Rory Best and Darren Cave leave Ulster ‘as heroes’ insistes Louis Ludik

The Irish Province produced a disappointing display in what was their last game of the season after a 50-20 loss to Glasgow Warriors in the semi-finals of the Guinness PRO14 Final Series.

Ulster had travelled to Scotstoun as underdogs, but were still expected to give the Scottish region a stern examination as both bid to make the PRO14 final at Celtic Park, Glasgow this weekend.

However, Ulster met a rampant Glasgow side that fully deserved their win.

Ludik’s return to the side was unexpected as he had continued to rehab from injury.

But having missed the European Champions Cup quarter-final against Leinster at the start of April, Ludik was happy to at least been able to play a part in the knockout games.

“There is a lot of disappointment there,” said Ludik.

“We wanted to celebrate Rory Best and Darren Cave’s last game and I do not think we did them justice.

“Especially after the year we have had, and we did have a good year with a lot of people not thinking we would do that or get to the semi-finals.

“We played well over the whole season. The way the guys played in the European quarter-final was so good.

“But we did not do ourselves justice today. Glasgow were brilliant, we just could not stop them. Once they got over the advantage line it was really tough.”

He added: “As a team we are really disappointed. As you can imagine there are lots of emotions, but we will try and think about the year as a whole, not just today, and what we have achieved.

“There have been a lot of changes from last year, a lot of guys have grabbed a hold of their chance and Dan (McFarland) has done a really good job.

“All the young guys who have featured. The future is bright and it is great to be a part of it,” said Ludik.

The talented backline player said Best and Cave ‘leave the club as heroes’.

“It was very emotional afterwards. It has been long careers for them in an Ulster jersey.

“You never know if they will be back in some other capacity, but they have done a great job and left the jersey in a much better place than where it was.

“It is a privilege for me to have shared the field and the jersey with them.

“It is very sad that it has ended in this way, but hopefully Besty can lift the World Cup before he is finished.”

On coming back in for the game, Ludik said he had thought his season was over when he suffered the knee injury at the end of March.

“The recovery went well, two weeks ago I was still in a brace, but there was still an outside chance I would make the game.

“I was happy to be back out there again, be a part of Rory and Darren’s last game,” added Ludik.