Director of Rugby Les Kiss has praised the work of his squad in the last five matches, but has called on them to keep delivering as the business end of the season approaches.
Five wins from five matches and 24 points from a possible 25 has pushed Kiss’ men into the play-off spots, 4 points ahead of 5th-placed Scarlets.
Reflecting on the victories over Edinburgh, Glasgow, Zebre (twice) and Treviso, Kiss said:
“We look back at that block of five games and we got everything bar one point so we're happy with that.
“I think the boys should take a lot of credit. Seven or eight weeks ago we really stripped the game down and went back to basics. We made a commitment to get those things right and that allows those guys to express themselves.
“These guys have been brilliant over the last number of weeks. We’ve been building confidence, growing the parts of our game that we like and reducing the parts that we don't like.”
While the error count was, at times, still high against Zebre, the Australian was keen to focus on the positives, having watched his side register their highest ever points total in a match (68) and score a record number of tries (10).
“The ambition in the game was fantastic, right from the start. I thought it went really well and I thought Stu Olding went really well in the 10 jersey.
“At times we still weren't as good as we would have liked to have been but it's not a night to be nitpicking,” said Kiss, immediately following the Zebre win.
“It's not often you score ten tries so it's something we should enjoy.”
While Kiss was clearly happy with Ulster’s recent form, he was quick to warn against complacency in the coming weeks.
“We're not going to lose the run of ourselves. In all honesty that's what we would expect from the last five games and now we've got it. We'll make sure we enjoy the break and come back and work hard again.”
Five wins from five matches and 24 points from a possible 25 has pushed Kiss’ men into the play-off spots, 4 points ahead of 5th-placed Scarlets.
Reflecting on the victories over Edinburgh, Glasgow, Zebre (twice) and Treviso, Kiss said:
“We look back at that block of five games and we got everything bar one point so we're happy with that.
“I think the boys should take a lot of credit. Seven or eight weeks ago we really stripped the game down and went back to basics. We made a commitment to get those things right and that allows those guys to express themselves.
“These guys have been brilliant over the last number of weeks. We’ve been building confidence, growing the parts of our game that we like and reducing the parts that we don't like.”
While the error count was, at times, still high against Zebre, the Australian was keen to focus on the positives, having watched his side register their highest ever points total in a match (68) and score a record number of tries (10).
“The ambition in the game was fantastic, right from the start. I thought it went really well and I thought Stu Olding went really well in the 10 jersey.
“At times we still weren't as good as we would have liked to have been but it's not a night to be nitpicking,” said Kiss, immediately following the Zebre win.
“It's not often you score ten tries so it's something we should enjoy.”
While Kiss was clearly happy with Ulster’s recent form, he was quick to warn against complacency in the coming weeks.
“We're not going to lose the run of ourselves. In all honesty that's what we would expect from the last five games and now we've got it. We'll make sure we enjoy the break and come back and work hard again.”