Ulster 47-17 Ospreys: Dan McFarland praises hosts for bouncing back from Leinster loss
- Published
Highlights: Ulster overpower Ospreys in Belfast rout
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland praised his side's "spirit" as they extinguished the pain of losing to Leinster by beating Ospreys in commanding fashion.
Having fallen to their interpro rivals last week, Ulster scored seven tries to beat the Welsh side 47-17.
"We showed great spirit to bounce back after last week," said McFarland.
"We didn't really need to talk about it that much, my gut told me we'd see that and we did."
He added: "The fact that we managed that second half pretty well given the amount of disruption we had in pivotal positions with Ian (Madigan) going off after playing so well in the first half, Billy (Burns) coming on and then having to go off, Stuart McCloskey having to go off.
"There was a lot of disruption around that but I felt until that final minute we managed that second half really well."
McFarland's decision to make nine changes to the line-up had the desired effect as they dominated the opening stages against Ospreys with Luke Marshall and John Andrew tries opening up a 14-0 lead after 10 minutes.
While Ospreys hit back through Jac Morgan, Ulster crossed a further five times to put the result beyond doubt before Morgan Morris' late consolation effort for the visitors.
Sutherland won't make Ulster front row a strength - Best
However, while McFarland was pleased to see his side climb to second in the United Rugby Championship standings, he expressed concern over the injury which curtailed fly-half Ian Madigan's first start of the season ahead of the province's upcoming double-header in South Africa.
Madigan appeared to injure his knee when he tripped over team-mate Sam Carter and Ospreys' Morgan near the end of the first half and was replaced by Billy Burns at the break.
Burns, Marty Moore, Stuart McCloskey were also forced off on Saturday evening.
"Ian's one didn't look great to be honest," admitted McFarland.
"He's in a brace but we'd be hopeful the other guys will be OK, but we won't know until Monday or Tuesday when they can be assessed."
McFarland's changes for the visit of Ospreys saw Duane Vermeulen handed his first start of the season having returned from Rugby Championship duty with South Africa.
In addition to Madigan, Craig Gilroy and Rob Lyttle both made their first starts of the season, with McFarland explaining that the hunger within his squad makes him comfortable in executing such a significant shake-up.
"There are hungry guys in our squad," he said.
"When the squad is playing well and doing some good stuff and they did that even last week, although we didn't play as well as we could do, that was a tough game against a really good team.
"There's a positive feeling about the way we're playing. Guys are mustard to play. If they miss out on any game time, they get really hungry for the minutes they get.
"I think you see that in the determination thy show when they go out when their name is called."
The win over Ospreys was Ulster's last home game until 25 November, with the trips to Lions and Sharks followed by a visit to Munster before the break for the autumn internationals.