"For any Ulster player to play in front of their home fans, and especially in an inter-pro when there were a fair few Connacht supporters here to make a great atmosphere, is always something very special."
Flanker Iain Henderson was reflecting on the impact of a packed arena in the wake of the important 18-10 win over the Guinness PRO12 leaders at Kingspan Stadium on Friday night.
“We all knew that with our run-in, a series of knock-out games almost, that if we hadn’t won we’d have put our season in a fair bit of jeopardy, but the crowd really got behind us, and there’s no better feeling.
“There are still things we’ll want to look at, for we realise different officials referee the breakdown in various ways, and we were penalised a bit, as were Connacht. We want to eliminate all the errors, and with the games we have ahead of us we need to be precise when it comes to Zebre, Leinster and the Ospreys,” said the international playing just his second game since a very serious hamstring tear in December.
“I’m happy to report I’m really healthy, I don’t understand why Les took me off with a few minutes to go,” he laughs, his Director of Rugby at his side smiling wryly.
“No, everything’s good, two matches under my belt and really looking forward to helping the team do something special in the next five weeks or so.”
Henderson says he and his team-mates were frustrated that, in the second half particularly, Ulster didn’t cash in with one or perhaps two more tries, which would have earned a bonus point against the PRO12 leaders.
“Especially late in the game, when they had two yellow cards and we were camped in their corner, we perhaps might have done things a little differently, but I think you saw the effort was certainly there and the determination.
“But this week Allen Clarke will definitely take us through in the analysis of what we could have done better, how we might have exploited situations. And we’ll look for solutions, and other options we could take, if we get into similar positions against other teams in the run-in,” he says.
Henderson was part of an Ulster pack which was energetic and purposeful throughout, but in the second half in particular it dominated in the set piece and in the loose, and having scored early on from a rolling maul it employed that tactic for the closing fifteen minutes but just could not breach a visitors’ line which was well-organised and defiant even after two ‘sin binnings’.
“As I say, we hoped we might come away with more scores when we were so dominant, but it’s right to remember just how important it was to get the victory. Connacht isn’t top of the league for nothing, they created problems which we dealt with – in the main.
“But we showed what we are about, we can perform and we have got ourselves back on the right track for the rest of the competition,” he says.
“We’ll be back at work, identifying the things we can improve, and making sure that the things we do well we will do even better. The dressing room was a good place to be on Friday, you could sense there was real intent, and perhaps a little satisfaction that we’d given the Kingspan fans the reward they deserved,” says Henderson who never doubted he’d return to fitness before season’s end.
“No, I always knew if things went smoothly, and it did – the surgery and ‘rehab’ – I should be ready for the last five games, and hopefully two more if we reach the semi-finals by finishing in the top four.
“And I think that’s in our own hands, of course, but it’s ‘on’.”
Flanker Iain Henderson was reflecting on the impact of a packed arena in the wake of the important 18-10 win over the Guinness PRO12 leaders at Kingspan Stadium on Friday night.
“We all knew that with our run-in, a series of knock-out games almost, that if we hadn’t won we’d have put our season in a fair bit of jeopardy, but the crowd really got behind us, and there’s no better feeling.
“There are still things we’ll want to look at, for we realise different officials referee the breakdown in various ways, and we were penalised a bit, as were Connacht. We want to eliminate all the errors, and with the games we have ahead of us we need to be precise when it comes to Zebre, Leinster and the Ospreys,” said the international playing just his second game since a very serious hamstring tear in December.
“I’m happy to report I’m really healthy, I don’t understand why Les took me off with a few minutes to go,” he laughs, his Director of Rugby at his side smiling wryly.
“No, everything’s good, two matches under my belt and really looking forward to helping the team do something special in the next five weeks or so.”
Henderson says he and his team-mates were frustrated that, in the second half particularly, Ulster didn’t cash in with one or perhaps two more tries, which would have earned a bonus point against the PRO12 leaders.
“Especially late in the game, when they had two yellow cards and we were camped in their corner, we perhaps might have done things a little differently, but I think you saw the effort was certainly there and the determination.
“But this week Allen Clarke will definitely take us through in the analysis of what we could have done better, how we might have exploited situations. And we’ll look for solutions, and other options we could take, if we get into similar positions against other teams in the run-in,” he says.
Henderson was part of an Ulster pack which was energetic and purposeful throughout, but in the second half in particular it dominated in the set piece and in the loose, and having scored early on from a rolling maul it employed that tactic for the closing fifteen minutes but just could not breach a visitors’ line which was well-organised and defiant even after two ‘sin binnings’.
“As I say, we hoped we might come away with more scores when we were so dominant, but it’s right to remember just how important it was to get the victory. Connacht isn’t top of the league for nothing, they created problems which we dealt with – in the main.
“But we showed what we are about, we can perform and we have got ourselves back on the right track for the rest of the competition,” he says.
“We’ll be back at work, identifying the things we can improve, and making sure that the things we do well we will do even better. The dressing room was a good place to be on Friday, you could sense there was real intent, and perhaps a little satisfaction that we’d given the Kingspan fans the reward they deserved,” says Henderson who never doubted he’d return to fitness before season’s end.
“No, I always knew if things went smoothly, and it did – the surgery and ‘rehab’ – I should be ready for the last five games, and hopefully two more if we reach the semi-finals by finishing in the top four.
“And I think that’s in our own hands, of course, but it’s ‘on’.”