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“We are all from different spectrums,” jokes John.
“Ricky is tall and thin and I am short and fat! We are
all still really competitive and when we get together
we still banter each other to see who is the best or
who is the strongest.
“I played at Ballymena from when I was in the
minis, Ricky was the same and Joel also played
for Ballymena 1sts a few times. We have a strong
family connection with the club.”
John’s older brother Ricky
played for Ulster on 20
occasions. He made his
debut in the 2011/12 season
but left Kingspan Stadium
in the summer to join
English Championship side
Nottingham.
“He’s doing really well,” John
says. “He’s scoring a few tries
and enjoying his rugby.”
Now, only John is flying the
Andrew family flag at Ulster and
is competing for game time with
Rob Herring and Rory Best – an
experience that he believes is
really helping his development:
“This is only my second
season with the seniors and
the amount that you learn from
the experienced guys is just incredible. It’s quite
nice to be working with the likes of Rory Best and
Rob Herring who are both internationals. As well
as the players, the coaching that I am getting is
also brilliant. You are constantly trying to impress
the coaches as they watch sessions. It’s almost as
intense as a match!
“All the senior players are great. I suppose being a
hooker, it’s quite specialised. It would be Rob and
to Rory that I look to and ask a lot of questions.
Lewis Stevenson, Dan Tuohy, guys like that aren’t
scared to tell you what to do either.”
While John is firmly concentrating on playing as
much rugby as possible for Ulster this season, he
still has his eye on his club’s results and he has
been pleased with Ballymena’s progress so far this
year:
“It’s good to see that the club is on the way back
up,” John says. “There are a lot of good club
players there and some really
good Ulster players that have
been released to play – guys
like Alan O’Connor have really
added to the squad. It seems
to be going well and here’s
hoping they can get up to
Division 1A – the more teams
that we have in 1A the better it
is for Ulster and for the young
guys coming through the club
system.”
Now that John is an important
member of the squad – what
advice would he have for those
young players hoping one day
to play professional rugby?
“Just try and play as much as
possible,” he says. “You can
learn a lot from your Academy
coaches or in training but it’s
all well and good knowing the plays, but you have
to be able to go and do it. Practice as much as you
can and when you are in the seniors just watch
those around you and those senior players in your
position. You can always learn from someone. Ask
as many questions as possible, don’t be overawed
by the players or those around you.”
They could do well and follow the example of the
Andrew brothers – especially John.
JOHN ANDREW
The three Andrew brothers share the same traits. They are all
competitive, they all love rugby and they have all played for Ballymena
RFC. That however, is where the similarities end – certainly when it
comes to physiology. Joel, the eldest, is a wing forward, Ricky is a
fullback and the youngest brother, John, is a hooker:
JOHN ANDREW