Ulster Rugby vs Zebre

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Results picking up...
We had a run of difficult games, a lot away from
home and unfortunately the results just weren’t
what we had hoped for. More recently, we have
had a run of better fixtures, better performances,
guys who were unavailable are now back from
injury, so following a bit of a dip, we are enjoying
a bit of a high. As coaching staff, we do the same
thing when we lose as when we win and we have
a system that we believe in, so I don’t think we
have done anything too different - it’s just a better
run of games for us. We now have a mix of really
difficult games and a few easier ones coming up
so we need to keep the momentum from the past
month going.
Zebre...
I must give Zebre credit, they were a lot better
than I expected two weeks ago. They haven’t
had a lot of wins this year and we thought the
game would be more straight forward than it was.
It’s definitely a good opportunity for us here at
home to beat another Italian side this weekend.
However, Parma was a sobering enough exercise
for us because we thought it would have been
easier than it was. They have guys away with Italy,
so it’s a good opportunity, but we certainly won’t
be taking it lightly.
Squad mentality...
The defeats are really hard to take. The coaches
and players really struggle for days after a loss
and when you get consecutive defeats that
obviously multiplies. At the minute, the spirit is
good, we play this game and then have a down
week, so that’s a good opportunity for everyone
to rest and replenish their energy, physically and
mentally. If we get five wins and a bonus point
against Zebre before the break, that would be
perfect for us.
Missing players during the Six Nations...
Our squad feels really strong at the minute,
even though we are missing internationals like
Rory, Paddy and Hendy, who are some of our
best players. Other sides really struggle when
their international players are away, Glasgow in
particular. Obviously, we lose some good players,
but we replace them with exceptional young
players. I don’t think that during the Six Nations
our team suffers too badly, which is promising for
our squad and for our future.
This week's game plan...
The plan this week was to focus on ourselves and
not be complacent. Zebre had a couple of ploys
two weeks ago, they tried to attack our inside
defenders more than we expected and probably
had a bit more possession than we anticipated.
They attacked us around certain channels that
we have focused a lot on this week and I think
that will be a big improvement for us. Hopefully
the pitch will hold out and that will allow us to play
a bit more this weekend, which we couldn’t do
against Treviso.
The fans...
The numbers that come out to support the team
amaze me every week, it’s not like that when we
go to any other ground. On a bad night like last
Friday, it was incredible that people still came
out to support us in their droves. We are very
fortunate to have the fans that we do.
NIALL MALONE, VIDEOANALYST & SKILLS COACH
NIALL MALONE
DISCUSSES...