Cardiff give Ulster a wake-up call ahead of Saracens’ clash

Cardiff 28 Ulster 23

Ulster’s head coach saw his side suffer an untimely loss of form against one of the struggling teams of this season’s Rabo Direct Pro12 on the eve of their European quarter-final. Trailing 22-5 at half-time against Cardiff Blues, Ulster at least recovered in the second-half and came within a kick and a disallowed try of completing their comeback but Anscombe is aware they cannot afford a repeat performance at Ravenhill this weekend. While Cardiff were dogged and passionate, they had none of the brute force Saracens will provide.

“Right now it feels like the glass is half empty rather than half full. That was a good team we had out there and we should be better than giving away points like that,” said Anscombe.