Dan McFarland: Dealing with 'external negativity' tough for Ulster during run of poor results

Dan McFarland's side are chasing silverware in both the URC and Champions Cup

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says that dealing with external negativity was the most difficult thing his side had to cope with during a poor sequence of results either side of Christmas.

Ulster lost six out of seven games in all competitions during that period.

The Irish province have since recovered to pursue silverware on two fronts.

"The toughest thing is the external imposition on you that things are terrible and you know they're not," McFarland told BBC Sport NI.

"It was difficult in a sense but in another sense we were going to work every Monday and it's not that difficult - you have a job to do and you do the same thing whether you have won or whether you have lost.

"You're not happy about losing, of course, and you're very keen to sort some of the things out, push through things that aren't right."

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McFarland's side suffered defeats by Leinster, Sale Sharks, La Rochelle (home and away), Munster and Benetton during that testing run, with a narrow away victory at Connacht sandwiched in between.

"There was a lot of context involved in that period - we knew that we needed to keep working, believing in what we were doing, understanding that we weren't playing the best rugby at that stage that we can but also understanding that we were playing some of the best teams in Europe at that time.

"We pushed on and we got some wins.

"Since a lot of the young players came in around 2018 we hadn't had a period where we'd come under performance pressure so the learnings that came through that were about doing what we do well, both as a team and as individuals.

"We analysed things that weren't going quite right in that period, putting our focus on those and applying the necessary answers."

'Club and individual bragging rights'

Ulster sit third in the United Rugby Championship table, with three home games to come to finish their regular season in that competition, starting with the visit of the Bulls to Kingspan Stadium on Saturday.

A top-two placing would ensure home advantage at both the URC quarter-final play-off stage and any potential semi-final, while Leinster will provide formidable opposition in the last-16 of the Champions Cup on 1 April.

"The end goal is to try and finish second [in the URC standings] but that's not in our hands, we need the Stormers to slip up, so our focus is on continuing to produce quality performances," observed McFarland.

"The Champions Cup knockout ties are brilliant occasions as part of a great tournament.

"The fact we get to play arguably the best club side in the world, full of Irish internationals and Grand Slam winners in their back yard, why wouldn't we relish that opportunity?

"We have guys coming up against players they're competing against for World Cup places so there's lots on the line.

"It's about club but it's also about individual bragging rights. In order to beat them we have to be tactically at our best and perform to our best."

Jeff Toomaga-Allen tackles Sikhumbuzo Notshe during Ulster's 'pleasing' win over the Sharks in Durban

Despite some difficult times so far this season, McFarland is able to reflect on some impressive displays during the 2022-23 campaign to date.

"I was really pleased by the fact we were able to win down in Munster, I thought that took some steel," enthused the Ulster coach.

"It was really pleasing to get two wins in South Africa this year, which no other team in the URC has done to this stage.

"Winning away to the Lions at altitude was great and then beating the Sharks in the muggy heat of Durban on a whistle-stop tour to South Africa was testament to the support staff and the playing group. Then coming back and backing that up by winning in Cardiff was outstanding.

"The game out in La Rochelle, where we were one play away from inflicting their first defeat in the Champions Cup for two years - that performance said something about us even if we didn't win and led on to that fantastic night against Sale at Ravenhill."