Ulster director of rugby David Humphreys has set his sights on winning Pool 4 after seeing his side crush Aironi 46-20.
Phillips slams hosts,insists performance "wasn't acceptable"
Ulster director of rugby David Humphreys has set his sights on winning Pool 4 after seeing his side crush Aironi 46-20.
A penalty try and efforts from Andrew Trimble, Tom Court, Craig Gilroy, Robbie Diack and Adam Macklin helped the Irish province claim a second successive bonus-point triumph over their Italian opponents.
With Leicester beating Clermont Auvergne in the other group fixture, Ulster now top the table heading into the final two rounds of matches.
The Tigers are next up at Ravenhill before Ulster head to Clermont on the last weekend, with Humphreys insisting they have no interest in aiming for a best runners-up spot.
"We haven't had a chance to sit down and look at the permutations yet," he said.
"But after round four, you generally get a good idea of how the pool is likely to pan out. Leicester's win against Clermont certainly makes things interesting.
"If they had lost, perhaps it would have been easier for us to earn qualification. But as things stand, we now have a very good chance of topping the group and getting a better draw in the quarter-finals.
"That has been our goal from the start, and we're going to go into the last round with all guns blazing. We've already beaten Clermont at home and we've secured back-to-back bonus-point wins against Aironi.
"Now Leicester have to come to Ravenhill to play us, and what a fantastic prospect that is."
Happy
Humphreys praised his players for a professional performance against Aironi, adding: "As for today, we came here to do a job and did very much as we would have hoped.
"It was a bit frustrating at times but we're more than happy to go home with the five points."
Aironi head coach Rowland Phillips, meanwhile, was left to rue yet another loss for the struggling Italian franchise. They did stage a spirited second-half fightback, Sinoti Sinoti, Roberto Quartaroli and George Biagi all crossing.
"I'm very disappointed," Phillips admitted.
"We prepared well but didn't perform. We showed in the second half that when we have the confidence to play, we can compete.
"But in general, the performance wasn't acceptable. If you give teams too much respect, you are always going to be in trouble.
"We had a chat at half-time and came out in the second half with a bit more belief, and a bit more focus on ourselves, but the result was already beyond us at that stage."
