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New Season
The Archipelago, it seems, is forever destined to be wrong. At the precise moment he chose to abandon all optimism, Ulster have their best start to a Magners League campaign since 2006. This is a competition, I’m sure I won’t be allowed to forget, in which I suggested Ulster would be doomed to mediocrity for at least one more season. That prediction may well stand to be true over the rough and tumble of a long Magners League season but I am, for the moment at least, content to ride the train of ludicrous optimism. Ulster for the World Cup…
In the grand scheme of things, these two wins don’t mean much. To recycle an old cliché, the season isn’t won in the first two games. Lose the next two games and the team is back in exactly the same boat they have been in for the last few years. Unlike those seasons, however, there is a platform to kick-off from; two wins from two is better than none from two, or one from two…
Ulster’s next three league games are all eminently winnable. Edinburgh have lost five games on the bounce, Ulster have a point to prove against Glasgow and while Connacht have started the season brightly, their record against Ulster, even at the Sportsground, is nothing short of abysmal. To be sitting on the eve of a home Heineken Cup opener with five competitive wins on the bounce… Well, that’s never actually happened before. Not that I’m getting carried away, you understand.
I’ve said before that real improvement from this Ulster side will be in winning, consistently, against teams like Glasgow and Edinburgh. Neither side is a walk-over, as Ulster have found in recent seasons but nor are they chocked full of the biggest names in the sport. They are spirited teams who know how to play well together as a single unit. They are difficult to beat and that is why Ulster need to consistently target victories against these sides. That is a much more meaningful form of progress than a stand-alone win in Swansea or Limerick.
This unity is a skill that Ulster simply have not developed in recent seasons. It is the next step for a developing team but it seems like I’ve been saying that forever. Precisely why the team hasn’t gelled before now isn’t easy to answer. The consistently changing personnel and management can’t have helped, nor can the lack of natural leaders in the squad or the youth of the side.
Perhaps, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves after only two games but the signs of burgeoning unity and maturity now seem apparent. The performance in Italy last week was poor. Indeed, even the performance against the Ospreys was error strewn and mediocre. Despite this, Ulster came away with the victories. In both games, Ulster forged ahead and lost the lead. The fortitude to get back into winning positions, and then to hold on for the victory in both games is something that has been missing in recent times.
The fact that Ulster have put in two sub-par performances and come away with two victories is a welcome step-change for a team that, too often, has put in on-par performances and come away with nothing. To leave points on the park and still come away with victories is better than leaving points on the park and losing. These are games that Ulster would not have won last season. The fact that heads did not go down when early leads slipped in both games points to the emergence of serious leadership on the park. While Muller and Wannenberg bring their own, significant, talents they also bring a grit and a desire for victory that few players in this Ulster side have ever had.
Ulster are getting stronger every week; the return of Trimble and Botha for the visit of Edinburgh will be added to by the arrival of Ruan Pienaar in Belfast this week and the return of Dan Tuohy and Simon Danielli. If Ulster can continue to grind out victories, they should peak for the visit to Biarritz.
The fact now stands that Ulster have a pack capable of putting the fear of God into anyone they will face. McLaughlin’s rotation of front and back rows is a signal of the strength that is there but the fact that all of those who have taken to the field, apart from perhaps Bryan Young who has struggled in the scrum, have put in fantastic performances is even more pleasurable. It is entirely feasible that Chris Henry, an Irish international, might not make the 23-man squad for the first Heineken Cup match and that Nigel Brady, or Andi Kyriacou, could displace Rory Best.
While Muller will be certain to start in the second row, exactly who will partner him is anyone’s guess – Barker has been almost exceptional in the opening two games, while Tuohy is coming off notable performances in Oceania in the summer and Ryan Caldwell finds himself, once more, with it all to prove. It is not just Ulster’s starting pack that is a ferocious image; there is meaningful competition in almost every position.
The Ulster pack that will line-up against Edinburgh tomorrow already looks stronger than the Scottish opposition on paper and when you consider Best, Botha, Barker and Wannenberg can all be sprung from the bench, just how solid a unit is on the books at Ravenhill becomes apparent.
Edinburgh look to have enough to compete with Ulster for sixty minutes but how tired and inexperienced legs can cope with a rampaging Wannenberg or the return of a world class tighthead is another matter. Victory is not assured for Ulster but with the extra dimension and experience brought by Trimble and Emerick in the backs, it will be a significant disappointment and a serious step backwards if Ulster don’t make it three from three.
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