Ulster’s new coach, Les Kiss, will be relieved to have started his new tenure with an 12 – 19 away win against Newport/Gwent Dragons.

While a win is a win the match was far from the free flowing extravaganza that I was hoping for. In fact it was a fairly turgid affair with defences dominating in difficult conditions.

Kicking off with the elements behind them the Dragons kept Ulster pinned in their own half for much of the first quarter. Dorian Jones slotted over a 10th minute penalty and the Dragons doubled their lead five minutes later when Jones slotted over his second after Stuart McCloskey was binned for a tripping him.

Jones added a third penalty to give the Dragons a 9 – 0 lead on the 19th minute but it was scant reward for an extra man as Ulster appeared to be adapting to the conditions as they went into the second quarter.

Sure enough the penalties followed and Paddy Jackson slotted over both to take the score to 9 – 6 at the break.

Ulster took the lead ten minutes after the restart when Paul Marshall spotted a huge gap in defence after a series of Ulster drives had soaked in the defence. Jackson converted and Ulster led 9 – 13.

Rory Best, Ruan Pienaar and Craig Gilroy were introduced over the next ten minutes only for Best to quickly depart as Ulster received their second yellow card and the resultant penalty, this time from Jason Tovey, made it a one point game as the teams went into the final quarter.

By this stage Ulster were winning the forward battles and Jackson slotted over two further penalties to stretch their lead to 12 – 19 with nine minutes to go, a lead they seemed content to sit on. However, with Ulster inviting them on, and roused by their home crowd, the Dragons staged a last gasp effort to snatch a draw, pinning Ulster in their own 22 for the last five minutes.

It made for compulsive viewing as Ulster rebuffed attack after attack but it was excitement we could have dome without. Thankfully Ulster held on with some gritty defence and secured their first away win of the season.

Final Score: Dragons 12 Ulster 19.

Ulster: Peter Nelson, Rory Scholes, Darren Cave, Stuart McCloskey, Sam Arnold, Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall, Kyle McCall, Rob Herring, Wiehahn Herbst, Dan Tuohy, Franco vd Merwe, Robbie Diack, Chris Henry, Stephen Mulholland. Replacements: Rory Best, Ricky Lutton, Bronson Ross, Lewis Stevenson, Sean Reidy, Ruan Pienaar, Ian Humphreys, Craig Gilroy

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t comfortable and it was a touch uneventful for long periods, but given the conditions and, more importantly, Ulster’s poor away form this season we have to look at the result as a positive. However they’ll have to be a lot sharper next week when they start their European adventure against Oyonnax in France.