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KIERAN TREADWELL
The 21-year-old moved to Belfast from English
Premiership side Harlequins during the summer
and has now racked up 10 appearances for Les
Kiss’ men.
Treadwell, a powerful second row, says that he’s
settled in Belfast pretty quickly and that is having
a positive effect for his rugby.
“Moving here was an easy transition for me, I
have lots of good people around me. I knew
Brett (Herron) before I came here, so I had some
familiarity. The coaches are fantastic here and so
are the fans, everyone has made me feel really
welcome.
“I feel like the supporters here are unbelievable,
they are so passionate and they make me feel
passionate about playing for Ulster as well.”
Treadwell, who was called into Joe Schmidt’s
Ireland training squad over the festive period,
admits that he still has plenty to work on in terms
of his game development.
“I’m still a young guy, so I just have to keep
working hard to make the squad and contribute
as much as I can to the team. Les has given me
opportunities and it’s up to me to make the most
of them.”
Reflecting on the loss to Exeter on Sunday, which
all but ended Ulster’s hopes of progression to
the Champions Cup knock-out stages, Treadwell
expressed his disappintment:
“Sunday was a bitter pill to swallow. I think we just
need to go back to the drawing board and try to
figure out what we have to do. We worked really
hard and you can’t take that away from the boys.
“We put in a huge effort during the game -
statistically, all our metres ran were up - it was
very fast paced. Exeter are a good side, Sandy
Park is a tough place to go and on the day they
simply performed better than us.
“You are only as good as your last performance
and unfortunately that didn’t go the way we
planned.”
With Ulster’s European assault effectively ended
for another season, Treadwell insists today’s
tussle with Bordeaux is about pride in the jersey
and repaying the loyalty of the fans.
“We’ve got to just go out there, play rugby,
enjoy it and prove ourselves in front of our home
crowd. Prep has gone well this week, we’ve put
in a few big training days and some analysis
meetings. Hopefully we can put in a big one
come Saturday.”
Beyond today, Treadwell and the rest of the
squad are focussed on delivering results in
the Guinness PRO12, and he claims they are
targeting the next block of fixtures as must-win
games.
“We have a good run coming up, especially some
key home games, which will help us a lot, but we
all know that we need to improve and hold our
nerve on the road. Our goal now is silverware in
the PRO12 and everyone will do everything in
their power to get us there,” he declared.
TREADWELL STARTING TO FLOURISH
While Ulster has struggled for results over the past month, Kieran Treadwell has grown
in stature during that time, making four consective starts for the Province.