Northampton captain Dylan Hartley admitted his side's display against Ulster "was not good enough" after slipping to a 25-6 defeat at Franklin's Gardens.
The Aviva Premiership team became the latest opponent to be beaten by Ulster, who scored four tries to make it 13 successive wins this season.
Unless the Midlanders do something remarkable back at Belfast's Ravenhill next weekend, their European campaign will be over.
"That was not good enough from us," said England international Hartley.
"We speak about intensity, they brought bags of it and we didn't bring enough. They are unbeaten and they showed why. They are a good team but we made them look better than it could have been.
"We had internationals returning, injured players returning and our strongest team on the field but you can't just turn up and expect it to happen and I think that happened tonight. We got showed up by a good team.
"They did exactly what we would like to do to another team. They forced us into errors. It is not good enough."
Hartley's misery could increase if he finds himself in hot water with the disciplinary officials after an off-the-ball clash with Rory Best.
"I don't think it was an incident," the hooker added.
Comments
liam2me says...
No mention that the thug's been cited, c'mon PR, keep up
Posted 01:00 11th December 2012
papachinzo says...
Aww, poor little Hartley, maybe a nice little ban will heal those wounds.
Posted 13:16 08th December 2012
pantreac says...
I really couldn't believe Barnes's comment 'that he hopes Hartley, is not cited, for repeatedly hitting Best in the face with his elbow whilst he was on top of him on the ground! Also his lack of condemnation for the deliberate late and dangerous tackle on Jackson! Hartley is a serious thug and we most definitely do not want/need people like him in our sport. Notice how he 'pops' up in almost every scrum but is not penalised reminiscent of Moore in his prime?
Posted 11:22 08th December 2012
Bosch says...
ha ha what an arse, Hartley should be banned from playing rugby, he is always involved in "incidents"
I had to mute the commentary as it was so annoying, according to them for the first 40, Saints were playing with themselves and Dean Ryan.
Posted 08:59 08th December 2012