Paddy Jackson’s boot made the difference for Ulster at Kingspan Stadium as he dispatched a 77th minute penalty to see off a combative Dragons side and nudge the province to the top of the GUINNESS PRO12.
The visitors, who had two players sin-binned and put four Ulstermen out of commission in the course of a bruising encounter, led on the scoreboard for a good 70 minutes but were eventually squeezed out by a Sean Reidy score, a penalty try and seven points from the boots of Paddy Jackson and Ian Humphreys.
With Rory Best, Jared Payne and Andrew Trimble the only three Ulster representatives retained in Joe Schmidt’s Six Nations squad for the match against Wales, Rob Herring started at captain and hooker while both Jackson and Stuart McCloskey – fancied by many to feature in green on Sunday – took a place on the bench.
Talismanic scrum half Ruan Pienaar, recovered from a recent illness which kept him out of the clashes with Oyonnax and Benetton Treviso, returned to the starting line-up as one of four changes made by director of rugby Les Kiss.
Jacob Stockdale made his full debut on the left wing after an impressive cameo appearance last Saturday in Treviso, while Peter Browne started in the second row in place of the rested Franco van der Merwe, and Robbie Diack was preferred to Clive Ross at openside flanker.
Elsewhere, Louis Ludik continued at full-back, with Craig Gilroy occupying the other wide berth, Darren Cave and Stuart Olding operating in the centre, and Humphreys at out-half with Jackson on the bench.
The front row was unchanged with Callum Black and Ricky Lutton propping alongside Herring, while Alan O’Connor continued his good run at lock, and Diack and Reidy combined with Roger Wilson in the back row.
The Newport Gwent Dragons belied their lowly PRO12 standing of teneth with a strong start, capped by Angus O’Brien’s fourth-minute penalty. When Ulster got going from the restart they were electric, with Olding and Stockdale contributing powerful line breaks.
However, it was Dragons winger Ashton Hewitt who lit up Kingspan Stadium on 16 minutes, his virtuoso run from his own half evading five Ulster tacklers before Adam Hughes slid over from Carl Meyer’s kick towards the corner.
No sooner had O’Brien converted than Ulster pounded downfield from the restart, a rolling maul then five-metre scrum paving the way for Olding and then Humphreys to almost breach the whitewash within seconds of each other.
Resolute Dragons defending kept the two backs at bay, but there was no stopping Reidy in the very next attack as the flanker brushed aside three tackles to run in at the corner for his third try in as many outings.
Humphreys converted for a 10-7 deficit and was soon celebrating what he thought was a try as he intercepted a loose pass and sprinted to the line, only for referee Nigel Owens to call play back to halfway for an Ulster knock-on which had conceded possession seconds before, without the Dragons’ advantage being served.
Ireland squad members Jackson and McCloskey entered the fray for the second period in place of Humphreys, the victim of a knock just after his disallowed try, and Ludik. They were soon joined on the pitch by Nick Williams as Diack took a heavy impact.
The Dragons were next on the scoresheet, however, as Meyer touched down on 46 minutes after good work from his forwards, but a high tackle on Pienaar from Ben White got Ulster the close range lineout, and another well-orchestrated maul – with Reidy once again at the helm – forced the penalty try as Matthew Screech collapsed the drive just metres from the line.
Jackson’s successful conversion and the sin-binning of Screech heralded the definitive turning of the tide in Ulster’s favour. Their cause was helped further by the yellow-carding of White for his second high tackle in five minutes, this time putting Browne out of the game.
The breakthrough looked to have come on 65 minutes, Wilson grounding right in the corner off Jackson’s pass for a try initially validated by Owens. However, it was then scrubbed off for an earlier knock-on after much deliberation from TMO Kevin Beggs.
A nasty blow to the head for Olding spelled an early end to the match for the luckless centre, and with Ulster still trailing by a solitary point (15-14) as the game entered its final 10 minutes, the home crowd looked on in disbelief as a long range Jackson penalty landed on the Dragons’ crossbar and rebounded back into Welsh hands.
The international out-half got another chance from closer range with just over two minutes to go, and this time applied just the right power to dip his kick over the bar and seal a very hard-fought victory.
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