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Ulster A got their 2015/16 British & Irish Cup campaign off to a positive
start, defeating English Championship side Bristol by 30 points to 5 at
Kingspan Stadium last Friday night.
ULSTER A
This week we caught up with two young and
exceptionally talented members of last Friday’s
team; Man of the Match Callum Patterson and
and Hughes Insurance Academy star Johnny
McPhillips.
CALLUM PATTERSON
As a script goes Callum Patterson couldn’t have
written it any better; the centre missed most of last
season due to a broken arm but on Friday night he
was the star of the show for Ulster A.
The Ballymena midfielder scored one of three
tries in the 30-5 victory over Bristol, won a turnover
on the ground that led to another score and won
Man of the Match, while across the city his cousin
Steven Davis scored the winner for Northern Ireland
against Latvia at Windsor Park.
“I’m over the moon for my cousin Steven Davis.
I came off the pitch and just found out he had
scored at Windsor Park and I scored at Kingspan
Stadium, so it was a great family feeling,” said
Patterson. Focusing on his own team’s success...
“I’m totally over the moon and over the moon
for the boys as well, we knew we had to put in
a performance and we did that, we were pretty
clinical and I thought it was a great team effort.”
Bristol are top of the English Championship and
they may have rested some of their big names like
Dwayne Peel and Gavin Henson, but they were
blown away by a clinical performance by the home
team…
“You can only play what is in front of you, Bristol
were coming off the back of a few defeats but they
are still a good Championship side and I’m sure
they will come good but I thought we deserved
the win and it was a good team effort all round.
We knew the first 20 minutes would be tough, as
we were playing against the wind in the first half.
We gave away a couple of penalties at scrum time
but we got the ship steadied and 30 unanswered
points was a super effort. It is always good to
score just before half time because the momentum
changes, the buzz is good and I thought it was a
huge turning point in the game.
“We definitely want to have a go this year and we
want to win silverware, the coaches Alex (Codling)
and Kieran (Campbell) are very professional. We
did our homework and we got a good result.”
Patterson’s midfield partnership with Mark Best
was one of many highlights for the Ulster A side last
Friday.
“We defended well and we had also worked hard in
training on defence all week. We also both got on
the score sheet, which was brilliant.”
Patterson was joined in the A team by Ballymena
colleagues Alan O’Connor, John Andrew, Clive
Ross, Stephen Mulholland and Rodger McBurney:
“We were all so happy to play together for the A
team; it shows Ballymena’s form is good and we
brought it into the A team. We all played well, it’s
great having those people you know and play with
week in and week out around you. It just shows the
All Ireland League is a good level to play at and
you will get spotted if you are in good form. Luckily
since the start of the season I have been in good
form so I’m just happy to take each game as it
comes and try my best in whatever shirt I have on.”
JOHNNY McPHILLIPS
Johnny McPhillips has played for England at
U18 level and was part of the Newcastle Falcons
Academy, but with his father hailing from East
Belfast, when Ulster came calling it was an easy
decision to move to Belfast.
“I’m full Irish, my mum grew up in Waterford; she
moved to England when she was 20 and my dad
grew up in Ballyhackamore. Mum and dad both
love Ireland and Irish rugby, in the household
when I was younger they were always supporting
Ireland,” said McPhillips.
“One of the main reasons I wanted to come here
was academics; to combine rugby with university.
The way Ulster have set up the Hughes Insurance
Academy provides a training schedule around
education, and that was really important to me.
I was fortunate to get a very good education
at school level and I wanted to continue that at
university and the way Ulster link that in was a real
attraction. Apart from that it’s a massive European
ULSTER A:
TALENT OF TOMORROW