A fuming Dan McFarland bemoans 'soft' Ulster

FUMING: Ulster head coach Dan McFarland speaks after the game. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

New Year, same old problems for Dan McFarland.

Everything looked so rosy for the Ulster boss only a handful of weeks ago when they led Leinster 22-3 at the RDS. Since then they have been filleted for 40 minutes by the boys in blue, thumped and nilled by Sale, pulverised for a half by La Rochelle and almost undone in Galway by the sloppiest of end games.

There have been shafts of light within all that darkness. Their response in adversity against La Rochelle at an empty Aviva was sensational but they were 9-0 and 14-5 up here against a Munster side light on front-liners and still couldn’t get it done.

McFarland was understandably fuming.

“We were terrible. I don’t want to take away anything from Munster. That was a game where we decided our own fate. We had the ball eleven times in their 22 and lost it ten times. The only time we held it for long phases we scored a magnificent try.

“When they held on to the ball, they looked magnificent. They scored twice from three entries. We looked careless in attack at times, like we didn’t care how precious the ball was. A random chip kick when it is not on, turning over in contact, slow to contact. That was always going to come back and bite us.

“And defensively, we’re managing on the half-way line and then not creating a line, missing tackles to allow them into our 22 when we should have managed the game. Poor rugby on both sides of the ball.” 

Those are the fine details but the overall picture is a worrying one for a side that appeared to be motoring in the right direction under McFarland’s watch until very recently and it all boils down to a familiar criticism.

Consistency has been Ulster’s Achilles heel for far too long. They have a stadium that is the envy of most others, a huge and hungry support and a roster of players that makes them a formidable proposition in most areas and yet… 

“I’m very concerned. It’s soft,” said McFarland. “I told them last week. We have to toughen up there. On this occasion, it is an element but the game Is lost when we don’t take those chances. It was an issue last year, I don’t mind admitting it.

“I’m struggling to find a solution. Clermont, Sharks, Leicester a year before that: we don’t struggle when we’re one score ahead, Edinburgh last season. But it’s (when they are) two scores. We’re soft in a rugby sense, not mental and physical.”