THE Dragons second string suffered a predictably embarrassing night in Belfast, the damage of which will be determined by how the firsts get on at Rodney Parade next weekend.

Bernard Jackman’s men endured a 52-25 hammering at the hands of unbeaten Ulster in a type of mismatch usually seen when part-timers are put up against big boys in Europe.

The Irish province, who had made plenty of changes themselves, had their bonus point in the bag after just 25 minutes.

Some will suggest that the Dragons brought the Guinness PRO14 into disrepute; they won’t care if the Southern Kings are downed in Newport next Saturday night.

Opportunity knocked for a raft of players but instead they have merely piled the pressure on those that stayed at home – a South African scalp is now imperative.

It was pretty clear when the teams were announced at midday on Thursday that the Dragons long, long wait for an away win in the Guinness PRO14 would stretch to at least Cardiff Blues next month.

Another league loss on the road – a 26th on the spin away from home – was odds-on once Jackman made it clear he was targeting more winnable fixtures than one at a notoriously tricky venue.

The management decided to change 13 of the XV that had triumphed against Connacht the previous round in order to go all out against Kings.

They fielded just one nailed-on first-teamer – captain and flanker Ollie Griffiths – while Matthew Screech and Rynard Landman were in a shootout to be Cory Hill’s partner in the second row.

As such, the damage from Belfast will be determined by the Rodney Parade scoreboard at 9.30pm next Saturday.

The Dragons handed full debuts to six players – wing George Gasson, centre Thretton Palamo, scrum-half Owain Leonard, hooker Gerard Ellis and back row forwards Max Williams and Robson Blake.

Others were given a lengthy chance to show they deserve to be considered for the Kings, Blues, European and Ospreys games on the horizon.

If Jackman wanted some selection headaches to mull over while waiting in a Belfast airport lounge then he was disappointed; the head coach could pretty much have named his 23 for the Kings before leaving the Ravenhill footprint.

It’s still possible to fluff your lines even when in a cast of understudies and at times the Dragons veered so far from the script that it was improv.

Of course it was never going to be easy to be flung in en bloc but it was a performance that means there will be no knocking on Jackman’s door after he selects his 23 for round five.

It took just 123 seconds for Ulster to score their first try and it was far, far too easy.

An overlap down the right saw All Blacks superstar Charles Piutau carry then offload for back rowers Clive Ross and Chris Henry to put centre Stuart McCloskey over.

The Dragons had been tenacious without the ball against Connacht but it was an ignominious start against the northern province.

Thankfully they settled and Dorian Jones banged over a penalty for 5-3 but the second try came after just 12 minutes when fly-half Peter Nelson went through a gaping hole in the 22.

It was a score that number eight Blake and tighthead Lloyd Fairbrother won’t enjoy watching back in analysis.

Jones was successful from the tee for a second time to reduce the gap to 12-6 but try number three was chalked up after a quarter when a penalty was kicked to the corner.

Fairbrother dragged down the resulting maul, an offence that cost him a yellow card as well as his team seven points.

The 14-man Dragons then lost two of their heftier forwards, Ellis then Blake, after they came off second-best from collisions.

And Ulster scored their fourth try when number eight Nick Timoney barged over then a fifth when prop Wiehahn Herbst scored in a similar fashion.

It was embarrassingly one-side with the hosts dominating the gain line to ease into a 33-6 lead with half an hour gone.

Thankfully the Dragons stemmed the flow – through Ulster taking their foot off the gas? – and got on the scoreboard when hooker Rhys Buckley was at the bottom of a driving maul.

Jones converted superbly to make it 33-13 at the break but Ulster got the scoreboard ticking after the resumption with the Dragons providing assists.

First Palamo somehow failed to dot the ball down over his line to gift Stockdale a try and then atrocious tackling allowed Timoney to grab his second.

With half an hour left it was 45-13 and the Dragons wanted to get back to Belfast International.

Full-back Carl Meyer couldn’t be accused of lacking effort and his break led to the Dragons’ second score, on-loan Blues scrum-half Dane Blacker spying a gap and sniping over for a neat try that Angus O’Brien converted.

But Ulster piled on the misery with replacement scrum-half David Shanahan crossing from a quick tap before Pat Howard had an effort chalked off by the TMO for a forward pass.

However, we still had the bizarre situation of a hammered Dragons chasing an undeserved bonus when Will Talbot-Davies scored a cracker after fine work by the lively Blacker. They were unable to grab a consolation.

Ulster: C Piutau (R Lyttle 50), T Bowe, D Cave (B Herron 53), McCloskey, J Stockdale, P Nelson, P Marshall (D Shanahan 53), K McCall (A Warwick ), R Herring (J Andrew ), R Ah You (W Herbst 23-29), R Diack, A O’Connor (I Henderson 57), C Ross (M Rea 53), C Henry (captain), N Timoney.

Scorers: tries – S McCloskey, P Nelson, penalty, N Timoney (2), W Herbst, J Stockdale, D Shanahan; conversions – P Nelson (4), automatic penalty try conversion, B Herron

Yellow card: Ah You

Dragons: C Meyer, A Hughes (W Talbot-Davies 45), T Palamo, P Howard, G Gasson, D Jones (A O’Brien 40), O Leonard (D Blacker 49), T Davies (P Price 26-36, 49, B Harris 69), G Ellis (R Buckley 23), L Fairbrother, M Screech, R Landman (J Davies 66), M Williams, O Griffiths (captain, R Landman 67-74), R Blake (L Greggains 24).

Scorers: tries – R Buckley, D Blacker, W Talbot-Davies; conversions – D Jones, A O’Brien

Yellow card: L Fairbrother

Referee: Dan Jones (Wales)

Argus star man: Ollie Griffiths