Ulster Rugby v Leinster

ROBBIE DIACK: “I’LL NEVER CLAIM TO BE NORTHERN IRISH BUT I’LL ALWAYS CLAIM TO BE AN ULSTER MAN” Bursting onto the professional scene in 2006, Robbie Diack left South African side the Stormers, and his home country, to join Ulster Rugby in 2008, where last weekend he celebrated his 200th appearance, making him the third most capped Ulster man of all time.

Speaking about the achievement Diack commented:

Diack is the first person born and raised outside of Ireland to have reached 200 caps for a provincial team, making his achievement even more special. And in a game where player movement from team to team is increasingly common, it is all the more unusual. “I don’t think I ever got close to leaving Ulster. Obviously when contract negotiations come up it’s always in the back of your mind ‘what’s going to happen next?’, ‘does Ulster want to keep me?’. It’s a bit of a tricky situation and you need to look elsewhere to look after yourself. “It was a big move to come from a Southern Hemisphere side like the Stormers to Ulster where the style of rugby is very different. It has been an incredible challenge, but a good one. I’ve always been very happy in Belfast, we’ve settled in Belfast and we’ve had our family here. My wife enjoys it and my family enjoy coming over to visit from South Africa. This is home. It’s a great place for us to be and it’s a great club to be part of. “I look at players who’ve played for Ulster and then left and I think that everybody would love to come back here. People always think the grass is greener on the other side but I think we’re very fortunate to have the support we do over here, to have the facilities and the structure is just fantastic. The player management at Ulster is fantastic and it is hugely important to the players for at the end of the day it prolongs our careers. It’s one of the key things that players miss when they leave and go to other clubs is that player management.” With a wealth of inside knowledge and memories of front-line action to boot, Diack finds it difficult to pick just one stand out moment from his time wearing the Ulster shirt. ‘Throughout your career you remember seasons and occasions that you really enjoy and times that you’d rather forget and I think that’s just part

“It’s a huge honour for me to have achieved 200 caps for Ulster. When I came to Ulster in 2008 I had a three year contract and I never thought that 10 years down the line I’d have been playing my 200th game in La Rochelle. “The likes of Roger Wilson and Andrew Trimble have been such a huge part of Ulster Rugby and for me to be able to join them in the 200 club is a huge honour, something that I, and my family, are all very proud of. “Just to be part of and play for Ulster is a huge honour. Being here for this long I’ve realised what it means to play for Ulster, I’ve realised what it means for the people to be from Ulster and I’ve witnessed the pride and passion of our fans. I’ll never claim to be Northern Irish but I’ll always claim to be an Ulster man and that is very special to me. It’s a huge honour.” Having been with the club for the best part of a decade, Diack has experienced both the highs and lows of the professional game, as well as a variety of structural managerial changes. “When I first started off, Ulster weren’t finishing top 5, or top 6. We weren’t aiming for quarter final play offs and we weren’t getting out of the pool “As a club we’ve been through a couple of ups and downs since I arrived in 2008. We’ve had some good seasons and we’ve had some bad seasons, but for me, to have been here as long as I have and to have gone through all that and still be here, it’s a really special achievement. “To reach that 200th cap and win some silverware in the same year, that would make it even more special and that’s high up in my agenda. I’d love to do that as well.”

ROBBIE DIACK JOINS 200 CLUB stage of the Heineken Cup back then. It was a tough time for us and for myself personally - I probably wasn’t playing the best rugby.

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