexton, 40 mins; M McWhirter for Frost, 56 mins.

Referee: Roy Maybank (RFU).