Ulster bag European Cup place: Jono Gibbes delighted with performance

A brace of tries from winger Craig Gilroy helped Ulster secure their place in Europe’s top-flight as they out scored the Welsh visitors by four tries to three in their Champions Cup play-off at Kingspan Stadium.

Man of the match and Ulster’s player of the year, John Cooney also weighed in with 15 points from three penalties and the same number of conversions while Ulster’s other tries came from Kieran Treadwell and another intercept from Irish winger Jacob Stockdale.

The Ospreys, who bagged tries from captain Alun Wyn Jones, Jeff Hassler and Dan Biggar, now take their place in the Challenge Cup come the autumn.

Ulster can now draw a line under what has been a challenging season and Gibbes said there was plenty from the performance to build good habits from in the future.

“The line in the sand that group put after the Cardiff defeat, the block of four games after Cardiff were really good and really useful assets for the team for next year to have a look at what the best parts of what Ulster are.

“That was the challenge today to put a fifth week on top and it was complicated because of the three week break.

“That was all heart and workrate out there and some really good repeatable habits for that group moving forward. They were good in many facets and they will get even more reward once they get a bit more consistency in execution.”