Mike Lowry keeping feet on ground as Ulster maintain push for first silverware in 20 years
A bonus point win in the Scottish capital against Edinburgh on Friday night would lift Ulster up to second in the United Rugby Championship with five games remaining but full-back Mike Lowry isn’t allowing himself to dream of glory just yet.
Richie Murphy’s side will also have home advantage up to at least the semi-final stage in the European Challenge Cup in their quest to put silverware in the Ravenhill trophy cabinet for the first time in 20 years.
The province are in a good position in both competitions, but Lowry is staying grounded and still thinks there is more to come from the team.
“To be honest we're just thinking [about] each game… you can't get too far ahead of yourselves and we've learned that,” he said.
“We've learned we're not where we want to be still. We're constantly still improving, we've lost a couple of away games that we feel like we should win and in those playoff games that's what's going to happen, so we need to keep getting way better [so] that we can put those games to bed.
“There's plenty of confidence around the team, but those moments keep you grounded and you can't get too far ahead of yourselves. Ultimately that is the goal every year – it's like we want to win silverware, and we feel that we are trending in the right direction.”
Lowry has drawn a line under last season when Ulster suffered their lowest ever league finish.
“Definitely much improved obviously since last season but I think the general quality of player, everyone's getting better,” he said.
"The competition and training has definitely gotten a lot higher. There's a lot of injuries last year there's a lot of disruption last year, and so this year we're competing every single training session. I think that's really pushing us on and making us better.
“We're in a really good position now and we can take the positives. We've set ourselves up well and I'm excited to see how much better we can get over the next couple of games and go into business and really kick on.
“I think we never want it to happen again [disappointment of last season]. I think our mindset's just to get better, keep getting better every week and every day. You can talk about last season but there was games in that season that were very fine margins as well, and I suppose we've just changed certain elements of our game we've really focused on the elements that matter, and they're getting us into better positions.”
Ulster have lost their last two away games, an issue that the squad has addressed heading to Edinburgh.
“It's obviously something we've talked about,” said Lowry. “We haven't got over the line in the last couple of away games, it's not something to worry about though; I think like we just control what we can control.
"We've let the home team as such get a foothold in the game and we know we're much better than what we're putting out when we are away at the minute.
“We know how good we can be if we get things right and execute what we're seeing. We're creating unbelievable opportunities and so it's just about the execution off the back of that, and then I think we'll be in a really good position to go on and win the game.”