Ulster are a hot mess with no clear sign of improvement in sight

Where do you start?

Or maybe the more pressing question is when will it end?

Ulster are in complete chaos at the moment with head coach Jono Gibbes announcing on Friday that he will return to his family in New Zealand at the end of this season, just over one month after former Director of Rugby Les Kiss left the province by ‘mutual consent’, and just one day after the club categorically denied his exit.

A story categorically denied yday 🤔 What a right mess the province are in now. https://t.co/RNTizjZ6NR

— Jonathan Bradley (@J_Bradley88) March 2, 2018

Of course, two internationally renowned coaches leaving the province within the space of one month is but a mere speedbump in the bigger picture for Ulster.

Their best player Charles Piutau will leave for Bristol at the end of this season. There’s the fact that their captain Rory Best has yet to commit his future to the province. There’s the fact that their future captain Iain Henderson has also yet to commit his future to the province.

They have a British & Irish Lions centre in the form of Jared Payne on the cusp of retirement. Tommy Bowe will retire at the end of the season and longtime teammate Andrew Trimble could be set to follow him out of the club.

They have a struggling forward pack. No long term option at fly-half in place. Their marquee international signing Marcell Coetzee has played just five games since the beginning of last season. They seemingly have more players breaking into their first team side from Leinster and South Africa than their own academy.

They have not reached the knockout stages of the Champions Cup since 2014. They are 16 points behind Leinster in Conference B of the PRO14.

Since chief executive Shane Logan was appointed in 2010 they have recycled their way through David Humphreys, Mark Anscombe, Matt Williams, Brian McLaughlin, Neil Doak, Les Kiss and now Jono Gibbes. Before that there was Mark McCall, the two-time Champions Cup winning Mark McCall, who resigned as head coach not even two seasons after winning the Magners League with the province.

Whether it has been under Michael Reid or Shane Logan, Brian McLaughlin or Les Kiss, this province has been a dumpster fire for nearly a decade with rare highs – the 2012 Heineken Cup final and the 2013 PRO 12 final – intermittently disrupting a constant series of lows, both on and off the pitch.

Of course, as is generally the case with every malfunctioning organisation, the issues generally start at the top and work their way down through the rest of the system like a roof leak that eventually dampens and floods the rest of a room.

Ulster have regressed the last five years under Logan but it’s his steadfast desire to see the club at the top of world rugby that really is the problem.

When he was first appointed as the province’s chief executive in February 2010, he said the following: “Whatever plan we put together has to deliver Ulster being top of the pile in Ireland, Europe and indeed the world.”

Five years later, in an interview with Steven Beacom of The Belfast Telegraph, he defended his stance.

“Well, let’s look at our history,” Logan told Beacom.

“Of the provinces, Ulster’s had more Inter-Pro successes than the others, we have had more Lions representation pro rata than any other province, we were the first Irish team to win the European Cup, so we have tasted dizzy heights before.

“We have the size of population of 2.1 million in the nine Ulster counties to create a team of international quality and I make no apology for being very driven, very ambitious and never to be satisfied. In my view it is realistic to say it.”

At the start of this season, Logan boasted about the number of South Africans the province had and reiterated his desire to bring world-class rugby to Ulster, more than seven years after his initial statement.

Of course, while Logan bragged about how Ulster had more South Africans than any other team in the PRO12, the club’s former talisman, and most recently, public enemy number #1, Stephen Ferris, concluded that it was in fact just one of their many issues at the club.

It’s not so much a South African B team as much as it is a second-rate side in general. With both Iain Henderson and Rory Best’s futures still very much up in the air, the emergence of Jacob Stockdale and John Cooney, and an incredibly loyal fan base are about the only major positives the province have going for them for the rest of this season.

Ulster have always had reason for hope, but until there are changes at the top, they are no closer to where they want to be. They are seemingly further away than they ever have been under Logan.

The chief executive has preached about bringing world-class rugby to Belfast since 2010, but in light of their 44-16 pasting at the hands of Connacht in December, you could make the argument that they are the worst performing team in their own union since that defeat.

Their U19’s won the interprovincial championships last year so maybe that can be used as a source of optimism heading into an uncertain future.

But the problems within Ulster extend far beyond the players and the coaching staff. The issues are systemic and deep rooted, and unless there are some major changes made within the organisation, they’re seemingly destined to repeat.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10