45 / 60
www.
ULSTERRUGBY
.com
47
making. Often each or all of those failings can be
put down, in part, to low confidence levels, and
that restoring self-belief will have been high on the
agenda within the squad.
The players and management have been
admirably forthright in accepting that the many
sources of criticism this season have sometimes
been - basic in fact. That the players work hard to
improve already fulsome skillsets is undeniable,
and glimpses of what all supporters crave have
been frequently evident. Consistency of personal
and collective performance has been an issue,
but some of the complaints have been ‘cheap
shots’ and often dubiously personal: the price we
pay, perhaps, for the all-too-easy access to social
media.
But that is not something confined to Ulster,
though when a side is battling to find composure
and form criticisms can be less than informed,
and they can be fuelled too by today’s fashion
for the instant, the eye-catching, the boarding
of bandwagons. When former players – most
notably perhaps Stephen Ferris – go public with
their frustrations they are offering constructive
advice and also mirroring, sensibly, the fans’
irritation. But they want Ulster to do well, like the
supporters, and just as the team can only win
together so too must the Ulster rugby community
unite, not tamely, with passion and purpose.
One hesitates to use a phrase like ‘New Start’,
but in rugby terms for Ulster this evening could
be exactly that. Over the next month there are
five games in the Guinness PRO12 from which
a demanding but realistic points return can be
realised. A win over Edinburgh this evening could
do wonders for confidence for everyone before
Glasgow come to Kingspan next week, and to
complete a ‘double’ over the Warriors would
get the juices flowing; on the last Sunday of this
month there’s a trip to Zebre which will be tricky
but potentially rewarding, with the other Italian
side Treviso due in Belfast the following Friday
evening.
Then, on Saturday evening, 11 March, Zebre
make their second trip to the Province to play
the game called off at the eleventh hour pre-
Christmas due to freezing ground conditions.
It’s professional rugby, and every side is that,
but the neutral observer might look at the list of
games, survey the talent at Ulster’s disposal, and
feel that each of those five games is immensely
winnable, and there is ample potential for a clutch
of try-scoring bonus points.
A sizeable points haul would definitely hoist the
hopes of the fans and the side up the table, and
the start-of-the-season aspiration for a tilt at
the title in the knockout stages in the last two
weekends in May revived.
A pipe-dream? Not in the modern game of rugby.
Ulster has a sporting mountain to scale, but there
is a determination to equip properly, to get to
grips with the challenge and to reach the summit
– or the Top Four at least!
It’s going to be fascinating, it will have moments
of familiar frustration, but players, coaches and
those marvellous supporters can, together, make
the assault viable.
We’ve had our moans, we’ve had our
disappointments – particularly in Europe – but
tonight could be like the start of a new season, a
reduced, forensically-defined one.
Let’s enjoy it.
ARTICLE BY ROD NAWN
FREELANCE JOURNALIST
AND SPORTS ENTHUSIAST
@RODNAWN1