Ulster Rugby v Harlequins

effective, then happy days. Some plays we have are so tailored for a specific opposition or weakness and if you manage to find that weakness and it works for you it’s a really good feeling. “An example was against Montpellier a few years ago. They had a very short winger so we played two phases off a lineout and deliberately left Robbie Diack on the same side as their winger with the intention to kick it back to that side for him to exploit. We executed everything perfectly and Robbie caught the ball above his head and scored at a really crucial moment of an important game. “Obviously the frustration is the opposite of that - we work hard on something and either we don’t execute it very well or the opposition don’t react in the way that we thought they would and you feel that you got it wrong or you gave the wrong information going into the match.” While the field continues to grow, Malone is wary that is should be met with some caution. “We’re going to keep measuring more and more things and collecting more and more data and I worry that we’ll be drowning in information. But just because we have this access to information doesn’t mean it is all useful. “The really good analysts are the ones who have a mountain of information and can cut it down to the most important bits and nail it.”

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