GUINNESS PRO12 COMMENT: Ulster home loss to Scarlets perhaps not quite unexpected

The 21-20 loss to Scarlets in Belfast on Sunday came after another under-par performance.

In the past fortnight as they climbed to pole position Ulster had been scruffy in their delivery of wins over NG Dragons and defending champions, Glasgow Warriors.

Assistant coach, Joe Barakat, had warned last week that the side had to up their performance or the bubble will burst.

Against a determined Scarlets side, it did.

Missed tackles, basic mistakes and failure to put away opportunities when they presented came back to bite Ulster.

Connacht and Leinster had both jumped Ulster in the standings on Saturday and the Scarlets also leapfrogged Les Kiss’s side with the narrow win.

The losing bonus point leaves Ulster two points behind Scarlets and Leinster and four behind leaders Connacht but they remain as serious contenders for the play-offs, although getting that crucial home draw with a top two finish has become a little harder.

In spite of the erratic performance Ulster should have gone on to beat Scarlets yesterday based on the amount of possession they had in the second half and the chances spurned.

Irish internationals Craig Gilroy and Luke Marshall did produce two moments of magic in scoring their tries to delight a big Kingspan crowd while Roger Wilson got the reception he deserved in reaching his 200th cap for Ulster.

But the disappointment of the result took the edge of all that until the side come back in to prepare for what will be a difficult test away to Cardiff Blues next Sunday.

Assistant coach, Allen Clarke, was honest in his assessment and accepted that below par performances against Dragons and Glasgow had probably caught up with them yesterday.

“You just cannot rely that it will come good at the end,” he said, reflecting on the last gasp penalty win over Dragons and holding out to defeat Glasgow 13-10.

“You have got to go hard at the off, you have to make things happen and maybe there is some truth in the fact maybe we thought it would happen and someone else would do it for us.

“You need 15 people really on their game, showing that physicality and energy we are renowned for.

“I am not saying it was not there today, but it was probably not there for enough minutes in the game.”

“Probably lack of accuracy in all aspects of the game at times. We scored a couple of really good tries but we were in consistent and made too many uncharacteristic mistakes time and time again.

“That lack of accuracy meant we could not keep possession of the ball and we were not putting them under enough pressure when they had the ball.

“As a result of that we probably got what we deserved at the end of the day.

“We are still in a decent position (in the league) but we have to improve.”