Pressure mounts on McFarland as Ulster are humiliated again
HOW LONG this can go on is the most pressing question in Ulster’s season now.
They collapse into the Challenge Cup, conceding 95 points in a week, and while they are fourth in the URC table, this abject effort is merely the latest episode in a dreary story of adversity, expectation, and implosion.
There is no reason to think the same bleak formula won’t be applied to what remains of their league campaign, too.
Ulster no longer even flatter to deceive. That has been the criticism of the province for most of their professional history, but they are barely able to muster the flattery now.
After conceding 48 points when humiliated by Toulouse in Belfast last weekend, they went one better this time, but the journey and the destination were the same.
Something has to give, and the presumption is it will be the job of Dan McFarland.
This is his fifth season in charge, and his contract runs until the end of next season, but after the travails of the last campaign, this one threatens to be even worse.
Inconsistency used to be a besetting problem, but in big games now they are consistently out of their depth. There was much made of their New Year’s Day victory over Leinster in the RDS, but that is a world away from the heat of do-ordie European matches.
And Ulster flunked one, yet again.
Harlequins are a decent side but Ulster were porous in defence and sloppy in attack; where the hosts took their chances and ran in seven tries, Ulster botched opportunities at one end of the field, and haemorrhaged chances at the other.
Quins’ opening score was a fair summation of how the teams approached the game. Off a quick lineout 10 metres inside their own half, Harlequins got wing Nick David free, and he scorched in for a score from over 60 metres out, leaving Ulster flummoxed.
Two more tries arrived for the hosts before the break, but only after David McCann got over for an Ulster try, followed by John Cooney’s conversion, which briefly tied the teams.
Importantly, though, Ulster drew level when Harlequins were down to 14 men after David was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knockon, and they weren’t long in reasserting their dominance.
Two Louis Lynagh tries before half time left them 14 ahead at the interval, 21-7, and Danny Care, Andre Esterhuizen, David again and Will Evans led the second-half rout.
Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale scored late consolations, but this was an embarrassment.
Meanwhile, Harlequins boss Billy Millard will toast Louis Lynagh’s stunning solo try over a glass of wine as he waits to see if his side have clinched home advantage in the knockout phase.
Lynagh beat four defenders in a run launched by Marcus Smith on the 22 in a glorious finish.
The 23-year-old England prospect was initially overlooked for selection on form grounds but when injury forced a reshuffle to the bench just hours before kick-off and then Oscar Beard failed a 17th-minute HIA, his chance came.
‘Louis has been around us a long time so he knows exactly what the deal is. He’s worked really hard and deserves it. He gave us a real foothold into the game,’ director of rugby Billy Millard said.
‘Louis is outstanding and he showed that – I will sit back and watch his try over a glass of red. It was just that determination to stay in it. He’s a big part of it here and we’ve got a really strong back three.’
HARLEQUINS: T Green, N David (L Anyanwu 79), O Beard (L Lynagh 16), A Esterhuizen, W Joseph; M Smith, D Care (W Porter 60); J Marler (F Baxter HT), J Walker (S Riley 60), W Collier (D Lewis 56); I Herbst (J Launchbury 52), G Hammond; C Cunningham-South (A White 71), W Evans, A Drombrandt (capt) .
Scorers: Tries – N David (2), L Lynagh (2), D Care, A Esterhuizen, W Evans; Cons – M Smith (6).
ULSTER: M Lowry (W Addison 71); R Baloucoune, J Hume (L Marshall HT), S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, J Cooney (N Doak 54); S Kitshoff (A Warwick 54), T Stewart (J Andrew 49), T O’Toole (M Moore 5457, 70); K Treadwell (H Sheridan 35), I Henderson (capt); Matty Rea (Marcus Rea 71), D McCann, N Timoney. scorers: Tries – D McCann, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; Cons – J Cooney, N Doak.
REFEREE: Mathieu Raynal (France).