TAUGHT A LESSON

There are times in life where you simply have to put your hands up and admit that someone else was better than you.

Saturday was one of those days, to a certain extent. We weren’t at our best, not by a long shot, but we came up against a side who imposed themselves on us with an immense physicality and then backed that up with pace and movement that cut our defence to pieces. Toulon aren’t the defending Top14 and European champions for no reason, and on Saturday they proved just why – they have talent all over the place.

Take for instance the brilliance of their back row. Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe withdrew through injury in the first minute, and to any other side that would’ve been catastrophic to their ability at the breakdown. Not to Toulon, who replaced him with a World Cup winner in Juanne Smith who combined with Steffon Armitage and Chris Masoe to blow away Ulster in the close encounters, thus highlighting the unrivalled strength of Toulon’s squad.

In the aftermath, some have gone for the nuclear option: declaring that Ulster simply aren’t good enough. That my friends, is rubbish.

I’m not denying that we have areas we must improve in, because we obviously do, but to suddenly write Ulster off as a side that aren’t good enough is a flawed argument. For instance, only two weeks ago we were singing Ulster’s praises after comfortably seeing off Glasgow at the Kingspan – yet two weeks later, according to some, we need a complete overhaul of our coaching staff, players and facilities after two losses to top quality opposition.

Neil Doak will stay, as he should, as it is extremely early to judge his progress as a coach. He’s started his reign as Ulster head coach with three incredibly difficult games and, following the Glasgow triumph, he came up against a Leicester side who have found their form again and the defending European champions who show no signs of giving up their title any time soon.

It’s been a turbulent few weeks for Doak. After the win over the Warriors he probably thought he was riding the crest of a wave. But now, with two losses to his name as well, he’s facing the harsh realities of being a head coach at the highest level – he will be scrutinised with every move he makes and if every game isn’t a W in the results column then there will be questions asked of him.

It’s a little early for him to write off Europe just yet. As uphill a task his side face to qualify for the latter stages of the Champions’ Cup, it is by no means impossible, and if Doak can provide some Houdini-esque magic and get Ulster into the quarter-finals then he will be lauded as a great coach by fans and experts alike. It wouldn’t be too bad a start to his tenure in charge either.

But he must move on from Saturday’s disappointment. What we saw from Toulon was a fantastic piece of close down rugby where they negated Ulster’s game plan from the off and restricted them to nothing more than two penalties and a late try – sometimes there is nothing you can do about that except hold up your hands and admit they had you sussed.

Instead, the focus must switch back to the Pro12. While Europe may be something of an unlikely goal, qualifying for the play-offs domestically is quite the opposite. Sitting in a lofty third place with two huge games against the Ospreys and Munster to come at the end of November, there is a real opportunity for Ulster to get some points on the board and also take a few off some play-off rivals too.

Saturday is the perfect opportunity for us to get another five points and close the gap on runaway leaders the Ospreys – the Dragons are missing so many players that if we don’t get at least four tries then there will have to be questions asked. Regardless of whether we are a team in transition or not, you would like to hope that our squad would have the ability to get a bonus point against one of the sides hoping not to finish last in the table.

And it is in these games that Doak will be judged, not the Toulon game. The league is the bread and butter for any team, so how competitive we are in the Pro12 will determine how successful Doak is perceived to be. And that starts with a convincing bonus point win on Saturday over the Dragons that will appease all those fans' fears.

And nothing else will do.