Ulster 28-14 Edinburgh: 'I gave everything I could' - departing coach Mike Blair

Mike Blair is stepping down after two seasons as head coach at Edinburgh

Mike Blair is satisfied he gave "everything I possibly could" as Edinburgh head coach as he ended his spell in charge with defeat at Ulster.

The 41-year-old former Scotland scrum-half announced in February that he would not be renewing his contract.

Friday's 28-14 defeat secured second place in the United Rugby Championship for Ulster and left Edinburgh in 12th.

"I don't think it's an effort issue - it's a smarts issue," Blair said when asked what went wrong this season.

"I spoke to the players and thanked them for their efforts. There's a huge amount of effort going in."

Blair said in February he was "taking a breath" before he decides his next move as, although he enjoyed working with players on the training ground, he was not enjoying other aspects of his job.

Asked if he now knew what his future holds, he told BBC Scotland: "I've not given it too much thought, because I didn't want to get distracted.

"I'm disappointed with the season we've had, but I know I've given it everything I possibly could. I've made big sacrifices from a time point of view and from an emotional point of view."

Edinburgh scored the first try in Belfast, but Ulster gradually took control.

"There was a really good tempo to the game," Blair said. "I thought our execution was excellent early on, but we didn't come up with the points. The pressure that we had, we needed to get more points out of it.

"Going in down at half-time was tough to take and then obviously giving away the intercept at the start of the second half meant we had a mountain to climb. It was our season in microcosm.

"We showed lots of good stuff, but we had too many occasions where we took our foot off the gas or made an error at a crucial time and that's not how you win games."

Edinburgh finished seventh last season, one place above Glasgow Warriors, but the west coast side have fared much better than their rivals this term.

"Last season, we got momentum through victories and, when you do that, you're a different beast," Blair added.

"We had a really tough period over Christmas this year and we didn't quite come through it. Lots to work on, lots to look back and reflect on, but we weren't good enough this season."