Humphreys explanation fails to ease McLaughlin’s despair

Brian McLaughlin looked on with dejection written all over his face as he listened to David Humphreys explain why he is being ushered out as Ulster’s head coach at the end of the season.

Humphreys, Ulster’s director of rugby operations, finally put his head above the parapet in a frosty, but long overdue, press conference yesterday to explain why the coach was being replaced at the end of the season.

Humphreys revealed: “Brian and I sat down three years ago and talked about him taking over the Ulster coaching position. Ulster were in a precarious position and we had views in the way we were going to address those problems.

“Two-and-half years later we have taken some big strides forward. In particular, the performances in the last month showed we have closed that gap. But we are also in the business of professional sport for which there are short-term and long-term objectives. As part of our long-term strategy, we are now at a point in Ulster Rugby where we are making a change to our head coach for next year with Brian moving to take up a post at the Ulster Academy.

“The reason for this is, firstly when you see the position we are in, and you look at the situation within the IRFU where there is an increasing emphasis placed on young, indigenous Irish players coming through our system, it now shows the importance of our Academy.

“We know that if we are going to fill an 18,000 capacity stadium at Ravenhill we have got to have players coming through, who are not just competing with Leinster and Munster, but are beating them on a regular basis and achieving a seat at the top table in Europe. We believe Brian, with his experience at schools level and within the Irish and Ulster coaching set-up, is the perfect man to work alongside Gary Longwell in our Academy.”

McLaughlin, who had sat silently as Humphreys spoke, admitted he was disappointed at events.

“I’m grateful to Ulster Rugby for offering me the opportunity of a safety net or another contract within the organisation to go to after I finish my role as head coach. It is something other coaches do not have and certainly I am exceptionally grateful for that. But I’m a little bit disappointed in that I wasn’t expecting to use the safety net so quickly.”

Humphreys said that discussions on finding McLaughlin’s successor were ongoing.