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PRO 14Ulster

McFarland agrees to contract extension at Ulster

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Ulster boss Dan McFarland has agreed a two-year extension with the Irish province, keeping him in Belfast until summer 2023. Since joining in 2018, Ulster have been on the rise, reaching last season’s PRO14 final and the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup. 

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While their European campaign this term hasn’t been as rewarding, Ulster losing last month to Toulouse and Gloucester, they head to Dublin on Friday night to play PRO14 champions Leinster as the undefeated leaders of their conference.  

McFarland said: “I’m delighted to be signing again with Ulster. I have thoroughly enjoyed the last two-and-a-half years working and learning with some really good people. I’m looking forward to continuing to help drive on our improvement as a group and as individuals.

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    Goodbye 2020!

    “As a group, we are extremely ambitious in our aim to be consistently competing for championships. With exciting young talent continuing to emerge out of our academy system, joining forces with the proven talent within our squad – many of whom have been recently recognised at international level – I look forward to what the weeks and months ahead hold as we take on our next challenges in the domestic league and in Europe this season.”

    Ulster CEO Jonny Petrie added: “I’m extremely pleased to see Dan extend his commitment to Ulster, giving us the opportunity to continue to build on the fantastic work that he has done in his time here so far.

    “It is plain to see, both on and off the field of play, the ethos that he has instilled in the group, and that is being borne out both in our performances and our results – a team of which the people of Ulster can be rightly and fiercely proud.

    “I’m looking forward to working with Dan in the coming years, to see where we can take this. It’s an exciting prospect.”

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    SG 32 minutes ago
    All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

    England have absolutely no need for him. Tom Willis and Ben Earl are better with a much higher work rate.

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    0 Go to comments
    J
    JW 55 minutes ago
    'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

    No full games on the IRU YT channel unfortunately, all on subscription? Looks a fairly good level (1A).


    Yes I mean I wouldn’t really know the local ratio of origin here, but certainly as a province with less resources mine has a ratio that veers heavily towards club rep. The club stories are often the best so get probably an imbalanced proportion of coverage to where most players actually come from though.


    Those were a couple of Ulster (regional) clubs too, good good. Those clubs/size towns are very much where you find most talent coming from (compared to the big city), so your productivity depends very much on your systems in place for scouting talent. With the more wealthy and popular sport of NRL (hence more info out there) I’ve seen some interesting studies on player origins in this respect, which I think would be a very balanced base of data to draw conclusions from.


    Yes I’m wondering how those names as examples compare to the likes of Bryne getting squeezed out for a lack of places. I’m only thinking of effects far down the line as a result of Irelands #1 ranking and increased publicity/interest and how Irelands system will take advantage of them.

    47 Go to comments
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    GP 1 hour ago
    James O'Connor earns first Crusaders start against Moana Pasifika

    Regarding the Crusaders side . Great to see promising young lock Jamie Hannah back in the starting team. He has certainly been through the mill since debuting for the Crusaders, even before playing for Canterbury. All his hard work has paid off. Antonio Shalfoon , who has been rested for this match has been amazing locking with AB captain Scott Barrett. I really rate Jamie Hannah as one of the best young locks of which there are a few coming through. Including his Canterbury and Crusaders team mate Liam Jack. Father is Graham Jack ,he played for Canterbury and the Crusaders in the 1990’s. Older brother of Chris, who of course was an All Black.

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    Andrew Nichols 1 hour ago
    All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

    Gloucester are in the market for a top-class replacement ..Well why would they then be talking to HS?

    7 Go to comments
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    Utiku Old Boy 1 hour ago
    All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

    I include Cunningham-South. He was born in England but moved to NZ at 4 yrs and learnt his rugby there. His dad was a schoolboy coach. In recent years, Teimana Harrison was - as was Brad Shields.

    7 Go to comments
    G
    GB 1 hour ago
    All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

    Cunningham-South was born in the UK but raised in NZ.

    Makes a good point, wouldn't walk into the English set up.

    Better to roll his sleeves up and play himself into the ABs

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    S
    Spew_81 1 hour ago
    Rugby down under could have hit high gear with Anzac Tests

    Not sure what the ethical issue is. If it’s going for the money, it’s either do that or NZ rugby slowly dies as all the better players leave. So it’s the more lesser of two evils. Sell out a bit more as a Union, or the players sell out one by one.

    41 Go to comments
    S
    Spew_81 1 hour ago
    Rugby down under could have hit high gear with Anzac Tests

    Yes, the team was similar. But the two locks made a huge difference. Kaino wasn’t a lock and Tuipolutu has only very recently started playing close to his potential (his work rate was terrible until recently).


    The Irish lineout maul wouldn’t have been the weapon it was on that day if Hansen started Whitelock and Retallick (or even two proper locks). Though they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win.


    Doing the new haka when the Irish were mourning a great of theirs didn’t help. The action at the end of that haka has been interpreted negatively and some see it as a but disrespectful.


    Still if the All Blacks did their normal haka they wouldn’t have been guaranteed to win.

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    K
    Koro Teeps 1 hour ago
    All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

    Absolutely no certainty he would make the current English squad. He’s not in the All Black conversation either. Physical, explosive player with ball in hand but sometimes struggles to impose himself fully on all aspects of the game.

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    DC 1 hour ago
    All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

    Who are the Kiwis (plural)? The only one I can think of is Ethan Root.

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    Gradier Walter 3 hours ago
    Don't get out over your skis on the Highlanders

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    JE 3 hours ago
    'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

    Well, at least France do not have to supply players to the Lions. On the other hand, apart from England going to Argentina, Ireland’s, Scotland’s and Wales’ tours are less challenging than France’s. I wonder what SA are doing this Summer?!

    103 Go to comments
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    Utiku Old Boy 4 hours ago
    All Black's England switch hanging by a thread

    English loose forward stocks are pretty healthy currently and already feature a kiwi or two. A move to the UK would have to be for the Premiership on its own merits - with no better odds for international honors - and would close the door on any further possible AB future. Increased work rate, motivation, energy combined with his obvious skills could see him back in contention in NZ but it is not going to be handed to him.

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    Utiku Old Boy 4 hours ago
    Hurricanes vs Waratahs takes: The yellow wall in midfield, Tahs backs outshined

    Agree with most of this. Sullivan (along with Umaga-Jensen) and Love were skillful, energetic and accurate. I don’t know if NZ teams will show their normal dominance in the comp this year as the Australian sides are definitely more competitive and some of the margins are pretty slim. This game stands out as a surprise because halfway through the first period you felt it could go either way - except the Canes defense was outstanding from the get-go. The unstoppable flow of points was very Hurricanes and I know they will be aiming for consistency. Walker-Leawere looks like an AB when he plays like that. If he can keep that work-rate and accuracy up consistently and avoid his tendency for penalties, he could find himself in Ryan’s sights.

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    d 4 hours ago
    Hurricanes vs Waratahs takes: The yellow wall in midfield, Tahs backs outshined

    Did Love just put in a convincing argument for AB status? I think he showed more vision than Jordan, who might be better going back to wing to replace Reece, who simply makes too many mistakes in the black jersey. On the other wing, Clarke’s AB status will be under threat from guys like Naholo, too.

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    Bull Shark 5 hours ago
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    Nice. Send another spy into the NH system.

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