RE-FOCUSING

And things just get worse.

The Blues will trip up several teams this season so let’s not downplay them too much, but this is a side Ulster should have dispatched without too many difficulties, and yet somehow we once again managed to conspire a defeat out of the game. When three flailing white shirts slipped off Rey Lee-Lo as he broke through for Cardiff’s first try, you knew that was the game gone.

Summerhill’s late score was the one that ended the game as a contest and proved that this Ulster side just is not up to scratch right now. At the very least had we managed to hold them out and secure a losing bonus point from the affair it could have been a valuable point gained. Instead, we return to Ireland with nothing, probably a fair reflection on how we fell apart in the last ten minutes.

There need to be some long, hard discussions had this week.

The thing is our squad is talented enough and we know that. But for some reason we cannot transfer that talent onto the pitch, and that is why it is so frustrating that for the last four weeks we have played so poorly. The most concerning thing is we are only a few players off fielding our strongest pack possible and yet we are constantly bullied at the breakdown by opponents, while our backs (which are slightly more depleted) are struggling to make consistent yardage.

It is remarkable how much the view in Ulster has now changed: two weeks ago we were scraping victories, but we were rising to the top of the table and thought that the world laid at our feet. Now, off the back of two defeats, some are questioning whether we’ll even make it to the Champions’ Cup next season. With such a congested table it is a legitimate worry, but one that shouldn’t come to pass. We still have definite top four aspirations.

If we are to make the top four though, things have to improve and very quickly. It is a small mercy that we have Zebre at home this weekend before the three week break for the end of the Six Nations as, even in our current form, that should be a five-pointer that will recoup some of our confidence before we come back away to Glasgow on Good Friday.

That’s when things really get interesting.

For now though, it is unclear where Ulster go from here. I am still of the belief that we have the players at our disposal, it is simply a case that they are not performing to their potential. Whether that justifies wholesale changes I’m not sure, but certainly there needs to be something done to snap us out of this poor run and get us back onto a path that not only gets us winning games again but also sees us churning out strong performances to back them up.

Five points against Zebre is a necessity, that would be a very good start. Then we have three weeks before our game against Glasgow that allow us to get things sorted out for our tricky run-in. The ironic thing is amongst all the doom and gloom our top four dreams are still in our hands, we simply have to get back to the form we were in when we took down Toulouse before Christmas and then we will be in a good place.

Can we still do it? Of course we can. Will we do it? That’s up to the 23 players that take the pitch every week.