Ulster Rugby's Nick Timoney feels squad is in a good place heading into crunch Connacht clash

​Ulster secured second place and home advantage until the final with a 28-14 win over Scottish outfit Edinburgh on Friday night, while Connacht’s narrow 29-27 defeat in Glasgow means the Galway-based club finished seventh.

Ulster have won six of their last seven games and back-row Nick Timoney feels the side have rallied well since a poor run of form either side of Christmas.

“They say you learn more from losing than winning – I don't really believe that,” he said.

“You'd rather just learn by winning and nobody wanted to have that rough patch earlier in the season. Maybe in a way it's made us stronger.

"Last year things went smoothly enough until they didn't. This year it feels like we've got the demons out of the way and now it's time to focus on playing rugby and playing good rugby.

"We know what style we're looking to play and there's a plus side to that wobbly patch.”

“It says a lot, it builds confidence as well.”

Timoney says Ulster have turned their season around after it seemed as though ‘we were the worst team in Europe’ three months ago.

“During the season there were times when it felt like the world was coming to an end and we were the worst team in Europe,” he said.

“That's obviously being dramatic but when you're in the thick of it then it always seems worse than it probably is.

“No one was optimistic this time three months ago, then to put some perspective on it, we win six of the next seven, end the season with more points.

"It feels like we've scored more tries all with a run that last season we would have been very unhappy with.

“That gives you that boost that, hang on a second, if we get it together like we have done we're a dangerous team, a good team.

“As I said, we got those demons out of the way and had to go through all those doubts.”

Timoney feels Ulster are now a much different prospect after regaining their confidence and putting in some strong performances at the business end of the season.

"Everything that went wrong, a couple of car crashes that happened, and we managed to get our flow back and our confidence back,” he said.

“That definitely stands to us now. It has to mean a lot to you, it has to feel like it's everything.

“Sometimes by the nature of that, it it's not going well, you're not going to be content until it does.”

The 27-year-old says Ulster have such high expectations that any spell of below-par results will always attract scrutiny.

"It always seems worse because you were probably never reaching your expectations to begin with,” Timoney said.

"When you fluctuate and go even further away from them, it can start to feel desperate. It's only because you've got high standards.

"It's not like we came from 12th in the league – we were always in the top five."