Why a trip to the Republic is so daunting

INTERVIEW: Faced with a high-riding Lions side this coming weekend in the United Rugby Championship, Ulster will arrive in Johannesburg brimming with confidence as well, and for once knowing what to expect from their opposition.

The Northern Irish side has made a solid start to the season – losing just once, to Leinster, in their opening four rounds.

However, they believe the lessons learnt in the Republic last season will stand them in good stead on a mini tour – when they face the Lions and Sharks in the next fortnight.

Coach Dan McFarland is relishing the challenge, even though the Lions are likely to be a much tougher outfit than they faced last season.

“We know what it’s like,” McFarland said.

“It’s not a surprise to us.

“You’ve seen with the South African teams coming here [to Ireland], it’s not a surprise for them. They’ve been totally dominant,” the Ulster coach added.

“Compare that to what happened last year.

“The Bulls were losing by 30 points and were finalists by the end of the season.

“The South Africans starting so strong tells you something about what we face in the league this year.

“The standard of the URC is getting stronger and stronger.

“The South African teams are going to really test us.

“They seem to be able to play their first teams week in, week out. They don’t really change.

“The Sharks will have a few Test players coming back in, the Stormers have a few, but the Bulls don’t have many, the Lions don’t have many Test players.

“Week in, week out, they’re rolling out their first teams and they’ve been pretty impressive.”

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💬 “We want to take the challenge to the Lions. This will be their first home game in a couple of weeks, and they will be looking to get a roll-on in front of a home crowd.
We have to turn up physically on Saturday, and play our set piece, to stay in the game.”

– Sam Carter pic.twitter.com/w8b7Fog7qF

— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) October 11, 2022

McFarland knows his own side is on an impressive run, and while there was a blip in the interprovincial encounter against Leinster, they are showing some good early-season form, reason enough to be bullish ahead of the rest of the season.

“There are hungry guys in our squad. The squad is playing well and doing some good stuff, and they did that even last week, even though we didn’t play as well as we can do. That was a tough game against a tough team,” he explained.

“But there’s positivity in how we’re playing and guys are mustard to play. If they miss out on any game time then they get really hungry for the minutes they get, and I think you saw that in the determination they put in when their name is called.”

It’s a far contrast from Graham Rowntree’s start at Munster, where they have won one in four games and now face the Bulls this coming weekend.

Munster will have some of their Emerging Ireland squad back, fresh from playing in the Challenge Series in Bloemfontein, but knows he has a job on his hands getting Munster back to form.

To his credit, Rowntree isn’t one to shirk from a challenge and knows how tough it will be to get Munster back to where they need to be.

“No, it’s tough. That’s coaching. It’s fixing things, finding solutions, moving forward; fixing them, working to the next game,” said Rowntree to Irish media this week.

“I’ve been around long enough. Obviously, it’s a different context being the head coach but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

“We’ve changed how we’re doing things. We’ve not reinvented the wheel but we’ve changed things and I can see the changes, the improvements coming through. But we just have to eradicate errors, eradicate penalties, and improve our discipline.

“It’s my job to do that, and the coaches, and to manage those young coaches, it’s my job. We’ll keep doing that, that’s all we can physically do, day in, day out.

“Expectations, I don’t know, I’ve had none put on me as such. I want to win the next game. I want to improve every week, I want to win the next game, that’s what I’ll keep driving.”

Facing the Bulls will be another challenge, especially with the Pretoria side looking for some redemption after their poor game against the Glasgow Warriors.

Thomond Park is never an easy place to play and Bulls coach Jake White will know that. And will hope to exploit the problems that Munster is having at the moment to get themselves back on track.

The journey begins 🇿🇦🎞 pic.twitter.com/K4yL2rUGyR

— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) October 11, 2022