They may need a bonus point in order to stand any chance of reaching the last-16 of the Champions Cup, but assistant coach Jimmy Duffy has dismissed the idea that Ulster are going to throw caution to the wind and focus on scoring tries against Exeter on Friday.
Even if the province were to achieve the five-point maximum against the former European and English champions this weekend, it would still take a significant result in France to get them into the knockouts as they need to overhaul a 56-point differential between themselves and the Sharks, who take on Bordeaux on Sunday.
However, regardless of what they need to keep their European dream alive, Duffy insists they aren’t going to abandon their building blocks and simply go all-out trying to run the ball in from anywhere on the pitch, arguing instead that it is more important just to get a victory on the board.
Ulster are on a wretched run in the Champions Cup having won just two of their last 12 games in the competition and need to beat the Chiefs just to avoid ending this year’s tournament without a win to their name, and Duffy believes that is more important.
“I think I said it the last time I was here, I know where we are in everything,” he said.
“For me, it’s all about those fundamentals. We go out to win every game, play smart and put ourselves in a position to win it and then we’ll know what we need to do.
“You’re playing against a very experienced side who have been in games and had a big win over Gloucester a couple of weeks ago, so we know exactly what we need to do. Number one is put ourselves in a position to win the game and minimise those errors that cost us last weekend and then we can chase what we need to chase.
“(Getting a bonus point) is a nice thing to say but you don’t say that against the former champions. You go out there to get your stuff right and put yourself in the position to win the game and then, if something happens after that, fantastic.”
In the shorter term, the quick turnaround from last week’s 38-10 loss at Welford Road, conceding six unanswered tries in a thumping by the Leicester Tigers, means that there’s little time to dwell on the disappointment of another second half collapse.
Not for the first time this season the province wilted after the break, barely laying a glove on Leicester after racing into a 10-0 lead after just eight minutes and instead suffering their third European hammering of the season.
Duffy concedes that there have been some tough words said in this week’s review as Ulster try to improve for the visit of the Chiefs but that players aren’t shirking away from individual responsibility for mistakes.
“We just revisit our fundamentals and go after those. If you get those right early in the season, which I believe we have, then we’ve shown on multiple occasions it’s put us in the position to win,” added the forwards coach.
“It’s a couple little individual errors that have cost us and it blankets the overall performance — you can isolate that but you don’t throw anybody under the bus.
“People have to learn the hard way in pro sports. The boys are working hard as usual after a performance we’re not proud of, or the last 25 minutes anyway, and they’re going after the errors that cost us.
“We put ourselves in some good attacking opportunities and we were accurate early in the game but then we weren’t as accurate from half-time on. We just dropped our standards and it cost us territory and put us in a position we didn’t want to be in.
“The individuals have owned up, it’s an honest bunch, they’ve put their hands up and said collectively we weren’t good enough. Tidy up some individual stuff, be more accurate and capitalise on our chances.”