ULSTER DIRECTOR OF rugby Less Kiss says the province have signed an overseas out-half to replace Christian Lealiifano, with an official announcement set to follow.
Wallabies international Lealiifano joined the province from the Brumbies in August but his short-term deal expires after this month’s Champions Cup fixtures against La Rochelle and Wasps.
With Paddy Jackson unavailable, there have been concerns about the state of Ulster’s out-half options after Lealiifano’s return to Australia, but Kiss says a new arrival is on the way.
“We have got a new person to replace Christian and we will announce that in due course,” said the Ulster boss after last night’s 38-7 defeat to Leinster at the RDS. “It’s an overseas player and all that has been cleared, so no problems.
“Christian has two more games, and he’s done a really good job. There’s no doubting what he’s done for Pete Nelson, Brett Herron and Johnny McPhillips, who had a good impact [against Leinster].
“He’s been a good influence on those young guys. We’ve said all along that we want someone in there with a bit of experience and that’ll be announced in due course.”
Confirmation of a new signing is likely to be welcomed by Ulster supporters but it won’t go too far in raising their spirits after a resounding defeat to Leinster last night in which Kiss’ side conceded six tries.
Adding to the sense of dejection was an injury to 33-year-old Tommy Bowe, who came off the bench for the Ulstermen. Kiss explained that the outlook is not good and Bowe may even be ruled out for two months.
“It looks like it’s around the sternum but we’re doing more tests,” said Kiss. “The doc said weeks, so that could be anything getting up to eight. That’s a shame for him.”
Ulster’s dire performance at the RDS won’t give their fanbase too much confidence ahead of the visit of La Rochelle in the Champions Cup next weekend, with the French side having torn the northern province apart in their first tie back in October.
But Kiss doesn’t believe that the margin of Leinster’s victory last night was a reflection of a major gulf in quality.
“I don’t think they’re that much better than us,” said Kiss. “It’s a reflection of the inconsistency that we showed that gave the opposition a chance to hurt us. We defended well for periods but then they turn us over and have scored three phases later.
“It’s a spiral. It’s not ideal and it’s hurting us. To be that inconsistent, it’s not ideal, that’s for sure. That’s the nature of what we’re looking at at the minute. That inconsistency, we don’t have a constant dependable style of rugby that we can rely on.
“We have a chance next week to respond.”
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Well done Sir.
You are a credit to your parents and show people that though they can suffer depression that they can still manage it. Your laying it out straight. Great meas in you.
Nice one. Great to see someone like this talk about these problems
Who are the bottom feeding monkey shite who neg a comment like this?
I just gave my last comment the thumbs up….s’nice
Fair play to Alan coming out and talking about depression. A brave thing to do for such a high profile figure
@James – Regarding the thumbs down, i read a post recently where someone said they didn’t mean to ‘thumb down’ a comment, but the problem was that they were viewing the Journal on a smartphone and they would press the thumbs down by accident when they were scrolling through the comments.
At least i hope that’s the case for Emsy’s post :-)
Well done Quinny! For a player who’s nickname was cheeky and to to survive for so long in a career that’s perceived to be “macho” it’s an even bigger credit to you for speaking out. Hopefully it’ll make life easier for others to do the same.
Great stuff. Each day is an opportunity for “self help” or “self pity” the decision comes slowly to those with depression. Thankfully by talking about it people turn a huge corner and help others. Well done.
Another great sportsman hitting his depression head on, depression is of biblical proportions in this country and only now are we talking about it, the reasons why people hid it in the first place in actual fact was because they really did not know what they had…. Nothing to be ashamed of. I am 44 , ex soldier, hard as nails ( well not really) been suffering for 7 years , no meds at the moment as I have an underlying problem… But hey bad days are bad, good days are few but help is coming soon.
Well done Alan . I hope the media give it huge coverage especially in the sports pages as alot of the time they are the only pages young people read and they do need to understand more than anything else that depression is nothing to be ashamed of or fear . Sadly our graveyards are full of young men who were to afraid to seek help
Great post Jerry, well said
If Quinny saves one person from years of depression and missed positive experiences what a man he is and deserves all life can bring him keep it up lad : )
Great to see sufferers open up and talk so frankly about it. As someone who suffers from depression, I take great comfort in watching someone get it out in the open. Depression comes in many forms and at different levels of severity.
Stereotypically we think of sufferers locked away in a dark room, crying and drinking heavily, listening to Morrissey. In reality, it’s very different. Reason , logic and rational thinking are thrown out the window and instead you are bombarded with negative thoughts, that you believe. Men are much more likely to suffer as we think that looking for help is a weakness, and that we can do it by ourselves. We can’t.
The road to recovery isn’t as daunting as you may think. Pick up the phone and talk to someone.