DRAGONS DOWNED
THE Dragons went down to a heavy defeat at Belfast’s Kingspan Stadium after enduring a nightmare first half, writes SIMON THOMAS.
It was game over before the break, with Ulster having the fourtry bonus point in the bag after just 31 minutes and turning around with a 35-3 interval lead.
The visitors put up much more of a fight in the second half, with Ashton Hewitt producing another class finish for his fifth try in six games and Jamie Roberts crashing over in the final play.
They actually won the second period 14-5, but the damage had long since been done.
Ulster ran in six tries in all, five of them coming in a hugely onesided first half when they made the most of playing with the wind.
The Dragons suffered major problems at the scrum and had no answer to the hosts’ ball-carrying and off-loading, with the first three tries coming from powerful forward surges to the line.
It was South African No.8 Marcell Coetzee who set the ball rolling as he smashed his way through two blue-green jerseys to touch down and he was to have a massive influence both with his bulldozing charges and deft handling.
Prop Eric O’Sullivan and flanker Sean Reidy joined him in driving over the whitewash as Ulster’s physicality came to the fore.
Then it was over to the backs as the ball was swept wide for two scores from winger Louis Ludik,
who ended a 20-month try drought with a double.
It had been an absolute avalanche and you really feared what the final scoreline may be.
But whatever Dean Ryan said at the break, the Dragons came out for the second half a totally different side.
Their efforts were rewarded just past the hour mark when forwards and backs combined well to release winger Hewitt, who fended off fullback Rob Lyttle to score in the corner.
The scoring pass had been given by replacement centre Roberts, and he had the last word when he crashed over in the final minute after the visitors had attacked from their own 22.
One other positive was the return of fit-again No.8 Ollie Griffiths, who was excellent over the ball and in the loose on his first appearance in more than seven months.