Ulster Rugby vs Llanelli Scarlets

LOOKING GET AN ‘A’ GRADE

The thoroughly modern structures of a professional rugby club means the public isn’t always aware of just how complex strands are drawn together to bolster the present on the pitch, and secure the future.

We always welcome the emergence of new faces, and we know that at age-group level the most talented youngsters are being nurtured, the relationship with the schools’ game has never been healthier, and the breadth of the process to identify the Ulster players of just a few short years down the ‘road’. The U18s, U19s, U20s at provincial and Irish level are coherently managed and developed, and there is now a very real staircase to offer a route to a career in the sport. And, critically, there is recognition that for some the highest level might just be beyond reach, but effective, successful club rugby can be regenerated by the influx of players who’ve been well-coached, experienced the best disciplines and improved basic skills through careful development by an army of motivated coaches. And an important part of the formula to sustain Ulster, and to provide what Les Kiss regards as integral nourishment of the Kingspan operation is an increasing focus on the ‘A’ side, and all the functions it provides, the opportunities it offers, and the invaluable links it has with the senior set-up, the Academy group, and with the club game in the Province. He’s been a regular spectator at the team’s games this season, and his staff’s tangible guidance and practical help, and the full panoply of resources expended on the PRO12 and European squads, are full extended to the players involved with the ‘A’s. While in terms of results the Ulster ‘A’ team might not have set the British and Irish Cup competition alight, it has been a proving ground for players and coaching staff. And the value of the side, sponsored by the CD Group, taking on teams such as Bristol, Bedford and the Scarlets Premiership Select has already demonstrated itself on many fronts. In May last year, Alex Codling was recruited to the Hughes Insurance Ulster Rugby Academy, a key part of the responsibilities of the much-travelled English international lock’s was as Head Coach of the Ulster ‘A’ team. He maintains that the Academy at Kingspan Stadium has benefited, the senior side has been able to ‘blood’ some outstanding performers, and Ulster ‘A’s unique pool of talent, drawn from within the Ulster structure and from the Province’s clubs, is going to increase in importance. “Les Kiss, the Director of Rugby, is extremely keen on the B&I Cup, sees it having a big future, and he and the rest of the staff take a real, hands-on interest in the ‘A’ side’s other games, treating us all as a key part of the Ulster player development system”, says Codling, an enthusiastic coach with experience at a tranche of English, Welsh and continental clubs.

Having used 43 players to date this season there is perhaps an indication of the challenges the ‘A’ management faces, but Codling sees it as exciting and fulfilling a truly critical role in blending and blooding Academy youth alongside some experienced, familiar names and drawing from the clubs, offering a serious platform for talent there to shine. But those who have studied the ‘A’s this year have been struck by its very real identity, it is not what some might have seen as a somewhat disjointed unit, useful for those returning from injury to thrust themselves back into the senior panel. There’s the character and spirit of a team with a determination to improve itself as a collective unit, and for individuals to fulfil their potential, and to expose themselves at a higher level of this great game. That was a quite deliberate ambition by Ulster to ‘up’ the profile and the meaningful role of the ‘A’ side, and with Academy Manager, Kieran Campbell, deeply involved in the coaching management, there is no doubt about what is now expected – a team which is to be truly competitive, and a key conduit in drawing talents from all the various playing pools across the Province. “That’s an achievement, down to the players who wanted to play, didn’t feel it was a step down, but knew it offered opportunities and the preparation and game time to make an impression,” says Codling. Injury curtailed a career which took him to the very top of the English game, playing for Harlequins, Saracens and Northampton, then playing and coaching in Wales at Neath and for Montpellier in France. “In the ‘A’ team we have many roles to play, to be a vehicle for players returning to fitness and to the senior squad is one of them. That brings some issues which are up to us to resolve, how to keep the team’s DNA when quite rightly rotating our selection to ensure, for instance, that Stuart Olding most recently got valuable competitive action before making his welcome return to the senior team so successfully”. But Ulster ‘A’ is a side too where players can improve and add to the skills and potential identified by Ulster’s talent ID team. And Kiss, Neil Doak, Allen Clarke and Niall Malone recognise that only a well-organised and properly resourced ‘A’s, offering well-drilled coaching and experiencing good competitive rugby prepares the up- and-coming for an even greater test. And when players who’ve been playing with Ulster in the PRO12 or in Europe are rested, perhaps, or replaced, coming into the ‘A’ fold is not at all a demotion, it’s very much another stage on which to impress and respond.

ULSTER ‘A’ UPDATE

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