Ulster's chances of making the knock out stages of the Magners League suffered a blow at Ravenhill on Friday night when they were held to a 22-22 draw by the Newport Gwent Dragons.
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Ulster 22 - 22 Newport Gwent Dragons
It was an error-strewn display by Brian McLaughlin's side who looked a little ring rusty after a break from competitive action due to Ireland's Six Nations campaign and 'A' international commitments.
Ulster hooker Rory Best, who has been named in Ireland's squad for next week's clash with England, made an impressive return to the provincial side.
But he blotted his copybook when he was sent to the sin-bin for allegedly stamping on an opponent reducing Ulster to 14 men for 10 minutes on either side of half time.
"It was a frustrating night all round especially as we were leading 17-6 in the first half and playing reasonably well at the time," said Ulster coach McLaughlin.
"But we made far too many mistakes and conceded far too many penalties though credit to the Dragons for the way they came back at us."
An Ian Humphrey's penalty in the second minute gave Ulster the perfect start and three minutes later Thomas Anderson had a 'try' disallowed for an alleged obstruction.
Dragons' fly half Jason Tovey kicked over a penalty in the 12th minute to put the Welsh side back on level terms.
The sides exchanged two more penalties before Paddy Wallace collected a pass from Dan Tuohy to score the opening try of the game in the 26th minute.
Two more Humphreys penalties put Ulster 17-6 up after 33 minutes but the Dragons added another six points from the boot of Tovey to trail by five at the interval.
Then the visitors went ahead for the first time in the game two minutes after the restart when hooker Steve Jones barged his way over the line after a line out and Tovey converted to make it 19-17 as Best's sin-binning proved costly.
However a great move involving Darren Cave, Wallace and Jamie Smith culminated in Simon Danielli going over in the corner for Ulster second try of the night in the 51st minute.
Five minutes later man-of-the-match Tovey sent over a drop goal to tie the scores at 22-22.
Ulster had their opponents on the back foot for the last 10 minutes of an absorbing tussle but the Dragons held on with some resolute defending although a Humphreys drop goal attempt in the last minute of normal time landed inches wide of the post.
© UTV News