Rookies are taught a lesson

ULSTER ............................ 52 DRAGONS ........................ 25

A ROOKIE Dragons side fell to an expected Guinness PRO14 defeat to unbeaten Ulster in Belfast, with an experimental line-up handed out some tough lessons at the Kingspan Stadium.

The Dragons squad included a number of youthful debutants and against a team as confident and powerful as Ulster, it was always going to be about damage limitation.

In the end, Ulster crossed for eight tries and, while the Men of Gwent battled throughout, scoring three tries of their own, there is no hiding that was a testing night for Welsh region.

If the Dragons can recover and see off the Southern Kings at Rodney Parade next weekend, then Jackman will feel his selection has been justified.

The signs were there inside the first couple of minutes with Ulster getting the scoreboard up and running thanks to a try from centre Stuart McCloskey.

Fly-half Peter Nelson dummied over for the second, then prop Lloyd Fairbrother was shown yellow for hauling down a rumbling line-out drive, giving referee Dan Jones the simplest penalty try decision he will have to award.

The one-way traffic continued with further tries for No. 8 Nick Timoney and replacement prop Wiehahn Herbst and at 33-6 with 10 minutes of the first half still remaining, the Dragons were facing a major beating.

They did manage to stem the tide with a try for Rhys Buckley from a well-executed line-out drive, but it was brief respite.

The Men of Gwent had a calamitous start to the second-half with an error from Palamo gift-wrapping a try to wing Jacob Stockdale after the centre had failed to deal with a kick through.

Man-of-the-match Timoney outstripped some lacklustre defence for his second of the night, then replacement scrumhalf Dave Shanahan sidestepped over for try number eight.

Replacement scrum-half Dane Blacker, on loan from Cardiff Blues, darted over for the Dragons‘ second and then replacement Will Talbot-Davies showed some serious pace to break clear to round off the scoring. Ulster: Tries: McCloskey, Nelson, Penalty, Timoney 2, Herbst Stockdale, Shanahan. Cons: Nelson 5, Herron. Dragons: Tries: Buckley, Blacker, Talbot-Davies. Cons: Jones, O’Brien. Pens: Jones 2.