Sport

Dan McFarland a relieved man as Ulster scrape home

Ulster Rugby head coach Dan McFarland a relieved man
Ulster Rugby head coach Dan McFarland a relieved man Ulster Rugby head coach Dan McFarland a relieved man

ULSTER head coach Dan McFarland was a relieved man as he left the Sportsground in Galway on Friday night.

After seeing his build up a 22-8 lead Ulster looked to be well on their way to the confidence building win that they so badly craved after what can only be described as a miserable December.

Bar a 60th minute try from Caolan Blade; Connacht had hardly fired a shot at Ulster all night. Then, from nowhere the green shirts came at Ulster in their droves.

Jared Butler and Adam Byrne both crossed the whitewash in a matter of minutes as Connacht took full advantage of their numerical advantage after Ulster’s Greg Jones was sin binned in the 77th minute.

From Byrne’s touchdown came a chance to rob the visitors of that much needed morale booster as Connacht closed in on a potential draw. However, Jack Carty’s touchline conversion attempt sailed across the front of the goal and Ulster held on for a two-point win.

McFarland admitted afterwards that if Carty had landed his conversion to tie the game that “it could’ve felt like a loss had we drawn that game”.

Coming out for the second half leading by just two points, a much more economical third quarter showing opened up an eleven-point lead thanks to two Tom Stewart tries as Ulster at long last made their dominance show on the scoreboard.

A John Cooney penalty on 72 minutes and it was looking like there was no way back for Connacht. It was a decision that surprised a few onlookers – including McFarland.

“At the time I didn’t want us to kick for goal to go 22 points. I thought our maul was going well enough to get a try and then we would’ve put it to bed for real. But we’ll never know,” McFarland said.

But McFarland, who previously played and coached at Connacht, maintains that these real time decisions are best left with the players and that he won’t take such calls away from those involved as what he described as being in the moment.

“The players made that call as they would normally. I tend to try and not interfere with that, unless there’s a strategic decision based on the competition,” admitted McFarland.

“I’ve stung myself before by doing that and finding as a coach that you don’t get a feel for the game that’s going on at the time. And as a consequence, you can ask the players to do something when there’s a general feel that they would rather do something else. And that’s not right.”

Despite the win McFarland refuses to believe that the victory will suddenly bring an end to Ulster’s slump.

“People like to say that at this point, is this going to be a pivotal moment where you turn things around? You can’t say that. What’s going to turn things around is if we start playing better rugby more consistently.

“There is a confidence element to it but that’s built on playing better rugby. And some of the stuff out there was really excellent and some of it was not quite so good.

“For instance, defensively at the end. We’re better than that, even with fourteen men. We need to be better than that with fourteen men.”

In a gritty team performance McFarland heaped praise on Nathan Doak who made his first senior start at out-half.

“Like that is a baptism of fire. Coming here with a south westerly coming off the Atlantic into that bottom corner with a greasy ball, and the guy opposite you is Jack Carty. You know, he’s a good footballer.”