Ulster’s chance to gain redemption after PRO4 final defeat

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

The loss of another knockout game to Leinster forced Dan McFarland to go through a 48-hour grieving process which he says was “as difficult as I’ve done in a long time” but Ulster don’t have the luxury – collectively or individually – to rake over the coals.

There will have been some bruised egos in the wake of McFarland’s ballsy team selection which saw most notably John Cooney left on the bench for Saturday’s PRO14 final defeat in Dublin, with Jordi Murphy, Jack McGrath, Marty Moore, and Ian Madigan the others who had claims to start, but Sunday’s Champions Cup quarter-final away to Toulouse offers the chance of redemption.

On the mindset this week of those players with a point to prove McFarland said: “the chats are obviously between me and them”.

“There’s nothing new in professional rugby… there won’t be anybody in the team who hasn’t suffered disappointment because they didn’t represent the team at the weekend.

“A lot of those conversations always follow the same course. But there is another week to play for.

“There is another opportunity to battle and show what those guys can do. Every player’s currency is their performance, and that is the focus.” 

 Acknowledging Leinster’s superiority and quickly moving on seems to have been how Ulster got through their first day back at the office yesterday.

“People deal with it differently. I have to face it down,” admitted McFarland.

“I know we're talking about sport but it is upsetting and pretty depressing - I have to deal with it. I can't just park it. I have to feel the pain and take some sort of learning from it.

Four hours of catharsis where we suck it up, we face down what we didn't get right, we acknowledge that we weren't good enough and decide on what we need to do to get better.

Marcell Coetzee, Ulster’s primary ball carrier in the forwards, is the major injury doubt having carried several knocks into last weekend’s final against Leinster.

“Marcell has tightened up,” admitted McFarland.

“He was carrying a couple of niggles going into the game and didn’t train as much as he or we would have wanted.” 

 Coetzee will be given every chance to prove his fitness, while captain Iain Henderson seems to have come through his return from a hip injury unscathed and will be good to go.

The game has been moved from Le Stadium de Toulouse to Stade Ernest-Wallon due to Covid-19 health restrictions but for the first time since post-lockdown, there will be fans present. Some 5,000, in fact, in the 19,000-capacity stadium.

When asked if that poses particularly challenges for his team after playing four PRO14 games in relative silence, McFarland appreciates the irony.

"It's funny how quickly things change. Literally, it was two weeks ago that people are asking about how weird it is to have nobody in the stadiums.

“Now I'm being asked a question about how weird it is to have people in the stadium and how we're preparing.

“It's not a biggie with a crowd and it's not a biggie with no crowd."