55 / 70
www.
ulste
r rugby.com51
ULSTERRUGBY
Article by
Rod Nawn
Freelance Journalist
and Sports Enthusiast
@RODNAWN1
That game in Limerick is one the Ulster players
believe should have been won, so another
reason to be cheerful about home prospects
with controlled revenge in the armoury!
Around the pitch there are wonderful individual
battles to savour; Keatley and Jackson, Murray
and Pienaar, Henry and O’Mahony to name but
a few. Kingspan Stadium is the stage for some
of the finest players of this generation, and in
a World Cup year where better to show your
credentials?
Too often adjectives such as ‘massive’ and
‘huge’ are tagged to fixtures such as this, but
today they are justified, not just because of the
prize immediately at stake, but because of the
implications the result might have over the next
three weeks.
Players have been through a demanding
competitive eight months to date, some have
been sorely missed for long periods – like
Keith Earls at Munster but now restored – and
Andrew Trimble and Stuart Olding for Ulster.
These two squads have earned the right to
reach the play-offs, to further extend their
seasons and to give themselves new incentive.
They are galvanised by the prospect of a
trophy, and what an occasion it would be was
it to be Ulster lifting the Guinness PRO12 title in
its own sparklingly impressive new home here
at Kingspan Stadium.
But that is a thought for a little bit further into
this so-far wintry May. The victors today will
leave the arena buoyed in their hopes for the
remainder of the season, the vanquished not
yet beaten, more work to do, and willingly when
deserving fans await.
Ulster versus Munster would once have been
anticipated for its passionate combat, the
thunderous commitment on the pitch, and that
is still as guaranteed now as it was in the 19th
Century.
But the passion will be well-directed, the
thunder of commitment allied to a game
plan and a determination to play to the great
individual and collective strengths in the line-
ups.
It was always a match with history, now it can
add some more, and show that the PRO12, and
the game in Ireland, is in rude health and in the
hands of the talented players and coaches who
have fashioned extraordinarily gifted teams.
May, a month when winners are made and
reputations cemented.