It’s been a long, rainy summer in The Archipelago’s adopted Edinburgh. More importantly, it’s been a long, rainy time since The Archipelago last saw any meaningful rugby. A distraction or two in May and an inconveniently timed holiday in June and July wrote-off the end of Ulster’s season, Ireland’s summer tour, the Churchill Cup and, most gallingly of all, the Lions tour.

Worst of all, the calling of Italy next weekend means that, for The Archipelago, active involvement in the season may not begin until the trip to the Liberty Stadium on the 12th September. That said, if good news filters through to Rome from Rodney Parade, I might yet be found wandering around The Vatican on Sunday afternoon with an Ulster fleg (yella, of course).

The dearth of rugby in these summer months has taken its toll in ways – Friday nights with a beer and the game were replaced with more wholesome activities; crossword puzzles and Scrabble instead of crunching tackles, concussions and bloody noses; civilised conversation instead of the various yelps of agony and Palaeolithic grunting that would punctuate the average Ulster performance.

It was a strange time for The Archipelago. While there is some satisfaction in remembering that Muscat is the capital of Oman or in getting 66 points in a triple word score for “quiz”, it simply doesn’t compare to the memory of Tom Court rumbling over the line to secure a winning bonus point at Thomond Park or that of Rory Best touching down in terrible conditions against Harlequins. The summer may well have been much more refined but, bloody hell; it’s good to have rugby back.

It’s a difficult enough old start to the season for Ulster. Beginning with two trips to Wales and playing three of the first four games away from home would probably not have been a start Brian McLaughlin and the Ulster coaching staff would have wanted. As they will know, it will be in these early days that the confidence of a talented, but youthful and inexperienced team will be made, or utterly destroyed.

Away games against the Dragons and Connacht would be earmarked as potential victories in average seasons and, given the involvement of new fewer than six Ospreys with the Lions in the summer, there are certainly worse times for a visit to Swansea. Add in the annual Ravenhill slugfest against Edinburgh, which has gone the way of Ulster four times in the last five seasons and there are reasonable grounds for at least a little optimism, amidst this relative adversity.

Two victories in these four games would, in reality, be an excellent return for Ulster but it’s not unrealistic to see the potential for 12 points or more, especially when pre-season form is considered. There may not be massive value in attempting to draw inference from Ulster’s shape in these matches; Viadana was no real challenge and how differently the scoreboard could have looked, and the game unfolded, against Newcastle had the Falcons taken points that were on offer.

That said, the results speak for themselves; you have to go back to the halcyon days before European Cup rugby to find the last time Ulster won any kind of fixture in England, which in itself can hardly fail to improve morale. The quality of Worcester Warriors has been questioned, not least by their own fans, but let us not forget that this is a team who defeated a strong Ulster selection, at Ravenhill, little over a year ago. Preseason is a different beast to competitive rugby, of course, but it’s been a long time since Ulster had a clean sweep in friendlies and confidence must surely by high amongst the squad as a result.

Despite earlier worries about the strength in depth of the Ulster squad, preseason form seems to suggest that McLaughlin will have at least some selection dilemmas for this coming Sunday. Every one who played in Ulster's backrow can take some positives from these performances and there are clearly options for the wings and centres, given the shifts put in by the likes of Mark McCrea, Ian Whitten and perhaps even Nevin Spence, not to mention the reassuringly positive performances from players still in Ulster's academy or plugging away in the AIL.

Nagusa’s hat trick against Viadana will have given McLaughin food for thought. Ultimately, highlighted the value of flat-out pace, not to mention the defensive leaps that Viadana will have to make before the Italian sides join the Magners League, but his all-round game is still imperfect and it would probably serve Ulster better to release this weapon against tired legs.

In general, McLaughlin’s selections throughout the friendlies have been interesting, not least in selecting Andrew Trimble to play at outside centre against Worcester. It should be noted that Matt Williams played Trimble at 13 against Worcester last year, as well but kept his competitive appearances restricted, almost entirely, to the wing.

With a full preseason under his belt, and his niggling injuries seemingly a thing of the past, we may see Trimble return to form but he still needs consistency of selection. A straight fight with Darren Cave for the 13 shirt may not be one Trimble can win, and it makes little sense for Ulster to confine one of the best strike runners in Ireland to covering a position that, still, may not be his best. Cave is an outside centre in a very classic mould and could easily flower and flourish into a serious talent in this area; Trimble has the athleticism and physicality to be successful on the wing, especially if his training is focused towards correcting his deficiencies in this position.

A couple of accomplished performances from Faloon suggest that he should make the 7 shirt his own, while Chris Henry has certainly done enough to secure a starting berth in the absence of Stephen Ferris. Robbie Diack should complete the backrow with O’Donoghue and Caldwell again packing down in the second row.

The front row poses an interesting question of McLaughlin and has, strangely, become an area at Ulster in which competition is at its strongest. The absence of Rory Best gives both Andy Kyriacou and Nigel Brady a chance to contest, not only the Ulster shirt but also, potentially, for Irish involvement as well. As expected, preseason showed that there is little to choose between the hookers but Kyriacou, perhaps, shaded it. Loosehead is another tight call – Court may well take the shirt for the glut of the season but his involvement with Ireland means that Bryan Young will be more closely acquainted with Kyriacou and should start against the Dragons.

Young is now 28 years old and has failed, in many ways, to live up to the promise that he showed in his early career but the talent is still there. With the correct mentality, Young has the ability to be an excellent loosehead prop and Brian McLaughlin and Jeremy Davidson may well be the duo to get that effort and application out of him.

Half back is, again, where the real questions must be asked. The absolute paucity of leadership at Ulster suggests that Isaac Boss will be indispensable, at least in the early season. Much responsibility now lies with Boss, along with Paddy Wallace, to lead the backs. At outhalf, Ian Humphreys still seems like the only viable choice.

He may well still prove a defensive problem - indeed, we need hope that he is not growing his facial hair until has a successful game in defence; should that be the case, his Kings of Leon look may well pass into the realms of Tolstoy or ZZ Top - and he still seems likely to blow hot and cold but in terms of what is offered in attack, he is streets ahead of Niall O’Connor. I have written, many times, that Ulster’s problems last season were in attack, not defence. With this in mind, Humphreys needs to lead the line and to get Ulster into the face of the opposition.

Precisely how Ulster will fare this season is hard to predict. There are the usual trade-offs between what we’d all love to see and what would constitute meaningful improvement; between what we think the team should be capable of and what it is capable of. And this is not to mention the disturbingly low expectations a number of Ulster fans seem to have of the opposition, especially in the Magners League. Ulster’s big problems in recent times have been in attack, in converting pressure into points, in taking opportunities when they become available and in consistently performing at the highest level of individual and team ability. Sadly, these are areas that, above all else, can by improved by experience, composure and leadership and these are things that Ulster are still unlikely to have in abundance.

In reality, home wins in the Heineken Cup and a mid-table Magners League finish may be the best that we can hope for. It could well be another long, frustrating season for Ulster. Another season of manic yelps and Palaeolithic grunting may well be the order of the day. Exasperating basic errors may well be removed, as one would expect from any side coached by McLaughlin, but the maddening inconsistency of a young side, the pain of coming out the loser in tight games that should have been won and an occasional drubbing away from home may well remain for another season at least.

I don’t know about you all but if it’s a choice between this and the next best alternative of the long, rugbyless summer, I know which I’d chose every time.

C’mon Ulsterrrrrrr!

The Archipelago’s XV for The Dragons:

15. Bryn Cunningham
14. Andrew Trimble
13. Darren Cave
12. Paddy Wallace
11. Simon Danielli
10. Ian Humphreys
9. Isaac Boss

1. Bryan Young
2. Andy Kyriacou
3. BJ Botha
4. Ed O’Donoghue
5. Ryan Caldwell
6. Chris Henry
7. Willie Faloon
8. Robbie Diack

16. Nigel Brady
17. Tom Court
18. Dan Tuohy
19. Matt McCullough
20. Cillian Willis
21. Ian Whitten
22. Timoci Nagusa