Ulster Rugby vs Ospreys

CLIVE ROSS ON GETTING OUT OF THE BLOCKS EARLY

guys can get comfortable. The more headaches we can give the coaching staff regarding selection the better a place we’ll be in. What have you learnt from the more experienced back row players? Playing in the back row requires a very varied skill set, you get guys within the squad who are strong in each of the areas such as the line-out, breakdown, ball-carrying, defense, support and link play. Many of the guys playing in the back row here have 150 plus caps and have also played at international level so there is plenty of experience to draw from.

It’s been a great few weeks for you including a MOTM performance in Italy? Yes it’s been a good start for both myself and the team. I’m really enjoying the opportunities I’ve been given and excited for the upcoming games. It’s always nice to be picked out for MOTM, when you play within a squad as talented as ours it gives you a bit of a confidence boost! You must have put a lot of hard work in over pre-season? Yeah last season was a bit frustrating for me as I didn’t play as much rugby as I’d have liked to. So coming back in June I knew I had to make a big step up and get out of the blocks early. I didn’t

CLIVE ROSS

NAME: Clive Ross POSITION: Back row PLACE OF BIRTH: Cork

DOB: 14.06.1989 WEIGHT: 106kg HEIGHT: 1.78m ULSTER DEBUT: 27.09.2014 Zebre away ULSTER APPEARANCES: 33

What are your thoughts on the teams’ performance so far? Having won 4 from 4 we’ll be happy by and large. However, we probably left a bonus point or two behind and they can be crucial come the end of the season when there is little between the top teams. If we want to kick on from last year we know there is much to improve on. It’s still early days and there are much bigger tests ahead but we are building nicely every week and the strength in depth within the squad is as good as I’ve ever seen it. What are your goals for the season ahead? Play some good rugby, be involved every week and to help bring home some much needed silverware!

take much time off from training during the off season and made sure I came back in decent shape and was ready from the get-go. It’s great to get the opportunity early in the season to prove your place? Definitely, you have to make the most of the chances you get and hopefully put your hand up for the rest of the season. At the end of the day we all want to be playing week in week out. There is huge competition within the squad, does that encourage you? I think it’s imperative for a squad to be successful. In an ideal world I guess everyone would work to their full potential regardless of their position within the squad, however, in reality we need to push each other and the standards we set or

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