Ulster 29
Newport Gwent Dragons 8
THE GRUMBLING OVER Ruan Pienaar’s impending Ulster exit will grow louder if the South African continues to put in man-of-the-match displays like this throughout the season.
Pienaar, who is being forced to leave the province by the IRFU, produced an inspired performance at Ravenhill tonight to guide Ulster to a convincing opening night win over Newport Gwent Dragons.
The scrum-half proved a point on the pitch and was clearly fired up throughout as he scored nine points, including a second-half try, to set Les Kiss’ men on their way.
While Pienaar received the accolades, Rob Lyttle enjoyed a dream debut as he scored two tries after Nick Macleod’s penalty and Pat Hoard’s try had given the Welsh region the early lead.
But Ulster were soon in their stride as Lyttle — an early replacement for Craig Gilroy — dotted down before another young winger, Jacob Stockdale, got in on the act with a solo score.
And there was no stopping the hosts from there as Pienaar, Lyttle and Rob Herring asserted Ulster’s dominance to secure maximum points from the first outing of the campaign.
ULSTER: Charles Piutau, Craig Gilroy, Stuart Olding, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Brett Herron, Ruan Pienaar; Callum Black, Rob Herring (captain), Ross Kane, Peter Browne, Franco van der Merwe, Clive Ross, Sean Reidy, Roger Wilson.
NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS: Carl Meyer, Adam Warren, Sam Beard, Jack Dixon, Pat Howard, Nick MacLeod, Sarel Pretorius; Sam Hobbs, T Rhys Thomas, Craig Mitchell, Cory Hill, Rynard Landman, Ollie Griffiths, Nic Cudd, Ed Jackson.
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