Ulster Rugby vs Zebre

IT’S THE AGE OF THE SQUAD ULSTER and the revamped Guinness PRO12 League are up-and-running!

by ROD NAWN

The deftness and intelligence we have come to expect of the Ulster players, so well-coached and so driven, will be matched by just how cleverly resources at Kingspan are handled. Just as we await Ruan Pienaar’s arrival after he completes his campaign in the Rugby Championship with South Africa so too we know that Ireland’s call to Belfast will be a widespread one. Success – and Ulster has set many such ‘markers’ over the last decade – brings recognition to the individuals concerned, so Chris Henry, skipper Rory Best, Rob Herring, Declan Fitzpatrick, Robbie Diack, Iain Henderson, Dan Tuohy, Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Luke Marshall, Tommy Bowe, Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall, the restored Stuart Olding, Craig Gilroy and newly-qualified Jared Payne can expect to be involved busily in Ulster and Ireland training camps for the year ahead. And others too will catch Joe Schmidt’s eye, be assured. So never has it been truer that the strength of a side is judged by the quality and range of its squad. In that regard Ulster is in a very good place, for Rory Scholes, Michael Heaney, Michael Allen, Sean Reidy and Mike McComish – for example – won’t regard themselves as anything other than in the top tier, they and others determined to give their all and to be in as many matchday panels as fitness and form allows. Ian Humphreys’ has returned to the fold and slipped comfortably into the No. 10 spot, offering the seamless continuity the management was so keen to ensure as Jackson’s international star continues to rise. And, modest and rooted though he is, Ian doesn’t cross the whitewash believing he’s anyone but the right choice. As the Scarlets learned last Saturday! So, for those who may think that the many references which coaches make to the value of ‘the squad’ are rather glib, think again. It’s not just a fifteen-man game, or even a 23- man game, it’s about a side picked to supply a performance and a result and backed up by a support system on the bench, on the training ground, and managed and coached by professionals with a keen, undimmed enthusiasm for rugby and keeping Ulster at the top table. It’s a sport now which offers opportunity for so many, and to ‘make the cut’ into the squad is a recognition of being special, of being an Ulster player.

The early preparatory jousting with Exeter and at Leinster indeed did fulfil a vital service to interim Director of Rugby Les Kiss. Some players not immediately identified as ‘starters’ demonstrated their quality, and – importantly – their readiness for the heat of competitive battle. Some new recruits, experienced and less hardened, pulled the jersey on for the first time and suddenly Ludik, Scholes, Warwick, Ricky and John Andrew, Butterworth, Herbst, Stockdale and Van der Merwe were elevated into the fans’ consciousness as part of the Ulster family. It’s almost a cliché, not confined to rugby, but team sport at the top level now most assuredly is about the strength and breadth of the squad. There are league games aplenty - and this Friday night at Kingspan Stadium will generate a special fervour – and there are exciting European challenges to come in the Champions’ Cup. Les Kiss, and perhaps especially Neil Doak, Jonny Bell and Allen Clarke, will want a deep pool of committed talent to call on in the months ahead. It’s not just the proliferation of games which requires the rotation of players to get appropriate rest, but injuries are the anticipated but always unpredictable hurdles which must be overcome: confidence in the players asked to step up and indeed make a case for retention will be high this season. That is evidenced by the attacking verve shown against Exeter in Belfast, the gritty discipline on show in the defeat of Leinster at Tallaght, and the combination of those – allied to the genuine character which saw points secured in last weekend’s thrilling draw in the ‘opener’ at Scarlets – hints at a season which could surprise those who felt the Province might need a year for transition on and off the field. But the performance in Llanelli, for instance, was achieved without a clutch of Ireland internationals who will be gradually ‘weaned’ back into the fray. The player management protocols may frustrate club coaches at times, but it has proved its worth at the very top level. Players are limited in the number of games they will play in a season to ensure their skills, fitness and energies are sustained. Les Kiss, with his double role with Ulster and with Ireland, will attest to how successful such well-monitored care has helped the national side in recent years, and he will be particularly expert at marking out the games and the teams which require ‘horses for courses’. The autumn internationals and the 2015 Six Nations Championship have assumed even greater import in a fifteen-month cycle which will climax with a World Cup next year.

Article by Rod Nawn Freelance Journalist and Sports Enthusiast @RODNAWN1

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