By Joe Crocker
On a cold Ravenhill evening the Dragons failed to bring home any points in the bag despite playing the better rugby for many phases of the game.
Despite a scrappy first 10 minutes the home team took control between two Jason Tovey penalties to score two tries. The first came from Robbie Diack who juggled a well-moved short lineout to score in the right hand corner whilst Ruan Pienaar scored under the posts following some strong midfield running and slick passing.
A penalty each by Tovey and Pienaar brought an even first half to an end with the score 15-9.
Early second half commitment, control and pressure resulted in another Tovey penalty to reduce the deficit to 3 points but a cracking finish by Craig Gilroy immediately from the restart extended Ulster's advantage and gave them a sniff of the bonus point.
Even with a player in the bin for 10 minutes Ulster looked the stronger team and kept the Dragons deep in their own half although never really threatened to score.
Steve Jones, who was making his 160th appearance in a Dragons' shirt left the field after 62 minutes whilst the Dragons were having their best part of the game, keeping the home team well within their own 22 even ignoring a couple of kickable penalties in an effort to get more on the board.
Within the last 5 minutes Ulster were reduced to 14 men again when Ian Whitten was binned for a professional foul but hey kept their cool and kicked another penalty to effectively end any hopes of even a bonus point for the Dragons.
Former Osprey, Steffan Terblanche, put the final nail the coffin for the Dragons with an Ulster bonus-point try, converted by Pienaar.
Full time:
Ulster 30 - Dragons 12
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