Ulster coach Neil Doak not giving up on European chances

Ulster coach Neil Doak has insisted that his side will not give up on their European Rugby Championship campaign after suffering a second straight defeat.

The Irish side went down 23-13 to French giants Toulon on Saturday afternoon and are bottom of Pool Three, having lost their opening game to Leicester Tigers.

While admitting that Ulster have a mountain to climb to qualify for the knockout stages, Doak stressed that there are still plenty of points on offer.

"The first two games were pretty difficult," he told reporters. "But we've got four games still to go and the potential to pick up 20 points in that.

"Obviously we've got to go away to Toulon and that's going to be a pretty tough ask.

"I suppose after the Tigers it makes it disappointing that we didn't come out better than that. But it's a long season and we'll just have to keep digging in and we've got to pick ourselves up."

Ulster next host Scarlets, who lost to Toulon in their only European game so far this season, in December.