Dan Soper staying grounded as Ulster arrest slide with dominant win over Dragons

Ulster started the weekend eighth and have climbed to fifth after their first home league five-pointer of the season.

It was also the most points Ulster have scored in a game this season as the side responded to the turmoil of the last few weeks after three consecutive defeats and Dan McFarland’s departure as head coach.

Soper said: “Is it a weight lifted? It’s one game and it was really good, and I think it was really important that we performed and we showed a togetherness and an energy that hopefully the crowd and the supporters watching on TV felt as well.

“Personally, there is a wee touch of relief. We did a lot of things really well and there were a lot of things that we didn’t do so well, but there is a real resolve among the group – they want to use that as a benchmark and kick on from there and let’s hope that is the case.

“It’s one game and we are taking things one game at a time. If we can keep getting better and keep showing that energy and that togetherness that we showed against the Dragons, we believe we are a good team and we believe that we can do really well this year.

“We wanted to play with speed, mobility and ambition so guys that suit that got an opportunity, but we also have a lot of guys that could have stepped in and did that as well,” added Soper.

“I loved the ambition we played with and coupled with that I really liked in the first half early on [how] we put some really nice kicks down the edge and that just allowed us to be in the right areas of the park, and maybe at times this year we have overplayed a bit in our own half.

“It’s a happy changing room at the moment. We asked for energy, we asked for competitiveness and if we could get those things, we’d have a lot of enjoyment and there were a lot of smiling faces on the pitch, and it was a good night for us.”

Ulster are level on points with four-placed Edinburgh as the race to secure a home quarter-final intensifies.

“You only have to take your eye off the ball for a week or two and all of a sudden you are scratching about at the cut-off point,” Soper continued.

“We’ll go one game at a time and we believe that we are a good team. We have had good results this year and when we get it right, we can be a good team and compete with everyone in this league – we have proven that.

“The next game is the Sharks and that is our next focus to do a job there.

“We have performed pretty well in Southa Africa. I know we haven’t always won but we have done okay out there in the last couple of years.

“The guys are really excited about getting away as a group together and they want to push their game on, and it is maybe quite a nice thing to get away as a group, maybe see the sun for a couple of weeks and see if we can push things on a bit further.”