FORMER IRELAND HOOKER Bernard Jackman believes Ulster’s hammering by Sale Sharks in their Champions Cup opener showed signs of a psychological hangover from their defeat to Leinster in the URC the previous weekend, and says there is now a “massive question mark” regarding the “character” of Dan McFarland’s side as they stare into a Round 2 European clash with La Rochelle.
Ulster shipped six tries and failed to score in a 39-point defeat to Sale in Sunday’s Pool B clash at Salford City Stadium, significantly denting their Champions Cup hopes ahead of the visit of Ronan O’Gara’s European champions to Belfast this Saturday.
Speaking on Monday’s Rugby Weekly Extra podcast for The42 members, Jackman suggested that Ulster may have been left “mentally scarred” by the nature of their 38-29 defeat to Leinster which preceded it, a derby in which Ulster coughed up a 19-point lead despite having a man advantage and wound up leaving the RDS without even a losing bonus point.
“The nature of their loss to Leinster after being in such a commanding position”, Jackman told host Gavan Casey, “it felt like a body blow.
“There are certain losses that can scar you mentally. The worry for me was, I don’t know how Ulster would have felt about themselves when they got on that bus [leaving Dublin]. I know they had lost to Leinster previously up in Belfast but there were probably reasons they could have found for that: the weather, they were trying to play a different type of game, et cetera. It wasn’t as convincing as the game in Dublin where they even had a head-start and a numerical advantage.
“The reality is it looked like that game in Dublin completely f***ed with their heads… That’s the worrying thing for Ulster — and now they’ve La Rochelle coming to town.
“I think it’ll be better this week but wow, it’s been a horrendous two weeks for them. And look, they’re second in the URC. Only two teams have beaten them this season: Leinster and Sale. But character-wise, there’s a massive question mark about that group now.
“There’ll be no excuse if there’s not a reaction this week.”
Host Casey then suggested that the aforementioned ‘scarring’ can be only temporary rather than terminal, and that a home victory over the European champions could prove a mentally transformative result for McFarland’s men.
Jackman replied: “Of course it can. They’re back in Ravenhill. Some of the trust from the Ulster fans will have diminished a little bit and they’ll have to rebuild that but still, the fans will go there and they’ll roar on their team ’til the end this weekend. That will help them and, with the European champions coming, they won’t want to be embarrassed again.
But still, you have to question where they’re at now. Basically, have the last two games put into question their ambitions to win a trophy this year? Even if they paper over the cracks and put in a performance against La Rochelle — and maybe win; when it comes to the crunch later on in the year, are there critical areas of their game or in the makeup of their team that means they’re ill-equipped to challenge the top teams?
“This sounds terrible”, Jackman continued, “but Billy Burns, more so in the game against Leinster… I have to ask the question is he going to be able to steer them to a trophy. And I do think that’s the reality of Ulster: they have to be judged on being able to win a trophy.
“I’m certainly not trying to put it all on Billy Burns — that’s just one example of a personnel thing.
“It’s not easy. It’s not easy. But last year, they blew a golden opportunity to go to a URC final and potentially win it. And they should be good enough to be there or thereabouts to win a trophy [this season].
“I think Ulster have more talent and more depth than Munster have at the moment. They’ve been given the backing to bring in [Duane] Vermeulen. They’ve signed [Steven] Kitshoff for next year, they were able to sign Rory Sutherland and bring him in. Sam Carter was a reasonably big-name signing. They’ve brought through a load of young talent, particularly in the backline. [Ian] Madigan and Billy Burns are both Ireland internationals, [John] Cooney would have been very expensive to keep and they’ve got Nathan Doak coming through as well.
“They’ve got loads of depth so I think it’s reasonable to expect certainly more than we saw at the weekend against Sale. No team should be losing 39-0.”
Jackman went on to explore Ulster’s defensive regression from last season while, elsewhere on the podcast, he and Casey also discussed Leinster’s statement victory over Racing, some positives for Munster despite a home defeat to Toulouse, and why a season in the Challenge Cup will benefit Connacht in the long run.
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