THE ULSTER COACH Dan McFarland, was left smiling after his team’s outstanding effort on Saturday in Johannesburg to beat the Lions 39-37 in a thrilling ten-try United Rugby Championship fixture.
The bonus-point win on the Highveld pushed the Ulstermen up to second in the overall standings after five rounds, but perhaps more importantly it was indeed their first win in South Africa since beating the Southern Kings in the then PRO14 in 2019.
In addition, it has given the team a perfect start to their tour of South Africa with the Sharks awaiting next week in Durban.
While having to deal with a confident and resurgent Lions outfit is one thing, overcoming the South African heat is one of the team’s big challenges and McFarland feels that through proper planning, preparation, and game management they were able to overcome the elements to a large degree.
“Games in 33°C are difficult to play in,” said McFarland in the post-match.
“I think that sometimes the altitude element is over-hyped, but the heat is very different for us. The Lions are used to that and they play in it a lot. It does take a little bit of extra effort. We prepared for that. Having played in South Africa a lot we knew it was going to be tough.
“The way the game played out – it was like a lot of the games we had here where you have to get your stuff right in the first 60-minutes. In the first half we didn’t get our collisions right and we didn’t take them through phases. We addressed that at half time and the lads took a really good attitude onto the field in the second-half.
“We got the score just before half time and came out with real physicality in the second half. When it gets to 60-minutes, you’ve got large blokes who are extremely tired and you’ve got little blokes who are very fast and dealing much better. That’s when the game opens up.”
McFarland added although they hadn’t been able to notch up a win in South Africa for the best part of three-years, there always remained a belief that they were capable of claiming that elusive victory, and that would require an 80-minute effort.
“We had a couple of close games in South Africa last year and we did use that with the motivation in the sense that we hadn’t got over the line, but we knew we were capable of it. In the Stormers first game we were unlucky and in the second we let it go at the death.
“There were two elements to that, one was getting a win in South Africa and the other was sealing games in the end. I’m really proud of the efforts of the guys – because I don’t think many people realise how hard it is to win in South Africa.”
Ulster will head to Durban next week where they will come up against the Sharks, who in turn convincingly beat the Glasgow Warriors 40-12 on Saturday. While the altitude on the East Coast of South Africa won’t be a concern, the humidity will certainly pose a different challenge. It is an evening game which will be good for the heat, however, the ball does tend to be a lot more slippery.