ULSTER HEAD COACH Dan McFarland praised his inexperienced team for coming out on the right side of an “arm-wrestle” as they battled past Scarlets for a 27-15 bonus-point win on their return to United Rugby Championship action at Kingspan Stadium.
It was a tight contest in Belfast as the two sides were locked at 15-15 heading into the final quarter as tries from Angus Curtis and Sam Carter were cancelled out by scores from Scarlets props Samson Lee and Kemsley Mathias, but in the last 20 minutes Ulster pulled away.
Gareth Milasinovich and Craig Gilroy – who was perhaps a little fortunate not to be red carded for making contact with the head of Tom Rogers in the first half – crossed within two minutes of each other to seal the win and the extra point that takes Ulster up to second in the URC table, albeit temporarily, leaving McFarland smiling at the full-time whistle.
That was the northern province’s first league win since their victory over Leinster at the RDS Arena at the end of November and they did so without their Ireland contingent, as well as a key group of players including Jordi Murphy, John Cooney, Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale.
But McFarland was proud of how his young team came through and got the job done, even if the execution wasn’t perfect, and it sets them up nicely heading into next week’s rearranged inter-pro with Connacht.
“It was very much an arm-wrestle. For 60 minutes I was very impressed with their defence, I thought they defended a lot more aggressively and with more intent than I’ve seen them all year,” he said.
“They’ve obviously got some real danger in attack as well with a real experienced side, particularly in the back line. We worked really hard to contain them for a long time and didn’t get anything going in our attack through a combination of their physicality around the edge and a little bit of our decision-making on where the space was.
“We expected that. Some of the inexperienced guys who were playing in the backs there, that’s going to happen for us over the next few weeks, so we’ll look at that and work on that and pat them on the back for some really hard work and coming out with a bonus point win.”
It was another impressive display for 20-year-old scrum-half Nathan Doak, who had a rare off-night from the kicking tee in landing just one of four conversions, but was his usual dangerous self in open play and continues to draw plaudits from all corners.
When asked about whether the young No.9 could have perhaps benefitted from a call-up to Andy Farrell’s squad for the Six Nations, McFarland batted away that question, instead diplomatically pointing out that the former Ireland Under-20s stand-out still has plenty of developing to do.
“Nathan’s a young player. He’s developing, he’s obviously playing well and there’s plenty he needs to work on. His talent is there for everybody to see,” pointed out McFarland.
“He’s doing what he’s doing and as long as he focuses on doing that and doing it week on week, at the moment he’s in a position where he’s playing and playing well. He’s looking at what he can do better, he’s working on his kicking game, his passing, the speed in our game and decision making on that. It’s one step at a time and what will happen will happen.”
When pressed on where Doak’s maturity ranks in 20-year-olds he’s seen before, McFarland added: “I’d say Ethan McIlroy would rank up there. He was pretty mature when he was 20, which was only last year.
“But that’s not to take anything away from Doaky. He’s very mature, very composed. The bottom line is he’s a very composed 20-year-old.”
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella, and Gavan Casey glance ahead to the Six Nations, chat about the Irish provinces’ progress in Europe, then discuss the latest off-the-pitch drama in Welsh rugby.
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
<p style=”text-align: center;”><em>Bernard Jackman, Murray Kinsella, and Gavan Casey glance ahead to the Six Nations, chat about the Irish provinces’ progress in Europe, then discuss the latest off-the-pitch drama in Welsh rugby.</em></p>
