Ulternative Alster Fan Club

Shooting Stars  

Never has Ulster Rugby had such a wealth of under age talent, but where will they all end up?

We have seen with Leinster and Munster that their young players would rather settle for full time deals at Connacht than development deals at their own province. Now young senior players have given up on warming the bench and have moved to Zurich Premiership teams, Jennings and Cullen to Leicester and Reddan to Wasps just a few examples. In a few years we could be looking at the same problem. At this current time we have nine Under 21 players out at the IRB Under 21 Rugby World Cup, that is a hugely impressive contribution to the squad, yet it would have been more had Lewis Stevenson and Oisin Hennesy not suffered late injuries and Tommy Bowe not been selected for the Senior tour of Japan.

Everyone knows we have some exciting talent coming through but I don’t think many know much about these players. The players being placed on development deals are in my opinion ready for game time with the senior side, they have all proved they are top quality players at AIL level so the Celtic League is the next step. Two players have especially stood out as not many players in their first year in senior rugby take AIL 1 by storm, but Stephen Ferris have laid down the marker and both are the brightest prospects we have at the minute and at 19 and 20 both players should see game time this year. Ferris a strong, lightening quick number eight has all the talent to go a long way in the game; he is prepared to learn and is rated very highly by Under 21 management. As for Trimble he made his debut for an Ulster B side at 18 and scored a try. He has the potential to be part of a very exciting young Ulster backline and with the red hand province crying out for a game breaker especially at Outside centre he could answer the call. An elusive runner with ball in hand who picks very good lines, he is also known for big hits in defence, Ulster fans can look forward to seeing a lot more of this player in the future.

While these players may be destinded to become future Ulster stars what will happen to the rest of the young players coming through, are we going to have to look at losing players to England again or possibly a solution may be to loan players to English division one or even Premier League clubs, so the players can gain first team experience before returning to Ulster as more experienced and better all round players.

The Ulster Academy currently has 17 players in it, while Trimble was fast tracked through to a development deal and he has been joined by Ryan Caldwell , Lewis Stevenson, John Andress, Oisin Hennesy and Ferris on development deals for next year.

Second row pair Caldwell and Stevenson can both look forward to game time next season as only three second rows have been given full time contracts by the Ulster Branch. While young prop Andress can learn from International props Best and Fitzpatrick. Another Fitzpatrick who will be training with the senior squad next year is young Declan Fitzpatrick, who recently moved to Dungannon from Belfast Harlequins. This season “Decky” was named in the AIL 1 team of the season and last year was a key part of the Ireland Under 21 squad at the Rugby World Cup. Technically very good, Decky has been touted to go along way, and with Rod Moore getting on in age and Simon Best looking to push into the Ireland set up possibly with namesake Justin Fitzpatrick, Declan can look to a bright future with Ulster.

The 17 Academy Members for the 2004/2005 season were as Follows:

John Andress – Belfast Harlequins (Prop)

Blair Clements – Queens (Wing)

Niall Conlon – Dublin University (Prop)

Stephen Ferris – Dungannon (Number 8)

Oisin Hennesy – Dungannon (Openside Flanker)

Chris Henry – Malone (Blindeside Flanker)

Thomas Horner – Dublin University (Full back)

Mark Kettyle – Belfast Harlequins (Wing)

Jamie McGrugan – Ballymena (Wing)

Michael McKeever – Belfast Harlequins (Inside Centre)

Paul McKenzie – Belfast Harlequins (Wing)

Gary Maxwell – Dungannon (Prop)

Stewart Megaw – Queens (Inside Centre)

Mark Scott – Ballynahinch (Inside Centre)

Gareth Steenson – Dungannon (Fly half)

Lewis Stevenson – Belfast Harlequins (Second Row)

Glen Telford – Dungannon (Inside Centre)

Paul Marshall – Ballynahinch (Scrum half)

As well as these players a few school boy players from the 2004/2005 season to keep a look out for are as follows:

Owen McMurray – Methody (Wing/Out half)

David Pollock – Royal School Dungannon (Number 8)

William Falloon – Royal School Armagh (Openside Flanker)

Adam Bartholemew - Royal School Armagh (Scrum half)

Ian Whitten – Wallace High (Inside Centre)

Darren Cave – Sullivan Upper (Inside Centre)

Thomas Anderson – Rainey (Second Row)

Now that is a lot of young talented players coming through, and there is a lot I haven’t mentioned. Where will they go, they can’t all get development deals, especially with the Ulster Branch’s policy of all players on development contracts having to be assigned to an AIL 1 club, will this mean a change of policy by the Branch? I would very much doubt it. It didn’t hurt Tommy Bowe to spend two years at Queens and learn his way, so why can’t our best youngsters choose what club they go to instead of being “advised” or instructed to by certain members of our coaching staff?

As for breaking in to the Ulster side, I have a very strong view that if you are on form then you should be in no matter what age you are, if this was the case I would have a few changes to next years team:

15 Bryn Cunningham

14 Andrew Maxwell

13 Andrew Trimble

12 Paul Steinmetz

11 Tommy Bowe

10 David Humphreys

9 Keiran Campbell

1 Justin Fitzpatrick

2 Rory Best

3 Simon Best

4 Matt McCullough

5 Justin Harrison

6 Roger Wilson

7 Neil Best

8 Stephen Ferris

16 Paul Shields

17 Bryan Young

18 Ryan Caldwell

19 Campbell Feather

20 Issac Boss

21 Paddy Wallace

22 Kevin Maggs

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