'It is a funny time': Struggling Ulster to go back to drawing board during URC break

Ulster will use the United Rugby Championship’s enforced break during a month of Nations Championship internationals to reset after a winless start.

However, the challenge is bigger than coping without 16 frontline players, nine in the Ireland squad, six in the Ireland XV, and veteran lock Iain Henderson, who is not considered for selection due to injury.

The team showed promise to recover from a home loss to Edinburgh (29–34), producing URC draws against Glasgow Warriors (33–all, away) and Munster (26-all at home).

The 40-21 win over Zebre in Parma in a Challenge Cup Round One fixture also offered optimism.

However, reality bit hard on their two-match URC trip to South Africa, with a 26-34 loss to the Bulls on the Highveld and a demoralising (7-33) loss to the Stormers in Cape Town this past weekend.

Ulster coach Richie Murphy insisted the Irish province is “not a million miles away” from success, despite a winless start to their URC season.

Pressing the reset button is complicated by the absence of their entire frontline selection.

Uncapped James McNabney, Tom O’Toole, Tom Stewart, Nick Timoney, Jamie Benson (also uncapped), Nathan Doak, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale and Rob Baloucoune are all in Ireland’s Nations Championship squad and won’t be available before December.

In addition to the primary Irish team, six Ulster players were named in the Ireland XV (development) squad to face Fiji ‘A’ later this month.

“We will take a few days off to regroup,” Murphy said after the loss to a loaded Stormers team.

“It is a funny time, because we will have 15 guys away till the third week of this break,” he added.

Ulster have until December 5 before they resume their campaign against Cardiff at Arm Park.

“We’ll get about two weeks of preparation with most of the guys back, ” he said, adding: “It’s been a difficult start to the year in relation to managing [the team].

“We’re not used to having 10 Irish players during the off-season.

“Reintegrating them back into our squad over these first five games, and now we lose them again.

“That puts us under a little bit of pressure.”

Murphy said they will focus on a ‘lot of everything’ when they look to reset in the next few weeks.

He conceded that Ulster struggled with the immense physicality of the South African teams’ front five, which yielded multiple penalties.

A critical scrum penalty in the closing stages of the game against the Bulls cost them a potential losing bonus point, Ulster also conceding four consecutive penalties in a first-half window against ruthlessly powerful Stormers set piece.

Early in the second half, another major attacking scrum malfunctioned, getting shoved backwards by the Stormers pack and resulting in a yellow card for Keynan Knox.

“The scrum played a major role in the outcome of the game the coach said.

One scrum, after an Ulster knock-on five metres from the Stormers line and Ulster leading 7-0, resulted in a penalty.

That penalty became a line-out, followed by two successive maul penalties and a score for the Stormers.

What was potentially a 14-0 lead for the visitors resulted in a seven-all scoreline at a crucial juncture in the game.

Murphy conceded that the power of the South African set pieces presents a unique challenge in the game.