Ulster Rugby v Connacht

With an Inter-pro with Connacht at home tonight, and Europe hoving into immediate view next weekend, Ulster’s competitive rugby season is rapidly shifting through the gears. R O D N A W N

OCTOBER OFFERS CURTAIN OF OPP

He will not have dismissed the display at Thomond Park as a ‘blip’, or blamed the away thumping on those 16 members of the squad confined to the treatment room: the performance, more than the defeat, will have irked the Englishman, who has made a very positive impact in his first month at the helm. He’s been unafraid to give the younger, more inexperienced players their chance, and given those with more distinguished service the opportunity to stake long-terms claims to their positions. The mirror will have been very firmly held to the faces of everyone in the squad this week, not just the 23 on duty in Limerick. Munster provided a reality check of unwanted proportions, but as the Head Coach said of tonight’s second Inter-pro in a week – against the side he served so well as player and coach – ‘we go again’. McFarland doesn’t deal in cliché so any notions of redemption will have been couched in far more pragmatic and demanding terms. But against a Connacht team firmly beaten by Leinster last weekend in Galway, but never outclassed, the terraces and stands of Kingspan Stadium this evening will expect to see a strengthened home side restore some very bruised pride. In truth, October is a key month in the rugby year. The PRO14, the Champions Cup and imminent Autumn International

For Ulster the Guinness PRO14 campaign under new Head Coach Dan McFarland began with dramatic late wins and an unconvincing but unbeaten, exhausting trek to South Africa. Then came Thomond Park last Saturday. A thumping defeat against fierce rivals who had simply too much firepower and nous for an Ulster side undermined by injuries, certainly, but embarrassingly overwhelmed. McFarland ‘fronted up’, as he always does, and admitted that in all departments his side – which included many of the younger crop of recruits and Academy players – Munster held the upper hand for all but a few minutes in Limerick. All sorts of unwanted records were written last weekend, and for supporters the 57-point margin was at once shocking and yet unsurprising. Munster fielded a team loaded with top-class internationals, especially up front, while the visitors’ daunting cause became mission impossible There was a sense in McFarland’s post- match observations that, while he may have been disappointed with the scale of the loss, and definitely unhappy to see some of the early-season promise in the tackle unravel, he wasn’t entirely shocked by the difference in quality between a proven, steeled group and the line-up he fielded in Munster. with the early departures of Iain Henderson and John Cooney.

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