Ulster Rugby v Connacht

JONO GIBBES A MATCH-BY-MATCH FOCUS IS ESSENTIAL TO RECLAIM OUR WINNING WAYS Head Coach, Jono Gibbes provided a frank account of the measures necessary to overcome the disappointing loss against Zebre last week suggesting that if the Ulstermen take their eye off the ball against Connacht tonight they risk getting “caught with their pants down”.

Gibbes is well known for his no-nonsense approach and wasted no time in defining what it was that led to the defeat in Zebre. "The error rate was way too high with the ball," started Gibbes bluntly. "We did not build enough pressure on them. Every time we seemed to put something together it ended in a turnover and the pressure was released. That was frustrating, (as was) watching Zebre be really positive with the ball and us reacting slowly. "Our defence became passive, we were watching a bit. "There were things Zebre did the poor performance may point to the fact that Ulster were forced to skip the usual captain's run at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi after their plane was re-routed via Antwerp. But Gibbes is a man who can face hard truths, learn from them and move on. "I don't think dropping the ball has anything to do with an aeroplane. I would love to take that excuse but I can't even say we were flat physically or anything like that because we simply did not execute basic things. "We had no rhythm, we got no continuity, we did not put them under any pressure and we lost control of the game. "In the second half there were plenty of opportunities to build scoreboard pressure and we did not take them. well but lots of things that we had done well in the first period of the season that we did not execute." Those looking to excuse

"Absolutely, I think performances are a reflection of preparation but that is (down to) coaches as well. The sessions were specific enough to what we were going to deal with at Zebre. "Were the sessions hard enough? We'll reflect on that." Having not won in Belfast since November 1960, Connacht will tonight be hoping to create some new records and deliver further punishment to

Ulster who desperately need to produce a response after losing their unbeaten record in the most surprising of locations last Saturday. Following hot on the heels of the Connacht test, Ulster then welcome Wasps to Kingspan Stadium, on Friday 13th October, for the opening of the European Champions Cup. However, any question of where the focus of the Ulstermen lay was quickly dismissed by a Gibbes determined to concentrate only on the match-by-match

JONO GIBBES

improvements and take each match as it comes. "We have Connacht on Friday to get right first. Kissy went to Dublin (on Monday) to talk about Europe but that's a whole way away. "We have Friday to get right and that's what's in front of us. "We have to make sure we get our preparations right; we can't afford to have an eye around the corner. "If we feel we're in the position to have an eye on Europe then we're going to get caught with our pants down on Friday so I'm not going to talk about Europe."

12

www. ULSTERRUGBY .com