RUGBY: McLaughlin steps into his dream role
BRIAN McLaughlin has been unveiled as the new man at the helm of Ulster rugby.
The 50-year-old Royal Belfast Acacemical Institution Head of PE was named as the new Ulster head coach alongside, David Humphreys, Jeremy Davidson and Peter Sharp, four of the other five members of the new management set-up which will hope to turn around the fortunes of an Irish Provincial side which has spluttered over the past two seasons.
McLaughlin, a former skills coach to the Ireland senior squad during Eddie O'Sullivan's reign, fulfilled a dream earlier this week when he was finally able to sign a two-year contract and take up the hot seat at Ravenhill vacated by Matt Williams in May.
The Newtownards man, who will officially start work as the head coach next week - he was back in the classroom today for his last day - will sit down with the other members of what he described as an "exciting team" and set targets and goals for his first season.
However, "consistency" was one of the key words he referred to yesterday as something he wanted to bring to the Ulster team.
"One of the main goals will be consistency on the pitch, week by week," he said, probably reflecting on how Ulster's form last season dipped from exceptional to poor within five days.
"As far as the other goals go, it is difficult at this stage to identify those until I sit down with the management team. We will thrash out what goals we hope we can achieve, where we are going to and what we hope to end up with at the end of the season.
"Once we have that sorted out we can sit down with the players and tease out of them where they want to go."
What McLaughlin will bring to the table both at that meeting next week and as he progresses in his role is experience.
"I think I have been involved in coaching rugby for over 30 years. It is a job I have always wanted to do," he said.
"To coach Ulster has been a dream of mine since way back when I first started coaching at Wallace High School in 1982.
"And I think experience is one of the key components I can bring to this job.
"I am also very, very hooked on basics. I think that as far as rugby is concerned there are a lot of basics which have to be got right.
"From that point of view I am very skills orientated, a stickler for getting things right and that will be an important aspect for me, to make sure the wee things all come together to make Ulster perform with consistency on the pitch."
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
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