Dan Soper says Ulster head coach role 'irrelevant' as he takes reins for crucial Dragons clash

The Kiwi takes over from Dan McFarland after his departure last week, but it is only for one game until Richie Murphy finishes his Six Nations commitments with Ireland U20s before becoming interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Assistant coach Soper won three consecutive Schools’ Cups with RBAI as head coach while in the club game led Banbridge to two promotions in the All Ireland League, he is well respected among the Ulster players and would be considered as one of the front runners to take over from McFarland on a full-time basis.

“Permanently would I want the job permanently? Well, it's not on the table, so it's not, you don't have to make that decision until someone offers it to you, so I don't need to make that decision,” mused Soper.

“It's completely irrelevant, it's like, you know, as well as people have their opinions on who should and, shouldn't, and they have their opinions on who should play and who shouldn't, if I let all that distraction and that noise get in my head, then I can't do my job as well as I'd like.”

“Until I came and worked at Ulster, all I'd ever done had been a head coach so actually the transition when I came in here was actually probably a bigger transition because then you're trying to work out exactly when is it my time to fit in or when do I need to step back.”

“It comes pretty natural to me to be in front of the group and be pushing everyone in the in the same direction.”

“I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.”

With Ulster clinging to the last URC playoff spot and all the off-field turmoil Soper feels the Dragons clash has now take on the mantle of biggest game of the season.

“Well, for us, I suppose in the situation that we're in every game is the biggest game of the season now, isn't it?

Because you know we've put ourselves in a position now that we can't really afford to be dropping too many more games.”

“We need to go out and win the next game and that's all our focus is on this week, so is it the biggest game of the season? Well, it's the next game, so yes, it is the biggest game of the season. Because it's the most important one, it's the next one.”

Soper wants Ulster to get back to basics in a quest to snap their slump in form which has seen just three wins in nine games.

“In terms of this weekend you know, one week I'm not sure Wayne Smith would come in and you would see something massively revolutionary.”

“I think the clarity that we're going after this week is exactly what does our game look like and how do we go about putting our game on the pitch and just cutting away a wee bit of stuff around the edges and simplify things.”

“So, I would hope that our execution will improve this week, but that’s on the whole group that's on the coaching staff that's on the players and everyone.”