Dan Soper

[Big-al]

Is he good enough?

Unfortunate to perhaps single him out, but as assistant coach he has a lot of responsibility. In the past two seasons I can’t name one single back that has improved, many of them have regressed individually and the less said about the Ulster attack the better!!! There is no way they his Ulster team is performing better than the sun of their parts.


Even simple things like latching onto the ball carrier to catapult him through the tackler seems beyond this squad.

The knives are correctly out for Bell and McFarland, but Dan Soper seems to get off Scot free.

[Gerald the Mole]

Bell never wanted to be a coach , ended up a failed one , should stick to renting out properties

[TheBoat]

If McFarland goes well get a Bell/Soper dreamteam. Be careful what you wish for

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[HammerTime]

He like the rest is not good enough. He is a head coach, came here after winning a couple of schools cups with RBAIand coached at Banbridge. Leinster have a head coach who has just won two world cups with South Africa. That alone shows the difference in outlook in both organisations. In saying that, he isn’t the only one and the rot starts at the top. DMcF has zero people skills and zero personality and his technical ability is now seriously in doubt. Bryn Cunningham has been in hiding for years basically. Never seen nor heard. Nice guy no doubt but Stealing a living. But are Ulster un-coachable? Look at the plethora of coaches we have went through and it’s the same old story with every single one. O’Driscoll was 100% correct in saying we were a basket case. Unfortunately player power seems to be a problem aswell which I don’t understand as practically all of them are mediocre players. A neinaber type coach would have been a great deal for us.

[Dharper]

On the basis of the number of handling errors this season I really wouldn’t be letting the skills coach newby off Scot free either.

There is an issue: Bell and DMcF are contracted til Summer ‘25. Unsure re soper, grant, newby.
With the financial state of the game I can’t see contract buy outs, or guys walking away.

Bell should never have been given a 3yr deal in fact no one should - madness.

If I was Hump I’d be extremely intrusive at UR, things haven’t been right since he left.

No way Irfu can trust UR to run their own shop.

[Big-al]

I’m thinking replace Soper with Neil Doak, to his credit the Ulster backline always looked dangerous under his watch and he improved a number of young guys.

Bell needs to replaced as well, find a young defensive coach. Can’t be much worse. Our guys look confused every time the ball goes wide. No intensity at all.

Perhaps Faloon can step up to take a senior coaching role? He has the pedigree.

There needs to be changes, another big loss vs Racing which is looking likely and coaching (& certain player) positions look untenable.

Bosses within the Ulster branch need to decide would not making the URC play offs and keeping the current coaches be financially better than perhaps making the play-offs and paying off one or two guys?

Big decisions need to be made if performances don’t improve.

[kingofthehill]

The standout coaches in the province are Doak and Soper, to those familiar with their work. Miles ahead of the rest. Payne a huge loss technically but by all accounts a narcissist.

McFarland poses a huge concern.

Observing the Irish setup at the end of last season, Farrell has fostered a positive culture that staff and players embrace. Hendy, notably, omits McFarland in positive remarks in any interview/report while emphasising the stark contrast when praising Farrell's leadership in the Ireland camp. It's evident that something is amiss within the province.


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[shamalicious]

Soper was very well spoken of by the players when he was Skills Coach. Maybe that was more suited to him than Assistant Coach which I assume includes attack?

[kingofthehill]

I’m thinking replace Soper with Neil Doak, to his credit the Ulster backline always looked dangerous under his watch and he improved a number of young guys.

Bell needs to replaced as well, find a young defensive coach. Can’t be much worse. Our guys look confused every time the ball goes wide. No intensity at all.

Perhaps Faloon can step up to take a senior coaching role? He has the pedigree.

There needs to be changes, another big loss vs Racing which is looking likely and coaching (& certain player) positions look untenable.

Bosses within the Ulster branch need to decide would not making the URC play offs and keeping the current coaches be financially better than perhaps making the play-offs and paying off one or two guys?

Big decisions need to be made if performances don’t improve.

Faloon already involved with defence over the last number of weeks.


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[Columbo]

The standout coaches in the province are Doak and Soper, to those familiar with their work. Miles ahead of the rest. Payne a huge loss technically but by all accounts a narcissist.

McFarland poses a huge concern.

Observing the Irish setup at the end of last season, Farrell has fostered a positive culture that staff and players embrace. Hendy, notably, omits McFarland in positive remarks in any interview/report while emphasising the stark contrast when praising Farrell's leadership in the Ireland camp. It's evident that something is amiss within the province.


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Yes spot on. The ulster players in the Irish set-up barely try to hide the gulf in quality of coaching and group morale, even when more often than not they’re on the wrong end of narrow selection calls!

What I heard, rightly or wrongly, is that Payne was one of the only other coaches with the bottle to stand up to McF. Now he’s surrounded by rollovers. Soper was very highly thought of when he was skills coach, but there is no question that over the last two seasons our attack has gone backwards at a shocking rate of knots. If you want to depress yourself, go back and watch the highlights of the Munster playoff game from 2 seasons ago - we haven’t seen anything like that from the backs ever since. I have mixed feelings about Payne as a saviour, but he had his fingers in many pies, and neither attack or defence has been remotely in the same place since he left.

I have to say that this just feels very familiar to anyone long enough in the tooth to remember the death throes of McCall and more recently Kiss (and even the Gibbes shambles). There just comes a time when something is just obviously not working out. I don’t think anyone seriously believes that McFarland is the right man for the job any more, or that he can turn things around - things have just got away from him in a big way - the question is just how messily it all ends. Given the budgetary situation, the answer might be ‘pretty messily’…

[UlsterAreBrill]

Is he good enough?

Unfortunate to perhaps single him out, but as assistant coach he has a lot of responsibility. In the past two seasons I can’t name one single back that has improved, many of them have regressed individually and the less said about the Ulster attack the better!!! There is no way they his Ulster team is performing better than the sun of their parts.


Even simple things like latching onto the ball carrier to catapult him through the tackler seems beyond this squad.

The knives are correctly out for Bell and McFarland, but Dan Soper seems to get off Scot free.

Absolutely he is good enough yes

For a start, how can you expect our backs to be firing if our forwards aren’t getting any go forward?

He’s the best coach i’ve played with and by all accounts from those I know the best in Ulster.

Also, stop being concerned with ‘big name’ coaches. Tried it with Gibbes and its no guarantee of success. Plenty of talented guys in the set up, Soper, Doak, Falloon, Maxwell, Graham etc. Not that i’m advocating some of the latter get the job but they should be looked at for support roles over Newby and Bell

Also, for those calling Payne a narcissist- not true, that’s Dan’s job. Unpopular with the players and academy lads. Payne was marmite and typically liked by the better players / players he rated. If not he ‘supposedly’ treated you like dirt. Good coach though

[Dave]

They are all sh1t. Not one with a track record at a professional level. Clear house asap.

[Marco]

I don’t see much evidence of progression in the last 5 years, or even not since Humphreys was DoR, 9 years ago now. Money talks, but be careful what we might wish for, because even if we could afford to buy in a top coaching ticket, do we have the homegrown players to succeed? If we could, and were able to under the rules, buy in a bunch of international level stars, and win something, would this then even be an ‘Ulster’ team any more, representing 9 counties, or more a Belfast Giants type of team? McCall proved to be a top coach/DoR with Saracens, but needed the money for the players that he didn’t have in Belfast. If my memory is right, didn’t he throw up the hands soon after a collapse at home to Gloucester, who got a BP in the first half in Ravenhill? He lost the dressing room, but maybe that was not his fault. Ian Madigan said last week that there’s nothing wrong with the culture in the Ulster team, but he’s not convincing me that this doesn’t run deeper. As I’ve said before, if I knew the answers I’d probably be talking to patients on couches, beats me! To the point of this thread, I don’t rate any of the coaches unfortunately, including Soper.

[HammerTime]

Didn't McCall coach the team too soon after playing with the same lot. Rarely works out. Unfortunately a good coach who got away from us.

[UlsterAreBrill]

They are all sh1t. Not one with a track record at a professional level. Clear house asap.

And? McGlocks hardly had ‘professional’ pedigree when he took over. Payne, Peel both decent coaches. Professional pedigree is no guarantee of success either, look at Gibbes.