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.