The UAFC

So, not off to Tigers then.

Dans contracted til 2025.
Do we really want to be looking for a DOR / head coach off the hoof, and would we trust UR/Irfu to get the right man. Id be just as concerned re S&C, and the Running of the Academy. What’s the score since Campbell left the academy and went to Ealing??

Does Dan want to be here? That is the question.

Dharper wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:34 pm Dans contracted til 2025.
Do we really want to be looking for a DOR / head coach off the hoof, and would we trust UR/Irfu to get the right man. Id be just as concerned re S&C, and the Running of the Academy. What’s the score since Campbell left the academy and went to Ealing??

We also have Chris Webster as Head of Rugby Development( Domestic). How is that going? I wonder could he list his achievements in domestic
rugby without including the numbers of females playing rugby. Men's domestic game is dying. One of the ills in Ulster Rugby.

Well, what do we think now?? Another week, another poor performance, another concession of over 30 points, another choke at the finish line??? Absolutely sickening, it's got to the stage I actively hate watching Ulster.

Bewildered that anyone by this stage could say that we don't look like we have coaching issues - basically everything that made us good last season has evaporated. Superb offensive ruck, lightning fast ruck ball -> isolated ball carriers, Cooney struggling to free ball. Cohesive multi-phase attacking patterns -> rushed and predictable ball-shipping. Deadly lineout / maul -> non-deadly lineout / maul. We're running in quicksand everywhere. We have brilliant strike runners and line-breakers who are running into each other, or ahead of each other - Hume hit more good lines in any given single match last season than our entire back line has managed all year.

(I'm absolutely gutted for McCloskey, who had worked himself into possession of the Ireland 12 jersey, and then Ulster go to absolute s**t. In fairness he has been about the only guy who has continued to acquit himself well.)

What's the end-game? Has Dan 'lost the dressing room'? Well yes in the sense that loads of the players can't stand him - but that in itself isn't actually that big a deal IMO. The head coach shouldn't be the players best mate, and I'm quite sure plenty of Leinster players for example think Plug and Lancaster are crown bell-ends - the point is that winning covers a multitude of sins, so you never hear of it.

The big question is, has Dan lost the IRFU / Nucifora. I'd say they're keenly aware of the over-dependence on Leinster, and they need Ulster and Munster firing. Van Graan was nudged out, and in fairness Munster look like they're picking themselves up which is good to see - I think Dan is under big pressure. From his POV he'll probably try to pin the decline on Soper & Bell, and that would be the easy (and cheaper) option. I've heard the players rate Soper really highly as a skills coach, I guess the question is whether he can translate that to a full attack coach role, and the last number of months would suggest not. As for Bell, well the PA column speaks for itself..

I have to say that I struggle to see how Dan can be entrusted to turn this around. I kind of think the question now is, how messy is his exit...

One D in Dan, there’s only One D in Dan, bla bla bla

Out of 10, how would you rate Dan's progressive in instilling the 'fight for every inch' motto?

(10=fully achieved and 0=not at all)

What has Dan accomplished since he arrived!

Dave wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 8:38 pm Out of 10, how would you rate Dan's progressive in instilling the 'fight for every inch' motto?

(10=fully achieved and 0=not at all)

I think we should go metric. Fight for every 2.54 centimetres.

Jetstream wrote:

Dave wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 8:38 pm Out of 10, how would you rate Dan's progressive in instilling the 'fight for every inch' motto?

(10=fully achieved and 0=not at all)

I think we should go metric. Fight for every 2.54 centimetres.

Round it down, maybe. Perhaps we are expecting too much.

Trying not to let the last 6 weeks taint my view but this is the biggest crisis Dan has faced to date. From where we were and the improvement shown until recently I still want to give him the benefit of the doubt. The collective group are suffering a serious lack of confidence and unless Dan can turn it around it will be curtains for him.
Anything less than a top 4 finish in the league is a step down on last season and is a failure of this team and management.

The longer it goes on, the bigger the eventual purge (players, coaches, management) will have to be.

The issues permeate our club at all levels. The culture is not right.

It goes higher than McFarland.

He has to go now right? Once again completely at sea tactically. Once again oversees a big choke.

All the chat from the camp seems to be about how unremittingly grim the mood is, dysfunctional, chaotic, finger-pointing. Yes I know you can say you don’t have to be Mr Nice Guy to be a good head coach, I think the problem is McFarland isn’t Mr Nice Guy and also isn’t a good head coach.

We all know he has applied for other jobs, so even he doesn’t want to be here any more.

Completely gutted because I was once a big believer, but the wheels have properly come off after Jared left, with our defence taking a nosedive and unfortunately IMO Soper unable to translate being a great skills coach to being a great attack coach.

Unfortunately he’s contracted until 2025, so it seems like we may just forget about watching an Ulster side with any nous or bottle for the next 2 seasons, unless the IRFU grow a pair

The dan-sexuals are upset. Understandably. It was the refs fault. We are still second though. Petrie out.