Ulster coach rues missed opportunities in Cape Town
REACTION: Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says his team’s inability to capitalise on opportunities proved to be their downfall in their 15-17 semifinal defeat to the Stormers Cape Town on Saturday.
The Irish province looked to be heading towards a Belfast meeting with the Bulls next weekend, with their 15-10 half-time advantage holding firm for most of the second half and the Stormers reduced to 14 men following Adre Smith’s red card for eye-gouging.
However, a box-office conclusion saw the hosts find Warrick Gelant in space on the left wing to pull level before Manie Libbok – who had missed with all of his previous attempts at goal – fired over the winning kick.
“We played against red cards before and it’s galvanising for the team with 14 [men],” said McFarland.
“We lost it in the third quarter.
“That’s when we started to have a bit of territory and a bit of possession in their half, but we couldn’t score because of our own errors.”
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— United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) June 11, 2022
Ulster captain Iain Henderson agreed with his coach’s view on the game.
“We could have been a lot tidier around the breakdowns,” Henderson added.
“We will have a huge chance to look back at the game, but I think it is just small errors and we didn’t convert our opportunities.”
Ulster did have an opportunity to kick to goal during that dominant spell, but they opted to back their maul instead.
“We talked about it on the pitch and we thought our maul was going well,” said the captain.
“We felt that it has gone well for us this season and we wanted to back it.
“In hindsight, three points would have been lovely sitting in this seat right now, but we wanted to back our maul – it’s a difficult one.”
Meanwhile, McFarland said the Bulls were probably backing his team to beat the Stormers in Cape Town.
“They [Stormers] will be home. The Bulls were probably sitting in a hotel in Belfast wishing we had won so that they didn’t have to travel.
“Both of them are pretty-well-rounded teams. It will be an exciting final,” said McFarland.
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Additional source:@URCOfficial
