Ulster centre James Hume says Richie Murphy’s side will use last season’s disappointment “as a bit of motivation” for the new campaign.
Defeat by Montpellier in the European Challenge Cup final saw Ulster’s 20-year wait for a trophy roll on, while they were edged out of the United Rugby Championship [URC] play-offs and a place in this season’s Investec Champions Cup.
Hume maintains the goal for this season is “silverware in any capacity” but feels they are in a “good sport” as they prepare for Friday’s final URC warm-up against the Ospreys at Affidea Stadium [19:45 BST] before the new campaign begins at home to Edinburgh on 25 September.
“It was brought up at the start of pre-season how we don’t want that to happen again and we’ll use that as a bit of motivation,” the recently-turned 28-year-old told BBC Sport NI’s Nicola McCarthy when reflecting on how the last campaign ended.
“It still hurts me a bit that we should have done so much better given the circumstances. It hurts as there could have been silverware, but you have to move on and it’s a new season.
“We want Champions Cup for next year, which would be ideal so we want to concentrate on stacking up those wins in the league and moving on strong.
“We’re in a good spot, so we just need to put it on the pitch and execute.”
Becoming an “80-minute team” will be vital for Ulster to hit their targets with Hume accepting consistency was an issue last term.
“We want to be fit enough to perform across those 80 minutes and not have any dips as momentum is a big thing in rugby,” he continued.
“That’s something we didn’t quite get right last year in terms of our consistency.”