Angry Ulster boss adamant Kingspan pitch was ready to host La Rochelle

FUMING: Ulster Head Coach Dan McFarland. Picture: INPHO/Ben Brady

An angry Dan McFarland is adamant that Ulster’s Kingspan Stadium pitch was playable on Saturday morning, hours before their Heineken Champions Cup fixture against La Rochelle which had already been switched to Dublin the evening before.

The province duly lost their Pool B tie 36-29 to Ronan O’Gara’s reigning champions having trailed 29-0 at the break and their ability to scramble two bonus points in an almost empty Aviva Stadium didn’t temper McFarland’s foul mood afterward.

“My personal opinion is that we were there this morning at ten o'clock, 9.30, and that pitch was playable,” the Ulster boss said. “I was there the night before and the people there predicted that it was going to be playable.

“The work that the people did, the staff and volunteers, to get that pitch ready was phenomenal under the current circumstances. It was ready. We knew it was going to be ready because the weather was predicted to change overnight.

“But that decision was taken away from us.” 

He was only getting started.

“The bottom line is the decision was wrong. It could have been played at Ravenhill. We've got to remember... I said before the game, I've been involved in European rugby for more than 20 years.

“I played in the first season of European rugby in what was then the Challenge Cup with Richmond, I played Challenge Cup with Connacht, I've coached in the Champions Cup with Glasgow and with Ulster and with Connacht.

“There is more to European rugby than a game played between four lines. There's more than that. It's an occasion.

“Whether you're in Thomond playing Toulouse, whether you're in (Ravenhill) playing against Racing, whether you're in Welford Road watching Dan Cole win his 300th cap, it's an occasion.

“It has spirit, it has feeling. If you want to reduce it to the word product, the product is more than just the game. To me that should be remembered in the decision-making in this sort of thing.

“We all remember what games were like during Covid. Where's the heart and soul in those games? You'd watch it in the same way you'd watch an esports tournament.

"Whether you watch it on TV or sat in the stands the occasion is lost without fans in the stadium. The game isn't lost, the occasion is lost.

“The product is more than just the game.” 

The counter to this is that tournament organisers could hardly risk delaying a decision until the morning of the game itself. TV outside broadcast units and all that go with them need countless man hours to be ready for a kick-off and the drive from Belfast to Dublin is two hours and more.

Supporters needed definitive word, for better or for worse, as to where it would be played and the logistical difficulties in switching location at such short notice ultimately meant that the tie was played behind closed doors. More or less.

Referee Luke Pearce had inspected the Kingspan Stadium pitch at 2pm on Friday afternoon and is believed to have found that 60 per cent of it was unplayable due to the sub-zero temperatures that have gripped the island all week.

“My understanding is - I was stood there - that Luke Pearce said it was worth waiting until 9.30/10 this morning and they can say that they can’t rely on weather forecasting but I’m right: it was playable,” said McFarland. “You know?

“The people who were stood there predicted it would playable. And I understand the balance of risk there but that’s my point on what’s important: occasion or game? Just the game – is that the only thing that’s important to us anymore?

“Or is it the occasion? Because I would argue very strenuously that from now on, every single European game that’s played behind closed doors between two teams inside four lines, pretty soon the product would disappear quickly.” Whatever the rights and wrongs, Ulster’s sense of injustice was only heightened by the presence in the stands of a sizeable La Rochelle travelling contingent which was described by tournament officials as an ‘official delegation’.

In the end, Ulster lost a game at a neutral venue to the reigning Champions Cup champions by seven points. That can’t but oblige the question as to what might have been had it been played at a packed Kingspan and McFarland was asked what that meant for the integrity of the tournament as a whole.

“I don’t know. It’s one game. Does it speak to decision-making across the board? I don’t know. Why have I said that? Because I’m angry. I’m angry about it. I’ve got to speak up about it. I have the opportunity to echo what (Ulster CEO) Jonny Petrie said earlier.

“He’s probably in an even more awkward position because of the financial costs of it. I have an opportunity to voice an opinion on that. I’m a stakeholder in this competition because I’ve been involved in it for so long. I love it: Challenge Cup and Champions Cup. I love the two of them.”