Dan McFarland (born 10 April 1972) is an English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

coach and former player. He has been head coach of

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Ulster Branch, which is one of ...

since 2018. He played loosehead prop for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, Stade Français and

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Del ...

, retiring in 2006. He was forwards coach, then assistant coach for Connacht from 2007 to 2015, head coach of

Emerging Ireland Emerging Ireland is an Irish rugby union team that represents Ireland in the World Rugby Nations Cup. History 2013 Tbilisi Cup The team was created to offer Tier 1 level opposition for Tier 2 sides in the IRB Tbilisi Cup, held in Tbilisi, Georgia ...

in 2014 and

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (formerly Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. They previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Saxons, the national teams ...

in 2015, assistant coach of

Glasgow Warriors Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and became t ...

from 2015 to 2017, and assistant coach of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

from 2017 to 2018.

Family and early life

McFarland's grandfather, Danny, came from

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, and played rugby for Queen's University before becoming an engineer, working on coal-fired and nuclear power stations in England. His father, Paddy, was born in

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...

, and won a

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

for rugby at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

before playing for Headlingley and

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

.Gerry Thornley
"Learning a key factor in Dan McFarland’s Ulster growth plan"
''The Irish Times'', 4 May 2019 McFarland attended

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, where he started playing rugby, and studied classics at Newcastle University."My job in Connacht - Dan McFarland Assistant Coach"
''Irish Independent'', 11 December 2004

Playing career

Dan started his senior rugby career at Hull Ionians RUFC, prefering to play in the senior 2ndXV whilst still of age to play for the Colts. At the end of the amateur era, McFarland played loosehead prop for

Morley R.F.C. Morley Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union club based in Morley, West Yorkshire. England. The club are famous for playing in a maroon kit and thus are nicknamed "The Maroons". They currently play in North 1 East, a level six league in the ...

while training to be a teacher. In 1996, he was approached by John Kingston to sign for

, one of the first English clubs to embrace professionalism. He spent a season with Stade Français in 1999-2000, and was part of the team that won the

French Championship The French rugby league championship (french: Le Championnat de France de Rugby à XIII) has been the major rugby league tournament for semi-professional and professional clubs in France since the sport was introduced to the country in the 1930s. ...

, before joining

, where he played for six seasons. He became only the second player, after

Eric Elwood Eric Elwood is a former Irish rugby union player from Galway. He played as a fly-half. He played for Ireland internationally, and provincially for Connacht. He split his club career between hometown club Galwegians and Lansdowne in Dublin, st ...

, to make 100 appearances for the provinceRob Murphy
"Major blow as McFarland to leave Connacht in Summer"
''Connacht Tribune'', 13 March 2015 in 2005, and retired from playing in 2006.

Coaching career

In his final year as a player, he coached the Connacht under-21 team alongside

Nigel Carolan Nigel Carolan (born 27 December 1974) is a rugby union coach from Ireland. He is currently the Assistant coach to Scottish United Rugby Championship side Glasgow Warriors. He was previously a Backs coach at Connacht. Before becoming a coach Car ...

. After retiring, he coached County Galway club Monivea to the Connacht Junior League title in 2006-07, and assisted

in coaching

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to the Six Nations Under 20s Championship. In 2007 he was appointed

's forwards coach. When Elwood became head coach in 2010, he appointed McFarland as his assistant. He lost out on the head coach's job in 2013 to

Pat Lam Patrick Richard Lam (born 29 September 1968) is a rugby union coach and former player. He is currently Director of Rugby at Bristol Bears in England's Premiership Rugby. Born in New Zealand, he represented New Zealand in schools and under-21 ...

, but stayed on as Lam's assistant. While coaching at Connacht, he was appointed head coach of the

team for the 2014 IRB Nations Cup, assisted by

Neil Doak Neil George Doak (born 21 June 1972) is a Northern Irish former cricketer and rugby union player. He currently works as a rugby union coach, and has served as attack and backs coach with English club side Worcester Warriors, and Georgia during t ...

, and in 2015 he was head coach of the

. In 2015 he took over from

Shade Munro Donald Shade Munro (born 19 November 1966, Paisley, Scotland) is a Scottish rugby union player, who played at lock/second row. Playing He spent two stints in New Zealand, in 1987 he played for club side Greytown where he went on to represent ...

as assistant coach at

, shortly after the club won the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

for the first time. In May 2017 he was appointed assistant coach of the

national team under

Gregor Townsend Gregor Peter John Townsend, (born 26 April 1973) is a Scottish rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Scotland national team having previously been an assistant coach from 2009 to 2012. As a player, he won ...

. After the resignation of

Jono Gibbes Jonathan Brian Gibbes (born 22 January 1977) is a rugby union former player and coach. He is a former New Zealand rugby union player who captained , the Chiefs and the Māori All Blacks, and appeared in various All Blacks teams. He is the form ...

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

's head coach at the end of the 2017–18 season, McFarland was announced as his replacement on 30 April 2018. Initially he was to serve his notice with Scotland and join Ulster in January 2019, with

Simon Easterby Simon Easterby (born 21 July 1975 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire) is an Irish former rugby union player. He is currently the defence coach for the Irish national team. Early life Easterby's father is English and his mother Irish. He is the you ...

to act as interim head coach until then. But in August, an agreement was reached with Scotland for McFarland to join Ulster before the new season. In his first season, Ulster made the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

semi-final and the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter final. They made the Pro14 final and the Champion's Cup quarter final in 2019–20. In

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

they finished second in Conference B of the Pro14, and made the semi-final of the

European Rugby Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

. In 2021–22 they made the semi-finals of the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

and the round of 16 in the Champions Cup, and McFarland signed a new contract at the end of the season.Adam McKendry
"Ulster head coach Dan McFarland signs new contract extension to remain with province until 2025"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 17 June 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McFarland, Dan Living people 1972 births Connacht Rugby players Connacht Rugby non-playing staff Glasgow Warriors coaches Scotland national rugby union team coaches Ulster Rugby non-playing staff Richmond F.C. players