Bonus win for Ulster
Ulster heaped more away-day misery on the Dragons with a 30-12 win at Ravenhill.
Last Updated: 10/02/12 9:59pm
Ulster heaped more away-day misery on Newport-Gwent Dragons with a 30-12 win in the RaboDirect PRO12 at Ravenhill.
Stefan Terblanche's late try clinched a bonus point for Ulster, who boosted their play-off hopes with a fourth win in five matches, while the Welsh side suffered an 11th straight loss on the road in this competition.
Jason Tovey opened the scoring with a long-range penalty after seven minutes and though Ruan Pienaar missed an early penalty chance for Ulster, the home side went ahead when a clever short lineout - along with a lucky juggle - saw Robbie Diack score in the right corner.
Pienaar missed the tricky conversion but, from the restart, Ulster swept downfield and in a terrific move involving Craig Gilroy, Michael McComish and Adam D'Arcy, they carved the Dragons open for Pienaar to score at the posts.
The South African added the easy extras to put them 12-3 ahead.
A pair of Tovey penalties sliced that advantage to three points after 28 minutes.
Ulster needed to respond and did so when Pienaar nailed a penalty on the half hour after the Dragons were penalised at a scrum, giving them a 15-9 lead at the break.
The Dragons came out of the blocks with intent after the restart and though they butchered an early overlap their reward was Tovey's fourth penalty, cutting the gap back to three.
However, Ulster immediately struck back, spinning the ball right from a ruck for Gilroy to charge through and score.
Pienaar was unable to convert and Ulster were then reduced to 14 men after Faloon was binned for not releasing.
Ulster survived his departure and then sent on Ali Birch when the 10 minutes was up.
It was a critical point in the game as the Dragons - dominating territory and possession - went for the corner off two penalties and came away with nothing for their efforts.
With the game entering its final five minutes, Italian referee Carlo Damasco carded Ian Whitten for apparently deliberately slapping the ball down in a Dragons attack and Ulster were forced to end the game with 14 men.
To Ulster's credit, they marched up the field and won a penalty which Pienaar knocked over to take the score to 23-12.
Then, in the game's final move, a great Ulster burst set up an overlap on the right and Terblanche was put over, with Pienaar converting.
