Ulster Rugby vs Zebre

IRFU ULSTER BRANCH

PRESIDENT’S WELCOME

OFFICERS John Kinnear // President Bobby Stewart // Senior Vice President John McKibbin // Junior Vice President John McKibbin // Honorary Secretary Michael Boyd // Honorary Treasurer Denis Gardiner // Competitions Secretary STAFF Shane Logan // Chief Executive Chris Webster // Domestic Rugby Manager Audrey Robinson // Financial Controller Fiona Hampton // Head of Sales & Marketing Les Kiss // Director of Rugby (Interim)

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all here to Kingspan Stadium for this Guinness PRO12 match against Zebre.

I would like to welcome in particular our friends from Zebre Rugby: directors, players, coaches and supporters alike - I hope that you all enjoy your stay in Belfast. The game this evening is the first competitive home match of the season and Ulster will face a stern test against a strong Italian side. However, we saw last weekend that this Ulster side has tremendous character, as they battled from 32-18 down to draw the game 32 all – the highest scoring draw in the history of the PRO12. Huge credit must go to the players for their determination in that game. To leave West Wales with three points was a solid start to the campaign. That match wasn’t the only significant result of the weekend. The U20s secured a convincing win over Connacht with a strong second half yielding 24 points thanks to tries from from Connor Young, Adam Liddell, Jack Owens and Lorcan Dow. Congratulations too to the U19s and Ulster Schools who also recorded bonus point wins over Connacht. A youthful Ulster Women’s team lost against an experienced Munster side but there were plenty of positives to take from that game.

Good luck to the Ulster U19s and U20s when they take on Leinster tomorrow. The U20s game is at Kingspan Stadium and the U19s play at Deramore. With free entry for under 18s to Kingspan Stadium why not come along and support our future stars? Best wishes too to the Ulster Schools and U18 Clubs who are away to Leinster and to the Ulster Women’s team who take on Connacht in Galway. This weekend marks the start of the Ulster Bank League in Divisions 1A and 1B. Best wishes to Ballynahinch, Malone, Belfast Harlequins and Ballymena for their matches. Finally, I would like to thank our main sponsors and partners, in particular Bank of Ireland for their continued support of Ulster Rugby. I hope that you enjoy the game. Good Luck to Ulster and Stand up for the Ulstermen! Yours in Rugby John Kinnear // President IRFU (Ulster Branch)

Kingspan Stadium, 85 Ravenhill Park, Belfast, BT6 0DG T // +44 (0)28 9049 3222 ulsterrugby.com

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