DRAGONS head coach Bernard Jackman says being hammered at Ulster’s Kingspan Stadium fortress will not derail the Welsh as they continue on their long-term plan to become realistic title contenders.
Rhys Buckley, Dane Blacker and Will Talbot- Davies touched down for the visitors in an impressive attacking display in Belfast on Friday night, but they conceded eight tries up the other end to Les Kiss’s side.
Ulster debutant No.8 Nick Timoney scored twice, while Stuart McCloskey, Peter Nelson, Wiehahn Herbst, Jacob Stockdale and David Shanahan were also among the try-scorers.
The hosts were also awarded a penalty try on the night as they kept up their perfect start to the season with a bonus point win to go clear at the top of Conference B.
“Everyone involved in Dragons rugby understands that it’s definitely a two-year plan if not three,” said Jackman. “But Ulster were very good, very powerful, very accurate and played with good tempo. They are a good side. I think it was probably their best performance of the season.
“They had a very good performance against Scarlets last week, which is a really hard test of where you’re at, and they managed to win that. They have a good squad, they’re well coached, and will be a real threat.”
The loss was Dragons’ third in four games this season. They had a treacherous start and were 33-13 behind at half-time against Ulster.
Tighthead prop Lloyd Fairbrother was sinbinned when he conceded a penalty try after coming in from the side of an Ulster rolling maul at the end of the first quarter.
Ulster piled on the misery in the secondhalf with Nick Timoney, below, the standout performer in a rampant pack. And even though Rodney Ah You got yellow at the breakdown late on Ulster were convincing winners.
“The guys were focused on how they went about their business and got the job done,” said Ulster director of rugby Kiss. “We made nine or ten changes. We asked those guys to stand up and deliver on the standards that we’d been asking for. “It was very pleasing that they went out there and when we needed to be clinical we were.
“We put the scoreline out there. We scored regularly through the game. I would have liked one later on to just tidy things up.”
MATCH STATS…
TEAMS
ULSTER: Piutau 7 (Lyttle 49, 7); Bowe 7, Cave 7 (Herron 51, 6), McCloskey 8, Stockdale 8; Nelson 8, Marshall 7 (Shanahan 54, 7); McCall 6 (Warwick 40, 7), Herring 7 (Andrew 49, 6) Ah You 5 (Herbst 22, 8); Diack 8, O’Connor 7 (Henderson 58, 6), Ross 7 (Rea 52, 6), Timoney 9, Henry 8
DRAGONS: Meyer 6; Hughes 6 (Talbot-Davies 45, 7), Palamo 6, Howard 7, Gasson 7; Jones 7 (O’Brien 40, 6), Leonard 6 (Blacker 52, 7); Davies 6 (Price 26-36, 49, 6) (Harris 69, 6), Ellis 6 (Buckley 23, 8), Fairbrother 6; Screech 7, Landman 6 (Davies 66, 6); Williams 7, Blake 6 (Greggains 24, 6), Griffiths 8 (Landman 67-74)
REFEREE: Adam Jones
ATTENDANCE: 12,843
Star man
Nick Timoney – Ulster
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