LAST UPDATE | 3 Jan 2021

LEINSTER’S DAN LEAVY insists his team need to accept responsibility for last night’s 35-24 defeat to Connacht and fix their problems quickly ahead of Friday’s must-win clash against Ulster.

A first Pro14 defeat in 26 games has left Leo Cullen’s side 10 points behind Ulster in Conference A, albeit with two games fewer played.

However, if Ulster defeat Leinster in Friday’s RDS showdown then the prospect of the defending champions failing to make it to this season’s final will become surprisingly real. Sometimes one result can change the course of a season and Leavy was offering no excuses for Leinster’s poor first-half display.

“We started slowly,” said Leavy afterwards in an interview with eir Sport. “Connacht got a really good foothold in the game early on and while we showed a lot of fight in the second-half, credit to Connacht, they were the better team overall.

“They showed serious fight and serious desire that we were lacking and it is a tough one to take. They wanted it more. That comes down to us as individuals and as a collective. We will put our hands up for that.

“It is not good enough from us.

“We must be better for Friday’s game against a very strong Ulster team. We made silly errors and our set-piece was not where it needed to be.”

As Cullen reflected on his team’s first defeat in this competition for nearly two years, he also referenced the self-inflicted wounds in that costly first half that finished with Connacht holding a 20-point lead.

“We made a lot of unforced errors – we were definitely better in the second-half but credit to Connacht, they deserved their win,” Cullen said.

“We need to be better, our young players can learn a lot from that game in terms of understanding the step-up, particularly in these interprovincial games which are different to other Pro14 games.

“Ulster is now a huge game for us. We are slipping a little behind them.”