Ulster Rugby vs Zebre

11 / 60

9
PETER NELSON
Having dislocated his left midfoot in
December 2015, it has been a long road to
recovery for out-half Pete Nelson:
“It was 14 months in total, which started with a
month off my feet doing very little,” says Pete.
“From there, it was all about getting back into
walking and gradually picking up my pace into
running and learning that gait cycle again. Then
the focus was getting strength in the foot and
building up speed and endurance and then into
training and changing direction. The last step
was integrating back into the playing squad
and then finally getting back into the match day
squad. It was a long process and difficult to
work towards such a long-term goal at times but
we got there in the end. It was tough watching
from the side-lines, you always want to be out
there helping the boys out, so it was great to get
back out there last month.”
Pete has been named in the starting line-
up for Ulster’s resurgent victories over
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Zebre and Treviso:
“I am delighted to be back in the team, this is a
difficult enough time with boys away at the Six
Nations, so I knew if I could be back fit around
this time, that there may be opportunities and
I am really pleased to have four games on the
bounce under my belt.
“After Edinburgh and Glasgow, the buzz in the
squad definitely picked up; two wins on the trot
really helped to push us in the right direction. We
were disappointed at the weekend not picking
up the bonus point against Treviso but we are
still going in the right direction and those four
wins are exactly what we needed to pick up
momentum.”
Since returning from injury, Pete has
occupied a half-back spot alongside fan
favourite Ruan Pienaar, gaining invaluable
experience from the Springbok:
“Playing with him has been brilliant. Ruan is
world class, everyone knows that. He really
helps me out and takes the pressure off at
times. Whether that’s kicking to the corner or
organising the forwards a bit more, it just gives
me a bit more time and a little more space to
organise things.”
Like many others, Pete is under no illusion
that his spot on the team is secure, but he
thrives on the competition:
“It’s exactly what you need in a squad that wants
to go on and win. If there wasn’t competition you
might be resting on your laurels, so it’s important
in every training session and in every match that
you are stepping up and pushing hard because
if you’re not, there’s someone there ready to
take your place. Just look at Jacob (Stockdale),
who’s on fire at the minute, it’s great to see those
guys coming through the Academy system and
it’s brilliant for the future of Ulster, it also keeps
the more experienced guys on their toes.”
This weekend’s fixture presents another
opportunity to pick up a bonus point win
against an Italian side missing key personnel
due to the penultimate weekend of the Six
Nations:
“This game is another step to hopefully get
us to the top four. So it’s important we go out
there and put in another big performance, we
will be looking for the win and five points but we
will take it minute by minute and work on our
processes and hopefully break them down.
“We have watched the footage from two weeks
ago, we have assessed what we can do better
and the opportunities that we missed. We let
them in for a few soft tries so defensively we are
sharpening up. It was tough to play last weekend
against Treviso due to the weather but we will
look to eradicate any small errors and hopefully
under better conditions, we can throw the ball
around, score a few tries and get the result we
all know we are capable of.”
PETER NELSON
RECOVERY… RESURGENCE… RESULT