Connacht boss Pete Wilkins admitted that last night's BKT URC loss to Ulster could have "huge implications" for their season.
A seventh successive Irish derby defeat and a third on the trot in the URC leaves the Westerners in 13th place in the table after six defeats from nine rounds.
"Any loss is disappointing but knowing the context of the impact it would have on our season if we won or lost, it's massive and it adds to the frustration of the performance.
"We’re significantly behind where we should be... there are plenty of games left in the season to make that up.
"To lose the game is a massive blow but we’ll regroup."
Connacht were second-best for most of the opening half and trailed 10-7 at the break.
Ulster grabbed a second try 14 minutes into the second period and held a wasteful Connacht scoreless for the remainder of the clash.
"Very disappointed [with the second half]," added Wilkins, whose side won their two Challenge Cup games in December.
"The key bit of that is that we got into the attacking 22 a number of times and created some great opportunities but balls were spilled in contact, or players went for one offload too many.
"We just needed to have greater composure, keep working through the phases and make Ulster work through their defensive phases and I have a feeling they might have broken but we never took them to that place.
"Full credit to them, all areas of their game out-performed us."
Connacht 7-17 Ulster
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) December 28, 2024
Nathan Doak: "It's a massive result for us. There were a lot of lads making first starts, debuts. We wanted to make it special for them." pic.twitter.com/14ID7orJtt
Ulster scrum-half Nathan Doak, who kicked seven points, was delighted to end their five-game losing streak.
"It’s a massive result for us," he said. "We’re coming off the back of really tough fixtures.
"It was so good to be part of that tonight. It was class for everyone to come together.
"Look, we’re young, maybe we’re naïve but we’ve got to back ourselves. We want to push on.
"We know people will have their opinions of where we’re at but for us, being in there, it’s just about working hard every day.
"That will hold us in good stead and give us a bit of confidence going into the next round of league games."
