Ulster urged to circle the wagons in advance of daunting La Rochelle test

Five defeats from their last six games and now it’s off to La Rochelle, hardly the most fertile-looking territory for Ulster to turn things around. But try, they must.

These are pressurised times for Ulster head coach Dan McFarland with European qualification very much on the line – whether in the Champions Cup, or potentially the Challenge Cup, though it could be neither should they end up finishing lower than their current 10th in Pool B – never mind returning to winning ways in the URC after recent back-to-back reverses to Munster and Benetton Rugby.

All very tricky but for McFarland it’s about processing the outcomes and focusing on the positives, chiefly that the last two defeats have been by narrow margins, Munster won by a point through the last play on New Year’s Day and Benetton had a late penalty deflect in off the post to consign the northern province to yet another of those losing feelings.

Not only that, but last month’s Aviva Stadium meeting with La Rochelle – after the contest was switched from the Kingspan due to what was deemed an unplayable surface – saw Ulster haul themselves back from trailing 29-0 to lose 36-29 and claim two bonus points.

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The message is clear: Ulster are not in crisis and will haul themselves back. Just when that will be remains to be seen.

“In professional sport, with the dips and troughs, you are never far away from doing what you are doing, well,” said the Ulster coach.

“It’s important we support each other and challenge each other in these times. That would be my big thing,” McFarland added.

Indeed, this weekend could even be an opportunity for the northern province to play without the expectation that they are likely to win and, as such, might just be what they need to at least restore their bruised confidence.

Perhaps. But meeting the reigning European champions on their home patch with the accompanying backdrop currently hanging over the visiting squad looks a very hefty ask and could just as easily could work out rather badly indeed for McFarland and co.

Not that he was contemplating such a bleak outlook.

“It [La Rochelle] is a brilliant challenge,” he insisted. “The guys who are selected this week to play the game, why wouldn’t they relish that?

“That’s the way we approach it and take it for the 80 minutes and the experience of the day itself. It’s only in doing that, that we can give of our best.”

As for the narrowness of the losses against Munster and Benetton, McFarland said: “Results show we are a whisker away from winning and although we are not playing as well as we can do, we are not looking at it with gnashing of teeth.

“My job is to make sure we keep the reality in that and say that at some point we will turn the corner and start winning games. I have no worry about that. The issue is when there is a little bit of momentum in terms of that [losing] and people stop understanding the reality of the situation.”

He continued: “In essence, what we do, we are good at it. We know that it wins games. There are elements of that, that are not quite right, and we are addressing those. There is context within that in [the] opposition we have played and things we have faced over the last while.

“Then you have [stalled] momentum, having lost a game and then another, you can’t help but that pressure leads to self-doubt.

“But we can’t stop thinking that in essence we are a good team because of the last four years and how at the end of last year we lost out on a home final in the 85th minute against the Stormers. We are not far off that.”

Meanwhile, it appears that Marty Moore’s season is over due to a torn ACL in his right knee which will likely require surgery.

Ulster will also be without Tom O’Toole for this weekend which puts their resources at tighthead prop under some strain as was the case last Saturday at Treviso when Jeff Toomaga-Allen was given a rare run-out with Andy Warwick, normally a loosehead, backing him up.

The northern province will also be without winger Robert Baloucoune (hamstring) for the trip to La Rochelle along with flanker Sean Reffell (ankle) while fellow flanker Matty Rea is also out of the running due to a foot problem shipped when playing for Ulster A against Ealing last Friday.

In another development, Ulster’s postponed fixture at the Sharks, the match was unable to go ahead in Durban due to illness in the visiting squad, has now been rearranged for Saturday, February 25th.