Muller: We learned from painful losses

Johann Muller, who captained Ulster to victory over Munster yesterday, credited the experience the northern side picked up in recent years with helping them over the line in Limerick yesterday.

Muller pointed out that Ulster fielded practically the same team in last year’s Heineken Cup quarter-final, adding that the experience had been a huge bonus for his side in becoming only the second team to beat Munster in the Heineken Cup at Thomond Park.

“Brian (McLaughlin, Ulster coach) said it – it was a special effort from everyone, not just players but management, everybody.

“We had some time to prepare for this one, and we knew it was going to be truly physical and extremely tough playing a champion side like Munster, with only their second loss at home in Heineken Cup rugby.

“We knew it was going to be tough, but as Brian said, that start was something special. To be 19 points up, you’ve got to do something special to lose that, and we nearly did with the yellow card. We played some great rugby in the middle forty minutes but hats off to the guys to come back and make sure we got the win at the end of the day.

“It was a special win for everybody.”

Muller stressed the learning experience involved in the last three years with Ulster.

“We mentioned that the whole week – we’ve learned so much in the last three years, and particularly in the last two years with our away games against Clermont, and against Leicester this year.

“We were still in games at half-time but we were still losing them through silly mistakes or through the first phase not functioning properly.

“The experience we got through those losses – that helped a lot. We spoke about it at half-time, we said that twelve months ago we were ahead but let it slip (agianst Northampton) in the second half. We didn’t go down that route.

“But that’s experience, and that’s rugby. The more you play it, the more you’re in situations like that, the more you learn. We took it on the chin in the last couple of years but we made sure we didn’t make those same mistakes.”

Muller returned to the notion of self-belief when asked how they’d ironed out that tendency to make mistakes.

“Like I said — by playing. The more you play together, the more continuity there is, the more trust between the manager and the players and between the players themselves.

“It’s a vibe that’s created by playing together, by getting to know the guy next to you, by playing for the jersey.

“We’ve been fortunate that today we had almost exactly the same team we had on the park last year for the quarter-final. That brings a special vibe, something we’ve worked hard in the last two years to create.

“We’re not there yet. This was a great win but we haven’t achieved anything yet – we have a semi-final spot and that’s it. This is a start, not the end – there’s lots of hard work to do yet.”

Muller and his teammates face a punishing run-in to the semi-final with Edinburgh.

“Physically it’s going to be really tough. Playing a physical game like today’s, then away to Connacht, which is always tough, then a game at home to Leinster and then straight into the semi-final – you can’t ask for a tougher run-in.

“But we’ll be clever about it as well. As Brian says, it’s fantastic to be fighting in two different competitions and we’ll make sure we have awfully fit squad for the semi-final, so that everyone’s ready to put in a performance at the Aviva.”