Dan Soper

[Dave]

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.

Soper fan?

[CIMANFOREVER]

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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I think DF may fall into the same category as Payne allegedly did.

[thecrouch]

Payne is hardly setting the world alight at Scarlets, though I don't know how much of that is down to him vs WRU.

[jean valjean]

Payne is hardly setting the world alight at Scarlets, though I don't know how much of that is down to him vs WRU.

I don't get the comparison that every coach needs to be successful wherever they go. Payne seemed to be a good fit for us, and things were going in the right direction when he was here. The world is full of coaches and managers who were successful at one club, but not another. Getting the right fit is important.

[NoPayneNoGain]

We can only judge them on what they've said they have set out to achieve.

Soper spoke about a double sided attack, something we've seen very little of, if not, none of. So I feel we have a right to hold him to account on that.

I've heard that Ulster train at a slow pace and do huge volumes. When mistakes are made there's a big focus on play back and tech to study the mistake and try correct it. Which fits with what we are seeing. No real multiphase attack, because we probably don't get that far in training. Inability to keep focused for long stretches- we see this in periods of good defence and then all of a sudden a total collapse leading to incredibly soft trys.

We need to be training longer phases at speed to match game day intensity. Something we used to do, that Leinster and Ireland currently do, all of which worked better than what we are doing now.
I don't think that we will get that done under this current coaching setup. Our assistant coaches have worsened since the departure of Peel and Payne.

We can't afford to buy anyone out of their contract so I think we just need to bunker down for this season and the next to be kack.

[Big-al]

We can’t afford to miss out on crucial play-off home games either, something which is looking increasingly likely.

The revenue from 1 home play-off match must be around £700k or there abouts, that would pay-off at least some of the key coaching staff and there is suitable replacements within the branch in Doak, Faloon and Graham until the end of the season.

There is a big risk that the current guys are kept on until the end of the season, we miss out on valuable home knock-out matches and therefore income and still have no money to pay them off meaning we’re stuck in a rut for another 24 months at least.

Petrie and Cunningham have big decisions to make in the near future. The current coaching group should get until the end of January, and if performances don’t improve, then they must bring the leadership and direction that they are being paid for and replace them. Ulster cannot afford any more substandard performances.

[NoPayneNoGain]

My recollection of doaks era wasn't particularly good. Not sure I'm rushing for those expertise back

[Horse15]

Agreed on Doak, not sure what he’s delivered other than vile and abusive language at players. Soper has very little coaching pedigree.

[jean valjean]

I thought Soper was doing a very good job as a skills coach working on 1-2-1s with players. The season he came in the handling of the forwards improved immensely and we had a very good game plan around tip ons and passing out the back. The game plan wasn't his but he facilitated it. Coaching skills and managing a game plan are different beasts and to expect a successful school and club coach to step up to that in the professional game is a risk.