Ulster CEO Jonny Petrie says the province’s inconsistent performances this season led to the departure of Dan McFarland, who left his role as head coach last week after almost six years.
McFarland’s exit followed a run of three consecutive defeats for the team.
Assistant coach Dan Soper takes charge for Saturday’s game with Dragons, with Ireland Under-20s coach Richie Murphy at the helm for the rest of the season.
“We ultimately felt we had to make a change in head coach,” said Petrie.
“We got to that point over the course of the past couple of weeks where we thought it was the right thing to do. That’s just the nature of the game, unfortunate as it is.
“These things are always difficult. I don’t have a bad word to say about Dan. We’ve had a very good working relationship the whole time he has been at the club and during that time we’ve seen a huge amount of progress, being right at the top of URC and in European competition consistently over that period.
“Albeit it’s frustrating in that we haven’t taken that final step and won silverware.
“There’s obviously an impact [financially] to that [letting a coach go in the middle of the season]. I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of that, it’s something that we work on in the background but financial or otherwise, these are decisions you don’t take lightly. We decided it was the right way forward for us.”
‘Getting the best out of a good squad’
Ulster’s rollercoaster season to date has seen them mix encouraging wins with crushing defeats and they currently sit eighth in the URC table.
Three losses in four outings in the Champions Cup pool stage saw them fail to reach the last 16 knockout phase in Europe and drop into the second-tier Challenge Cup, in which they will face Montpellier in April.
“This year we have seen some inconsistency start to creep in, some really good stuff against the likes of Racing and Leinster, but we know we’ve got to see an uptake in performance and more consistency up to the end of the season,” explained Petrie.
“We’ve got a really good squad. We just have to get the best out of them. We’ve been below where we want to be, but there’s still time to move that again in the right direction.
“The league is still incredibly tight and we’re still in European competition, albeit in the Challenge Cup rather than the Champions Cup.
“I’d like to think we still have the opportunity to put ourselves in a good spot and I’m confident we’ll see a good response this weekend and the rest of the season as well.”
‘Challenging financial environment’
Petrie acknowledged that the financial situation Ulster find themselves in is a challenging one, with some players likely to leave the province at the end of the campaign.
“Looking ahead to next season there will obviously be some refreshing of the squad, that happens at every club. I don’t shy away from the fact that we’re operating in a fairly challenging financial environment.
“We’ve got to make sure that we’ve got a squad that’s competitive at the back end and that’s the thing that’s going to drive us forward.
“We want to be at the top tier of European rugby, as we have been for all of the past five seasons or so.
“Looking forward I’m excited, the club’s excited, the players are excited about Richie [Murphy] coming in. He’s got a really good track record with the Under-20s of the national team, of getting the best out of a very young group of players. That’s certainly something we want to see here at Ulster.”
‘Everyone taken aback’
Speaking at Monday’s Ulster Rugby press briefing, Soper conceded that the past week had been an unsettling one for the group.
“It was a bit of a shocking week and everyone was taken aback by it. It’s never easy. I think we all were [surprised it happened mid-season].
“I’ve spoken to Dan. I’ve worked with him for almost six years, when you work with someone for that length of time in that environment you get close to them.
“Dan’s a realist and he’s obviously disappointed that it has ended in the way it has but he just says he’s keen to see us continue to progress.”
