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CLIVE ROSS
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
ON GETTING OUT OF THE BLOCKS EARLY
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
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.
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!
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