European Rugby Champions Cup: Neil Doak pleased with Ulster's first Pool 3 victory
Saturday 6 December 2014 23:37, UK
Coach Neil Doak was delighted with Ulster's efforts against the Scarlets as they kept their European Rugby Champions Cup campaign alive with a 24-9 win.
First-half tries from Darren Cave and Ruan Pienaar were supplemented by scores in the second 40 minutes by Tommy Bowe and skipper Rory Best, who delivered the try that earned Ulster a vital bonus point.
Victory moved Doak's side up to second in Pool 3 and a Toulon win at Leicester on Sunday would see them stay in that spot at the halfway stage.
"We knew what we needed to get done and I'm very happy with that," said Doak.
"Credit to the guys, they stuck at it. When we played territory we put them under pressure and got the scores on the board.
"We got the bonus point and it keeps us in the mix and if we can pick something up (over there) it means the last two games could be in better reach than the first two were."
But Doak was left sweating over what kind of team he will be able to put out at Parc Y Scarlets next Sunday, with Stuart Olding, Stuart McCloskey, Franco van der Merwe, Nick Williams and Wiehahn Herbst all suffering injuries.
"A few boys aren't looking good for next week and we'll have to see how they come through over the next 48 hours," he added.
"With the conditions, I thought it was going to be difficult but we had a couple of nice plays off set plays. It was key we got the bonus and it gives us a fighting chance next time.
"We talked about getting four wins to at least get us there or thereabouts."
Scarlets coach Wayne Pivac was upset with the amount of errors his side piled up as they put themselves in a must-win position for next week's return match in Wales.
He said: "We came here with a view to getting the points and a win and made too many mistakes in terms of our defence.
"In penalty count it was probably 16-6 or 17-6 against us and that let us down. And two yellow cards with 14 points in the first one and that hurt obviously and the second one didn't warrant a penalty let alone a yellow card."
