Ulster break 'at a good time' but Dan Soper confident in second-half push

Ulster were dumped out of the Champions Cup after big defeats at home to Toulouse and away to Harlequins and, despite two derby wins over the festive period, are fifth in the United Rugby Championship table going into the second half of the season.

“We were disappointed with the Harlequins performance, but we have genuinely reviewed it, parked it and moved on, we are looking forward and taken our learning from it,” stated Soper. “The break did come at a good time, in any sport or any competition sometimes that natural break that happens in the middle of the season can just allow everyone to take a step back, re-evaluate and have a deep dive into what is going well and what is not and how we are going to attack the second part.

"And that is exactly what we have done. We feel really confident about the parts of our game that are going really well and keep pushing them on and the areas that we need to get going after.

“We have got performance markers that we are going after, we have got parts of our game that are going really well...we are in a good position in the league, we could be better, and we will certainly be going after the second half of the season to climb that league and get into that home play-off position.

“That is our target, there were obvious disappointments without performances in Europe, we have to live with that but we have to move on as a well. We have taken our learning from the first half of the season, we have got some areas that are going really well...we feel we have a good handle on that.”

Skipper Iain Henderson and fellow forwards Tom Stewart and Nick Timoney, as well as winger Jacob Stockdale, have been released from Andy Farrell’s Six Nations squad. The quartet trained at Kingspan Stadium and are available to face the Ospreys.

“We've a few guys back and we'll see how they go, we'll sit down after training on Wednesday and pick a team for the weekend that we think best suits our needs,” said Soper. “They're great guys and we love having them about. They're bringing back an energy that is around the Irish squad at the moment, we're tapping into that and finding out what they're doing down there and if there's any wee things we can pick up on.”

“That's really important for us, that's how you keep continuing to grow. It's great to see them and see the energy they've come back with...if we pick some of them, they'll bring an energy for us.”

Soper knows it’s going to be a tough battle.

“They are the form Welsh team at the moment and their record at home is really impressive,” he said. “They are a team when you look at them, they really know what their game is, they understand what they are trying to do and how they are trying to play. And that in itself brings confidence to them.

“It is going to be a difficult afternoon for us...we are pretty certain of that and we are excited about the challenge.”