United Rugby Championship: Ulster set sights on the Sharks as they push for a home quarter-final

Dylan Coetzee

Ulster have shifted their attention to the Sharks after claiming a 16-10 win over Edinburgh at the DAM Health Stadium.

The win secured both a playoff spot and a place in the Champions Cup next season, but there is still a home quarter-final to play for with one round left.

All to play for

The United Rugby Championship table is congested at the top, with three points separating the sixth-placed Bulls from the second-placed Munster.

Ulster sit in fifth place, just outside of the home quarter-finals, and welcome the Sharks to Belfast for the final round of the competition, and coach Dan McFarland is well aware of the challenge the Durban side poses.

“The Sharks is going to be huge because a home quarter-final is big in this competition, the Sharks won well on Saturday, they are a good team and very strong upfront. It is going to be a real challenge for us, but we love playing at home and it will be good to get back there and play for a home quarter-final,” McFarland told reporters.

“Sharks are a really strong team, they have a big front row, they are a very strong scrummaging and maul team…but we are not so bad there either.

“We’ll welcome them and try to move them around the park a bit and see what comes of it.”

McFarland commended his side’s defence and precisely how well they did to adapt and maintain their structure.

“Edinburgh threatened really well in attack, we had to call upon our defence and they did great,” said McFarland. “We don’t normally let clean breaks through but we had a couple of defensive errors…but I was proud of the way the guys reassessed, looked at what they were doing and kept their inside shoulders strong, didn’t come up as high on the outside and break the line and we managed to get our defence into a situation where we could hold on.”

READ MORE: Leo Cullen pleased as young Leinster squad clinch top spot