Magners League:Evolution, not revolution, was the thrust of Matt Williams's inaugural public pronouncements as incoming Ulster coach when he conducted his opening press conference in Belfast yesterday.

With his new charges languishing bottom of the Magners League and their Heineken European Cup pool, the former New South Wales, Leinster and Scotland coach tried to strike a balance between dampening excessive expectations in the short term and providing a more upbeat prognosis.

While he had mixed success at the Waratahs, and his term in Scotland was not as productive as he or they would have hoped, Williams's happiest time was with Leinster.

There, not only did he revive their performances collectively to the point where they won 19 matches in a row in the 2001-2002 season to take the inaugural Celtic League title and reach the last eight and last four of the European Cup in successive seasons; he also helped revive the international careers of Reggie Corrigan, Shane Byrne, Victor Costello and others.

Viewed in that light, and given the many Ulster careers in need of reviving, his technical expertise, professionalism and ultra-positive outlook appears to be just what Ulster need after a debilitating campaign.

"I'm particularly happy to be back in Ireland. That really was one of my main goals, the opportunity has arisen here and I'm delighted with it," admitted Williams, who officially starts his two-and-a-half-year contract on February 1st.

While the Ulster job constitutes a massive challenge, it is also one laden with opportunity. The immediate demand will be to finish above Connacht and thereby ensure continuing participation in the European Cup, and given the variety of obstacles placed in the way of Connacht - who, Williams himself once declared, were the victims of a form of institutionalised racism within Irish rugby - it is a task Ulster ought to achieve. Not that Williams was about to risk being hoist by his own petard.

While accepting this was part of his remit, he maintained: "If I focus on that or the team focuses only on that, we won't perform.

"We've really got to focus on getting the processes right. It's my philosophy; if you get the processes right the outcome will look after itself.

"Talking to people up here, effort is not the issue. The team have tried incredibly hard, and I actually think that when you get into that cycle of losing, the harder you try the worse it gets, and they're just in the middle of that."

A disciplinary record of six yellow cards and one red in nine league matches - the joint worst in the league - would tend to support that theory.

"I think the talent of the team says to me, and this is what other people have said who I've spoken to, that they should be mid-table to fourth or fifth, but that's not the case, although they've got the desire to get there. But there's only one way we can go," he said, slightly tongue-in-cheek.

Poor planning has led to a scenario where an estimated 18 Ulster players are out of contract at the end of the season, though, as Williams admits, this could prove a double-edged sword.

"Most provinces would have between 30 and 40 per cent of their players up at the end of each season. That's the natural cycle, and there are some players there that really excite me as a coach.

"When I first came to Leinster I really wanted to be part of coaching some of those guys. And some of these young guys, like Trimble and Neil Best, and even someone like Roger Wilson, who I don't think we've seen the best of, they're guys I'd really hope would stick around and we can bring forward. And there's some guys who you've got to say, 'well, get on or get off'.

"So that's what we're going to do; we're going to draw a line in the sand about 14 days after the European Cup, and then there's 35 points on offer in the Magners League and we're going to see what we can do."