Ulster recommence their United Rugby Championship campaign hoping to continue their winning momentum in the league. The province return to Kingspan Stadium for Round 17 and face off against Dragons RFC aiming to close the gap to second placed DHL Stormers, who play Leinster in South Africa.
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With a URC Quarter Final on the horizon, Ulster Skills Coach, Craig Newby, says the squad are keen to get back to winning ways, after exiting the Heineken Champions Cup following an away 30-15 defeat to interprovincial rivals Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.
On Leinster defeat
"We put the defeat to bed quite quickly, we had aspirations to do better but the boys have been back training, enjoying themselves and now the focus switches to the URC.
"There were big moments in the match that we could have done better at, we have reviewed those moments and looked at where we could do better. We found a few things that will help us going forward."
On the boost of new contracts
"It's great to see guys get rewarded for hard work, the squad players work as hard as the guys who are playing at the weekend, it’s important to have a squad that challenges the match day 23. Having that competition is a big part of our prep and it's great to have some key guys signing on for a few more years."
On the Dragons
"The Dragons come here with nothing to lose, we have reviewed them and have looked at areas we need to tidy up on. We play better when we are at home and we have to focus on winning these two games and our Quarter Final.
The Leinster match was the first time Ulster's 24 year old prop, Tom O'Toole, had started since he went away from the province to be a part of Ireland's 2023 Guinness Six Nations squad, who ended the tournament as Grand Slam winners.
O'Toole says that while that experience of playing for Ireland internationally was a life changing experience, his focus now is on finishing off the season strong with Ulster.
" I will reflect on it post season. I felt blessed to be part of that group and I'm proud to have played a part in it. It's massive for Irish rugby and to go down in history will be huge. My focus is on finishing the season off strongly with Ulster, starting with this Friday."
On Leinster learnings
"We came in last week, had a good review of the game and we felt there were areas that we could have did better in such as our kicking game and other areas. They are the best club side in Europe and now we have the URC to focus on over the next few weeks."
On penalty frustrations
"It was frustrating at times, we knew we had to be on the edge, when they start to get quick ball they are very dangerous so when we started to leak a few pens, I did myself, you have to be disciplined and they kept chipping away at the scoreboard with penalties.
Getting back to Kingspan
"This might be only be my third home game this year, so I’m looking forward to getting back home, we are up against two teams who haven’t had the season they would want and that makes them extremely dangerous.
They'll want to come here and play, we want to chase the 5 points for each game and at home there is pressure to deliver and we have our fans getting behind us."
On the boost in teammates signing new contracts
"I think this group the core has stayed the same for 4 or 5 years , it's positive to have guys like John Cooney and Jacob Stockdale signing on, its nice to have the same personnel. We have a good team bond, we are very comfortable playing with each other and want to keep that togetherness."