The powers that be in Ulster find themselves on familiar territory. The previous solution – lop off the coach’s head – has brought them back around to the same problem.
What’s the definition of insanity, again?
Escaping this Ravenhill – sorry, Kingspan – quagmire requires a deeper thought process. Hopefully they know this.
I’m not privy to Ulster team meetings or training, obviously, but I know the calibre of their coaches. I worked with Les Kiss with Ireland and Jono Gibbes in Leinster. I also toured New Zealand with Dwayne Peel in 2005.
When Ulster have performed this season I have seen improvements in their attack from this time last year. That’s a combination of good coaching and Christian Lealiifano playing flat to the line.
The overriding problem does not lie with the coaches. A club begins in its academy and ends in the boardroom.
An understandably frustrated Stephen Ferris says Ulster have been building for 12 years, and while Fez has a point, how many cycles or false dawns have occurred?
Too many.
They keep journeying a certain distance with a specific plan only to make sudden directional change.
Decisions have come from the top down, from chief executive Shane Logan (who was appointed in 2009), that have led to an undercurrent of discontent emanating from supporters and critics alike.
David Humphreys – Ulster’s legendary outhalf who led them to a European title in 1999 – leaving the director of rugby post to join Gloucester in 2014 was an indictment of Logan’s governance. The foreign coach – Mark Anscombe after Matty Williams – didn’t work out. Those born into Ulster rugby – Mark McCall and Brian McLaughlin – some confidently state in hindsight, were not given enough time.
Each decision has led Ulster to where they now reside: out of the Champions Cup at the Pool stages, yet again, and blatantly lacking the necessary depth of talent in every position.
Outhalf problems are glaring. Stephen Donald’s failed medical can become a blessing in disguise if they fully support Johnny McPhillips. It’s unfair to rush a young player into the professional spotlight but there’s little alternative.
This is what happens in a sports club with flawed succession planning. Sometimes they stumble across a gem, mostly they become badly exposed.
It looks as if there will be eight Leinster produced players and a Cork man on the Ulster roster next season. They currently have eight South Africans, three of whom are Irish-qualified.
Let’s see how head coach succession planning, or lack thereof, brought Ulster to Kiss and Gibbes.
Home-made and foreign coaches have had equal opportunity since McCall, current Saracens director of rugby, left in November 2007. In 2009, Matt Williams was replaced by Humphreys who appointed ex-Ulster players, Neil Doak and Jeremy Davidson, as assistants to head coach Brian McLaughlin.
Entering the 2012 Heineken Cup final, against Leinster at Twickenham, everyone knew McLaughlin was being replaced that summer by Anscombe.
The next two seasons were peak Ulster in the modern era with their downward spiral – a word used by Kiss over Christmas – dating back to one moment: Jared Payne’s red card four minutes into the 2014 Heineken Cup quarter-final against Saracens in Belfast. It remains a harsh and hugely costly call by referee Jerome Garces and still feels like a watershed moment for the province.
Ulster were stacked with international and local quality: Johann Muller was a towering captain, John Afoa a recent All Black tighthead, Nick Williams broke the gainline at will and Ruan Pienaar directed affairs from scrumhalf with Stephen Ferris, Rory Best, Tommy Bowe and a young Iain Henderson providing the tools needed to capture a European title.
That team disintegrated when Humphreys joined Gloucester – taking Afoa with him – as Muller and Ferris retired. Anscombe was sacked and temporarily replaced by Kiss, who only fully took over after the 2015 World Cup, as Doak ran the squad in his absence.
This season Kiss replaced Doak and Allen Clarke with Gibbes and Peel. That’s almost constant upheaval with plenty more promised from the playing panel.
Sliding doors
Imagine the sliding doors scenario of Leinster removing Michael Cheika after defeat in Edinburgh meant we failed to get out of our Pool in 2008.
Plummeting season ticket sales could have swayed the Leinster decision-makers but instead they trusted the man they recruited. That was Cheika’s third season in charge. Come May 2009 we won the Heineken Cup for the first time. Nobody predicted the influence of Rocky Elsom and Johnny Sexton but the strategic vision – from the academy to boardroom – allowed us to build upon the initial success.
Kiss has yet to complete a second full season at the helm. There is no magic switch to solve deep-rooted problems.
When the IRFU rejected Ulster’s and Kiss’s appeals to keep Pienaar a disastrous season seemed guaranteed, especially when Marcell Coetzee and Payne were crocked while no internationally recognised props were signed, but John Cooney has proved a goal-kicking revelation in the number nine jersey.
Hope is not lost.
We are entering a fascinating period in Ulster rugby history. If they can drown out external wailing and focus on the job at hand then all previous failings can be avoided.
Big “if” considering their unclear strategic planning.
Cooney replacing Pienaar proves there will be life after Charles Piutau and Bowe. Jacob Stockdale is lighting that pathway.
But the pack, mainly the tight five, is a glaring weakness. They are over reliant on Best and Henderson. Ideally, Marty Moore will arrive from Wasps this summer in the best shape of his life while Jordi Murphy journey’s north from Dublin with an action-speaks-louder-than-words attitude to help feed a much-needed cultural renaissance.
They also need at least one more international standard lock and prop.
I’m sure this Ulster squad are a tight-knit group but sometimes being best of pals can actually hinder the building of a strong culture. I played in really happy teams with nobody rocking the boat and we won nothing. You can dislike a guy and still put your body on the line for him. Tension, when harnessed correctly, lays the platform for everyone to feel equal. Honest feedback is essential for a successful culture.
Many people – the loudest fans and media voices – are demanding the silver bullet solution. But sacking the coach hasn’t worked. It isn’t possible to separate the failings of the academy structures (and grassroots talent ID systems) and the senior team.
Perhaps Ulster need fresh eyes. A deep thinker on sporting values. I’d be fascinated to read what Jim McGuinness thinks about the strategic planning of underage Ulster structures. Bring all that GAA and professional soccer knowledge into rugby.
I hope Les Kiss is afforded the opportunity to see out his vision; to hell with this season – it’s already a failure – and retrain focus on small victories such as winning at home in style.
Give the people what they want where possible. We know from the La Rochelle game that the emotive performance still exists in Belfast. But that should be the standard every time they tog out at home.
The pursuit of excellence does not happen by chance. Nobody likes being told they aren’t doing something right but winners understand the value of feedback and are open to their failings because they want to get better.
Humility is required.
Enormous knowledge
The overriding question: do the people in charge have the stomach to weather this storm or will they seek another quick fix?
Block out the noise. Believe you have selected the right men for the job. Les Kiss understands defence and how to plant the seeds for a self-sustaining team culture. Ireland won a Grand Slam and two Six Nations titles – under different head coaches – with Les working in the background. Jono is a natural born leader and he can only have brought enormous knowledge to Ulster from his Clermont experience.
There is a moment with every team when a flip of a coin dictates their fate. That’s just sport. It happened to Ulster in April 2014 when Payne was ball watching as Alex Goode leaped above him, smashing his hip into Payne’s head and crashing to earth, head first.
They have yet to recover and I expect it to get worse before the dawn.
The process only truly starts when everyone is on the same page. Ask all the stakeholders in Ulster rugby – chief executive, coaches, players, fans – about their expectations for the senior team.
Now ask everyone what is stopping them turning expectation into reality. If the management, coaches and players are not aligned, if they can’t live by the same values, then the same problems will remain unsolved.
