NEWPORT Gwent Dragons went down to a 27-17 defeat to Ulster at Rodney Parade last night. Here are five things from the Guinness PRO12 clash…

1: Better, much better

Of course nobody likes losing but the manner of that defeat was so much easier to take after pushing a top quality Ulster side so hard.

Fifteen tries were shipped and 101 points were conceded in the Leinster and Glasgow losses but the Dragons were more resolute against the men from Belfast.

The second half at Scotstoun was embarrassing but Ulster certainly didn’t have things easy despite clearly going into the game chasing a four-try bonus.

One try came from a fortunate bounce, another was earned by a deft touch after a super attack and the final one came at the death from a driving lineout.

All that against a side featuring Lions contender Iain Henderson, former Springbok Ruan Pienaar, All Black Charles Piutau, Craig Gilroy, Rodney Ah You…

2: More accurate attack

The Dragons tested the well-drilled Ulster defence with a number of multi-phase attacks, playing with width and enterprise.

Throw a Hallam Amos, Ashton Hewitt or Ed Jackson into the mix, three players who possess the ability to make things happen off the cuff, and they may have made a crucial breakthrough.

They also still miss a big carrier to smash over when hammering away at the line but, as has been written previously in many 'Five things...', that costs big money.

Nonetheless, if the Dragons attack with patience against Zebre, the Scarlets, Edinburgh and Cardiff Blues then they should cause problems.

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3: Great Griffiths

Wales have a wealth of back row options and competition will be fierce for spots in the squad to face Samoa and Tonga this summer, even without Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau, Justin Tipuric and possibly even Ross Moriarty because of Lions duty.

However, Ollie Griffiths has surely played himself onto the tour with a series of stellar displays in a losing Dragons team.

He is a Warburton-type flanker with the ability to win collisions but also thrive at the breakdown while he is dynamic in attack.

The ability to play both blindside and openside counts in his favour and he should be pushing fellow hopefuls Thomas Young, Olly Cracknell, James Davies and James King hard.

A word too for his back row partners in crime Nic Cudd and Lewis Evans, who also had fine games with the latter becoming the first Dragon to hit 200 appearances.

4: Spirit levels high

It would have been easy for the Dragons to fold on a number occasions but the only time that they were more than a score behind was at the death when Ulster score their third.

The visitors clearly felt that the Dragons were a touch vulnerable in terms of confidence after the Leinster and Glasgow games, hence their decisions to go for the corner from penalties throughout the game until they needed a three-pointer to get into the lead late on.

Lewis Evans and his team showed admirable determination, especially after Jared Payne’s super score that made it 17-10 when they dug deep to level.

5: Failure to put the squeeze on after fighting back

Alas, the Dragons were unable to ever really put the squeeze on Ulster and the minutes after their two tries will have disappointed them.

They had a man advantage after Rynard Landman’s score but spent those eight-or-so minutes pinned inside their own 22 before Payne went over.

Then after Griffiths had gone over, with Angus O’Brien adding a second excellent conversion, the restart was dropped by Adam Hughes (who actually had a strong game getting involved from the wing).

If only the Dragons could have got back down to Ulster territory they might have sneaked in front for the first time rather than being vulnerable to the cruellest of late scores that meant they didn’t even get a point for a determined display.