MAGNERS LEAGUE Ulster 22 Dragons 22: A SHARE of the spoils was hardly on either side's agenda, though the outcome will have hurt Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin considerably more than his counterpart Paul Turner who saw his side come back from trailing 17-6 to draw level with the home side.
Lack of precision at crucial junctures proved to be Ulster’s undoing with Ireland hooker Rory Best being a particular offender after being yellow-carded for an apparent stamp in a melee.
The Ireland hooker, who looks certain to start at Twickenham next Saturday, stayed on the field until the end after returning from the bin after Ulster had conceded 10 points during his absence.
Elsewhere, Paddy Wallace looked sharp in midfield though, in the end, all his efforts could not disguise Ulster’s high concession of penalties and their error count with Ian Humphreys only making four kicks from nine attempts while his opposite number Jason Tovey kicked six from six and bagged 17 points.
Ulster could only wonder at how their supremacy failed to yield better than a 17-12 lead at the interval.
The sides had earlier exchanged penalties in the opening 20 minutes with Humphreys and Tovey bagging two each to tie the scores.
Ulster struck for a try from a counter-attack after 26 minutes.
Humphreys fed Darren Cave who made a great burst and found Dan Tuohy who then offloaded to Wallace and the Ireland centre burst through Pat Palmer’s tackle to score. Humphreys missed the extras but made amends three minutes later with a penalty to stretch Ulster’s lead to 14-6.
Just after the half hour, lovely hands from Wallace put Cave into open country but when Isaac Boss was impeded at the ruck by Rhodri Gomer-Davies referee Peter Allan sent the Dragons’ centre on his way to the bin.
Humphreys converted the penalty and Ulster looked comfortable at 17-6 in front. However, the Dragons, down to 14 men, battled back and when Ulster were penalised at a scrum, after 35 minutes, Tovey landed the penalty kick.
Ulster then lost the plot after an incident on the right touchline. With the ball out of play, Best got involved in a needless melee and was show yellow by Mr Allan. Tovey kicked the penalty and Ulster’s interval lead was now cut to five points 17-12. The Dragons hit the ground running at the restart when hooker Steve Jones was driven over the Ulster line from a lineout as the visitors, with Gomer-Davies back on the, made the extra man count.
Tovey’s conversion gave the Dragons the lead for the first time at 19-17, but Ulster, now with Best restored, worked the ball from a lineout and put Simon Danielli in at the left corner for an unconverted score. Ulster’s lead was short-lived though as a snap Tovey drop goal levelled the scores at 22-22 before Humphreys spurned two late chances of sealing victory via a penalty and drop goal.
ULSTER: J Smith; A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace, S Danielli; I Humphreys, I Boss; B Young, R Best, BJ Botha; D Tuohy, E O'Donoghue; TJ Anderson, D Pollock, C Henry (Capt). Replacements: N Brady for Anderson (41-47mins), R Diack for J Anderson, R Caldwell for E O'Donoghue, and D Fitzpatrick for Young (all 61mins), I Whitten for Smith (65 mins), T Nagusa for Danielli (72 mins), N Brady for D Pollock (78 mins). Yellow card: R Best 37-47mins.
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS: M Thomas; W Harries, T Riley, R Gomer Davies, A Brew; J Tovey; W Evans; H Gustafson, S Jones, P Palmer; R Sidoli, L Charteri;s, D Lydiate, G Thomas, G Webb. Replacements: A Jones for Sidoli (50 mins), B Castle for Palmer (53 mins), J Harris for Webb (53 mins), T Willis for P Palmer (55 mins), M Watkins for R Gomer Davies (70 mins). Yellow card: R Gomer Davies 31-41 mins.
Attendance: 7,909
Referee: P Allan(SRU)
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