“We’ve a lot of respect both as a coach and as a person for what Doaky’s done here. If that happened to be the case we’d be very happy with it.”
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While Best admitted that the upheaval in both the senior end of the dressing room and coaching booth could have posed a serious problem, the hooker insisted that the manner in which chief executive Shane Logan handled the summer transition was “seamless”.
“If you lose [coach, director of rugby and senior players] and don’t replace it with, at worst, like for like then you can struggle a bit. But we feel we’re in a better position now than we would have been this time last year.
“For us, that is refreshing: To bring in fresh players, young players a year older and now a coaching staff – maybe the same staff with probably a bit more responsibility which they seem to be thriving in.”
He added: ”The key for us as players was that we didn’t let the thing drift the Ulster branch, and Shane Logan to the fore, really just said, ‘right we need a solution, we need players coming back to pre-season with a definite path of the way we’re going’.
“To bring Les [Kiss] in on an interim basis, just to take the pressure off our three relatively young coaches was brilliant. It’s also then over time that they’ve been given more and more responsibility – and they’re flourishing under it.
“In terms of the way it was handled, from a players’ point of view it was probably as seamless as it could have been. When you lose a director of rugby and a head coach it can be a turbulent time, but I feel Ulster have handled it well. We’ve started the season well because of that.”
The appointment of Doak increases the ratio of home-grown head coaches in Ireland to 2:2, having been stuck on 0:4 at the beginning of last season. With Anthony Foley also in his first leading role, Best took note of how Munster out-fought Leinster at the Aviva Stadium and is evidently hoping that Ulster can deliver a similar brand of intensity.
“The more homegrown players and coaches you can have the better.
“I think you saw on Saturday night what a home-grown coach can give you. He can give you true identity as to where you’re from what you’re about. And that was really the difference between the two teams; Munster played like their lives depended on it.”
Doak appointment has Ulster in 'a better place' than last year -- Rory Best
ULSTER CAPTAIN RORY Best had a wry smile when the questions about Neil Doak were finally put to him on Monday.
Though his words were carefully chosen to avoid any news breaking from his lips, his views remained clear. With a nod to the speculation about Doak’s imminent appointment, Best said:
“We’ve a lot of respect both as a coach and as a person for what Doaky’s done here. If that happened to be the case we’d be very happy with it.”
While Best admitted that the upheaval in both the senior end of the dressing room and coaching booth could have posed a serious problem, the hooker insisted that the manner in which chief executive Shane Logan handled the summer transition was “seamless”.
“If you lose [coach, director of rugby and senior players] and don’t replace it with, at worst, like for like then you can struggle a bit. But we feel we’re in a better position now than we would have been this time last year.
“For us, that is refreshing: To bring in fresh players, young players a year older and now a coaching staff – maybe the same staff with probably a bit more responsibility which they seem to be thriving in.”
He added: ”The key for us as players was that we didn’t let the thing drift the Ulster branch, and Shane Logan to the fore, really just said, ‘right we need a solution, we need players coming back to pre-season with a definite path of the way we’re going’.
“To bring Les [Kiss] in on an interim basis, just to take the pressure off our three relatively young coaches was brilliant. It’s also then over time that they’ve been given more and more responsibility – and they’re flourishing under it.
The appointment of Doak increases the ratio of home-grown head coaches in Ireland to 2:2, having been stuck on 0:4 at the beginning of last season. With Anthony Foley also in his first leading role, Best took note of how Munster out-fought Leinster at the Aviva Stadium and is evidently hoping that Ulster can deliver a similar brand of intensity.
“The more homegrown players and coaches you can have the better.
“I think you saw on Saturday night what a home-grown coach can give you. He can give you true identity as to where you’re from what you’re about. And that was really the difference between the two teams; Munster played like their lives depended on it.”
Ulster wing Michael Allen ruled out for up to eight weeks, Jackson stood down for concussion protocol
Ulster’s gain in Kiss-Doak axis will be Ireland’s post-World Cup loss
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All-Ireland Senior HC Guinness PRO12 Les Kiss neil doak suftum Glasgow Warriors Ulster