Henson is draw card as Dragons dig deep

DRAGONS head coach Bernard Jackman hailed the character of his young side as they thrillingly shared the spoils with Ulster at Rodney Parade.

The home side looked to have had the game in the bag when wing Ashton Hewitt crossed with two minutes remaining but Ulster outside-half Christian Leali’ifano touched down in injury time.

But the Australia international failed to convert his try which would have handed Ulster the win.

“The big question was around character and we showed plenty of that,” said Jackman. “We played some good stuff and deserved the draw. We were able to go 80 minutes against a side with a lot of internationals so that’s the barometer for us now.”

Both sides left with three points, courtesy of try bonuses, with Ashton Hewitt, Matthew Screech, Liam Belcher and Angus O’Brien crossing for the hosts as Gavin Henson pulled the strings.

Craig Gilroy, who scored a brace, Paul Marshall, and Leali’ifano touched down for the visitors who were also awarded a penalty try.

The hosts made life difficult for themselves when inside centre Jack Dixon was given a yellow card for a tip tackle on Louis Ludick in the first few minutes.

The visitors dominated the early exchanges with Gilroy showing his pace to cross for Ulster’s first try as a result of some lovely passing from John Andrew and Charles Piutau.

But Jackman’s side clawed back when Screech touched down following a powerful driving lineout from the home eight.

Soon after Hewitt crossed for his first following a neat grubber kick from Dixon. Ulster were then awarded a penalty try after the Welsh region brought down a driving lineout illegally on their own try-line, leaving it 15-15 at half time.

The Irish province began the second period as they had the first with Marshall dotting down in the corner, following a powerful surge by Nick Timoney.

The visitors secured the try bonus with 20 minutes to spare when Gilroy powered over. But just when Ulster seemed to be pulling away, the Gwent region hit back with a try from Belcher who scored after a strong Dragons maul, with Henson’s glorious break bringing about O’Brien’s try and a nail-biting finale.

Ulster head coach Jono Gibbes said: “We had opportunities to close the door a malfunctioning lineout which gave them access to our try line.

“Throughout the 80 minutes we were second best in some key moments in the set-piece which ultimately cost us.”