{"id":957511,"date":"2026-05-13T17:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/957511\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:38:15","slug":"ulster-coach-calls-for-consistency-in-final-before-the-final-against-glasgow-warriors-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/957511\/","title":{"rendered":"Ulster coach calls for consistency in \u2018final before the final\u2019 against Glasgow Warriors \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

With an actual cup final to face next week in Bilbao, it almost seems timely, though far from ideal, that Friday\u2019s concluding URC<\/a> regular-season game against leaders Glasgow Warriors has that same vibe about it.<\/p>\n

Ulster<\/a>, currently eighth in the league table, need a win to bolt down their spot in the play-offs and see off Connacht<\/a>\u2019s charge. The westerners are a point and place behind and playing in Edinburgh on Friday night.<\/p>\n

So, jeopardy aplenty is at play. This is especially so as Richie Murphy\u2019s selection \u2013 minus Stuart McCloskey, David McCann and Jacob Stockdale \u2013 will be facing a Glasgow side going all out to win and top the table. That would allow them to bank the advantages of home knockout ties should they keep progressing.<\/p>\n

A massive game, then, for both participants at the Affidea Stadium. Ulster will be aiming to do their utmost to hunt down a result and keep control of their own destiny regarding the baseline aim of making the URC play-offs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a position now where we need to win or we need the results to go our way to get into that top eight,\u201d said Ulster assistant coach Mark Sexton.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we\u2019re excited for the challenge that Glasgow are going to bring and I have full confidence that we can go and get the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve said all year is that the next game is the most important one. So, Glasgow is a really big game for us and we want to make sure we\u2019re in the top eight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardiff \u2013 in seventh and on 50 points along with Ulster \u2013 host the Stormers on the same evening in a match of significance. Sexton pointed out that while the other games will be monitored \u2013 and updates potentially sent to the players \u2013 the focus for the province\u2019s coaching team will remain on doing everything to get the job done against Glasgow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that we don\u2019t get sidetracked,\u201d he said. \u201cUntil there\u2019s absolute necessity to get a message down there (to the pitch), we won\u2019t be \u2013 we\u2019ll just be concentrating on ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a couple of little situations [in the Connacht and Cardiff games] that will be quite important for the players to know if that event is taking place,\u201d he maintained while re-emphasising that attention will be prioritised on scoring more match points than the Warriors.<\/p>\n

With Ulster battling on two fronts and having a shot at ending a 20-year trophy drought next week when they face Montpellier in the Challenge Cup final, Sexton was also keen to mention that despite the province\u2019s high-profile injuries, there is no sense that the squad is running low on belief and vigour. They remain focused and energetic following last week\u2019s 38-38 draw against <\/a>the Stormers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy when you\u2019re going into a cup final because there\u2019s so much energy around the place and there\u2019s so much excitement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we\u2019re certainly full of energy to go and play Glasgow and you\u2019re going into a cup final then, so you\u2019re definitely going to have energy for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sexton has been credited with the transformation of Ulster\u2019s attack this season. However, he has called for greater consistency now that the business end of the season is here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had moments this season where we\u2019ve been unbelievable and there have been a couple of weeks where we haven\u2019t been. We have [at times] reached our potential, but now it\u2019s about being consistent with it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With an actual cup final to face next week in Bilbao, it almost seems timely, though far from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,8979,4884,219145,712,242541,16,34596,15,4510],"class_list":{"0":"post-957511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-glasgow-warriors","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-jacob-stockdale","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-stuart-mccloskey","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-ulster-rugby","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-united-rugby-championship"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}