ULSTER ATTACK COACH Mark Sexton wants Ulster to bring the best version of themselves to Saturday’s clash with Zebre in the wake of losing at home to Connacht last week.
The northern province, who are third in the URC table, lost for the first time at home this season when going down 26-19 to Connacht and are determined to put things right when taking on the league’s bottom team in Parma.
“Our structure at the weekend on Friday night wasn’t good enough,” said Sexton.
“Will we make changes to it? The changes will be at doing it better.
“It’s all about making sure what you’re doing, you’re doing it properly and you’re doing it properly all the time.”
Ulster could well be boosted by having Stuart McCloskey and Nick Timoney available after their involvements in the Six Nations, and with James Hume fit again, this likely means that Richie Murphy will not have to deploy Jacob Stockdale in midfield as was the case against Connacht.
Even so, there are doubts over Jack Murphy, Scott Wilson, Charlie Irvine and Sam Crean, while Cormac Izuchukwu, Jake Postlethwaite and Jake Flannery will all miss out.
Advertisement
“I think the biggest thing (when losing to Connacht) was our accuracy,” stated Sexton.
“We created a lot of opportunities that we didn’t take, two really big opportunities, and I think that could have swung the game if we’d taken those chances.
“When we got into the score zone, we came away too many times without points.”
“We change our launch every week depending on who we’re playing. It’s a structure that is built, I suppose, in that we can play it anywhere at any time.
“You might make tweaks. If we’re playing an opposition that gets tight, we might play wider, or a team that fill the pitch, we might look to play through them.
“I felt we were just a fraction off on our speed to set (against Connacht) which took away some of our options.
“That was something we definitely went after,” said Sexton of what Ulster have been focusing on this week after losing for a third time in their last five games.
“Getting off the ground quicker. It sounds so basic, but when we do that, our opportunities are endless. We went after a small bit of our physicality around the breakdown and our physicality around our carry. You tie all those things together, it’s a small bit of detail that we were a bit off on.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
8 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Ulster seeking response after 'small bit of detail' went awry against Connacht, says Mark Sexton
ULSTER ATTACK COACH Mark Sexton wants Ulster to bring the best version of themselves to Saturday’s clash with Zebre in the wake of losing at home to Connacht last week.
The northern province, who are third in the URC table, lost for the first time at home this season when going down 26-19 to Connacht and are determined to put things right when taking on the league’s bottom team in Parma.
“Our structure at the weekend on Friday night wasn’t good enough,” said Sexton.
“Will we make changes to it? The changes will be at doing it better.
“It’s all about making sure what you’re doing, you’re doing it properly and you’re doing it properly all the time.”
Ulster could well be boosted by having Stuart McCloskey and Nick Timoney available after their involvements in the Six Nations, and with James Hume fit again, this likely means that Richie Murphy will not have to deploy Jacob Stockdale in midfield as was the case against Connacht.
Even so, there are doubts over Jack Murphy, Scott Wilson, Charlie Irvine and Sam Crean, while Cormac Izuchukwu, Jake Postlethwaite and Jake Flannery will all miss out.
“I think the biggest thing (when losing to Connacht) was our accuracy,” stated Sexton.
“We created a lot of opportunities that we didn’t take, two really big opportunities, and I think that could have swung the game if we’d taken those chances.
“When we got into the score zone, we came away too many times without points.”
“We change our launch every week depending on who we’re playing. It’s a structure that is built, I suppose, in that we can play it anywhere at any time.
“You might make tweaks. If we’re playing an opposition that gets tight, we might play wider, or a team that fill the pitch, we might look to play through them.
“I felt we were just a fraction off on our speed to set (against Connacht) which took away some of our options.
“That was something we definitely went after,” said Sexton of what Ulster have been focusing on this week after losing for a third time in their last five games.
“Getting off the ground quicker. It sounds so basic, but when we do that, our opportunities are endless. We went after a small bit of our physicality around the breakdown and our physicality around our carry. You tie all those things together, it’s a small bit of detail that we were a bit off on.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Rugby URC