Pictured above: Ulster winger Andrew Trimble tries to get past London Irish's Mike Catt, who turned in a man of the match display against Mark McCall's men, running in an excellent first half try.

Ulster were left ruing an unconvincing start at the Madejski Stadium, during which they conceded two converted tries. The province's assistant coach Allen Clarke said: "We started poorly in the first 20 minutes. Our indiscipline allowed London Irish to kick for territory.

"We did get ourselves back into the game. We started believing in ourselves, worked through the phases and caused problems but the second half was a huge disappointment. We'll have to learn quickly from what went wrong.

"We were disappointed to concede so easily in the second half. We needed to be more precise and that's something we'll address for next Friday."



London Irish's Nick Kennedy gets to grips with Ulster full-back Bryn Cunningham who has Matt McCullough in support. After their four-try defeat in Reading, Ulster are almost certainly out of the quarter-final reckoning for another year.

Flanker Neil Best relayed his team-mates' disappointment at not making the Exiles pay when both Delon Armitage and Justin Bishop were in the sin bin. He said: "Tactically we were poor and in our execution we ere poor as well, and that cost us. Good sides score points when the opposition are down players and we didn't do that.

"They scrambled and defended well. They're a good team, or at any rate they were the better team this time around. Hopefully it will be different scenario back at Ravenhill."



Ulster centre Paddy Wallace is tackled by London Irish's Shane Geraghty and Mike Catt. Afterwards, Ulster coach Mark McCall admitted that "Geraghty's try (midway through the second half) turned the game on its head. We knew if we didn't win here we would be virtually out of the competition."

McCall\s charges are bottom of the Pool 5 standings, with a haul of five points, with Toulouse (6 points), London Irish (6) and Llanelli Scarlets (13) ahead of them.



London Irish scrum half Paul Hodgson sends a pass out from a ruck. Ulster boss McCall, a former Exiles player, is hopeful that his side can ended their pool campaign with three good performances, and possibly three wins.

He added: "People will be saying our season is now over, but we are a proud bunch. We still have our Magners League crown to defend and we will be giving it our all in the last three European games.

"We knew that if we didn't win at the Madejski we were effectively out of the competition. Even so, we still want to win our last three games."



Andrew Trimble is challenge by London Irish centre Seilala Mapasua, who played for the Pacific Islanders in their 61-17 defeat to Ireland at Lansdowne Road last month. Ulster assistant coach Allen Clarke was impressed by the burly Samoan, who put in a number of crunching tackles on the visitors' backs.

Clarke said: "Mapasua defended well - we'll give credit where it's due. But we shouldn't have run down his channel so often."



London Irish centre Seilala Mapasua is sent crashing to the deck by Ulster's Paddy Wallace and Paul Steinmetz. The once-capped All Black Steinmetz got over for a try in first half injury-time, his first in the Heineken Cup.



Roger Wilson, Isaac Boss, Neil Best and Rory Best, amongst others, show their disappointment as the game comes to a close in Reading. After Steinmetz's converted try, which brought the score line to 14-13 in 'Irish's favour, the Ulster dressing room was "buzzing" at the break, according to Clarke.

He said: "We believed we could go on and win it. But our precision and our accuracy wasn't good enough during the critical period at the start of the second half and the guys are hugely disappointed. Europe is a long shot now but we have three games to win and the team wants to win those games."



David Humphreys looks distraught after he failed to put his mark on Ulster's Heineken Cup encounter with London Irish. Humphreys was out-played by the Exiles' young number 10 Shane Geraghty, and will see retribution at Ravenhill on Friday.

Neil Best is still holding onto the notion that Ulster can qualify for the knockout stages. He reckoneded: "If we beat London Irish at home with a bonus point and do the same against Llanelli and at Toulouse, which I know sounds fa-fetched, we can still get through. Anything can happen.

"We're bitterly disappointed with this result. Nobody likes playing badly and thank goodness we've got a week to turn it around."



A glum-looking Justin Harrison heads for the dressing room after Ulster's ninth successive Heineken Cup defeat on English soil. Looking ahead to Friday's tie at Ravenhill, the former Wallaby lock, who boasts nine Heineken Cup caps, is confident Ulster can bounce back.

He said: "We're buoyed by the fact the squad was still positive in training today (Monday). There is no doubt that there was disappointment (after the loss) but it's coupled with what sport provides you with and that's challenges.

"Everyone meets challenges in different ways and the character of the team will come through in Friday's match." Kick-off in Belfast is 7.30pm.

**All photos by Billy Stickland of Inpho Photography**