After a tentative opening twelve minutes, the highlight of which was a powerful surge from deep which got Ulster to within metres of the line, the score was opened by Kieron Dawson who ghosted past the Dragons defence from an Ulster lineout. Clinton Schifcofske duly converted to put the score at 7-0.

The Dragons were soon to reduce the deficit to four points with a well-struck penalty from fly-half James Arlidge on 18 minutes. Play was then generally contained to the centre of the park without either team posing a significant threat until Arlidge once again split the posts with an impressive penalty from 45 metres, bringing the Welshmen to within a point of the home team.

Ulster responded well with strong running from Isaac Boss and Niall O'Connor in particular, but never really looked like penetrating the Dragons' backline as their advances were hampered by wayward passes and knock-ons from within their own ranks. The first half drew to a close with the Dragons camped inside the Ulster twenty-two, where a third penalty was eventually awarded by referee Andy Macpherson. Once again Arlidge made no mistake to put his side 9-7 up with what was to be the last kick of the first half.

The Dragons came out in the second half with their tails up and only a last-ditch tackle from Ulster's Flying Fijian Timoci Nagusa prevented a first-minute try in the corner. Once this danger had been defused Ulster settled down into their game, with pacy attacking play notably from Andrew Trimble, who got almost within touching distance of the opposing tryline on 50 minutes, only to be frustrated by strong tackling from the Dragons.

A powerful clearance from full-back Clinton Schifcofske forced the knock-on from the Dragons two minutes later, and from the resulting Ulster scrum Darren Cave made good progress down the left wing, but once again to no avail. The sustained Ulster pressure had the effect of considerably raising the decibel level inside Ravenhill, with the ever-faithful support urging the men in white to claw their way back into the game.

Multiple changes by coach Matt Williams brought Ian Humphreys, Justin Fitzpatrick, Carlo Del Fava, Cillian Willis and Thomas Anderson into the fray with twenty minutes remaining, but did not immediately have the desired effect. Hesitant Ulster defending allowed Ashley Smith to sneak over the line on 70 minutes for the Dragons' first try, Arlidge keeping up his 100% kicking record with his conversion, courtesy of the right-hand post.

With the score at 7-16 Ulster fought hard to stage a dramatic comeback, with positive attacking rugby culminating in Ian Humphreys grounding the second home try of the match on 75 minutes. After Schifcofske had converted to make the score 14-16, Ulster continued to pile the pressure onto the visitors, with a sustained period of attack ended by an unfortunate knock-on on the visitors' twenty-two just before the end of normal time.

The Dragons then got the ball into the Ulster half, where they were able to run down the clock until the four minutes of injury time had elapsed, leaving Ulster players and supporters alike frustrated and looking to next Friday's clash with the Ospreys in the hope of claiming their first victory of the Magner's League season.

Ulster Team: (15-9) C Schifcofske; A Trimble, D Cave, R Dewey, T Nagusa; N O'Connor, l Boss; (1-8) T Court, R Best(Capt), B Botha, R Caldwell, E O'Donoghue; M McCullough, K Dawson, R Diack
Replacements (16-22) N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, C Del Fava, T Anderson, C Willis, I Humphreys, B Cunningham

Dragons Team: (15-9) P Dollman; G Wyatt, R Sidey, A Smith, R Fussell; J Arlidge, W Evans; (1-8) A Black, T Willis (Capt), R Thomas; A Jones, L Charteris; J Bearman, R Parks, G Webb

Replacements (16-22) S Jones, H Gustafson, A Brown, J Ringer, R Gomer-Davies, T Isaacs, J Tovey

Referee: A Macpherson (Scotland)

Assistant Referees: E O'Dowd (Ireland), M Gargan (Ireland)

Attendance: 7,885.