Ulster captain Sam Carter places strong emphasis on discipline ahead of Pro14 semi-final against Edinburgh

Ulster conceded 10 penalties at the weekend allowing Leinster to score 16 points from them, and the Wallaby lock knows that figure can’t be repeated in Scotland.

“There were some discipline issues in the first 20 minutes, a couple of not rolling away, a couple of knock downs and I think we gave away six or seven handling errors as well,” he said.

“The combinations will grow and hopefully those errors will decrease because if we go into Edinburgh like that we’ll get punished again.

“I think there were parts that we played quite well then discipline let us down in parts so it was frustrating and we have to bounce back in a big game.

“We need to learn from our mistakes, when you play a team like Leinster and you make mistakes they capitalise on it and punish you,” he added.

“We will focus on what we did well and take positives from that but we need to learn from what we did wrong and build on that to play Edinburgh.

“We lost the first contest and we definitely need to rectify that and start well next week, we’ll look at that, learn from it and exit well for against Edinburgh.”

Playing at the home of Scottish rugby will be a step into the unknown for Carter.

“I have never played at Murrayfield and I’m really looking forward to the challenge, I know the Edinburgh team are going to be up for it,” he said.

“If you can’t get up for a semi-final I don’t know when you will.”

It has been a difficult time for Carter personally since he arrived in Belfast, first picking up a serious injury that the season being put on hold due to Covid.

“I came over here with a lot of expectation to play footie and I was really enjoying it then I got that set back against Bath, I was out for a long time then Covid hit and I hadn’t played footie in near a year.”

“I’m loving being back, training and getting out there with the lads and ripping in that is what we love doing.”