Ulster defence coach Jonny Bell is clear in his message as to where he wants Ulster to be.
“We just want to be difficult to play against and that’s the challenge we are setting ourselves as a team,” says Bell.
After suffering a 13-point reverse to the Lions in the scorching heat of Johannesburg last Saturday, Ulster must dress themselves down quickly before heading to Pretoria to face formidable opposition in the form of the Vodacom Bulls.
But after conceding eight tries in the opening two games of this season’s URC, Bell insists that Ulster must adapt and play with a bit more knowhow and aggression if they are to leave the famed Loftus Versfeld with a win.
“We have smart players defensively. Our challenge is to, and it’s something we want as a team, we want to challenge ourselves to be a team that are really hard to play against.
“And that involves us being technically good in the contact zone. Because when you don’t have Marcell Coetzee or (Cameron) Hanekom’s playing, you know we still got good big athletes but you have to be technically good in the tackle.
“We are getting a chop tackle in at the legs, then we get that second man doubling up to make sure we get two on one in those tackles.
“Against the Lions we probably weren’t hard enough to play against and that’s the evolution of us. And that’s what we are determined to do. So, that’s the real challenge and that’s where we want to get to.”
Bell is well aware that another similar showing to last Saturday will more than likely see Ulster leave their two-game tour in South Africa with their tails between their legs.
For a defence coach, Saturday’s stats made for some uncomfortable reading on Saturday evening.
Ulster missed a staggering 38 tackles and conceded 11 penalties, while at the same time allowing the Lions to break the defensive line, 18 times. These are numbers that make for an uncomfortable Monday morning review.
Bell is only too aware that if Ulster want to see these figures reduce, then accuracy in defence and attack is going to have to improve.
“I think, the game is inter-connected in so many ways. You can look at a stat and you can sell it. Our one-on-one tackling needs to improve, no two ways about it, but when you create circumstances where you’re giving them time and space to beat you with one-on-ones, you know, it’s going to be difficult.
“So, if our kick is not accurate, it puts our chase under pressure, if we are turning the ball over, you put two passes in and away to your fast guys. Yep, we need to be fundamentally better on our one-on-one tackling but we got to make sure we hold onto the ball better and not put our defence under pressure.
“It’s about us working attack and defence together. Our defence needs to be in a position to create turnovers and opportunities for our attack, and our attack has to be accurate with the ball to not only score but to take some pressure off the D (defence).
“So, I think that’s important with all those stats, we got to make sure that we don’t put ourselves under too much pressure. Unfortunately, we were a little bit inaccurate, both sides of the ball and then stats flow whatever way you want them to flow.”
After making eight changes for the Lions game, Ulster are likely to freshen things up as the squad feels the effects of a demanding start to the season.
