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DRAGONS SLAIN, WARRIORS HERE TO BATTLE!
Atop the Guinness PRO12 last Friday evening after a nail-biting 80
minutes, there was a sense that Ulster had set a ‘marker’.
ROD NAWN
On the opening weekend of the Six Nations, the
game with a highly-competitive Newport Gwent
Dragons offered the side a chance to make up the
leeway with its game-in-hand over most of its rivals.
The players and coaches would be the first to accept
that it wasn’t the most comfortable of evenings, that
the Kingspan Stadium faithful had been put through
the ‘wringer’.
But it was a victory, four more points, and the
leadership of the division at a critical stage of
the season. Injury, international calls and a very
considered rotation of the match-day panel might
have constituted a risk in some eyes. But the wins in
Treviso and over the Dragons has yet again shown
that the breadth, and quality, of the Ulster squad
has been tested in the white heat of the PRO12 and
younger players of special talent are bolstering the
well-established ‘names’.
It may not have been pretty, and that unfortunate
‘winning ugly’ phrase might for once have had some
merit, but it is a sign of character – in a team and in
an individual like Paddy Jackson – to grasp a chance,
and then later reflect on why the performance was
disappointing.
Four points and the leadership of the PRO12 was
more than mere consolation, it was evidence that
there is resolve and character when imagination and
innovation fail to fire.
It was hardly the news Les Kiss and his coaches
wanted when Sammy Arnold decided to take up
Munster’s flattering two-year deal this summer, for he
was someone who looked comfortable and confident
when he appeared in the white jersey.
But the young English-born but Irish-qualified three-
quarter had looked at the pool of players with whom
he was competing for regular senior action and
decided his abilities might be fired and sharpened
more quickly with the more regular inclusion he
anticipates under Anthony Foley at Thomond Park.
Arnold will continue to be part of the Ulster squad
until May, and his enthusiasm and unquestioned
skillset might well be employed to important effect in
the next five weeks as coaches and players negotiate
their way through crucial league games, at a time
when senior players such as Rory Best, Jared Payne
and Andrew Trimble are required in green.
And this weekend again Ireland will be drawing
players from Ulster for the unpredictability of a visit
to Paris, and those which may be released back
to Kiss and Head Coach Neil Doak will join the
PRO12 preparations for the visit tonight of reigning
champions, Glasgow Warriors, the side which
somehow managed to wrest the trophy out of Ulster’s
grasp in two games over a week in May.
The last ‘regular’ game in the league saw Gregor
Townsend’s team earn a home semi-final between
the sides. Even now there is debate and argument
about Ulster’s selections for those games, the
glittering prize of a trophy being won at Ulster’s home,
Kingspan Stadium, chosen to stage the Final.
It’s only fair that reason and good memory are added
to any fractious discussion about Ulster’s squads for
those games: some players key to actually winning
the trophy were being carefully managed through
injuries which could have been seriously exacerbated
by playing in that final scheduled game of the PRO12
regular season.
Yes, a top four place had been secured, the focus
– and it was well-thought-out and very considered –
was on the very reasonable assessment that Ulster
had run into a fine vein of form and had at its disposal
a panel expecting, and expected, to win the away
fixture and thus a home semi-final.
But reflection does not alter the consequence of
a week to forget for fans and the players who’d
committed to bringing silverware to its glistening,
coveted new stadium in Belfast.
Yes, there were a few decisions by officials which
provoked some head-scratching, there were also
the inevitable moments of fragility and lack of
concentration. So Glasgow, to its evident surprise
and delight, given the nature of its celebrations, not
only had a home semi-final to cherish, but it also
denied what promised to be a spectacular evening
for Ulster a week later in the final!
So tonight the reigning champions arrive at Kingspan
Stadium, results this season not quite so impressive
but within striking distance of a Top Four spot if they
could get a ‘run’ together. To help topple the current
leaders would be the boost the Scots’ campaign
would really need to be savoured.
But Ulster will not easily give up a hard-won place at
the head of the PRO12, and Les Kiss made it clear
two weeks ago that he saw the ‘clutch’ of games
against Treviso, away, then the Dragons and Warriors
at home during the Six Nations’ early rounds, as very
important.
“I want to win them all, we need to stamp momentum
on our drive to the play-offs, and though I wouldn’t
be happy with anything less than three wins we have