Boss highlights progress despite defeat

Cardiff Blues pushed the Irish side all the way in a titanic and physically opening 40 minutes as both teams traded penalties.

Second half tries from Dan Tuohy and Ian Humphreys eventually saw Ulster claim the points.

But Hammer was pleased with the progress made by his team from the loss to Glasgow a week earlier.

“Let’s not get mistaken, we are never going to be satisfied with losses,” he said. “But the way we performed today, and in lots of parts of the game, I was proud of the boys.

“We didn’t always work back quick enough to get out of our 22 when they put the ball in behind us and got caught a few times. They also started wearing us down from a lineout perspective; I thought Ulster drove very well.

“But I thought our shape was good and the difference was they took their chances and I felt we didn’t take ours. The difference from last week, though, was that we created chances.

“We didn’t look lost at any time, from a shape perspective, and that is credit to the boys and how hard they worked off the ball.

“You also have to give credit to the last two sides we have played, the types of team they are and where they have been over a number of years in this competition,” added Hammer.

“We are up against the best, which is going to bring the best pressure, and that is always going to be difficult.

“For us to play our game plan and how we want to every time we go on the field, is what we are aiming for. But it is not going to be perfect because we have them coming at us 100 percent and we are going at them 100 percent, at times things will snap. But I felt we made progress.”