Having enjoyed an impressive playing career that saw him capped for Ireland, and with more than a decade involved in Ulster Rugby's coaching department, Head Analyst Niall Malone knows there often isn't much time to dwell on a disappointing defeat before another big game looms around the corner.
Last Saturday, Ulster made the trip to Llanelli to take on Scarlets and, despite an encouraging opening half against the reigning champions, Ulster shipped 31 points in a disappointing second half to come away empty handed.
“At half time we were quite content,” said Malone. “We thought we had been unlucky with the disallowed try - that was quite harsh - and we had one other scoring chance so we could have been at least 14-3 ahead at half time, which would have been pleasing. The second half was poor. It was probably the least effective half of rugby we’ve had this year.
“Throughout the season we’ve had plenty of good stuff but we’ve had large parts of bad stuff as well. At the minute the usual excuse is valid that our injuries are crippling us and a lot of the guys we need on the pitch aren’t available to us. Unfortunately, that’s just something we have to deal with and it’s something we didn’t deal with very well against Scarlets in the second half.”
Just six days after the Scarlets loss, Ulster are back in action, and it’s Glasgow who will provide the opposition at Kingspan Stadium this Friday night. The Warriors suffered just their second PRO14 loss of the season last week against Munster, and Malone is hoping this will be a good time to face the Conference A table-toppers.
“Their early season form was brilliant in the league and it hasn’t been quite so good recently. Of course it’s better to be playing them after a couple of defeats but the facts are clear - they’re top of their league, their points tally is huge and they’re currently one of the best teams in the league, so it doesn’t get any easier for us.
“I think they’re going to be very fast and play off the cuff. When they won the league here a few years ago that was their style. What Dave Rennie has brought is a harder forward confrontational edge, so they sort of blend the two extremes. They have a really wide and elaborate play and yet they have this pack that always tries to dominate authority before they apply the wide stuff.
“So we’re going to be tested, particularly down the sides of rucks. If they get any go forward around there, they’re going to be whipping the ball out wide because they’ve got very good wingers who are in good form at the minute.”
In a season that has already provided its fair share of highs and lows, Malone is confident that his team still has the resolve to finish off the campaign on a high.
“A couple of weeks ago when we beat the Kings here (at Kingspan Stadium), that felt like a real high. That seems like a long time ago now, but we are still confident that we can get results. It’s just ups and downs, at the minute the results are a bit harder to come by, but we’re still confident that they will improve and we will can still fight out the last important games of this season.”
Tickets for Friday’s game are still available at ulsterrugby.com/buytickets
Last Saturday, Ulster made the trip to Llanelli to take on Scarlets and, despite an encouraging opening half against the reigning champions, Ulster shipped 31 points in a disappointing second half to come away empty handed.
“At half time we were quite content,” said Malone. “We thought we had been unlucky with the disallowed try - that was quite harsh - and we had one other scoring chance so we could have been at least 14-3 ahead at half time, which would have been pleasing. The second half was poor. It was probably the least effective half of rugby we’ve had this year.
“Throughout the season we’ve had plenty of good stuff but we’ve had large parts of bad stuff as well. At the minute the usual excuse is valid that our injuries are crippling us and a lot of the guys we need on the pitch aren’t available to us. Unfortunately, that’s just something we have to deal with and it’s something we didn’t deal with very well against Scarlets in the second half.”
Just six days after the Scarlets loss, Ulster are back in action, and it’s Glasgow who will provide the opposition at Kingspan Stadium this Friday night. The Warriors suffered just their second PRO14 loss of the season last week against Munster, and Malone is hoping this will be a good time to face the Conference A table-toppers.
“Their early season form was brilliant in the league and it hasn’t been quite so good recently. Of course it’s better to be playing them after a couple of defeats but the facts are clear - they’re top of their league, their points tally is huge and they’re currently one of the best teams in the league, so it doesn’t get any easier for us.
“I think they’re going to be very fast and play off the cuff. When they won the league here a few years ago that was their style. What Dave Rennie has brought is a harder forward confrontational edge, so they sort of blend the two extremes. They have a really wide and elaborate play and yet they have this pack that always tries to dominate authority before they apply the wide stuff.
“So we’re going to be tested, particularly down the sides of rucks. If they get any go forward around there, they’re going to be whipping the ball out wide because they’ve got very good wingers who are in good form at the minute.”
In a season that has already provided its fair share of highs and lows, Malone is confident that his team still has the resolve to finish off the campaign on a high.
“A couple of weeks ago when we beat the Kings here (at Kingspan Stadium), that felt like a real high. That seems like a long time ago now, but we are still confident that we can get results. It’s just ups and downs, at the minute the results are a bit harder to come by, but we’re still confident that they will improve and we will can still fight out the last important games of this season.”
Tickets for Friday’s game are still available at ulsterrugby.com/buytickets