Press Notes: Dan Soper
Ulster’s Skills Coach, Dan Soper spoke to the media this week to preview Friday’s Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup game against Connacht at Kingspan Stadium (8.15pm kick-off).
It’s a new competition in the Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup, but the opposition is familiar in Connacht. Given you have the Challenge Cup Semi-Final the week after, is there an added significance in terms of the intensity required against Connacht?
Whatever the competition is, when you play an Inter-Pro, that brings a lift in intensity, so we’re expecting that this week. Yes, there’s the Challenge Cup Semi-Final next week but our eyes are firmly on Connacht this week. It’s actually pretty good prep with a really good hit-out on Friday night against one of our nearest and dearest. Inter-Pros are always very tough so we’re expecting that this week.
How have you as coaches reacted to the law variations for this competition?
What we have had to be careful with is that we play with the new laws this week and then next week, we’re back to the laws as they were before. We try not to be distracted by them too much; the players are aware of them and we’ve talked about it. We’ve addressed them but we’re not overly focused on them.
There’s been talk all year about the competition across the board. Given the game coming up against Leinster, how feisty do you think this game will be against Connacht?
Inter-Pros are always tasty, aren’t they? I would expect it’s going to be the same this week; a really tough battle. Connacht are an excellent side and they’ll be looking at this, as most teams will be, as a clean sheet starting at zero again. It’s a chance to go and win something. It’s just nice to be playing tough, meaningful games week-to-week and we’re certainly going to have that for at least the next four weeks with three Inter-Pros and a Semi-Final. There’ll be no complaints from us in terms of not getting tough fixtures!
In terms of your track record home and away against Connacht, it’s been quite close in some of these games in recent years?
Definitely, that’s testament to how competitive it is between all the Irish provinces, being the leading teams in the Guinness PRO14. Certainly, with Connacht we’ve had good, tough games. We were delighted to go down there and win at Christmas time, the first win in five years at The Sportsground. We were happy with that win because Connacht are a very physical side with a first-class set piece. They bring a lot of really inventive rugby to the party in how they play. You need to be really switched-on defensively because they always have a trick or two up their sleeve. I enjoy watching them as they’re an entertaining team to watch. We know it’s going to be a tough Inter-Pro and they’ll be smarting from us beating them at Christmas. They’ve had a good result up here in the last couple of years so they’ll be coming with belief, I’ve no doubt about that.
You’ve spent a long time working with Angus Curtis since his injury in December 2019. Can you give some insight into how tough it’s been for him?
I’ve seen far too much of Angus, so I’m pleased to move him on from our [rehab] group. It’s nice to see guys move into full training and away. It’s a challenge. What’s important is that players have something important to focus on and get their teeth into getting better at. I just had a chat with Cormac [Izuchukwu] who sustained an ACL injury, and we talked about what opportunities this will present. We look at what we can do rugby-wise in that time as well. Angus has done a lot of prep for the non-team backs since Christmas, which is learning the plays that the opposition are likely to run. Some of the time he wasn’t training but was on the pitch acting as a coach. That was an opportunity to get his rugby brain engaged again and getting him ready that way. That’s alongside all the core skills we can keep working on, but it’s really important players have ownership over what they want to get better at, so when they return, they’re better at something than before they got injured. Hopefully we do not a bad job at that!
Will Addison has gone through a similar process; what would it mean to get him back out there?
It’s fantastic for Gus and for Will; for us it’s almost like signing two new players of their quality coming into the group, it’s fantastic. Will is a very experienced player with a strong voice in the group. To draw on that wealth of experience and rugby nous is hugely important and of great benefit to us. We’re really looking forward to seeing Will; he’s ticked all his boxes and getting back out there; adding to the team.
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