Dan Soper says Ulster victory over Bulls has given Kingspan side renewed impetus in United Rugby Championship

Ulster took the field at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday night against the Bulls knowing a bonus point win would guarantee a home tie in the last eight after Munster’s defeat earlier to Glasgow.

A Rob Baloucoune try and a hat-trick from hooker Tom Stewart got the job done for Ulster but they had to dig deep after trialling 20-12 at half-time to win 32-23.

“You step out of the league and the focus shifts slightly, it is a hell of a challenge and one you want to be arriving at with a wee bit of confidence and winning against the Bulls certainly helps that,” said Soper.

“We are pretty pleased because at times we have not been at our best coming off a break and we got the job done.

“A home quarter final is tremendous, second place is out of our hands – we’re going to have to rely on someone doing us a favour but all we can do is turn up and win the fight that’s in front of us and win the games that we have.”

Soper revealed there was a frank discussion in the dressing rom at half-time against the Bulls.

“There were a few stern words said at half-time, mostly by the leaders which is always nice.

“They were pretty disappointed with the energy that we showed in the first half, it’s that trap you sometimes fall into: you get an early try and something happens psychologically.

“Second half, there was a lot better energy, our defence was a lot stronger, we had a lot more bounce about us and the forwards did a good job of finishing off when we got in position to score.”

Ulster have become the first team to beat all four South African sides in the same season in the URC.

It took Baloucoune just two minutes to mark his return from injury with a try.

Chris Smith landed a penalty for the Bulls and the out half converted full-back Kurt-Lee Arendse’s try on 19 minutes.

Stewart got the first of his three tries six minutes later with Nathan Doak converting.

Scrum half Zak Burger sniped over for the Bulls, Smith converted and added another penalty to give the South African’s an eight-point lead at the break.

Stewart went over two more times either side of a yellow card for Bulls No.8 Elrigh Louw.

Smith added another penalty and Doak added a three-pointer off the tee for Ulster.

Bismarck Du Plessis was sin-binned late in the game and John Cooney added another penalty for Ulster.

Ulster: M Lowry, R Baloucoune, J Hume, S Moore, J Stockdale, B Burns, N Doak,

A Warwick, T Stewart, J Toomaga-Allen, K Treadwell, S Carter, D McCann, N Timoney, D Vermeulen (capt).

Replacements: J Andrew for Stewart 77 mins, E O’Sullivan for Warwick 50 mins , G Milasinovich for Toomaga-Allen 61 mins, A O’Connor for Treadwell 61 mins, H Sheridan for Carter 50 mins, J Cooney for Doak 77 mins, J Postlethwaite for Moore 50 mins, Marcus Rea for McCann 61 mins