Les Kiss under pressure to escape Ulster’s ‘cul-de-sac of doom’

Ulster Director of Rugby Les Kiss could hardly have been more candid in describing his team’s performance when he responded to a post-match query in Galway on Saturday night after his side capitulated to Connacht in the Guinness PRO14.

In the wake of the 44-16 drubbing at The Sportsground, Kiss found his future being openly questioned in some sections of the media, though Ulster chief executive Shane Logan was keeping his counsel over Christmas and there has been no comment from the club on speculation in one Sunday newspaper that the Australian faced an imminent exit from Kingspan Stadium.

Appointed in 2014, after the swift dismissal of the relatively successful Mark Anscombe, Kiss’s arrival in Belfast was greeted with general approval by a squad whose international contingent was openly enthusiastic about his defensive expertise with which he continued to assist Irish head coach Joe Schmidt until the end of the 2015 World Cup.