Ulster 52 Dragons 25
Ulster went top of the Pro14 Conference B after racking up their fourth straight win from as many games as they swept a weakened Dragons outfit aside in an eight-try pasting.
Number eight Nick Timoney scored twice and secured the man of the match award in a storming display, while Charles Piutau was centrally involved in much of Ulster’s good work as they burned the Dragons in a first half which saw them manage five tries with the bonus point wrapped up before the half hour mark.
Ulster head coach Les Kiss made several changes this Friday night encounter, but with Dragons head coach Bernard Jackman making 13 changes, the hosts gratefully accepted their open invitation to rack up a big score. They managed three tries when Lloyd Fairbrother was sin binned in the first half, and the home side led 33-13 at the interval.
Prior to Timoney’s first try, Stuart McCloskey and Peter Nelson - the latter ended the evening scoring 15 points - had earlier crossed before a penalty try was awarded. Ulster had a fifth in the bag, from blood sub Wiehahn Herbst, with Nelson having added four conversions.
Though Ulster, with Iain Henderson making his first appearance of the season from the bench, were perhaps not as ruthless as they would have hoped as the second half progressed, there was never any danger of them losing their grip on the this game.
They conceded three tries during this period and only scored three themselves after racing into an early 45-13 lead in the second period.
Jacob Stockdale continued his scoring form with a third try in as many games before Timoney burst through for his second and Shanahan crossed after the hour mark after taking a tap penalty to himself.
It was slightly disappointing for Kiss that Dragons’ replacements Rhys Buckley, Dane Blacker and Will Talbot-Davies all got over the Ulster line and that Rodney Ah You was yellow-carded in the 80th minute - but not even that could deny Ulster this big scoreline.
ULSTER: C Piutau; T Bowe, D Cave, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; P Nelson, P Marshall; K McCall, R Herring, R Ah You; R Diack, A O'Connor; C Ross, C Henry (capt), N Timoney.
Replacements: W Herbst for Ah You 23-25mins (blood), A Warwick for McCall half-time, J Andrew for Herring 49mins, R Lyttle for Piutau 48mins, B Herron for Nelson 52mins, M Rea for Ross 52mins, D Shanahan for Marshall 54mins, I Henderson for O’Connor 58mins.
DRAGONS: C Meyer; A Hughes, T Palamo, P Howard, G Gasson; D Jones, O Leonard; T Davies, G Ellis, L Fairbrother; M Screech, R Landman; M Williams, O Griffiths (capt), R Blake.
Replacements: , L Greggains for Blake 24mins, P Price for Davies 28-37mins (blood), R Buckley for Ellis 33mins, A O’Brien for Jones half-time, W Talbot-Davies for Hughes 45mins, D Blacker for Leonard 49mins, J Davies for Landman 66mins, B Harris for Fairbrother 69mins.
Referee: D Jones (WRU)
