Glasgow captain Kyle Steyn bemoaned his team’s failure to put Ulster away as they dominated an hour of a game they ended up losing in Belfast on Saturday.
Steyn’s charges were the dominant force, particularly in the opening 40 minutes, but that carried on into the early stages of the second half.
A disallowed try for Scotland flanker Rory Darge – pulled back by the television match official due to a forward pass in the build-up – halted their momentum, and the impact of Ulster’s bench allowed the hosts to get on top.
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Steyn admitted it was a “weird” game at the Kingspan.
He said: "I'm just really proud of the way the guys fought and kept on fighting; the lengths we made Ulster to go to have to score their tries.
“But I think come Monday the frustration we'll look at is how we let them get there in the first place.”
Steyn scored immediately after David McCann’s 72nd-minute try put the home side in front, only for Dave Shanahan’s match-winning score four minutes into injury time to snatch victory for the hosts.
And despite defeat, he is confident Glasgow will find that ruthless streak that took them to the United Rugby Championship title last season.
"I think that will probably hurt a lot on Monday when we watch this back,” he said of his side’s failure to convert pressure into points.
The Scotland wing added: “We’ve also said to ourselves that we've got to be a little bit patient, tons of boys there were getting their first hit out. That's not an excuse at all, but I think we're just going to choose to focus on these positives, take them and move forward.
“We’ve got a tough Benetton team coming on Friday and we’re going to need to be ready for them.”
Steyn knows teams will target the scalp of the champions, but felt his side stood up to that challenge in Belfast.
He reflected: "We knew it was going to be physical, but I thought our big boys matched in every aspect there, in some of the shots, some of the D, all those kinds of thing. They were all really good.
“But the league's getting a lot better, all the teams are getting a lot better, so I think it's going to come down to a lot of these big moments, close moments in games and we've just got to keep believing that we can convert them.
Benetton kicked off their season with a 20-all draw against Scarlets in Treviso, but Steyn is keen to right the wrongs of Saturday’s season opener and put on a show on their return to Scotstoun.
Of the challenge of facing the Italian side, who finished seventh last season after thrashing Edinburgh on the final day of the regular season to earn a play-off spot, Steyn said: “They're also developing a group that's been together a good few years now. So there's a good cohesion there.”
And of running out at Scotstoun, Steyn vowed: “Absolutely we want to put on a show [for the supporters] but we also just want to right a couple of these wrongs, show that level of fight for our home fans and hopefully put ourselves again in a position to create chances, and then hopefully finish off a few more of them.”
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