Ulster boss Dan McFarland launched a strong defence of Jacob Stockdale after the Ireland winger blew a crucial try-scoring opportunity for his province in yesterday's Champions Cup loss to Leinster.
The challengers went down 21-18 in the end but had Stockdale grounded the ball in the 45th minute after a brilliant run, Ulster would have been seven points clear.
Shane Horgan later described it as the game's turning point but McFarland insisted that wasn't the case.
"I know what you want me to say. I am not going to say that," said McFarland.
"Downstairs I was asked the question four times, 'what about Jacob dropping the ball over the line?'.
"My answer to that is not many people in the world can beat that many players to even get in the position where they put the ball down.
“I’m proud of Jacob. He played a great game, did a lot of really good things, he’s disappointed but that’s not the reason we lost the game.
“Jacob’s really really disappointed. Three millimetres off his finger.
"There were so many other small things that could of sent the game in other directions. Chaos theory will tell you it could have been any one thing.
"I'm so proud he is in our team".
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