Major upheaval in Ulster Rugby following shock announcement

Irish provincial side Ulster Rugby have reportedly parted ways with long-term head coach Dan McFarland.

McFarland is the longest-tenured head coach in the professional era for the Belfast-based squad, and as such, his mid-season departure has come as somewhat of a shock for the URC side.

Enduring a mixed season to date, Ulster have been one of the more inconsistent sides in both the URC and Investec Champions Cup.

Losing their opening round of the Champions Cup away to Bath, Ulster rebounded to beat Racing 92 in Belfast before shipping 95 points to Toulouse and Harlequins to limp out of the competition at the pool stages.

In the URC, Ulster are one of only two teams to defeat table toppers Leinster but have most recently lost to the Ospreys to drop down the table to 8th position.

This result, coupled with McFarland’s post-match comments, appears to have been the final act for the coach.

Ulster coach under fire for post match comments

Under McFarland’s leadership,Ulster have reached the Pro14 final in 2020 and twice progressed to the Champions Cup quarterfinals as well as the Challenge Cup semi-finals in 2021 and led the Stormers into the 84th minute in their 2022 URC semi-final.