Ulster were made to work hard for their sixth consecutive GUINNESS PRO12 victory, grinding out a 27-17 win over a battling Newport Gwent Dragons side to keep their noses just in front of the Scarlets in fourth place.
Tries from Craig Gilroy, Jared Payne and John Andrew secured the result which moves Les Kiss’ side onto 61 points with four games remaining, three points ahead of the Llanelli-based outfit whose run-in in the quest for a play-off berth is, on paper at least, an easier one than Ulster’s.
Ulster’s newest centurion Luke Marshall reached his personal milestone in a starting XV counting four changes from the record-breaking 10-try victory over Zebre, with centre partner Darren Cave the only new addition to a stellar back-line featuring Payne at full-back, Gilroy and Charles Piutau on the wings, and the half-back tandem of Stuart Olding and Ruan Pienaar.
Andrew Warwick was the sole change to the front row as he lined up beside captain Rob Herring and tighthead Wiehahn Herbst, while Kieran Treadwell and Alan O’Connor retained their places in the second row.
Iain Henderson, the scorer of Ireland’s try against England last Saturday, came straight back from Six Nations duty into PRO12 action at blindside flanker, with Chris Henry at openside and Sean Reidy replacing the injured Marcell Coetzee at number 8.
Ulster enjoyed the better of the first half but on a patchy Rodney Parade pitch struggled to carve out as many scoring opportunities as they would have hoped.
The Dragons, placed tenth in the standings above only Zebre and Benetton Treviso, did well to soak up five minutes of intense Ulster pressure without concession, but had no response to Pienaar’s vision in the seventh minute as the scrum half chipped on perfectly for Gilroy to outpace Rhys Buckley and kick on for the try.
Angus O’Brien soon clawed back three points courtesy of a well-struck penalty, and once Ulster had gamely defended some patient Dragons possession, with the injured Herbst making way for Rodney Ah You on 20 minutes, a pacy break from Pienaar, Payne and Reidy got the visitors deep into opposition territory before the ball was surrendered through a poor lineout.
Buckley soon emulated Herring’s crooked throw, however, and as Ulster took back control Pienaar added a central penalty on 33 minutes to send his side off at half-time with a 10-3 lead. Carl Meyer’s late effort from long distance sailed just wide of the posts.
A surprisingly rapid break from Treadwell set the tone for a higher tempo second half, the enormous lock outstripping four chasers before being brought to ground.
The Dragons got a shot in the arm moments later, though, when a marginal call saw Gilroy sin-binned for an adjudged deliberate knock-on as he attempted to intercept as the hosts went wide deep in the Ulster 22.
Lock Rynard Landman duly rumbled over from the resulting rolling maul and, once O’Brien’s conversion had restored parity, Kiss introduced Paddy Jackson into the fray, in place of Cave with Olding moving back to centre.
The change saw Ulster crank up the intensity of their game, and when Payne ghosted through from Olding’s flat pass on 58 minutes for his second try in as many games it was fully deserved, despite the Dragons’ protests that there had been obstruction.
Jackson’s conversion heralded Gilroy’s return to the pitch, but an accidental boot to the face soon spelled the end of Pienaar’s evening. The South African’s replacement Paul Marshall was quickly in the spotlight for the wrong reasons as his attempted clearance five metres from home was charged down and grounded by Ollie Griffiths.
O’Brien converted to bring the men of Gwent level at 17-all, but with 10 minutes still on the clock Ulster showed discipline in picking their moment, eventually forcing a penalty on 73 minutes which Jackson wisely put between the posts to re-establish a slender lead.
Further drama ensued as Ah You found himself red carded by referee Mike Adamson for a no-arms tackle on Meyer which appeared to strike the full-back to the head, but smart game management from Ulster kept play deep in Dragons territory for the final five minutes – replacement hooker Andrew even touching down from a forceful rolling maul in the dying seconds.
Having won successive matches in Newport for the first time since 2005-2006, the Ulstermen will have a weekend off before resuming their PRO12 campaign on Friday, April 7 against Cardiff Blues at Kingspan Stadium.
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