Rúaidhrí O'Connor

Part of that's down to the fact that it didn't have those four players that we mentioned who would have made a big difference.

Part of that is that some individuals probably froze a little bit.

I think Zach Ward had a difficult night at the office after a brilliant season.

I think some of the pack just didn't get the grips for what the task at hand, which is difficult because...

I think if Montpellier were cherry-picking players from the Ulster squad, they wouldn't take that many of them.

They have such resources.

They're backed by a multi-millionaire who was on TV nearly as much as the players last night, apparently.

So they have a big budget.

they've got kind of freedom to go and cherry pick players from all over the world.

They've got the Lions scrum half, they've got, you know, Biddy Vinopolo.

Roll back the years.

Yeah, Price was very good, Biddy Vinopolo was absolutely superb.

That's what I mean, sorry, Biddy Vinopolo, roll back the years.

Yeah, but they have such good players, like the Argentinian out half, it just facilitated really well, kicked most of his goals.

It's a different model, and it's a very difficult model to keep up with when you're trying to grow your own.

And I think the scale of the task ahead for Richie Murphy and Rory Best, who want to be back in the Champions Cup, that was the goal.

But there's one thing getting to the Champions Cup.

Last night you saw what the level of the Champions Cup is because Montpellier will be in that competition next year and Ulster are way off that level.

Yeah, I think Augustus is going for back surgery at the end of the season, and Bell...

Like, you're thinking, this guy, it's his last ever game for Ulster, they could easily have him go 80, especially because there's a bit of a drop-off to Eric O'Sullivan coming off, but he was spent.