United Rugby Championship: Dragons 0-12 Ulster

Ulster moved level on points with Leinster at the top of the United Rugby Championship with victory over Dragons.

The deadlock was broken on 39 minutes when James Hume raced clear of the Dragons defence, and the ball was spread wide for Marcus Rea to score.

Hooker John Andrew added a second try just after half-time, finishing off a powerful Ulster driving maul.

Sam Davies missed a penalty for the Dragons as the wet and windy conditions contributed to the low scoring contest.

Neither side added to the score in the final half hour, as Dragons' winless run now stretches to nine games.

Boosted by the return of a handful of players from Ireland's Six Nations squad, Ulster were rarely threatened by the Dragons in south Wales.

The hosts did start brightly, having the better of the early territory and possession, but they failed to impose the danger out wide director of rugby Dean Ryan said they needed to.

Dragons scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou's optimistic drop-goal from near 40 yards dropped short with 20 minutes played, the blustery conditions around Rodney Parade not aiding him.

The game needed a spark as the first-half appeared to be ending without any score, but Hume provided the moment of inspiration needed.

The Ulster centre burst clear in midfield before what looked like a try-saving tackle from Dragons' Josh Lewis, but the Irish province worked the ball first to Doak and then Rea to open the score.

A few minutes after half-time Ulster had their second try, the Dragons were pinned back on their own five metre line, and the visitors driving maul crashed over the line, Andrew scoring the try.

After being released by Wayne Pivac's Wales squad, Ulster hooker Bradley Roberts, who is set to join Dragons at the end of the season, came on as a second-half replacement.

His break after 66 minutes did not lead to a score, but gave the Dragons fans who braved the conditions a taste of what they can expect next season.

In the final minutes Dragons replacement Mesake Doge was sent to the sin bin for a no-arms tackle which was checked by the TMO, a disappointing end to the afternoon for the Welsh region.

Doak almost added three more points with the final kick of the game, but his effort bounced back off the post.

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland said:

"This was always going to be a very tough fixture and when the conditions are the way they are, we needed to approach it in a certain way.

"We would have wanted to give ourselves more opportunities to get tries but it is what it is, and 12-nil is a good result in these conditions. They were horrendous and I haven't played in conditions like that for a long time.

"It was really difficult in both halves, even playing with the wind, the difficulty of passing becomes more prevalent.

"To come away 12-nil, having been as physical as we were in defence and as disciplined as we were, was really pleasing."

Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan told BBC Sport Wales:

"It was pretty difficult for both sides to play but we'll rue not making more of the wind in the first half when we over-played a little bit and didn't win the field position.

"Then for them to get a breakaway try at the end was a bit of a hammer-blow.

"We always knew their power game, their scrum started to grow when their bench came on, and on days like today you couldn't move (the ball) to get field position.

"We changed the plans because of conditions, we wanted to kick much earlier in the phase-count (playing with the wind) but we didn't for some reason and ultimately we paid the price."

Dragons: Josh Lewis; Jonah Holmes, Adam Warren, Aneurin Owen, Rio Dyer; Sam Davies, Gonzalo Bertranou; Greg Bateman, Taylor Davies, Chris Coleman, Joe Davies, Joe Maksymiw, Harri Keddie (capt), Ollie Griffiths, Dan Baker

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Aki Seiuli, Mesake Doge, Huw Taylor, George Young, Rhodri Williams, Ioan Davies, Will Talbot-Davies

Ulster: Rob Lyttle; Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Ben Moxham; Billy Burns, Nathan Doak; Andrew Warwick, John Andrew, Tom O'Toole, Kieran Treadwell, Sam Carter, David McCann, Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney

Replacements: Brad Roberts, Eric O'Sullivan, Marty Moore, Cormac Izuchukwu, Matty Rea, David Shanahan, Ian Madigan, Stewart Moore.

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)

Assistants: Adam Jones & Gareth Newman (WRU)

TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)