There was no hiding the Ospreys disappointment after a one-point defeat at Ravenhill on the opening day of the new Magners League season.
The bonus point they picked up in the 27-26 defeat was scant consolation in the eyes of the players, who were clear that their poor discipline had proven costly on the night.
The Ospreys man-of-the-match was fly-half Dan Biggar who had a perfect record with the boot, kicking two conversions and four penalties, as well as grabbing his team’s second try at the start of the second half, and he said:
"It was very frustrating, it was certainly a game that we should have won. We went ahead but couldn’t quite seal it off. As a team we were disappointing in most areas and our discipline was poor, which ultimately cost us the game.
"I was in a good rhythm tonight, I’ve done a lot of work over the summer with Neil Jenkins, but overall it was disappointing.
"Don’t get me wrong, Ulster played very well. They’ve got a great set of forwards and they made life very tough for us, but we’re disappointed. When it comes down to one point in the game and we’ve given away 13 or 14 penalties, that’s no way to win games away from home.
"I don’t think I can say it any clearer than that, albeit, there are some positives from the game tonight. We’ll look at the video on Monday to see what we can improve on but ultimately, when you give 13 or 14 penalties away in a one point defeat it’s hard to look anywhere else."
Skipper Jerry Collins echoed his thoughts:
"We just couldn’t get a roll on. Our penalty count was pretty big which was frustrating as we were trying to play some rugby out there.
"Everyone’s got to adjust to the new interpretations, but our penalty count was too high. We don’t expect to win games when it’s that high.
"We made good half breaks then we’d turn the ball over or we’d give the penalty away, we’d drop the ball and they’d kick it back down. It was frustrating; we made enough chances to win that game. I suppose it’s better to get that out of the way early, and pick up a point away from home. We’ll look to build on that in the next game at home."