IT HAS ALL tightened up in the race for a top four spot in the URC. Third to sixth are all now within four points of each other after Ulster failed in their bid to open some daylight between themselves and the chasing pack, going down 17-11 in Glasgow.
The real frustration for head coach Dan McFarland, however, was that he knew this was a game his side could have won if they had only been able to convert chances they created when they had the wind behind them. Instead, he had to take what solace he could from the way they salvaged a losing bonus point from the last kick of the game.
“I was pretty disappointed with performance in the second half, but also disappointed with the fact that we had opportunities in the first 20 minutes to score points and we didn’t take them,” he said, though he added that he had been puzzled by some of the officiating when Glasgow scored their three tries.
McFarland and some of his players felt the home side had obstructed Ulster defenders when back row men were able to break off the back of line out mauls and crash over the line while the rest of the maul trundled into the path of the cover defence.
He had to accept, however, that justice was possibly done. Glasgow Warriors had stacked their bench with current Test players and when they came on for the final quarter the game was still tight. They were able to lift the pace and intensity enough to turn the game in their favour after Ulster had taken the lead just before half-time and looked more than capable of holding onto it.
The problem was that the men in white were only two points up despite carving out a number of first-half scoring chances. “You’ve got to finish those off,” McFarland said of the three times they were stopped on the Glasgow line. “We got our maul going but didn’t finish off, Glasgow held us out. It was 8-5 at half-time and really it should have been at least 15-5 given the opportunities that we had.”
The big problem for McFarland and his team is that even the weakened squad he was able to take to Glasgow will look strong compared to the unit he can take to Durban in South Africa next week as they head out to face the Sharks in a rescheduled match that clashes with the Six Nations.
If the game had been in Europe he might have hoped to get some fringe players back from the Ireland squad but with the team flying early in the week, he is resigned to doing without all his international contingent.
“We’ve acknowledged this is going to be an extremely tough period for us,” he said.
A trip to Durban at this time of year is very difficult, with the heat and the travel. Then we come back and play [away] against Cardiff. But we’ve got to get it done. We need to win, that’s the bottom line. Five games left, and we have to pick up some points.
His views were echoed by the players as well, though Alan O’Connor, the captain, didn’t see any reason they can’t travel next week in confidence after proving in their earlier trip to South Africa, when they beat the Lions in Johannesburg, that they could handle both playing at altitude and in the heat.
“It is something we have done before, we know we can go over there and get a result,” he said. “It is a challenge so we have to pick ourselves up quickly. The top of the league is pretty tight, it is going to be tough.”