Ulster full-back Jacob Stockdale says Saturday’s 22-19 defeat by the Sharks in Belfast “feels like one that got away”.
The hosts held a 19-5 lead after a superb first half against a Shark side that contained eight World Cup winners with South Africa.
However, the visitors dominated the second half and Jordan Hendrikse’s late penalty gave the Sharks the win.
“The first half hour we we cooking and it felt great,” Stockdale told BBC Sport NI.
“We let them back into the game a bit too much and let them play their power game. In fairness to them, they took their chances really well.”
Stockdale, who was named player of the match after impressing at full-back despite a first-half yellow card, said it was a “disappointing one” to let the game slip away.
The defeat leaves Ulster in 12th position in the United Rugby Championship with two matches remaining.
The top eight qualify for the play-offs and while Richie Murphy’s side are just three points off securing knockout rugby, they will likely need victories away to challengers Munster and Edinburgh.
“It’s a disappointing one and I suppose that’s representative of the season we’ve had, where there’s a lot of really promising stuff but we haven’t quite been able to get across the line,” admitted Stockdale.
“We’ve still got a couple of games left to squeeze into the play-offs. I think we still can, so our focus has to shift to that now.”
Stockdale, who said he “loved the freedom” of playing at full-back instead of his traditional wing position, said he was “gutted” Ulster could not win in the final home match for eight players who will leave the province at the end of the season.
One of those is captain Alan O’Connor, who Stockdale said was “one of the best leaders who has ever graced” Ulster’s Ravenhill home.
“I don’t say that lightly. He’s an incredibly humble fella and he brings the best version of himself every single day into Ulster.
“We’ve a couple more weeks of him, which is great, but when he moves on there are going to be some massive boots to fill.”
