Sean Farrell reports from Kingspan Stadium

THERE WAS ONLY one truthful response Dan McFarland could have given when the rap-sheet of this past week’s inter-pros were read out to him. One broadcast-worthy response at least.

A record defeat followed by this historic home loss to Connacht: “yeah, thanks.”

Last night, on home turf, was supposed to be a chance for Ulster to move beyond the hammering sustained in Limerick. Instead, it became part of the same worrying picture.

“That’s tough to take for everybody,” continued McFarland.

“It was a game that, looking at it as you went through, it was one thing after another that punched us in the stomach right from their first try…”

Though referee Andrew Brace had many interventions on the night, not least a red card handed to Matty Rea and a penalty try midway through the first half, Tiernan O’Halloran’s opener was the one that irked McFarland most.

The fullback’s score came thanks to Matt Healy’s break, which incensed McFarland as Tom Farrell’s run ahead of the play appeared to prevent Stuart McCloskey from filling the hole Healy viciously exploited.

To me it looked like clear blocking, so I’m going to have to ask a question on that. If you’re allowed to do that then we’re definitely going to be doing that, we’re going to be doing that every week. It’s a great way to stop defenders from getting to attackers.”

The TMO worked against Ulster on that occasion, and again for would-be tries from Angus Kernohan and Peter Nelson, both called back for a chaser straying offside. Rightly, McFarland admits, if only by “inches”.

“It’s almost better if you hadn’t done it because it’s deflating after you’ve been so close, and that’s 14 points, or 10, 14 points. 

“In terms of the game itself we actually defended really well, we defended with 13 men at one point and kept them out. We defended with 14 men in the second half and defended really well, so it was a major step up for us in terms of the defence, but there were a few sucker punches in there that really caught us.”

Rea’s red card was not one of them. The blindside had no malice in chasing the restart to the second half, but he crashed into Cian Kelleher and spun the fullback more than 180 degrees, leaving the replacement fortunate to land on his shoulder rather than his neck and head.

Connacht’s pack had shoved them to a 5-14 lead at that stage, but McFarland feels that a 15-man effort would have been enough to reel his former employers in.

“100%! We were playing some good footy out there. The disappointments for me were around the scrum, that was an Achilles heel in the first half and they exploited that really well, and also around the 22 attack…

Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

“Apart from that we were creating a lot of space, we might not have got the ball to the edges of the pitch as much as we should have, (we) held onto a couple of passes that should have gone because we needed to stretch them – we were creating opportunities but we needed to stretch their defence.

“That, alongside our discipline (15 penalties), which obviously has to improve, and I think is the primary thing that comes out of it. Some things we didn’t agree with but ultimately we weren’t disciplined enough in the game.”

Though there were commendations aplenty for salvaging a draw away to the Cheetahs a fortnight ago, it is now three games without a win for an Ulster side suffering from the absence of 16 injured players.

The change of pace of Europe will help a downtrodden squad sniff their way out of the doldrums this week. Day one, a fresh, start, a different competition and the visit of English opposition will whet the appetites again.

Leicester Tigers, though, will be more than keen to chase the scrum next week too.

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