Ulster head coach Dan McFarland critical of province's late collapse
- Published
George Barton's 85th minute try gave Gloucester the win at Kingsholm
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says his side threw away a victory against Gloucester in Saturday's Heineken Champions Cup meeting.
Leading by three, the province had a scrum in Gloucester's half in the final minute of the game but conceded a penalty allowing the hosts to drive up the field and score the winning try.
Ulster, who received three yellow cards and conceded two penalty tries, had a 10-point lead going into the final five minutes having scored 24 unanswered second half points.
The victory would have ignited their European hopes but now with only three losing bonus-points from their opening two games, the province's hopes of reaching the quarter-finals appear all but over.
"I thought we played some really good stuff and got to 10 points up and then just decided that was the times to start giving penalties away and make the odd error, and piggyback them up the pitch," said McFarland.
"They were always going to be a dangerous side, they score a lot of tries.
"A really good point for us was not to give them openings in there and the time that we did it most was when we were 10 points up."
'As dark a changing room as I've been in'
Although far from their best in the first half, Ulster were buoyed when they emerged unscathed from a 10 minute spell of playing with 13 men after Rob Herring and Alan O'Connor were sin-binned.
McFarland's side fell further behind in the second half before finding top gear to open up a two-score lead going into the final five minutes, when Ethan McIlroy's yellow card for a deliberate knock-on sparked their late-game collapse.
"It's probably as dark a changing room as I've been in," said captain Billy Burns.
"But if that's what it's got to be to take lessons and move forward then that's the way.
"The disappointing thing is so much didn't go our way, a lot of it due to us, and we got ourselves in a position to win it and we didn't do it."
Ulster's attentions now return to the Pro14 where they will begin the traditional festive period of inter-provincial fixtures against Connacht on 27 December.