Ulster head coach Dan McFarland admitted that the “nasty injury” sustained by Will Addison had marred Friday night’s win over the Lions after the full-back was taken to hospital during the second-half.
he northern province made it four wins in a row to start the season, all coming with the addition of a try-bonus, to move to the top of the United Rugby Championship table at this early stage.
This latest victory, however, came only after Addison had been stretchered from the field five minutes after the turn.
“Will’s gone to hospital and it looks like a nasty injury, beyond that I don’t know,” said McFarland of the former Sale man, who has endured a horrendous run of injury misfortune.
“I’m really disappointed for Will and it’s been a long old haul for him. He’s come back and then to have that happen is disappointing.
“We’ll get a full update tomorrow (Saturday).”
The full haul of match-points was secured with Nick Timoney’s second try of the contest 14 minutes from time in a game where Ulster had briefly trailed in the first-half.
While Ulster matched the strong visiting set-piece, McFarland wanted to see a greater level of accuracy from his side despite the victory.
“There were aspects of that which were really excellent,” he said. “The scrum. Absolutely top notch. I thought those guys did a fantastic job.
“Mauling we put them under a lot of pressure, our lineout functioned well, our kick-chase was really excellent and defensively we put in a lot of really good sets against a hard-running team.
“We had to because on the other side of the ball we didn’t hold onto the ball for long enough on enough occasions.
“We demonstrated in the first-half that when we did we could score.
“We have to look at ourselves and say we’re a really good team when we hold onto the ball and go through phases.
“We have to be more accurate.”
Ulster will face Connacht at the Aviva Stadium in what is notionally a home game for the westerners before taking a four-week break for the Autumn Internationals.
