Celtic League/ Ulster 14 Dragons 7: Ulster kept the pressure on Leinster at the top of the Magners Celtic League with a hard-fought victory over the Dragons at Ravenhill last night.
It wasn't pretty stuff from the defending champions who looked to be cruising to victory after two well-crafted tries in the opening quarter.
Ulster had a host of internationals back in the starting line-up and coach Mark McCall must be grateful to Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan as it was those players that were the difference between the teams. Isaac Boss, Neil Best and Andrew Trimble all put down big markers ahead of next week's England game.
Scrumhalf Boss opened the scoring on five minutes with a piece of brilliance.
Stephen Ferris ran a penalty out of his own half, a ruck was formed, Boss picked up and dummied the defence and darted over from outside the 22 with David Humphreys converting from a tight angle.
Ulster's dominance nearly yielded a second try as Tommy Bowe broke through the cover but the final pass was just beyond flanker Kieron Dawson.
Ulster's second try arrived on 18 minutes, when flanker Neil Best won turnover ball deep in his own half, Paddy Wallace fed Irish winger Trimble and he raced over from his own half avoiding two desperate tackles in the Dragon's rearguard. Humphreys again converted
Humphreys missed an opportunity to extend Ulster's lead when he dragged a long-range penalty wide. Dragons winger Gareth Wyatt fell over with the try line at his mercy but left winger Aled Brew showed his colleague how to finish on 38 minutes.
The visitors got momentum from a forward drive, Ulster conceded a penalty which was taken quickly, centre Paul Dolan produced an inside pass for Brew who ran under the posts.
Ceri Sweeney's conversion cut Ulster's lead to 14-7 at the break.
Humphreys nearly created another score for the home side when he launched an up and under. Paul McKenzie drove over but the Dragons prevented the ball being grounded.
Ulster's defence held firm in the face of a late Dragons onslaught. The Welsh side had three scrums and a lineout five metres from Ulster's line but the home side's first-up tackling led by man of the match Best was superb as the Dragons worked the ball through the phases before they eventually made a mistake and Ulster cleared.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe, P Steinmetz, P Wallace, A Trimble; D Humphreys, I Boss; J Fitzpatrick, P Shields, S Best, J Harrison (capt), T Barker, N Best, K Dawson, S Ferris. Replacements: B Young for S Best (53 mins), R Wilson for Dawson (59 mins), P McKenzie for Cunningham (53 mins). Not used: S Philpott, R Caldwell, K Campbell, K Maggs.
DRAGONS: A Thomas; G Wyatt, P Emerick, P Dolman, A Brew; C Sweeney, G Cooper; A Black, B Daly, J Corsi, L Charteris, P Sidoli, A Hall, J Ringer, M Owen (capt). Replacements: C Charvis for Hall (45 mins), N Fitisemanu for Owen (62 mins), A Walker for Copper (62 mins). Not Used: R Wilkes, G Robinson, R Fussell, M Hercus,
Referee: D Changleng(SRU).
