After Ulster's disappointing 24-27 defeat at home to Edinburgh in Round 7 of the BKT URC, the team could turn their focus onto the beginning of a new European campaign, hoping to create more memories of big wins against top opposition they wouldn't meet in the regular URC season.
To kick things off in the Champions Cup Pool 2 group, Ulster travel to the Recreational Stadium to take on Bath Rugby. Ulster's Forwards coach, Roddy Grant, told reporters at the pre-match media briefing that the senior playing group and coaches would review the Edinburgh loss and look at correcting mistakes that led to the narrow defeat.
Champions Cup excitement
" It’s a new competition, it’s a huge game, away from home and they have some really good players so it’s easy from the sense of motivation. It was frustrating to make mistakes, not be clinical, coughing off the ball a lot, dropping off tackles and some of those aspects were maybe more frustrating than the result. It’s always worse after the game but towards the end of the week we will be flying into Bath.
We have to work this week, tighten things and sharpen up in training."
Dealing with pressure
" In Ulster we are expected to win every game, we expect to win ourselves and we prepare to win every game but it’s a different competition, we don’t play them regularly as a English Premiership team. That's the nature of the Champions Cup, every game is an important one to win. It's exciting regardless of what happened last week."
Game preparation
"From a coaching sense, it’s refreshing, as coaches we study hours of footage against teams and if you play them twice that’s double the amount you will study, so it’s nice to look at a new team and different threats.
The Gallagher Premiership is different to the URC, even statistically they kick a lot more usually, teams play different with different personnel. You are also playing against some of the top players in Europe, guys like Finn Russell and other England internationals. The tactics may be different but it’s an exciting prospect."
Honest conversations
"We’ve spoken before, the guys spoke well in the changing room afterwards, it was a very mature assessment, and we will be focusing this week.
Some of the errors we made in the game, if you train better you can have a better output. It’s a big focus for everyone this week, players, coaches, leaders to drive it this week. We want to have a good week of accurate, intense training."
Bath reaction
"We prepared for Edinburgh and the breakdown battle, you have a strategy that goes with your attack/ counter attack shape. There is a lot that goes into your breakdown strategy both tactically, technique and individually and we were off it.
It was a big area of focus in or review, whether that was our ball carriers getting sloppy with placement, support players being slow at times and not getting off their feet.
Bath have players such as Sam Underhill, who attacks breakdown hard, I’m confident we will get a reaction, we have challenged them this week. We need individual focus, fight in the collision areas and urgency challenges that."
Finn Russell threat
"He’s one of the best tens in the world, he had an excellent world cup, very difficult position to play in and be one for the best. He can do incredible things, incredibly consistent, he is used to play big games and has the skillset, passing, kicking, a tough boy – he gets stuck in.
He is a big leader and drives teams well."
Ulster's experienced back-row player, Matty Rea, told the media briefing about how the players are re-grouping and driving the week's training, as they hope to bounce back against Bath on Saturday.
Edinburgh reflections
"It was hard in the middle of it to dissect it, we used the weekend to take a step back and look at it.
You think it’s a lot worse until you take a look at it and it can be something as simple as your lineout jump was a few millimetres out and you can have a different outcome. We are in that business of millimetres and have to get ready for these European games, which are very important for us.
Those fine margins can define how you finish in the pool and your path should you progress further. We have to make it happen and we have to look at that fine margins this week."
Player-led discussions
"There were honest, hard conversations, where we looked at ourselves and what we are delivering. We are self- aware, we have a lot of guys who have been in this a long time and we have to look at things that didn’t work and we have a leadership group which is player led and that’s how we want to be.
We want to drive standards internally rather than rely on the coaches. The coaches don’t need to tell us at times, we know as players when it hasn’t been good enough."
Quick reset
"We can’t get lost in looking at all the negatives, we are in that business where you cant dwell on what has happened, next week comes so quick and your preparation starts for the next game. You have to move on and get on with it."
Bath threat
"They will be a big, physical pack like most English teams. Finn Russell can pull a bit of magic out of the hat and we are prepping to be a tight unit, to go there and grind it out."
Ireland international winger, Rob Baloucoune, got his first try of the season in the defeat against Edinburgh, but told reporters that while he was glad to get off the mark for the season, the disappointment of the result was the overriding feeling for him. With a new European campaign about to start, Baloucoune, told reporters that he was looking forward to the prospect.
Momentum
"I struggled a lot last season with injury, I’m nearly equalling appearances I made last year so constant training and being involved week on week is good for me. I want to work on my performances, get in the game more and hopefully that will show.
Obviously I was really disappointed with the result, it's nice to score a try but more disappointed about the result."
Bath assessment
"A really strong side, who are doing well in the Premiership. We know the task ahead of us.
Obviously they have key players that we need to watch out for but it’s an exciting time, it’s the European cup week and its always exciting. We have played some of the top sides in Europe in recent years and came out on top, so we will go into this week knowing the challenge but also looking forward to what we can bring."
Training
"We knew it would be tough coming in this week, we had to take responsibility for Edinburgh and it’s not easy. We didn’t carry out what we planned to last week and we spoke about that, we want to stick to the plan and carry out the plan.
There is always a bit of a buzz around Europe, we had a good walk-through around it and everybody is looking forward to Saturday."