Ulster vs Dragons Prediction: Ulstermen too strong for Dragons

Ulster will look to continue their push up the United Rugby Championship table when they host the Dragons at Ravenhill Stadium on Saturday night.

The Ulstermen find themselves in eighth place in the standings heading into the weekend’s fixtures, while the 15th-placed Dragons only have the Sharks below them on the table after the first 10 rounds of the campaign.

A one-sided affair looks to be on the cards in Belfast and another long night is in store for a Dragons side that have conceded the second-most points in the competition this season.

Match Odds

Ulster are heavy favourites to come out on top against the struggling Dragons at 1/50 for the win.

The Dragons are available at 12/1 to cause an upset across the Irish Sea, while a tie on the night is 28/1.

Team News

Ulster have a number of first-team players out injured and others away with the Ireland squad ahead of their next Six Nations game against England on March 9th.

Iain Henderson (toe), Ben Moxham (knee), Rob Herring (elbow), Stewart Moore (thigh), Alan O'Connor (ankle) and Callum Reid (back) have all been ruled out of Saturday’s game.

Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole, Nick Timoney, Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale were named in the Ireland squad and are unlikely to be made available for this game.

As for the Dragons, head coach Dai Flanagan has been boosted by the return of Taine Basham following his release from Wales’ Six Nations squad.

Flanagan has also hinted veteran flanker Dan Lydiate is nearing a return, as are Ollie Griffiths, Harrison Keddie and George Nott.

Ulster -23 handicap @ 11/10

The Dragons have lost their last six meetings with Ulster and it’s hard to see that run not continuing at the weekend in Belfast.

With just two wins in the URC this term, the Dragons have struggled and their defence has much to answer for.

Conceding 346 points in their first 10 games of the campaign, only fellow Welsh outfit the Scarlets have conceded more at this stage of the season.

Letting an average of just under 35 points a game past you is always going to make winning rugby games difficult and Ulster should have the grunt in the pack to give their backs opportunities to hurt the visitors this weekend.

Ulster were on a good run at the end of last year, but have suffered defeats in their last three games in all competitions.

Saturday’s arrival of the Dragons offers the perfect opportunity to notch up that elusive first win of 2024 and push towards the top end of the URC table.

Considering the far from watertight Dragons’ defence, Ulster are good value at 11/10 to come out on top with a -23 handicap at Ravenhill.

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