HEINEKEN CUP POOL 1 Ulster (22) 22 Tries: Shields, Humphreys, Howe Cons: Humphreys 2 Pens: Humphreys 1 Dragons (0) 0

Ulster maintained their 100 per cent home record in this season's Heineken Cup by claiming a comprehensive win over the Dragons at Ravenhill.

The home team scored all their points in the first half with the outstanding David Humphreys, Paul Shields and Tyrone Howe notching tries.

A worry for Ulster and Ireland was a shoulder injury which forced Humphreys to leave the field in the second half.

The win left Ulster in third place at the end of Pool 1.

On a cold and wet night, Ulster made a great start with hooker Paul Shields notching a fifth minute try after Humphreys' Garryowen had put the Dragons defence under real pressure.

The Ulster fly-half failed with the conversion and was off target again 11 minutes later after Neil Doak's dart had put the Dragons defence under pressure.

However, Humphreys atoned for his misses in the 18th minute when he notched a breakaway try after charging down opposite number Craig Warlow's chip and skilfully kicking the ball ahead.

We'll look back on the away defeats against Gwent and Stade Francais Alan Solomons

Ulster continued to dominate and only a forward pass denied Matt McCullough a try in the 28th minute.

However's Ulster third try did come on the half-hour with Humphreys' dart setting up Tyrone Howe to score the touchdown.

Humphreys' conversion left Ulster 19-0 ahead against a demoralised Gwent outfit.

Percy Montgomery tried to rally his colleagues before half-time by producing a couple of great breaks but some poor handling meant the Ulster line stayed intact.

I was very pleased with our first half performance Alan Solomons

A further Humphreys penalty in the 36th minute left Ulster 22-0 ahead at the interval.

The Dragons came into the game more in the third quarter but failed to notch a score.

The game became very scrappy in the final quarter with tempers boiling over on occasion and Gwent's Rhys Oakley was sinbinned after giving some backchat to French referee Joel Dume.

Ulster and Ireland then suffered a worrying blow when Humphreys was forced to leave the field with what appeared to be a hand injury.

Despite a number of promising positions, Ulster failed to secure the fourth try which would have earned a bonus point.

News that Stade Francais had surprisingly beaten Leicester to top Pool 1 only increased Ulster frustrations at the end of the campaign.

Ulster: B Cunningham, Topping, Mallon, Steinmetz, Howe, Humphreys, Doak, Kempson, Shields, Moore, Longwell, McCullough, Ward, N Best, Wilson.
Replacements: Sexton,S Best, Mustchin, Brosnihan, Campbell, Larkin; Wallace.

Dragons: P Montgomery; N Brew, H Luscombe, A Marinos, B Breeze; C Warlow, R Jones; R Snow, P Young, R Thomas, I Gough, P Sidoli, R Oakley, J Ringer, M Owen.
Replacements: S Jones, A Black, C Anthony, R Beattie, G Baber, S Winn, S Tuipulotu.

Referee: Joel Dume (France).