BRYN: NEW COACH IS IN THE BAG

ULSTER say a deal for a new head coach is “signed and sealed” but haven’t yet revealed his identity.

Operations director Bryan Cunningham last night declared they have got the man they wanted as a long-term successor to Les Kiss, who started the season in charge, and Jono Gibbes (above) who will quit in the next few weeks.

“I’m happy to say we do have him in place,” revealed Cunningham to BBC.

“It is signed and sealed. It was a primary candidate that we were after so we are very happy and I know the IRFU are very happy too.”

Cunningham also hit back at criticism from Irish legend Brian O’Driscoll who during the week labelled Ulster as ‘a bit of a basket case’.

“We don’t pay a lot of attention to it, we can’t.

“We are doing a lot of good things.

“We are building for the future, there’s a lot going on in the background that people aren’t aware of which is really positive.

“We have a tight group of players in there, really tight, and I think that’s showing as to why we’re getting good results in the past month.”

Cunningham also insisted Ulster are having no problem attracting new talent despite all the off-field drama this season.

While a new out-half to replace Paddy Jackson has still to be named, he says there is plenty of interest in Ulster from players and agents.

“If you’re in the press consistently and sometimes it’s deemed to be a negative association then it might seem a little bit more difficult, but it’s actually not.

“Ulster is still a great club, with great tradition.”