Ulster Rugby vs Cardiff Blues

SWITCHING ON THE ELECTRICITY! Ulster returned from Edinburgh last weekend ruing another away loss, and also reflecting on the narrow margins between a win and defeat.

“We play Cardiff here at Kingspan Stadium in front of our own fans and that is always a real ‘plus’ for the boys, you really can’t over-emphasise how important the support is. “I sometimes think that teams and officials might try to remember more that rugby should be a spectacle, something the crowd wants to see regularly, and in our games against the Ospreys and Treviso we did play some really entertaining stuff as individuals and as a unit. You can feel the electricity a packed Kingspan Stadium gives, and we want to give the supporters the rugby we can play and they want to see – entertaining, winning rugby. “It’s what we all want to see and now that the season is really underway we know it’s going to be demanding, but it sharpens the focus to have a game every week.” Doak has looked closely at tonight’s opponents and recognises the quality the Blues have in all areas of the pitch. Cardiff, like Ulster, contributed fully to the Word Cup squad and perhaps some of the more lightly-raced in the international group will play some role. Ulster’s Head Coach is taking a ‘softly, softly’ approach to the possibility of his Irish contingent’s availability for selection, acutely aware that mentally and physically they have all been in a gruelling environment at the World Cup. He intended to talk to all the healthy returned during the week, take advice and guidance from the Irish management and as a former top-drawer player himself, knows that individuals respond in different ways. Those who have been regularly figuring in the green shirt in the last five weeks, and been in an intense camp regime for months, may need some time to recharge batteries, some may want to put the ultimate disappointment behind them and play some part quite quickly. Sadly Jared Payne and Tommy Bowe were injured during the Ireland campaign, Ruan Pienaar continues his RWC odyssey with South Africa for at least another week, so they won’t be under immediate consideration, but the depth of the squad is such that daunting though the challenges ahead are, there’s total confidence in the players available for selection.

Head Coach Neil Doak compared the performance of his side as sometimes too passive, observing a similarity in Ireland’s World Cup exit in Cardiff by Argentina. The lack of clinical finishing was also identified against the Scottish club which, under Alan Solomons, boasts four Guinness PRO12 wins in as many outings but whose attritional style seemed to disconcert the visitors. “I think it was clear we were the team that wanted to, and did, play the rugby, but they were well- organised, they posed real problems at the breakdown, and although we gave ourselves every chance we just didn’t capitalise,” he said, clearly frustrated by the meagre return of one losing point. And he might have been justified in wondering if Edinburgh rode their luck a little in terms of the interpretation of the offside law, for some of us with long memories the ghost of Finlay Calder – a wily former Scottish flanker and captain – had apparently been resuscitated for the bleak Friday night at Murrayfield! But Doak is not one for making excuses; rather he examines what more he and his players might have done in such circumstances, so this week the emphasis will have been on the areas where he places so much importance: accuracy and discipline. The defeat on the road at Scarlets had been littered with basic mistakes and some dubious decision- making, and there were shades of that again at Murrayfield. With a squad of such quality the issue of not replicating home performances away from Belfast is something the management don’t want to be prolonged. With two outstanding try-bonus wins at Kingspan Stadium this ‘stop-and-start’ season there is emphatic evidence of what can be achieved. “Hopefully now that we have embarked on a 16-match sequence in the PRO12 and in Europe we can get the continuity we definitely need,” said Doak. “We’ll work hard, as we do every week, and there’s no doubt that if this group of players can go on a bit of a run we’ll have the right mindset for a winning formula.

ROD NAWN

22