Ulster Rugby v Cheetahs

And so it begins, the big new adventure that is the Guinness PRO14 for a new season – bigger certainly, hopefully even better and more exciting. CHEETAHS READY TO POUNCE

Director of Rugby Les Kiss has designed a new coaching team to realise the potential of a squad of players which remains the envy of many clubs but which – by its own admission – has not delivered the rewards its hard work under previous managements promised. Jono Gibbes, the uncompromising new Head Coach, has a record – particularly at Leinster and Clermont Auvergne – which he will not easily allow to be soiled in his tenure at Kingspan. With Heineken Cup and PRO 12 winner Aaron Dundon bringing a fresh voice to the counsels on the star-laden forwards pool, Dwayne Peel expected to inject new energy to a group of backs which just oozes international quality, supporters will properly expect that when the new recruits have bedded in at Kingspan the frustrations of recent seasons can be consigned to history. The pre-season outings – on the face of it – have hardly contrived to create the optimism which does genuinely exist around the Ulster set-up, and ‘spankings’ from Wasps and Northampton cannot be dismissed as mere ‘hit-outs’, of no importance. Lessons will have been learned by coaches and by players, not least about each other. Les Kiss makes the ultimate ‘call’ on selection and against the Cheetahs the home side which lines out will not have played competitively together before this PRO14 ‘opener’. The impact of Australian out-half Christian Lealiifano will be scrutinised intensely, and his ability to get the three-quarters on the attacking front foot will be crucial this evening and for the next five months of his stay in Ulster. Marcel Coetzee and Jean Deysel, whose experience of the game in the northern hemisphere could be key, offer the promise of real heft in the back-row, but these two Springboks will be asked to play big roles this season, as will Chris Henry, Sean Reidy, Robbie Diack and another South African ‘new boy’, prop Schalk van der Merwe. These are intriguing time for Ulster, but there are real grounds for fans not to be fearful about the challenges which lie ahead this campaign. When Lions Jared Payne, Iain Henderson and Rory Best are ready to join the fray the new coaches’

After a short summer break domestically, and while our attention was focussed on the twists and turns of the British and Irish Lions’ adventures in New Zealand, the domestic rugby landscape changed at bewildering pace. At breakneck speed the PRO12 conceived two new arrivals, and not just from familiar shores. The southern hemisphere is now on the itinerary of Ulster and its regular opponents as South Africa’s Cheetahs and Southern Kings join the chase for glory against many of Europe’s best. Forged in the furnace of Super Rugby, their fixture lists bulging with the biggest club names in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and South Africa, the newcomers add exotica and potentially extra depth to the league. To accommodate the recruits and yet maintain a playing schedule which ‘works’ for players, clubs and the international scene a new format has been developed, and anyone who hasn’t quite grasped all of its intricacies could be forgiven. But stick with it, please, the sport remains the same, the number of players too! There are now two Conferences – or divisions – and if the whiff of Americana can be smelt it boils down to supporters having the same number of games to watch in the chase for a play-off formula which now extends to quarter-finals. En route to those silverware-defining weeks next May Ulster, for instance, will play its Conference colleagues home and away, it will also take on both South African sides and – despite their different Conference assignations – the fables Irish Inter-Provincial games are all secured in the new PRO14 construct. European Champions Cup places will be part of the ‘prize fund’ – though the Cheetahs and Kings will not be eligible for qualification. Still with us? Good. Now the bit you are really going to like! The rugby starts here at Kingspan Stadium tonight, Ulster under a new management team, the squad refashioned with some exciting signings, and a packed house hungry for action. It’s the chance for that uniquely steadfast group of supporters to roar on its favourites to a season which will – at last – bring tangible reward in the PRO14 and, given the stated ambitions of all in the club, success in the world-class arena which is Europe.

ROD NAWN

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