Ulster Rugby vs Glasgow Warriors

SHANAHAN WANTS TO BE THE PASS MASTER “I was on the pitch for about 15 minutes, and the pace was so great that my legs were going at the end, but I just didn’t want that final whistle to blow!

“Scrum-halves need to be assertive, to be vocal, and he’s brought that to the fore in me, and since we moved from Newforge to the facilities at Kingspan Stadium, it’s just been getting better and better, with Neil Doak and Niall Malone also being very important figures in my time here, encouraging always, but always with key messages, good advice. “We have the coaches, the Strength and Conditioning team, a gym second-to-none in Europe, and an atmosphere where everyone is working to improve themselves and the Ulster teams.” He still finds it exciting that he can find himself sitting beside established internationals who treat him as one of them, and are eager to offer advice and encouragement. He singles out Andrew Trimble as someone who’s always seen him as a team-mate, whether in the side together or not, and from Paul Marshall he’s learned so much about what professional rugby, particularly at the base of the scrum, is about. “Paul is so helpful, always so approachable. I owe him a lot, and even though I know I’m competing in his position, he’s always giving me tips and guidance. Just watching Ruan Pienaar is a masterclass of scrum-half play, he makes it look so easy! “And after arriving at the Ulster Academy, just a few months later I was playing alongside many of the senior players against Edinburgh; I hadn’t really got to know them, but I was treated as part of the squad, there to do a job, it all just felt comfortable, and it’s just got better in that way,” says Shanahan, who is determined to be ‘in the mix’ for selection for the important PRO12 games which lie ahead during the Six Nations. “I’ve played in the senior jersey eight times, and each time you want more, and I had always targeted this time of the season as a period when I might get a chance of some game time.” He’s always been noted for his sharp passing game and his swiftness around the pitch, and these base skills are not taken for granted. “At training sessions we go through a lot of complicated moves and phases, but like other players, I’ll stay on to work on the pass, to develop my kicking game.

“It was such a great experience, a big crowd, the team playing some wonderful stuff, and it just whetted my appetite for more of it!” Dave Shanahan, the 22-year-old Dubliner who has made Ulster his home, was still excited by the memory of making his European debut in the Champions Cup trouncing of Oyonnax at Kingspan Stadium three weeks ago. “I’ll never forget that feeling, of being part of something special, and though that 56-3 win wasn’t enough to see us through to the knockout stage, everyone had done their bit, and getting on the field to replace Paul Marshall was special,” the engaging pivot says. It was a reward of sorts for a young man who makes decisions on the pitch, and isn’t afraid to make them off the field either. His move to Belfast was one he weighed up carefully having been amongst a crop of outstanding young scrum- halves in Leinster. He’d played for the prestigious Belvedere College, and his smart passing and movement won him Leinster and Irish Schools honours, and his star kept rising - international Under 20 World Cup selection marking Shanahan out. “Allen Clarke was involved with Irish Schools, and I suppose a seed was planted there. In Leinster, and through the age groups, Luke McGrath always seemed to be just ahead of me, and there was never anything solid in terms of a future with Leinster, while Clarkey made it clear there was a place for me in the Academy at Ulster. “I felt I needed a change of scenery. I’d played with Rory Scholes, John Andrew and Connor Joyce so I knew the sort of talent that was coming through here, so though I might have been a bit apprehensive about leaving the security of my parents’ home, I came here in the summer of 2013,” and he says it was the best decision in his rugby career to date. “From day one, working with Kieran Campbell, Academy Manager, I knew I was in the right place to develop, to be part of something big,” he says. “Kieran’s a former Ulster scrumhalf. He doesn’t mince his words, you know where you were with him, he tells you where you need to improve, and is quick to tell you what things are going well.

DAVE SHANAHAN

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