ALAN O'CONNOR SAYS 'PRESSURE IS ON' AS UISTER TARGET PLACE IN UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFFS
Eleven of the 15 players that finished the 53-14 defeat at the Stade Marcel-Michelin last Saturday were 26 or under.
Ulster resume the domestic campaign with a home game against Cardiff and are looking for a victory to propel them up the table from their current position of eighth.
O’Connor said: “It is tough, the best experience for them (young players) is just playing it and reviewing it – them just assessing their own emotions and how they dealt with certain things, maybe the atmosphere or even that weather.
“For myself I just try to be a good teammate, help them with their analysis or if they have any questions, I’m not going to go and tell them they should be doing this, that or the other. Everybody has a good idea of how to be a good professional.
“You have to move on fast, you can’t think about it too much. We were in the game just after half-time then it all seemed to fall apart. When the French are on top there are no better people to carry on.”
The defeat in Clermont once again raised questions about Ulster’s ability to compete against the big physical sides in Europe as Richie Murphy’s side conceded 13 turnovers and were blown away in the second half with the hosts scoring 33 unanswered points.
“It was disappointing and definitely disappointing to finish that game the way we did, and fair play to Clermont,” O’Connor said.
“They're really good and really physical and yeah, I thought they were definitely the better team on the on the day,
“It’s tough, we just have to be more gelled as a collective because they are really good individuals, and we won’t have as much experience if we are lining out with those two back rows (Harry Sheridan and David McCann).
“There is not much you can do except try to win the moments in front of you and not think about it too much, just play some rugby.
“I think it comes with experience. They are naturally bigger than you as well so you have to work as a collective, try to be more gelled as a collective, try to back each other up a bit more in the collusion zone as well.”
Ulster have five games remaining in the URC to clinch a top-eight finish and a place in the quarter-finals and O’Connor admits the ‘pressure is on’.
O’Connor added: “Every game is effectively a playoff game at the minute now because, if we lose, I think we go to 11th or something, with how the other fixtures might play out.
“Yeah, pressure’s on, you’ve got to enjoy that pressure and great that it's a Friday night game to get our teeth into that against Cardiff as well, and Benetton the week after.
“Every game matters, get maxlmum points and I'm looking at this game as playoff game in my mind because we could just be easily slipping off and not get Europe.
“Anything can happen in rugby, every game is a knockout game in my head. We need to finish high up the table then we’ll see where we are at and go from there.”