Improved Dragons show spirit but lose 10 in a row
ULSTER ............................... 40 DRAGONS ........................... 19 A SPIRITED second-half comeback against wasn’t enough as the Dragons fell to a 10th successive defeat in the United Rugby Championship against Ulster in Belfast on Friday.
Dai Flanagan’s men had turned a 26-7 scoreline into a one-score gap with a couple of quick-fire tries, only for
Ulster to pull away again for a comfortable victory in the end. However, the Dragons were far from humiliated at Ravenhill – a welcome boost after a couple of shocking performances against Glasgow and Ospreys.
After Ulster flanker David McCann’s opener, the Dragons hit back through a try from fly-half Angus O’Brien after brilliant work by Taine Basham. However, a brace of driving lineout tries from hooker Tom Stewart pushed the home side 12 points clear at the break.
And when Stewart claimed a hat-trick after half-time, the fear was another heavy defeat for the Gwent side.
However, quick scores by hooker Elliot Dee – on his
100th league appearance – and scrum-half Rhodri Williams saw Flanagan’s side threaten a comeback.
That didn’t materialise as play-off bound Ulster took control towards the end of the match, with Nick Timoney’s score giving them breathing space ahead of a last-minute penalty try.
ULSTER: Mike Lowry, Craig Gilroy, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale,
Billy Burns, John Cooney;
Eric O’Sullivan, Tom Stewart,
Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor,
Sam Carter, David McCann,
Marcus Rea, Duane Vermeulen Replacements: John Andrew,
Andy Warwick, Jeffery Toomaga Allen, Kieran Treadwell, Nick Timoney, Nathan Doak, Stewart Moore, Ethan McIlroy
DRAGONS RFC: Jordan
Williams, Rio Dyer, Jared Rosser, Max Clark, Ashton Hewitt,
Angus O’Brien, Rhodri Williams; Rhodri Jones, Elliot Dee, Leon Brown, Ben Carter, Matthew Screech, George Nott, Taine Basham, Aaron Wainwright Replacements: Brodie
Coghlan, Josh Reynolds, Lloyd Fairbrother, Sean Lonsdale, George Young, Lewis Jones, Will Reed, Aneurin Owen
Ben Blain (Scot)