After the 16 points to 14 defeat to Glasgow at Scotstoun, Ulster centre, Darren Cave, spoke of his huge disappointment at the defeat and his determination to work even harder to get the team over the line in future:
After the 16 points to 14 defeat to Glasgow at Scotstoun, Ulster centre, Darren Cave, spoke of his huge disappointment at the defeat and his determination to work even harder to get the team over the line in future:
“It is tough to swallow,” he said. “I believed the whole way that we were going to win it. Of all the tough defeats that I have had at Ulster, this is right up there. It’s going to be a difficult week for us with the final being in Belfast and we will all be trying to get as far away as possible! The thought of reporting back for preseason on 29th June right now is something that I cannot even get my head around.”
Many of the Ulster players were left wondering how they could dominate a game for so long, but still end up on the wrong side of the result:
Cave says: “We caused them an awful lot of problems in the first half. I have only seen the game live but when I watch it back, I wont know how we went in at half time at only 8-6. It reminds me of the Munster game when we dominated line breaks and had lots of opportunities and I think against Glasgow we also had plenty of chances to win the game.
“We were a bit nervy at the start of the second half, but we rode out that period well. When Ruan landed that monster penalty I genuinely thought at that stage that we would go on and win it. That scrum that we had on 71 minutes, then the two penalties on the bounce, they then took it through the phases and scored a great try. Fair play to Finn Russell, it was a great conversion and they are in the final off the back of it.”
He believes that the pain of another defeat will motivate the whole squad in the future:
“I know we can bounce back, but it will take a while,” he says. “If anything it will make us work that bit harder. The more games that I have lost and the more medals that I have missed out on, the more motivated I am. I have now lost eight play-off games and every single one that I lose I get more determined. It’s a tough one to swallow right now but when I arrive for pre-season and am slogging my guts out, it will be worth it because we have to find that one percent more.”