Ulster axe head coach days after much-criticised ref rant – report

Ulster Rugby have reportedly parted company with Dan McFarland, who is the Belfast-based outfit’s longest serving head coach in the professional era.

McFarland, who has been in charge of Ulster since 2018, received plenty of criticism from the Irish province’s supporters on social media recently after he blamed the referee for their 19-17 defeat to the Ospreys on Sunday.

Dropping down the table

That result means Ulster are currently lying in eighth position on the United Rugby Championship table, with the Ospreys moving one spot above them by virtue of a superior points difference.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, the 51-year-old has stepped down as head coach of the team with the players informed of his departure on Wednesday morning.

Pressure has been mounting on McFarland and his coaching staff, and the loss to the Ospreys was Ulster’s third in a row following defeats to Toulouse and Harlequins in the Champions Cup.

Those reversals to the Top 14 and Premiership sides proved costly as Ulster conceded a combined total of 95 points in those matches and resulted in them dropping down to the round-of-16 of the Challenge Cup.

Those Champions Cup defeats meant Ulster went into their clash with the Ospreys with their backs to the proverbial wall and they thought they had done enough to secure a victory in Swansea when Jake Flannery slotted a 75th minute penalty.

However, the home side had other ideas and clinched their win via a Dan Edwards drop goal in the game’s dying moments.

After the game, McFarland said he was “proud” of his players but then hit out at the match officials.

“The game was pretty scrappy in that first half. The ball was pretty greasy and we looked a little bit rusty after the break,” he told Viaplay.

Unhappy with the refereeing

“Ultimately, the game came down to two instances, both where we were in control, one in their 22 where they got an intercept pass and the second one was at the end of the game where we were in total control and the refereeing decision called a scrum on the back of a maul.

“I have literally no idea what that was about. You see that every week. I’m going to ask and find out because ultimately those two instances decided the game in the Ospreys’ favour.”

Ulster’s next match is against against the Dragons at the Kingspan Stadium on Sunday, March 2.

READ MORE: ‘The sooner he’s gone the better’ – Ulster boss slammed by own fans after blaming referee for defeat