Ulster Rugby v Munster

Having been named Player of the Year, Supporters' Club Player of the Year and Writers' Player of the Year for last season, the performances that John Cooney provided in his first season with the Province were above and beyond.

JOHN COON

This season he's continued that form, his importance to the side seeing him play 80 minutes in both games as he helped Ulster to important wins over the Scarlets in the past two weeks. And yet the 28-year-old still thinks there's more improving to do. "I was pretty frustrated with my performance in the first Scarlets game, I missed a few tackles and that's something I pride myself on, so last week I was trying to make a few more to make up for it!" laughs Cooney. "I think there's a lot more in me to be honest, I don't like playing badly so I was in a bad mood last week, but it was a lot better after another bonus point win last weekend. But I'm going to keep pushing to be better. "Yeah, I'm quite harsh on myself because I'm going to touch the ball 100, 120 times in a game, so I am going to make mistakes, but I've gotten better at pushing those away. "I can be harsh on myself, but there's two extremes and I'd rather be at this end where I'm not content with playing badly rather than being content with playing average." With Munster in town tonight for the first of three interprovincial games over the next three weeks, it's a chance for the Province to keep their momentum going from the last three weeks and consolidate their place in the play-off spots of the Guinness PRO14. However, there's also another item on the agenda tonight after that 64-7 defeat at Thomond Park back in Limerick: revenge. "(That defeat) has been mentioned. Dan's pretty annoyed by it, it cut him deep. It cut us all deep," admits Cooney.

"He brought it up this morning saying how important it was we bounce back and draw a line in the sand after that result, and credit to us, we bounced back from it. “It was probably one of the worst results Ulster have ever had and it hurt everyone, so it's good that we bounced back from that and now it's good we get the chance to put one over on them at home. “They're going to come here and try and get a scalp, and it's important that we start well and stick to our game because we've seen how well that's worked over the last couple of weeks." But the former Connacht and Leinster playmaker has issued a warning to his team-mates ahead of what will be a busy period and season-defining stretch for Ulster over the next few weeks. With the Province sitting nicely in Europe and currently occupying a playoff spot in the PRO14, things are looking good, but last year the side fell away during a tough stretch around the New Year, as Cooney recalls well. “Last year in Connacht we got hammered and that was as frustrating for me as that Munster away one, I was livid for that one and I was supposed to stay up afterwards but I got the bus home because I was so angry!” he reflects. “And then Leinster as well, I was raging after that one as well because we got hammered away. Those two games are mixed in with this Munster one, who we lost to away obviously. We can’t be relaxed because they're all important. “We've seen in the league over the last couple of years how it's come down to a couple of points, so these games are probably the biggest ones in our heads and then we'll switch back to Europe when we get there.”

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