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UNDERSTANDING THOSE
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
NO more warm-up games, no more mass substitutions to confuse the
untutored spectator, this evening the marathon that is Ulster’s rugby season
begins in steely earnest.
ROD NAWN
by ROD NAWN
Ospreys arrive in Belfast to pose the first
competitive challenge to Neil Doak’s side as the
Guinness PRO12 campaign explodes into action.
The Welsh club has been, like the host, a constant
challenger for honours, and with huge investment
and commitment its Liberty Stadium home in
Swansea consistently stages big games in both
league and in Europe. It has boasted a roster of
top-class players for over a decade, and Wales
relies heavily on Ospreys to fuel its World Cup
challenge – and no fewer than nine from the club
were in the match day squad which inflicted a rare
defeat on Ireland in Dublin last Saturday.
Ulster’s contribution to Ireland’s cause is no less
considerable in terms of the calibre of players
Joe Schmidt has assembled - congratulations to
Tommy Bowe, Darren Cave, Jared Payne, Paddy
Jackson, Rory Best, Iain Henderson and Chris
Henry - and that means that great responsibility is
vested in those who have been waiting to grab the
opportunity to become serious factors as the hunt
for silverware takes high priority this season.
Of course we’ll all have a keen eye on the World
Cup being staged on our doorstep, but for all the
players involved this evening at Kingspan Stadium
that has to be set aside for the primary target:
getting an optimum points return from the first six
matches in a PRO12 league of increasing quality.
Although the two friendlies at home to Leinster and
in Edinburgh last weekend didn’t produce a win
of more importance was the opportunity for Head
Coach Doak and assistants Joe Barakat, Allen
Clarke and Niall Malone to analyse in detail just
how individuals, partnerships and units were ready
to perform in the cauldron of a competitive match.
A flood of players were used at Kingspan Stadium
a fortnight ago when Leinster edged the victory,
and 26 were involved at Goldenacre, a sign that
perhaps there was increasing clarity about the first-
choice line-up.
Ospreys, with Steve Tandy at the coaching helm
and with Gruff Rees and Chris Gibbes with specific
responsibilities for the backs and the forwards
respectively, chose to play just one friendly game
before the PRO12 opened. And while stand-in
skipper Lloyd Ashley cautioned against reading too
much into the result, a 23-16 win at Saracens - no
matter how diluted – the lock admitted it gave all at
Swansea some confidence en route for Belfast.
Wingers Dafydd Howells and Kristian Williams
crossed for tries in London, Dan Evans was
impressive at fullback, and with outhalf Sam Davies
kicking well the Ospreys ‘machine’ looked in
good running order, though Ashley believes Ulster
poses an entirely different and much more difficult
proposition.
Home supporters will hope that he is correct in his
assessment of Doak’s squad, which has been in
intensive pre-season training for over two months,
and everyone who’s fit is ‘biting at the bit’ to get
a starting place. Newcomer Sam Windsor has
had two outings as a replacement at outhalf and
appears to be ready to step in for Ian Humphreys,
injured in Edinburgh, important now that Paddy
Jackson is in the World Cup ‘mix’.
What Doak and Tandy will demand this evening
as the PRO12 fires into action is a performance
from their respective sides, but they won’t deny
that posting a first win in the league is very much a
target. For the first six matches in the competition
that other tournament – the World Cup! - will keep
some big-name players out of the picture, but Doak
in particular has planned meticulously to prepare
a new generation to get, and take, the chance to
be part of what he is determined will be a season
when the side is challenging in the league and
Champions Cup.
So, it’s upon those given places in the starting
XV and on the benches who will want to impress
individually and collectively, for it is vital that by
the end of October Ulster and Ospreys have built
launchpads for the assault on the PRO12 and in
Europe.
For Ulster, thoughts of the Champions Cup can
wait in the short term, the task is for those with
limited experience in the white jersey at the top
level gel with the more battle-hardened quickly,
that Luke Marshall, Craig Gilroy, Paul Marshall,
Humphreys, Wiehann Herbst, Rob Herring, Franco
van der Merwe, Robbie Diack, Roger Wilson and
Nick Williams, for example, lead the charge.
What Doak is at pains to insist is that the group
of players at his disposal is the best he can have,
and he is more than happy at the calibre of his