Spirited Dragons fall short against Ulster in Belfast

Dragons slipped to a 42-21 defeat on the opening night of the new United Rugby Championship season.

This was a spirited performance from Filo Tiatia's side who scored three tries courtesy of Aaron Wainwright, Jared Rosser and Shane Lewis-Hughes with Tinus de Beer kicking six points.

But in the end Ulster had too much power for the Welsh clubs with Cormac Izuchukwu, Nick Timoney, David McCann, Zac Ward, Nathan Doak and Tom Stewart scoring their tries.

The Dragons could not have hoped for a better start as Ulster made a mess of the kick-off by leaving the ball bounce. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.

It was subsequently hacked forward by Wainwright who regathered to score the opening try which de Beer converted.

There were plenty of positive signs early doors for the Dragons, especially at scrum time as they sent Ulster backwards at a rate of knots on one occasion.

But Ulster soon hit back when Izuchukwu powered over from short-range with Doak adding the extras.

The Dragons quickly fought their way back into the Ulster 22 and a beautiful dink through the Ulster defence by Angus O'Brien found Rosser who scored at the corner for a try which de Beer converted.

But the home side soon clicked into gear and the Dragons were struggling to cope with the explosive power of Stuart McCloskey who consistently punched holes in the Welsh club's defence.

On one occasion he surged forward and after the ball eventually found Jacob Stockdale out wide the Ireland wing's pass did not go to hand which would have resulted in a certain try.

But they didn't have to wait long to breach the Dragons defence as Timoney showed his power to barge over the line with Doak yet