Ulster Rugby Annual Report 2015 - 2016

The Committee has pleasure in presenting the 136th Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for 2015-16. ULSTER BRANCH REPORT

domestic successes in winning the Millar McCall Wylie Junior Cup, the Powerade Towns Cup, the Kukri Qualifying 1 League and the Conference League 1. In the All Ireland Round Robin series Bangor continued their rich vein of form and won promotion back into the All Ireland League. In the All Ireland League, it has not been a great season for the Ulster clubs. Ballynahinch, who found themselves at the bottom of Division 1A for most of the season, put in some excellent performances in the last few games but came up just short and were relegated in the play-offs. Banbridge and City of Derry led their respective leagues for long periods but, unfortunately, eventually failed to gain promotion. Belfast Harlequins and Rainey both had difficult seasons and suffered relegation. In Ulster domestic competitions, the First Trust Senior Cup was won by Ballynahinch and the Senior League was won by Ballymena. The McCrea Cup went to Cooke and the Crawford Cup was won by Ballynahinch 3rd XV. Congratulations are due to all those teams gained success at the various levels within our domestic programme. A full list of league and cup winners can be found in Appendix C and D. ULSTER BRANCH GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE In another busy year for both the Branch and Management Committees, the active management of the professional game and commercial matters has continued however there has been, in the last year, a much greater focus on initiatives to strengthen and develop the domestic game. As reported last year, there had been a 10% reduction in adult teams in the previous 5 years and demographic information had shown that there has been an 18% drop in the available population that could play adult rugby during this period. The Management Committee had instigated the development of a pilot scheme with the purpose of offering practical assistance to clubs in order to review and appraise current practices, share and promote good practices and develop a clearer sense of future purpose for clubs. To date the scheme has been identifying the issues and challenges that clubs are facing and from this, it has promoted the development and sharing of advice and guidance on good practices. The pilot scheme involves 8 clubs but the information on good practices is now being shared with the other clubs and is being incorporated into the various workshops that the Branch runs for club volunteers. The pilot scheme is continuing and will be expanded in due course. It is very much a process of helping clubs to help themselves. On the financial front, it is pleasing to see the Treasurer report a small surplus of some £70k given that the initial budget forecasts for 2015-16 were predicting a loss of some £600k. This improved position has largely resulted from good cost control and additional growth in commercial income brought about by the

INTRODUCTION The 2015-16 season has been a strange one with a number of highlights and unfortunately a number of lows. Prior to the start of the season, a major highlight was the official opening of Nevin Spence Centre by the DCAL Minister Carál Ní Chuilín. Ulster Rugby was delighted that Nevin’s mother Essie and sisters Emma and Laura were present for the opening and all were moved by the dignified and emotive speech given by Nevin’s sister Emma. Notwithstanding the disappointment of Ireland’s exit at the quarter-final stage of the RWC 2015 and the rather mixed Six Nations Campaign, the expectation of success in Ulster was, as ever, high at the start of the season. Whilst there were some excellent home performances in the PRO12 League, Ulster’s away form remains a bit of a concern. This, coupled with two very narrow defeats at home to the Scarlets and Munster meant that the team had to wait until the last league game to confirm fourth place in the PRO12 League and a play-off berth. The play-off against old rivals Leinster at RDS was a tight affair but unfortunately Ulster could not find the good form they had shown in the last four league games and lost by 30-18. In the European Champions Cup, Ulster’s first match was to have been away to Oyonnax in November. This was also to have been the first match when all the returning Ireland World Cup players were available. Whilst the team, officials and supporters received a tremendous reception by the locals, the weekend will be remembered for the terrorist atrocities in Paris. The cancellation of the game, which was the correct decision in the circumstances, meant that the Saracens game was the first time that a number of our players had turned out for Ulster this season and unfortunately it was not the best of performances. That said, there were notable highlights in the European campaign with a superb win away at Toulouse and a remarkable comeback win away to Oyonnax where the Ulster team came from 23-0 down early in the second half to win 24- 23. Bonus point victories over these two French sides at home should have seen Ulster make the quarter-finals if they were able to get anything from the two Saracens games. However, Saracens proved too strong in both games and Ulster narrowly missed out on a quarter-final place. It should be noted that none of the Irish provinces made it through to the European knockout stage which is a concern. Ulster’s cause was not helped by a larger than normal injury profile which left the squad without a number of key players for long periods. With Les Kiss now established in his role of Director of Rugby and a number of exciting signings for next season, the Ulster supporters will once again start the new season full of expectation. On the domestic front, it has been a memorable season for the Bangor club who secured an outstanding four

7 7