Ulster Rugby v Munster

Mainly, it’s soul destroying for the player. For the club, with player welfare being something we take very seriously, irrespective of the contractual obligation, all that our Medical and Strength & Conditioning team can do is make every effort to get them back to full fitness. How are the Academy players getting on? Are any future homebred Ulster stars likely to move into the full-time squad soon? There is great integration between the Academy and senior squads, in which Kieran Campbell (Academy Manager) is integral. A big reason we hoped to get someone like Willie Anderson in there as Forwards Coach, was again to highlight the type of player we have lacked coming through for a number of years - physical and uncompromising. Good examples of this are the likes of Adam McBurney, Matty Dalton and Aaron Hall whom, if they apply themselves professionally, will have very successful futures with Ulster Rugby, if not the national team as well. Other guys making big impressions already would be players such as Tom O’Toole and Greg Jones in the pack and importantly at halfback, where positions in the senior ranks are up for grabs, Jonny Stewart and Michael Lowry. We expect big things from those guys (and more hopefully) over the next few years! Ireland internationals Luke Marshall, Rob Herring and Kieran Treadwell have recently signed three-year contract extensions. How important was it to get those deals done? Essential. As I mentioned earlier, having a core group of quality players with the right character committing long term gives stability to the Province and shows the desire these players have to achieve silverware with Ulster, something we all crave. We don’t have the finances of across the water, we have restrictions in terms of who we can recruit in terms of non-Irish qualified players and we have a relatively small indigenous player pool. When you add all those things to the mix,

retention of key players is paramount in building towards a squad required to take on the best in Europe and beat them. What are your main challenges in terms of recruitment? It’s a hugely competitive market out there for a start! When you consider that we can only recruit up to a maximum of 4 foreign players and 1 special project player, it immediately limits you. Due to the small numbers, you often find that Southern Hemisphere players may go to a French or English club because these clubs average between 14 and 18 foreigners and the incoming player is likely to have friends or former teammates plying their trade there. Players’ partners will clearly have a big say in this, as the move is always more difficult for them as they don’t have the day-to-day contact with people that the player does. Familiarity can be key for them. Financially, while we are always very competitive, we can rarely rely on providing the best remuneration package, so we need to sell the Ulster brand in many other ways, which we believe are among the best in Europe. Those are personal to us and as points of difference I would tend to keep private as much as possible. A lot of quality overseas players also want to come to a club that has aspirations and a realistic capability of winning silverware. Ideally, we need to be consistently in knock-out stages of the PRO14, if not Europe too, if we want to continually attract some of the best talent out there. Timing is often everything and no two players are on exactly the same time lines in terms of making decisions. Strong relationships with agents is key to staying ahead of the curve. In our current group of five overseas players, they are represented by five different agents from four different companies, which shows the importance of having a strong global network.

BRYN CUNNINGHAM

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