Ulster errors 'blatantly obvious' but Iain Henderson looking past Connacht pain
Ulster captain Iain Henderson accepts as “blatantly obvious what we did wrong” across Friday’s United Rugby Championship home loss to Connacht.
The 26-19 reverse marked a first Belfast defeat of the campaign and, having started third in the URC standings, cost Ulster ground on top two of Glasgow and Stormers by the weekend’s close.
“It’s never nice losing, never mind losing at home and an inter-pro as well...it's tough,” said the skipper. “Hats off to Connacht, they came out, put us through a fair few sets and we didn't take our opportunities the first half.
"And then they took a good few opportunities in that second half and I feel like that's kind of the story of the game we've got.
“It's blatantly obvious what we did wrong, there's loads of stuff in there that you can point out and say that's what went wrong there.
“So, in some ways, that's incredibly frustrating because the players know it exactly – but, in other ways, it's good because we know what we need to fix and what's there.
“I'd say there'll be a lot of reflection on a tough enough weekend...but it'll be back on the horse, this is the first game in a big long block and, hopefully, we'll be able to rectify this and get back on things.
"And, hopefully, the performances between now and the end of this block are a good bit better.
“We're going to have to really reflect hard on things that went wrong, especially first being at home.”
Henderson put the defeat down to Ulster no being clinical as they failed to score when Connacht had prop Finlay Bealham in the sin bin.
“Capitalising on those opportunities...that's where our downfall was,” he said. “We found ourselves in their 22 a few times, not coming away with points...defensive efforts won them the game.”
Ulster travel to bottom-of-the-table Zebre on Saturday night. After three defeats in five games, Henderson views a win in Parma as paramount if Ulster want the URC home quarter-final.
“There's definitely plenty to look at, plenty to work on and no easy feat away from home,” said Henderson. “Everywhere is tough in the league now so we're going to have to make sure we're tightening up a few of those gaps and making sure that we rectify the issues.”