ULSTER director of rugby Les Kiss has called for further investment in the four Irish provincial sides as vital in helping them recreate past European glories.
Munster’s win over Scarlets on Saturday ensured that all four will play in the Champions Cup next season having finished in the top six of the PRO12.
But after a season in which none of Ulster, Munster or Leinster progressed from the group stages of Europe’s elite competition and Connacht failed to win the Challenge Cup, fears have mounted over the potential for the kind of success the provinces enjoyed during the noughties.
The big-spending Top 14 and Aviva Premiership teams look set to dominate the European scene and Kiss says it is important for Irish rugby to fight back in kind.
“It’s promising I guess, it’s pleasing [all four qualifying for the Champions Cup].
“The next challenge is to make sure we can compete in the European Cup. We can’t just say we’ve got to that; we have to be able to resource every province to be able to do that. That’s important for us.
“We want to do well in this competition, it’s our bread and butter, and we will do well, but we also aspire to greater things.
“It’s important that we don’t rest on our laurels. We’ve got to still invest in the teams to be able to deliver in Europe.”
Ulster qualified for the playoff stages of the Guinness PRO12 for the fourth consecutive year on Saturday afternoon with a try-filled 46-26 win over the Ospreys.
First half tries from Dan Biggar and Josh Matavesi briefly threatened to derail the Ulster men but Paddy Jackson, Rory Best and Andrew Trimble all touched down in the first half to ensure a 21-14 lead.
The bonus point they needed to secure a semi-final place was secured when Chris Henry sneaked through a gap in the ruck to touch the ball down from beneath the feet of Rhys Webb.
Stuart Olding and Franco van der Merwe added late scores after two Tom Grabham efforts for the hosts, whose own Champions Cup qualification hopes were undone.
Ulster will now face Leinster, whose win over Treviso secured a home semi-final at the expense of holders Glasgow.
The sides met last weekend at the Kingspan and Ulster, with everything to play for, ran out convincing 30-6 winners against a Leinster side who didn’t really need to bring their full focus.
Kiss expects that the only bearing that battle will have on next Friday night’s trip to the RDS will be to motivate Leo Cullen’s players.
“They’ll be smarting. You’d expect nothing less. Last time I thought they were short a run, they had players who hadn’t played a lot of rugby.
“They weren’t in the zone as well as they can be at times, they weren’t attacking as well as they can.
“We know that, they know that. I don’t expect the same team next time in terms of how they play. They will be a totally different beast.
“We have a lot of respect for what they can do with the ball, and a lot of respect for the players they have. The last time out wasn’t what they usually deliver. They’ll build a real siege mentality at home. We have to be armed for that.”
