Ulster will use interpros to bounce back from European disappointment says Billy Burns
- Published
Burns scored Ulster's first try on his return to former club Gloucester
Fly-half Billy Burns says the festive inter-provincial derbies will provide Ulster with the perfect opportunity to bounce back from consecutive Heineken Champions Cup defeats.
Burns captained the province in Saturday's dramatic defeat by Gloucester, a result which means qualification for the quarter-finals is now highly unlikely.
Ulster, still undefeated in the Pro14, face Connacht on 27 December before meeting Munster and Leinster in early January.
"We're fortunate to have some huge interpro games coming up over the festive period, which are no better way to bounce back," said Burns.
Ulster started their Champions Cup campaign at home to Toulouse having won all eight of their Pro14 fixtures so far.
In the wake of the two losses, questions remain as to whether Ulster were left ill-prepared for Europe due to the gulf in quality between the Pro14 and the Champions Cup, albeit both games were close contests.
"We knew that this was going to be a completely different beast coming from the Pro14 into Europe, it's as close to Test match rugby as you can get," Burns said.
"The core of that group, if not all of that group, have played in big games and come out on the winning side.
"I don't think it's a lack of big-game experience or experience to win games."
"We have to stay tight, I know it's said a lot when games are lost but we haven't been far away.
"We can take positives from that. Little moments have let us down, and most of those little moments have been in our control.
"We know how good we can be, we've proved that we can win games at this level, we've proved that we can see games out."