Ian Whitten goes close for Ulster.
Ulster lost their second game on the bounce with a stuttering performance against a workmanlike Dragons side. Despite an improved performance in the set piece Ulster suffered once again from poor discipline and a distinct lack of dynamism at the breakdown, giving McLaughlin and his team plenty to think about before next Friday’s match against Treviso.
Once again Ulster started brightly, with Patrick Jackson kicking them into an early lead and with the forwards looking to put last weeks disastrous display behind them the men in white came out on top in the opeing exchanges.
Unfortunately indiscipline started to creep into Ulster’s game allowing the Dragons to slip into the lead with two Tovey penalties but Ulster still seamed to be playing the better rugby until a searing break by Dragons new boy Tonderai Chavhanga spread panic through the Ulster ranks.
Ulster’s back line lost all composure, appearing to focus on the South African flier, and before long Nevin Spence was binned for his second high tackle in a matter of minutes. Moments later the Dragons worked a simple overlap to score in the corner with Tovey converting and the Dragons out-half added another penalty before Spence returned taking the score to 16 – 3.
Jackson reduced the deficit with a penalty for Ulster shortly after but Tovey restored the lead on the stroke of half time with his forth penalty of the night taking the score to 19 - 6 at the break.
The second half was largely forgettable. Ian Porter and Adam Macklin came on early for Paul Marshall and Jerry Cronin respectively but rather than try and take the game by the scruff of the neck both sides seemed happy with the status quo. There were a couple of flashes from Jackson Luke Marshall and Porter but despite Ulster enjoying the bulk of possession they seldom troubled the Dragons defence.
Jackson and Tovey exchanged penalties before Ian Whitten went close in the final quarter but even then indiscipline at the resultant line out gave the Dragons an easy out. The game ended with Ulster on the attack, after a Jackson break, but the youngster ran out of support which sort of summed up Ulster’s night. Final score Dragons 22 Ulster 9.
Speaking after the match Brian McLaughlin gave his view:
We came to play the Dragons tonight with a young side and what they’ve learned this evening is that they need to be accurate and not gift the opposition field position. We’re missing 14 key players through World Cup or injury but this evening has been a very valuable experience for our younger players.
The main issue tonight was that we couldn’t put any sustained pressure on them and they got into good positions.
There were some positives tonight, I was pleased with our lineout, I think there were just two crooked throws all night, and the scrum was rock solid in the first half and despite the changes in the second half remained so.
The four day turnaround was very possibly a factor but it’s not an excuse. It works both ways. While there’s no doubt that we did look a little lethargic at times tonight, we had the opportunity to bounce back quickly from a defeat and it takes nothing away from the fact that the Dragons were the better side tonight and deserved their victory.
All of which is fair enough and I thought the youngsters did OK. However, McLaughlin must be worried about the lack of leadership and aggression shown up front. This was a game that Ulster had every opportunity to win if they just wanted to show that little bit more aggression and savvy in the contact areas. As it was the Dragons just needed a token presence at the breakdown allowing the rest of the team to fan out and stifle any attack.
Ulster (15-9): Adam D’Arcy; Craig Gilroy, Luke Marshall, Nevin Spence, Ian Whitten; Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall; (1-8): Declan Fitzpatrick, Nigel Brady, Jerry Cronin, Lewis Stevenson, Dan Tuohy, Pedrie Wannenburg, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry (c); Replacements (16-23): Andi Kyriacou, Kyle McCall, Adam Macklin, Tim Barker, Robbie Diack, Ian Porter, James McKinney, Conor Gaston
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