A MINI RENAISSANCE in March yielded little in the end for Ulster, who lost their last five games and finished an unacceptable third from bottom in the URC table.

After a sequence of blistering attacking performances in which the northern province briefly resembled what we would expect from a Richie Murphy-coached side, the chickens came home to roost on the other side of the ball.

In the NFL, head coaches will often speak of the need to play ‘complementary football’, wherein a team’s defensive unit must be sufficiently effective to give its offensive unit a chance to win a game, and vice versa.

In rugby, there is only one unit, per se, but Ulster became demonstrably incapable of playing complementary rugby: they conceded an average of 35 points across their final nine matches of the 2024/25 campaign in all competitions. Fitting that their attack became more fluid towards the end of that stretch, because Ulster were pissing into the wind.

Still, there is cause to simply draw a line under last season and not explore its troughs too deeply. This season feels like a fresh start for Ulster. Okay, yes, another one.

This will be the third season in which Richie Murphy has worked with Ulster and his second full campaign in charge: his feet are well under the desk at this stage and he must bear some responsibility for how his squad, however shorn of pedigree, finished ahead of only the Dragons and Zebre in the URC last time out. On the other side of the coin, though, 2025/26 will mark the first time in which Murphy will be working with his desired coaching staff, and Ulster have this time around forked over the coin to complement his efforts with two legitimately difference-making NIQ signings.

Mark Sexton, who previously assisted Murphy during back-to-back Grand Slam campaigns with Ireland U20s, is an attack coach who is extremely highly regarded by his peers. Connacht’s players were disgusted last January to hear of Sexton’s impending departure, which was essentially the result of creative differences with then-Connacht boss Pete Wilkins. These things happen, but Murphy must have nearly short-circuited his phone when he learned of Sexton’s availability.

The full-time employment of Willie Faloon as defence coach, then, means that Ulster’s entire frontline coaching staff has previously won at least one Grand Slam together with Ireland U20s, with Jimmy Duffy continuing as forwards coach.

Faloon presided over Ulster’s poor defensive run towards the end of last season, but it’s worth stressing that he would have effectively picked up the existing defensive system where Jonny Bell left it off. February, with a potential play-off run and a European knockout fixture looming, is hardly time to impart a new ideology.

Pre-season absolutely is, though, and if Ulster’s defence isn’t by a significant margin their most glaring weakness away to Edinburgh and at home to the Bulls in Week 2 and Week 3 of the new URC season, Faloon can consider himself off to a good start.

His efforts will surely be helped by Ulster’s two marquee signings, Juarno Augustus and Angus Bell, who are beasts even without ball in hand.

The signing of Augustus, a key player in Northampton Saints’ recent success, is a coup. The 27-year-old back row missed out on a first Springbok cap in July due to a back injury, but his career trajectory would suggest that his time in his national jersey will come. He’s a stud.

Loosehead Angus Bell, then, who will arrive after the November Tests, is a genuine world-class talent in his possession and will add further explosivity to an Ulster side that often lacked forward dynamism last term.

But even with those two exciting signings, the concern for Ulster is that they have once more been forced to part with more experience than they have been able to import. The risk with such turnover is that it leads to a state of a perpetual transition.

Bell’s impending arrival may account for the loss of experienced loosehead Andrew Warwick but the departures of club-legend scrum-half John Cooney, regular first-team captain Alan O’Connor, and back row Matty Rea will be felt around the place.

Jack Murphy, outstanding throughout his first season of senior rugby and rewarded with a contract upgrade from academy level, finds himself effectively the franchise out-half at 21.

While Iain Henderson, no longer on a national contract, remains the club captain, Murphy, his half-back partner Nathan Doak, and a talented young forward crop in front of them must put this Ulster team on their backs, and put their own stamp on it, too.

There’s a fine line between baseline success and serious failure for Ulster this season, and that line divides eighth and ninth in the URC table.

It all begins with a home meeting with the Dragons at the newly named Ravenhill — Affidea Stadium — this Friday night: the perfect chance to put a few smiles on faces and take it from there.