Stockdale: More to come from Ulster

Ulster secured their place in the knock-out stages of Heineken Champions Cup in a hard-fought 22-15 victory over Bath on Saturday, and although pleased with the result, Jacob Stockdale felt Ulster could have put in a more clinical performance. “It was certainly a relief to get over the line when there was just one score in it and Bath had us under a bit of pressure in the closing stages. I suppose the result was the most important thing today to make sure we qualified for the quarter-finals, but we definitely still have plenty to work on. “I think we needed to be more accurate and hold onto the ball better. We needed to bring more energy to the game; it felt a bit flat and it’s probably part of the reason why we didn’t kick on and put more points on the board. However, in a way it is encouraging that we can still find a way to win these big games when we aren’t playing to our full potential.” The 23-year-old went on to praise the team’s patience and level-headedness in the second half, while crediting the visitors for making Ulster work hard for the win. “When we went in at half-time, it wasn’t panic stations for us; we just needed to tidy a few things up. We knew that if we did that and lift our energy, the game would come. “Bath were very physical throughout the game and they muddied it up, but we pride ourselves on being more clinical than we were. It was more disappointing that we didn’t hold onto the ball well enough and we weren’t accurate in those final two or three passes.” The winger was delighted though with Ulster’s progression to the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final but feels there is more to come from this squad. “The top eight of the Champions Cup is where we want to be,” he said. “We want to be one of those teams that are always competing at the business-end of the season. We’ve been doing that for the last two seasons and now we want to push on to that next level and get past those quarter-finals and into the semi-finals and final.” Ulster will now face a trip to French giants Toulouse in the Heineken Champions quarter-finals on the weekend of 3-5 April.