LES KISS HAS called on his Ulster his players to deliver some big performances over the coming weeks as they aim to remain in contention in the Guinness Pro12 and the European Champions Cup.
Ulster suffered their fifth Pro12 defeat of the season — and second on the trot — when they went down 16-13 away to the Scarlets on Friday.
They did manage to pick up a bonus point, but the result means Ulster are now eight points adrift of the play-off places, although the northern province do have a game in hand on the sides above them — Scarlets and Glasgow Warriors.
The difference between the teams on Friday at Parc y Scarlets was the second-half penalty try that was awarded to the hosts when Sean Reidy fell victim to the new laws on the high tackle, with his challenge on Aled Davies earning him a yellow card.
Les Kiss was reluctant to blame refereeing decisions for his team’s defeat but the Ulster director of rugby says there were lessons to learn from a disappointing trip to Wales.
“The decisions we could not control. That is what it is. I thought we probably would have a better return from it if things had gone our way,” Kiss told Ulster’s official website.
“We could have controlled some of our own decisions better but I cannot hide the disappointment of the loss, that is for sure. It’s something we’ve just got to cop.”
Ulster led 13-7 at the interval thanks to a Jacob Stockdale try and eight points from the boot of Paddy Jackson, but their failure to score in the second period proved costly.
Kiss said: “We controlled that first half and I thought we were superb with our retention of the ball. But we were not as clinical as we needed to be at the start of the second half and gave them a bit of life and traction into the game.”
Ulster now turn their attentions back to the European Champions Cup for their final two games in Pool 5. They travel to Sandy Park to face Exeter Chiefs on Sunday before welcoming Bordeaux-Begles to Kingspan Stadium a week on Saturday.
Currently sitting in third place due to defeats in Bordeaux and Clermont, it will be a tall order for Kiss’s side to make the knockout stages. Clermont lead the way on 17 points, with Bordeaux and Ulster on nine each, while Exeter are on six.
Front-row trio Rob Herring, Rodney Ah You and Wiehahn Herbst will all miss the final Pool 5 games. An injury update on the status of Ruan Pienaar, Craig Gilroy and Roger Wilson — who all sat out the Scarlets loss — is imminent.
When their Pool 5 campaign concludes, Ulster will have an opportunity to make up lost ground in the Pro12. They begin February with home games against Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors, before travelling to Italy to face Zebre and then hosting Treviso in Belfast.
“We are not in the ideal position, but we are still contenders,” Kiss said. “The players certainly believe it in the sheds and we have to make sure we dust off and get up for two big Champions Cup games against two big teams. We then get back on the horse for the Pro12.
“It will be an important Six Nations period for us. We will have injured players hopefully coming back by then, which will be a big plus for us and just give our squad a bit of depth. It’s a big six or eight weeks for us.”
