Dan McFarland aware Glasgow trip offers Ulster no margin for error

Ulster return to action against Glasgow at Scotstoun on Friday night, four points behind defending champions Leinster in the table - and with only one side from each conference advancing to the final, coach Dan McFarland knows there is no margin for error.

“The way we’ve got to approach it is that we’ve got five games, finishing out this section of the competition and really we need to win them all, probably with bonus points,” said McFarland. “That narrows the mind and the focus to each game, as clichéd as it is, that’s what we had to do.

“When we go to Glasgow this weekend, we have to focus on them and what they have to offer.

“We’ll be playing the first game that we’ve played for five weeks, playing on an artificial surface and against a team that is capable of producing top quality rugby and are very dangerous.

“If we take our mind off what’s directly in front of us, it becomes a difficult proposition.

“There is an excitement to us coming out of this five-week break, in training there is a bounce in the step because there is a game at the end of the week and that is exciting for the coaches, the players and everyone here.”

McFarland believes Soper was the obvious candidate to replace Dwayne Peel as assistant coach.

“There are a lot of good coaches out there, but the bottom line is Dan has done a good job in the skills role,” he said. “He encompasses a lot more than just skills, he has been a big part of our team.

“He has good relationships with the players, he obviously knows a lot of the younger players having coached them prior to being involved here, he has a good rugby brain.

“He expressed an interest in doing that backs role and taking on more responsibility in how the team plays.

“I get on really well with Dan and the rest of the coaching team get on really well with Dan and it was a natural succession and I didn’t see any reason to change that.”

McFarland is hoping that long-term injury duo Robert Baloucoune and Will Addison will be back on the pitch before the end of the season.

Baloucoune hasn’t played this season after suffering from hamstring problems and Irish international Addison has been out for over a year.

“Robert’s coming along well, he had a set-back from his original injury which was his hamstring avulsion,” said McFarland. “He was literally on the verge of coming back when he had a syndesmosis injury so he’s making really good progress.

“He’s training at the moment.

“But we’re needing to make sure he’s in a good place before he comes back.

“Will’s injury is obviously a very complicated one, he had surgery on it and is making good progress now but he hasn’t been out training for a long time.

“It means that his reintroduction and the process he goes through needs to be a very careful one that is planned precisely and followed through.

“We’re lucky here that we have an excellent medical performance staff, who work very closely with the athletic performance staff at this stage in the return-to-play process.

“We hope for Will’s sake - he’s obviously desperate to play - that he’ll be back before the end of the season.”

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