Iain ​Henderson focus on Ulster 'chance for silverware' after 'absolute drubbing'

For a second consecutive game Ulster conceded seven tries to bring the curtain down on a miserable campaign in Europe’s premier competition.

The Kingspan Stadium club have tasted victory in just two of their last 10 Champions Cup games.

Ulster won one of only four games pool games this season, conceding 147 points including 22 tries while only scoring 12 tries of their own.

Ulster only secured match points in one of their quartet of ties and drop into the Challenge Cup where they will travel to Montpellier during the first weekend of April.

“Obviously things didn’t go the way we planned but I think a lot of it was down to us and down to our mistakes and not taking our opportunities and a lot of our errors allowing Harlequins to take their opportunities,” said Ulster captain Iain Henderson. “I think that is the one thing that is so frustrating that we felt a handful of things that we were doing in terms of our territory and position were the right things, the bounce of the ball and a few other things don’t go our way and you are 14 points down at half-time.

“It’s frustrating but we have been there before and a lot of us have experienced that before and we didn’t get the reaction we want and a lot of our basic speed, a lot of our collisions or our own ball retention weren’t good enough.

“Some of it is individual errors, some of it is guys potentially backing up other people’s errors and probably trying to play a way that we shouldn’t be playing.

“Being slightly smarter in specific areas just to ensure our ball retention is better, not trying to force things. I think there will be an overall look at how we manage the game, that’s the bigger picture, individually a lot more onus on our own individual mistakes.”

While nobody at Kingspan Stadium wanted to drop into the less prestigious competition, Henderson sees it as an opportunity.

“I’ve been at Ulster for 12 seasons now and no silverware, it is a chance for silverware irrespective of it being in the second-tier competition or the league silverware every season has always been our goal,” he said. “I know that is a bit rich coming after an absolute drubbing over the last couple of weeks but you see we can pull it together and beat big teams. So it is about us trying to find some form over the next number of weeks to ensure that we can put ourselves in the best position to do that.”

Harlequins’ Nick David and Ulster’s David McCann went over for converted tries in the opening quarter. Two tries from replacement Louis Lynagh converted by Marcus Smith gave Quins a 21-7 half-time lead.

Danny Care got Quins’ bonus point try before Andre Esterhuizen and David crossed. Stuart McCloskey got over for Ulster. Quins flanker Will Evans bagged a try with Smith converting three of his side’s four second-half tries, Jacob Stockdale got a late consolation.