Hard work ahead says Dan McFarland

Dan McFarland gave an honest assessment of Ulster’s performance after they crashed out of the Heineken Champions Cup at the quarter final stage for a second consecutive season.
Ulster players warm up. Photo by Manuel Blondeau / Dicksondigital / SportsfileUlster players warm up. Photo by Manuel Blondeau / Dicksondigital / Sportsfile
Ulster players warm up. Photo by Manuel Blondeau / Dicksondigital / Sportsfile

Ulster went down 36-8 to four time European champions Toulouse at the Stade Ernest-Wallon with the writing was on the wall as early as the third minute when winger Cheslin Kolbe got the first of the French side’s five tries.

“We want to win silverware as a club, we think that we’re a club that can achieve that, do we deserve it at the moment? No we don’t but it’s not for lack of trying,” stated McFarland.

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“I think it’s the same story again, we had opportunities in the first-half, one gilt edged.

“Their first try came when we had James Hume lying on the floor injured and defending against them was difficult enough with 15, with 14, we just couldn’t do it.

“We missed an opportunity to go into the lead but passed the ball into touch and then they scored, we were already under pressure there, in the second-half we made too many mistakes.

“We’ve had five away games against tough opposition, we won one of them without being in great form for chunks of that match.

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“With some of the stuff, we just haven’t strung it together, a lot of our set-piece was really good and that’s been improving over the time but for whatever reason when we’ve made opportunities, we haven’t finished them.”

Ulster only managed one try in the Pro14 final and one try against Toulouse.

“If you struggle for a while in finishing off tries, there’s a bit of jitteriness and it’s a snowball effect,” said McFarland.

“You saw that, as the game went on, we opened them up and didn’t quite complete stuff that in the past we would have done.

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“I have to review that and understand why because at the minute I’m not sure.

“I said it last week, there’s a bit of a cohesion issue, the guys that have played, haven’t trained a lot because of niggly injuries.”

Ulster reached knockout out rugby in both competitions for a second consecutive season but the performances in the Pro14 final and the European final has taken the gloss of the season.

“I don’t think it’s the results that sour the feeling but it’s the way we’re playing,” continued McFarland

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“When you look at what we’ve been playing against, five away games, two against Leinster, one against Edinburgh in a semi-final, and one against Toulouse in a quarter.

“You look at those results, and even when you were playing well, but you’d be flying by the seat of your pants.

“The sour note is that I haven’t managed to get us in a position, where we’re playing as well as we can.

“Given the competition, given it’s away from home, it doesn’t take for us to be off by much and that’s what it’s proved.”

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Ulster have only a 13 day break before they return to Pro14 action at against Benetton.

McFarland added: “I already know what we’re focussing on going into next, there’s already been a fair bit of thinking on it and now there’ll be a lot of work on it going forward.”

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