Ulster's Director of Rugby believes there were lots of positives to take amidst the disappointment of the 27-17 defeat in the Guinness PRO12 at Glasgow Warriors on Friday night.
He felt his side might well have sealed a victory if it had capitalised on its impressive start to the game at Scotstoun, but was candid in his assessment of how the current league champions had scored 18 unanswered points to snatch an important four points.
Ulster slipped to fifth place, out of the play-off places, level now on points with Glasgow though the Scots have a game in hand, and three matches from their last five against Italian opposition.
“To lose in that way, so late in the game, was tough, but we have to be honest and accept that some of the errors we made invited Glasgow back into the game, especially in the second half,” he said.
“I’ll leave it to others to decide about whether the pass to Stuart Hogg was forward for his try, but to let Glasgow score so many points when we were well in control of matters is hard to take,” said Kiss.
“The key was the first half when we opened up their defence three or four times after the one we scored from, and who knows what would have happened after Craig Gilroy made his great break down the right and if he’d decided to pass with both hands and sent Luke Marshall in at the corner.
“We’ve got to look at the things we can control, and make sure that we’re better. It’s done, we’ve got to move on and make sure we’ve got Connacht in our sights for Friday night at Kingspan Stadium.”
And Kiss was optimistic that the target of a Top Four finish was still well within his squad’s reach.
“It’s interesting, especially with Connacht beating Leinster, and I think you’ll see the other clubs taking points off each other over the next few rounds. It’s becoming bigger and bigger every week that goes by. We’ve got to find our centre and make sure we stay focussed and that we come out against Connacht and deliver,” he said.
Kiss was pleased with some of the rugby his players produced in Scotland, and believed that after a splendid early score the side could have put more daylight between itself and Glasgow.
“There are massive positives, the fact that we started the way we did with Iain Henderson’s second-minute try, we opened them up, and we probably just needed one more score at that point.
“We’ll have a look at the penalties, 13-4 is a massive count against us, if we can concede just four penalties against Connacht we’ll be a pretty good team,” he said, perhaps hinting that on another day, with the match in different hands, many of those penalties mightn’t have been given and Glasgow might not have found a way back into the game when Ulster went 17-9 in front.
“Overall there’s a lot of positives, we’ve got to build on those,” he insisted.
Kiss revealed that lock Alan O’Connor was ruled out for a number of weeks, and that “it doesn’t look good for Nick Williams either”, and that there were a few other battered bodies in the dressing room after the Glasgow game.
Ulster face the leaders Connacht at what’s sure to be a packed Kingspan Stadium this Friday, then travel to Zebre on Saturday, 16 April, followed by their final ‘regular season’ home fixture against Leinster two weeks later, and on the first Saturday of May, could well be battling for a semi-final place against the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.
Cheer the lads on at Kingspan Stadium this Friday night when they take on Connacht in a crucial PRO12 clash!
[TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE]
He felt his side might well have sealed a victory if it had capitalised on its impressive start to the game at Scotstoun, but was candid in his assessment of how the current league champions had scored 18 unanswered points to snatch an important four points.
Ulster slipped to fifth place, out of the play-off places, level now on points with Glasgow though the Scots have a game in hand, and three matches from their last five against Italian opposition.
“To lose in that way, so late in the game, was tough, but we have to be honest and accept that some of the errors we made invited Glasgow back into the game, especially in the second half,” he said.
“I’ll leave it to others to decide about whether the pass to Stuart Hogg was forward for his try, but to let Glasgow score so many points when we were well in control of matters is hard to take,” said Kiss.
“The key was the first half when we opened up their defence three or four times after the one we scored from, and who knows what would have happened after Craig Gilroy made his great break down the right and if he’d decided to pass with both hands and sent Luke Marshall in at the corner.
“We’ve got to look at the things we can control, and make sure that we’re better. It’s done, we’ve got to move on and make sure we’ve got Connacht in our sights for Friday night at Kingspan Stadium.”
And Kiss was optimistic that the target of a Top Four finish was still well within his squad’s reach.
“It’s interesting, especially with Connacht beating Leinster, and I think you’ll see the other clubs taking points off each other over the next few rounds. It’s becoming bigger and bigger every week that goes by. We’ve got to find our centre and make sure we stay focussed and that we come out against Connacht and deliver,” he said.
Kiss was pleased with some of the rugby his players produced in Scotland, and believed that after a splendid early score the side could have put more daylight between itself and Glasgow.
“There are massive positives, the fact that we started the way we did with Iain Henderson’s second-minute try, we opened them up, and we probably just needed one more score at that point.
“We’ll have a look at the penalties, 13-4 is a massive count against us, if we can concede just four penalties against Connacht we’ll be a pretty good team,” he said, perhaps hinting that on another day, with the match in different hands, many of those penalties mightn’t have been given and Glasgow might not have found a way back into the game when Ulster went 17-9 in front.
“Overall there’s a lot of positives, we’ve got to build on those,” he insisted.
Kiss revealed that lock Alan O’Connor was ruled out for a number of weeks, and that “it doesn’t look good for Nick Williams either”, and that there were a few other battered bodies in the dressing room after the Glasgow game.
Ulster face the leaders Connacht at what’s sure to be a packed Kingspan Stadium this Friday, then travel to Zebre on Saturday, 16 April, followed by their final ‘regular season’ home fixture against Leinster two weeks later, and on the first Saturday of May, could well be battling for a semi-final place against the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.
Cheer the lads on at Kingspan Stadium this Friday night when they take on Connacht in a crucial PRO12 clash!
[TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE]