Ulster licking physical and mental wounds ahead of trip to Sportsground

There is no hiding from the fact that this has been an uncomfortable time for Ulster, which if left unchecked could develop into a full-blown crisis.

The situation over last weekend’s switch of venue from the Kingspan to their round two Champions Cup fixture being played behind closed doors at the Aviva Stadium is now subject to an EPCR investigation but, that aside, there have also been some difficult issues on the field for the northern province.

[ Ulster and EPCR to carry out ‘full review’ of circumstances around late ground switch ]

[ Gerry Thornley: Ulster’s lose-lose match with La Rochelle in empty Aviva could cost up to €700,000 ]

[ Aviva episode leaves questions regarding who counts as a fan ]

Ulster have lost their last three games and have managed just two halves of notable rugby within that timeframe, the opening 40 minutes at Leinster and then last Saturday’s second half in the Aviva clash with La Rochelle.

In between they have been turned over in Dublin in the URC and in Europe, nilled by Sale Sharks in the wake of considerable travel disruption and then beaten up by 29-0 in the opening half of play with La Rochelle. Within that 160 minutes, Dan McFarland’s side have also been porous defensively and shockingly profligate in their concession of penalties.

The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times

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That they unexpectedly revived to lose 36-29 to the reigning European champions and snaffle two losing bonus points was clearly creditable but is hardly the stuff of full-blown revival as they now prepare for the hardly soft landing of taking on Connacht at the Sportsground on what is forecast to be a typically damp evening.

Connacht will fancy this too as a potentially damaged Ulster hit town with the visitors missing both Billy Burns (concussion) and Rob Herring (ribs) for this interprovincial and look as if they will also be without any input from Jacob Stockdale (ankle), Robert Baloucoune (hamstring), James Hume (concussion) and Tom O’Toole (abdomen).

Avoiding a fourth straight reverse will be McFarland’s priority which may have a bearing on any plans he might have had for possible rotation ahead of Munster in Belfast on New Year’s Day. As such, Nick Timoney and Rory Sutherland look sure to be heading west as could Iain Henderson, John Cooney and Stuart McCloskey.

In terms of the challenge Ulster face to rediscover their winning form, Ulster assistant coach Dan Soper said: “This game is going to be a massive challenge regardless of what happened last weekend.

[ Mack Hansen set to return but Connacht left counting the cost of Brive victory ]

“Connacht have found form recently and it’ll be our first time on the new surface at the Sportsground, so that’s going to add to the challenge. We don’t have any option other than to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and get into this week like any other week.”

Glancing back at what has been, Soper added: “Look, we’ve played three really tough fixtures and we haven’t performed as well as we wanted to. One thing about this group is we’ve stood up to challenges in the past and we hope that the next two weeks, with two derbies, we do the same.

“In our league, we know how important it is to keep notching up these wins and it could mean home advantage in the play-offs. That’s what we want, to have home play-off rugby, and we need to perform at this time of year to put us at the top.”