Ulster Rugby: Head coach Dan McFarland 'invigorated' by Ulster's adaptability

Ulster are preparing for their return to competitive action against Connacht on 23 August

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says he was "invigorated" by how the club adapted to the challenges thrown at them during rugby's enforced break.

The province last played on 22 February before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of Europe, with all sport placed on indefinite leave.

Now Ulster are gearing up for their return to action on Sunday 23 August when they meet Connacht behind-closed-doors at the Aviva Stadium, knowing a win will book their place in the Pro14 semi-finals.

At the time when competition was cancelled, Ulster were gearing up for their Pro14 run-in and a trip to Toulouse for their Champions Cup quarter-final before lockdown saw the squad spend three months apart with no certainty over when and how they might resume the season.

"The main thing is being able to adapt," reflected McFarland.

"One of the things that I've certainly learned, and been really pleased with, is how quickly the people and the support staff have picked up the ball and ran with it when they needed to.

"The situation was so unusual and there were so many aspects to what we had to go through in terms of planning, replanning, planning, replanning, taking into account so many variables that just don't occur.

"The biggest one is not having a timeline.

"If you think of professional sport, it is based around competitive dates and those are set in stone in the normal world.

"Everything that you do is based around those. They went totally out the window to the point where we didn't actually know when we were going to be restarting."

Ulster were given permission to train again from 29 June, with contact being gradually ramped up

Ulster's players eventually returned to small-group training on 29 June having undergone IRFU covid testing.

With potential knockout rugby on the horizon in two competitions, McFarland believes the experience of the last few months has reinforced the character of the whole club.

"There was such a massive change and that required everybody who had a logistical element, a performance element, this included the players, to be able to take responsibility for areas and come with ideas and thoughts," he said.

"That for me, I just thought it was awesome. I actually really enjoyed being a part of that.

"You can't really say that lockdown was a great time, but it was invigorating from that perspective."

We take our own atmosphere with us

When rugby does resume it will do with without the presence of fans.

The bulk of Ulster's training since they were given the green light to resume has taken place at Kingspan Stadium, McFarland is hopeful that his players will be well-used to full match intensity in front of empty stands by the time competition begins again.

"We have a little way that we approach away games where we talk about taking our own atmosphere with us," said the head coach.

"That obviously doesn't rely on a Kingspan crowd or any crowd at all.

"If we're going and playing at Scarlets, we don't want to think about their atmosphere, it's our atmosphere.

"That comes from the communication between the players, the way that they connect on the pitch."

With just two points required to secure second place in Pro14 Conference B, McFarland's side know that any win against Connacht will be enough to book their place in the last four.

The following week they meet Munster, who are also hoping to secure a semi-final berth.