As he prepares to enter one other new season within the Ulster teaching field, Dan McFarland is in uncharted territory. No man within the professional period has ever headed up the ticket at Ravenhill for 5 consecutive campaigns.
With an extension to 2025 inked final season to fend off curiosity from elsewhere, the previous Connacht stalwart has been rewarded for bringing the province again to the sharp finish of competitions and the advance within the taking part in squad, after an enormous overhaul in his early tenure, is there for all to see.
Relating to evolving the game-plan season by season, change is extra delicate.
“The progressions I’m searching for, there’s a few issues that I’m searching for us to push on,” he mentioned after Friday’s convincing pleasant victory over Exeter.
“We have to enhance sure areas of our recreation.
“Final yr we felt that, though our assault did a superb job, it wasn’t as incisive because it might be.
“I’m not saying it was poor, however we’re a prime of the desk crew and we felt we may have been higher. That’s a whole lot of what we’ve labored on.
“I believe it’s ever-moving. We’ve a brand new defence coach, and Jonny Bell is a top quality coach, however at any time when you've gotten change there’s at all times a little bit little bit of catch-up round that.
“We’ve had good cohesion when it comes to the taking part in squad, there are guys right here that know one another, there’s real preventing for positions.
“Have a look at the crew now in comparison with what it was 4 years in the past, there are senior guys now who're below the pump to begin due to younger gamers coming via. That’s the best way you need it to be. These younger fellas are actually occurring Eire excursions and taking part in New Zealand.
“That’s good progress and plenty of areas of our recreation have progressed effectively.
“We’ve a powerful ahead pack. We had been roughly pushing off an Exeter pack off the ball and that’s with out Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Kieran Treadwell, Iain Henderson, Duane Vermeulen.
“You’ve received to be happy with the progress that Roddy (Grant, forwards coach) has made there.
“There’s numerous areas that we’ve made progress.”
There stays, in fact, one giant field unticked. No silverware was graced the door of BT6 since 2006’s Celtic League. Ulster had been shut final yr, struggling late heartache within the semi-finals of the URC and the last-16 in Europe, however the drought goes on.
“The underside line is we misplaced a semi-final within the eighty fifth minute having roughly managed the sport for 65 minutes,” added McFarland. “We led Toulouse for 156 minutes and gave up a attempt. That’s us out of two tournaments.
“We’ve received to take a look at that and say is there a one thing in how we end video games?
“The earlier yr, after we misplaced to Leicester, there was a query round how we got here out within the second-half.
“We modified that, we had been a dominant crew within the third quarter and now we now have to complete off.
“Hopefully we type out the fourth quarter and end these video games off.”