RUGBY MAGNERS LEAGUE NEWSWHILE THE rest of the rugby world are viewing Ulster's start to the season in the way they might view a car crash, the team and coach Matt Williams appear to be more bemused by matters than terrified of the long-term affects.

Three games down and three defeats. Bottom of the Magners League and losing matches they could so easily have won. It has all forced Williams to do the numbers on statistics and scratch his head.

He is the accountant who sees oceans of money coming in but the bottom line tells him he's in debt. When he looks at the fumbles, the line breaks and the turnovers the conclusion has to be it's so bad at the moment you could hardly make it up. When you are in that sort of gloom, you can only see light and he thinks the breakthrough is not far off.

"We've played six halves and been better in five," he says.

"Last week, last week . . . you knock on 11 times and you are not going to win the game. You give away eight possessions and you are not going to win the game.

"The numbers are undeniable but we are an inch away from winning games.

"Fourteen line breaks but no links to score, and they (Dragons) don't make any - zero.

"David Trimble, who is one of our best players, makes a break with one man to beat and five players outside him. He's tackled before he makes the pass or gets to the line. But that's just trying to win so hard.

"It's like we are manufacturing ways to lose matches, dominating most of the games and getting no reward. I mean we shouldn't have scored as much as Munster did against them (Dragons last week) but we shouldn't have been that far away."

Williams has always been a convincing optimist and when he took over as Ulster coach from Mark McCall at the end of last season, all agreed that the mood in the team changed for the good. His energy and positive thinking had an immediate effect and stage one was a blinding success.

But then as now the tangible rewards were not that obvious and stage two has become more difficult and fraught. While believing Ulster are within touching distance of learning how to win, he knows it may not be this weekend.

Ospreys in the Liberty Stadium is not the place to expect something of a Damascene conversion from expertly losing to beating the team lying second in the Magners League table.

"Yeah, it's been very frustrating for everyone," says Williams. "We've scored two tries to one but still can't win. This season we are out of the woods. I've said that straight along. Last week we had seven guys under 22 on the team. If you have that young a team you are looking at a season.

"We have improved enormously but if you have been in a culture of losing it can become very difficult and I think we still are in that culture.

"There are way too many people thinking that we are going to win every game because we are improving. But you know another thing is that we are really struggling hugely with the interpretation, especially at the breakdown, of Scottish referees.

"This week we have another Scottish referee. We didn't get one penalty kick at goal (last week). We've a whole load of issues.

"But no doubt Ospreys are a great side. They play fantastic rugby and I thought Leinster showed very good tactics against them but they were gritty too.

"I think Ospreys are the best team in the Magners League and this week they'll have (Gavin) Henson and maybe (Shane) Williams back in the side."

With Edinburgh on the horizon tomorrow week, Ulster then go into a Ravenhill Road match against Stade Français for their first outing of the Heineken Cup.

Williams is not subscribing to the notion that losing their first European Cup game would represent unmitigated disaster.

"This is a different competition and this is a team learning how to win matches. It is not going to happen overnight. This team has not been rewarded but I am sure it is going to come. When we come up against Stade Français there is no one on the planet who is going to give us a chance.

"That means there is less pressure on us. If we are playing against the Dragons, people are saying to us 'you've got to win' you've got to win' and that puts huge pressure on the guys."

Included in the 25-man squad for the trip to Swansea is scrumhalf Paul Marshall, who replaces Cillian Willis. The player-coach Paul Steinmetz is also back, as is Stuart Philpott.

The experienced Steinmetz will be seen as a safe pair of hands and a steadying influence in a team that may need to be more pragmatic and less desperate in their execution.

Also included is the backrower, Stephen Ferris, who can just about play all three positions if required to do so.

"We have Paddy (Wallace) out at the moment," says Williams.

"You need as many experienced guys as you can get, especially now because we are playing with so much tension. We want so much to win."

ULSTER (v Ospreys):(Forwards) J Fitzpatrick; N Brady, T Court, R Best, B Botha, C Del Fava, E O'Donoghue, R Caldwell, M McCullough, K Dawson, R Diack, T Anderson, S Philpott, S Ferris. (Backs) N O'Connor; B Cunningham, T Nagusa, R Dewey, D Cave, A Trimble, C Schifcofske, I Boss, P Steinmetz, P Marshall, I Humphreys.

How they stand

P W D L F A B Pts

Munster 3 3 0 0 98 41 2 14

Ospreys 4 3 0 1 82 50 2 14

Scarlets 4 3 0 1 100 69 1 13

Leinster 3 2 1 0 87 35 1 11

Glasgow 3 1 0 2 38 42 2 6

Cardiff 4 1 1 2 62 91 0 6

Edinburgh 3 1 0 2 53 84 2 6

Dragons 4 1 0 3 53 103 2 6

Connacht 3 1 0 2 21 69 0 4

Ulster 3 0 0 3 38 48 3 3