WE NEED TO FIND FORM RIGHT AWAY
AS lockdown stretched on interminably through the spring and deep, deep into the summer, Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp’s assertion that sport, in its absence, would prove to be ‘the most important of the least important things’ was repeated with increasing frequency.
When Ulster made their return on Sunday, Dan Mcfarland’s men could take solace only from the fact that their clash with Connacht was the least important of their most important of games.
Between now and the end of October, the northern province know they’ll have at least two season-defining contests. With knock-out rugby looming large, the hope is that there’ll be more.
Sunday would never fall into that category, results elsewhere over the previous 24 hours ensuring that the side’s play-off spot was sealed before they took the field having the unfortunate consequence of rendering the outcome considerably less significant than the occasion. More unfortunate still was how Ulster’s performance reflected the changed stakes.
A 26-20 defeat in what essentially became a pre-season friendly in all but name, albeit one drawing considerably more attention than your normal August fare, had the side’s coach bemoaning the lack of a spark in one breath before reminding in the next that it was not the end of the world.
Back in the Aviva to take on Leinster this weekend, the circumstances will be similar. Ulster cannot improve or worsen their standing on Saturday evening, yet there is little doubt the players would much rather avoid heading into the knockouts and their last four clash with Edinburgh one week later off the back of two defeats.
“We’re a team that plays well when we gather momentum and confidence,” admitted Billy Burns, Mcfarland’s stand-in captain in the absence of the injured Iain Henderson. “We had an opportunity against Connacht to get a result and build some momentum, obviously, off the back of such a long period away and we didn’t take that so the focus is all about Leinster now.
“I think people on the outside could say that we’re looking ahead to the semi-final, but that’s not the case.
“I wouldn’t be human if I sat here and tried to give you an answer saying we weren’t delighted to be in that semi-final. We’ve worked hard to get there and we are obviously looking forward to it.
“But we’re a team that plays best with confidence, and you only get confidence through results. This was a really good opportunity to put a performance in and we didn’t take that opportunity.
“We need to put in a performance next week because if we play well next week, if we can get a good win, it would probably give us a good chance of performing better the week after.
“I’m sure there’ll be a lot of guys who’ll want to get an opportunity to play well and right a few wrongs.”
Knowing that all four teams who took to the Aviva Stadium over the weekend, and indeed all the teams across the PRO14, were in the same boat, Burns discounted the lengthy lay-off as a cause for their seeming lack of zip, though admitted it was hard to pinpoint why they looked off the pace compared to their Irish rivals.
“The general feeling you get when you’re warming up and coming into a game, I thought the guys were in a good place,” said the former Gloucester out-half. “Obviously we showed there was a lack of energy on the pitch for whatever reason. Whether that was due to the results (elsewhere), I’m not sure.
“Ultimately we want to be a team who competes at the top level, we can’t be dipping out of performances week in, week out.
“Obviously we knew it wasn’t going to be a perfect performance having been away from the game so long, but that’s something that we’ve got to get out of our system very quickly because whether the game has nothing on it in the end, it’s still an interpro.
“We spoke a couple of years ago about how we really wanted to perform in interpro games and we let ourselves down.
“It’s never nice losing to one of your closest rivals. We’ll go back, have a look at it, discuss it and hopefully get to the bottom of it.
“The good thing is we have an opportunity to come back here and put things right against Leinster.”
The result, and perhaps more pressingly the flat performance, sullied what would have been an otherwise memorable moment for Burns. While the 26-year-old captained the side earlier this season when front-line starts were at the World Cup, to do so with the likes of Alan O’connor and Rob Herring named in the initial team — the latter pulled out with injury prior to kick-off — is a show of faith in the player’s leadership capacities from Mcfarland (left).
For his part, Burns says he will now reflect on whether he could have done any more to inspire a more fitting performance from the side.
“It’s a huge honour to lead this province,” he said. “It’s something I’m sure I’ll be even prouder looking back when I’m a little bit older. I know you could speak to any captain in any squad and they say the same, but there’s so many leaders here and so many guys with experience in the squad that it’s not too difficult a job.
“I think during the week it’ll be a good opportunity for me to reflect on how I could have led the boys better.
“It’s only my second or third time captaining so I’ll hopefully learn from it but it’s an experience I enjoyed, for sure.”