Director of Rugby Les Kiss paid tribute to his players after Ulster came away from the Twickenham Stoop with a hard-earned and deserved 5-17 win over Harlequins.
A tremendous try by Jacob Stockdale, his sixth of the season, plus 12 points from the boot of scrumhalf John Cooney, saw Kiss’ men pick up a win on English soil for the first time in three years.
“I’m pleased, obviously,” said Kiss, immediately following the success. “The conditions certainly shoved the game in a certain direction and you have to adapt some of the plans that you’ve put together.
“It wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t a day for perfection. It was a day for getting down and dirty and fighting the tough moments out.
“It wasn’t easy that game, it was a fair amount of points in these conditions but it took a while to get there. The boys challenged each other to stand up, to dig deep, stay on plan and deliver in the big moments, and I thought we did that.”
Kiss was especially pleased with the powerful performance delivered by his pack, along with some excellent game management by scrumhalf John Cooney:
“It’s important that the big players stand up for you. The way John Cooney handled that game was brilliant; he wasn’t perfect, but he did some important things.
“I thought the forwards were immense. Their defence of the maul, their defence in general was brilliant and they certainly laid a platform for us to do some smarter things around the edges and get the job done.
“Iain Henderson was immense in his leadership. Rob Herring was immense underneath Hendy. Ross Kane came on and did a great job, Andy Warwick too, and I thought Chris Henry just showed the warrior that he is. That gave us a lift and I was really impressed with what the pack did.
“The front row battle was compelling in its own way and I thought our scrum did exceptionally well. It was brilliant actually. You like to see rugby with a bit of style but we’re trying to build a bit of substance to our game in how we tough things out.”
By Kiss’ own admission, performances haven’t been of the desired standard in recent week, however, he feels Sunday’s effort is testament to the progress being made.
“Sometimes you’re not nailing everything as you’d like to. It’s such a simple thing from the outside to look at one or two things. We are doing the things internally to build something. Not everything is perfect but this team, they’re focussed, there was an opportunity for growth there and they took it. They know what we’re doing, they know what matters and they believe in what we’re doing. They’re building.”
The result will count for little if Ulster can’t deliver a similar result in Belfast this Friday night. Looking ahead to the showdown at Kingspan Stadium, Kiss stated,
“We’ve got to go and do it again. The boys know how to win, we’ve just got to make sure that we package this the right way and deliver again. It’s a short turnaround for both teams, but it’s in our lap now to be able to do something.
“We’re not kidding ourselves. If we want to be something in May, it’s what we do now that is the important thing. Sometimes it’s winning in the last minute, sometimes it’s overcoming an injury rate that challenges the depth of your squad, sometimes it’s other things. You have to stand up. Around the positives, there are still some real challenges, but the attitude and the ethos of the boys is strong.”
A limited number of tickets for Friday’s game (7.45pm) are still available at ulsterrugby.com/buytickets.
A tremendous try by Jacob Stockdale, his sixth of the season, plus 12 points from the boot of scrumhalf John Cooney, saw Kiss’ men pick up a win on English soil for the first time in three years.
“I’m pleased, obviously,” said Kiss, immediately following the success. “The conditions certainly shoved the game in a certain direction and you have to adapt some of the plans that you’ve put together.
“It wasn’t perfect but it wasn’t a day for perfection. It was a day for getting down and dirty and fighting the tough moments out.
“It wasn’t easy that game, it was a fair amount of points in these conditions but it took a while to get there. The boys challenged each other to stand up, to dig deep, stay on plan and deliver in the big moments, and I thought we did that.”
Kiss was especially pleased with the powerful performance delivered by his pack, along with some excellent game management by scrumhalf John Cooney:
“It’s important that the big players stand up for you. The way John Cooney handled that game was brilliant; he wasn’t perfect, but he did some important things.
“I thought the forwards were immense. Their defence of the maul, their defence in general was brilliant and they certainly laid a platform for us to do some smarter things around the edges and get the job done.
“Iain Henderson was immense in his leadership. Rob Herring was immense underneath Hendy. Ross Kane came on and did a great job, Andy Warwick too, and I thought Chris Henry just showed the warrior that he is. That gave us a lift and I was really impressed with what the pack did.
“The front row battle was compelling in its own way and I thought our scrum did exceptionally well. It was brilliant actually. You like to see rugby with a bit of style but we’re trying to build a bit of substance to our game in how we tough things out.”
By Kiss’ own admission, performances haven’t been of the desired standard in recent week, however, he feels Sunday’s effort is testament to the progress being made.
“Sometimes you’re not nailing everything as you’d like to. It’s such a simple thing from the outside to look at one or two things. We are doing the things internally to build something. Not everything is perfect but this team, they’re focussed, there was an opportunity for growth there and they took it. They know what we’re doing, they know what matters and they believe in what we’re doing. They’re building.”
The result will count for little if Ulster can’t deliver a similar result in Belfast this Friday night. Looking ahead to the showdown at Kingspan Stadium, Kiss stated,
“We’ve got to go and do it again. The boys know how to win, we’ve just got to make sure that we package this the right way and deliver again. It’s a short turnaround for both teams, but it’s in our lap now to be able to do something.
“We’re not kidding ourselves. If we want to be something in May, it’s what we do now that is the important thing. Sometimes it’s winning in the last minute, sometimes it’s overcoming an injury rate that challenges the depth of your squad, sometimes it’s other things. You have to stand up. Around the positives, there are still some real challenges, but the attitude and the ethos of the boys is strong.”
A limited number of tickets for Friday’s game (7.45pm) are still available at ulsterrugby.com/buytickets.