McLaughlin took over the coaching reins at Ravenhill in 2009 © Getty Images

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Ulster head coach Brian McLaughlin has signed a one-year contract extension with the Irish province and backed the squad to deliver on its promise.

McLaughlin took a sabbatical from his teaching post with Royal Belfast Academical Institution to take up the Ulster job in 2009 but has now formally resigned from that post to concentrate on his duties at Ravenhill.

Highly regarded for his coaching work at Schools' level, where he guided RBAI to seven Ulster Schools' Cup Finals in a twelve year period, McLaughlin was also successful at Ulster and Ireland age-group level. He was also part of the successful Ireland U21 coaching team that won Triple Crowns in 1996 and 1998 and in 2005 he took up the role of specialist skills coach with the senior Ireland side, a position he held until April 2008, helping the team to win the Triple Crown in both 2006 and 2007.

This season he has steered Ulster into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals for the first time since they lifted the trophy in 1999 with a clash against Northampton awaiting them next month. They are also on course for the Magners League play-offs and McLaughlin is convinced the side can improve further.

"I'm absolutely delighted to be committing my coaching future to Ulster," said McLaughlin. "I've said before that I feel there is something special about this Ulster Squad, and had I opted to return to teaching at this stage, I would always have wondered what we could have been capable of."

"I've chosen to stay because of the confidence I have in the players and coaching staff. We have developed a good squad culture and an array of talent that will stand us in good stead in the next few years. Since I came on board two years ago we have always looked to compete with the best teams in Europe and we are def continuing to progressing in the right direction."

Ulster's director of rugby David Humphreys was also delighted to see McLaughlin extend his stay with the province. "Over the past two years he's brought a huge amount of stability to the Ulster set-up and that's been reflected in the improvements that we've made, particularly this season," he said.