Criticism can only help us, says Wilson

ULSTER’S Roger Wilson admits the criticisms endured after Saturday’s Heineken Cup disaster at the Madejski Stadium were justified.

With Ulster coach Mark McCall naming the same 22-man squad for the return Pool 5 tie at Ravenhill on Friday, Wilson believes the criticism will help the side step up a notch.

“The criticism after Saturday was fair,” agreed Wilson.

“We have played our way into a good position over the past couple of seasons and there is a lot of expectation. Everyone expected us to go over to London and beat the Irish, so there was obviously a lot of disappointment. At least we have a bit of time to put things right.

“Can we still qualify? Yes, of course we can, we have to be positive. We are not talking too much about it. However, if we can win the next two home fixtures, then we travel to Toulouse with the hope of still qualifying.”

Ulster’s experienced lock Justin Harrison also remains optimistic.

“It could be that a team can lose two matches in this pool and still top the group,” said Ulster’s experienced Wallaby. “We’re buoyed by the fact the squad was still positive in training this week, although we were all fairly quiet going about our work. Everyone meets challenges in different ways and the character of the team will come through in Friday’s match you can be assured of that.”

There have been calls in some quarters for McCall to move Paddy Wallace into the fly-half at the expense of veteran David Humphreys, but Harrison refused to lay any blame on the former Irish interntional’s disappointing place kicking display.

“Humph has won plenty of matches for us. We’re very disappointed that we put him under that pressure. We should have scored points through tries.”

McCall is expected to name his side at lunchtime tomorrow.

ULSTER SQUAD:

(Backs): B Cunningham, M Bartholomeusz, T Bowe, A Trimble, P Steinmetz, K Maggs, P Wallace, D Humphreys, I Boss, K Campbell.

(Forwards): J Fitzpatrick, B Young, S Best, R Best, P Shields, J Harrison, M McCullough, T Barker, N Best, K Dawson, N McMillan, R Wilson.