Ulster Rugby vs Glasgow Warriors

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 EXECUTIVE TEAM 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 Glasgow Warriors.

I would like to welcome in particular our friends from Glasgow: directors, players, supporters and coaches. Glasgow will be without doubt the toughest side that we have faced so far this season. Last year’s finalists, they are top of the PRO12 and are unbeaten with five wins out of five. Gregor Townsend and his team have done an outstanding job at Scotstoun and we look forward to a fantastic match between these two sides. Last week, we defeated Edinburgh by 30 points to nil here at Kingspan Stadium. That result, against a dogged Scottish side, demonstrated the tremendous character that exists among these Ulster players and bodes well for the three huge matches that we have coming up, starting with Glasgow this evening. This week it was announced that Neil Doak has been appointed Ulster Rugby Head Coach and that Les Kiss will be returning in a year’s time as Director of Rugby. I would like to wish both Neil and Les my wholehearted congratulations. Neil has been at Ulster Rugby for the best part of two decades. He has coached at every level within the professional game at the Province and I am delighted that he has been appointed as Head Coach. The IRFU kindly lent us Les after the departures of David Humphreys and Mark Anscombe and he has made a huge impact in recent months. While we might be sorry to see him go in the

short term, the priority for Les and for everyone involved in the Irish set-up is the Rugby World Cup next autumn. We wish him well as he leaves us and look forward to him returning next November to begin his full time role with Ulster Rugby. The Ravens began their British and Irish Cup match this afternoon. If you are free next Saturday afternoon, why not warm up for Ulster’s Champions Cup game against Leicester Tigers by watching their second game in the competition, against Yorkshire Carnegie, here at Kingspan Stadium kick off 2.30pm? I would like to thank our host broadcaster for this evening, Sky Sports. The ‘Sky treatment’ is a phrase that is often used to describe the fantastic coverage that they give sport in the UK and Ireland. We welcome Sky’s cameras to Kingspan Stadium and thank them for their support of the Guinness PRO12. Finally, Tonight is a special night for our partnership with our Charity of the Year, Mencap. Fans have been urged to wear wacky socks and shoes and bucket collectors will be around the ground. Please donate as much as you can to this fantastic cause and help support Mencap’s ‘Big Step Forward’ appeal. 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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