Wednesday 11th June
Ulster chief confident Ulster will remain a force in Europe
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/sport/rugby ... -1-6111196Ulster Rugby chief executive officer, Shane Logan, said he was confident the club would continue to be a major force in Europe in spite of the many changes - expected and unexpected - which have taken place recently.
On Tuesday the Irish Province were handed a formidable task in the inaugural European Champions Cup.
Ulster were placed in a heavyweight Pool Three with defending European champions, Toulon, English Premiership giants, Leicester Tigers and top Welsh seeds, Scarlets.
It is arguably one of the toughest draw of the five pools - although Munster also face a stern test facing English heavyweights Saracens, French side ASM Clermont and another Premiership side, Sale Sharks.
Yesterday’s draw in Switzerland for the tournament which replaces the Heineken Cup after 19 years brought to an end an eventual seven days for Ulster.
Last Tuesday, international backrow, Stephen Ferris confirmed he would be retiring from the game due to injury.
Last Thursday, Ulster announced a landmark deal when they sold the naming rights of the newly developed Ravenhill stadium.
Kingspan Environmental agreed a 10-year deal, worth in the region of £5 million, to have the famous Belfast ground named ‘Kingspan Stadium’.
And just as Ulster fans were debating that issue, the club then dropped a massive bombshell on Saturday announcing the shock departure of director of rugby, David Humphreys.
The 42-year-old, who had enjoyed a 22-year relationship with the club on and off the field is taking a similar position with immediate effect at English side, Gloucester.
His departure, Ferris’ retirement as well as the departure of Johann Muller, Tom Court and John Afoa, has left considerable voids in the team.
Ulster have signed South Africans, Louis Ludik (utility back), Francois van der Mewre (lock) and prop Williem Herbst and some lesser known names, but fans have taken to social media and forums voicing their concerns.
Following yesterday’s tough ERCC draw, Logan said he believes the Province is continuing the strengthen it’s position as a major force in Europe.
He added: “We’ve lost some magnificent servants but I think it’s fair to say that several of them were towards the end of their careers.
“So what we’ve done is bring in younger, but experienced players, as it’s important to build for the future.
“We also have a very strong crop of local players. We had the largest contingent of any province starting for Ireland on Saturday and we are investing heavily in our succession. We also have players like Stuart Olding who is a fantastic prospect but missed all of last season through injury.
“We have depth throughout the squad and world class quality in nearly every position,” added the Ulster CEO.
Brutal draw for Ulster Rugby in new look European Champions Cup
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/sport/rugby ... -1-6110255Ulster will face back-to-back European champions Toulon in the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup competition next year.
The big paying star-studded French club, who Jonny Wilkinson led to double Heineken Cup success in the past two seasons, are among the favourites to win the new look tournament.
Toulon and Ulster are drawn in what is a hugely competitive Pool Three along with English Premiership giants, Leicester Tigers and Welsh PRO12 side, Scarlets.
The new European tournament replaces the Heineken Cup, which ran for 19 years. The 20 clubs from the PRO12, English Premiership and French Top14, for the first time qualified on merit.
Recently crowned Aviva Premiership champions, Northampton Saints, were drawn in Pool Five of the and will face Racing Metro 92, Ospreys and Benetton Treviso when the 20th season of European club rugby kicks off in October while the top seeds from the Aviva Premiership, Saracens, will be up against two-time European champions, Munster Rugby, ASM Clermont Auvergne and Sale Sharks in a heavyweight Pool 1.
Leinster Rugby, who were the number one-ranked club from the Pro12, take on Castres Olympique, Harlequins and London Wasps in Pool 2, with the number two-ranked club from the Pro12, Glasgow Warriors, drawn in Pool 4 against Montpellier, Bath Rugby and Toulouse.
Exeter Chiefs, the number one-ranked Aviva Premiership club in the 2014/15 European Rugby Challenge Cup, find themselves in Pool 2 along with Bayonne, Connacht Rugby and La Rochelle.
The pool draws for both the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup - replacing the Amlin Challenge Cup - were compered by Craig Doyle of BT Sports and Raphael Ibanez, and conducted by three-time European tournament winner, Simon Shaw, and Scott Quinnell of Sky Sports.
The pool stage draws are:
2014/15 European Rugby Champions Cup
Pool 1: Saracens, Munster Rugby, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Sale Sharks
Pool 2: Leinster Rugby, Castres Olympique, Harlequins, London Wasps
Pool 3: RC Toulon, Leicester Tigers, Ulster Rugby, Scarlets
Pool 4: Glasgow Warriors, Montpellier, Bath Rugby, Toulouse
Pool 5: Northampton Saints, Racing Metro 92, Ospreys, Benetton Treviso
2014/15 European Rugby Challenge Cup
Pool 1: Cardiff Blues, London Irish, Grenoble, FIRA-AER 1
Pool 2: Exeter Chiefs, Bayonne, Connacht Rugby, La Rochelle
Pool 3: Stade Francais Paris, NG Dragons, Newcastle Falcons, FIRA-AER 2
Pool 4: Edinburgh Rugby, Bordeaux-Begles, London Welsh, Lyon
Pool 5: Gloucester Rugby, Brive, Zebre, Oyonnax
Pool stage dates
Round 1: 16/17/18/19 October 2014
Round 2: 23/24/25/26 October 2014
Round 3: 4/5/6/7 December 2014
Round 4: 11/12/13/14 December 2014
Round 5: 15/16/17/18 January 2015
Round 6: 22/23/24/25 January 2015
Ulster Rugby faces massive challenge in new Euro cup
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport ... 43670.htmlIt is a cliché to talk in terms of a 'group of death' but that was the reaction of many Ulster supporters following the draw for the new-look European Rugby Champions Cup.
Ulster have been pitted against mighty Toulon, old European adversaries Leicester Tigers and fellow-PRO12 side, Scarlets.
Having won the Heineken Cup in each of the past two seasons, Toulon are aiming for the first ever hat-trick in the competition's history.
Jonny Wilkinson, who captained the French giants in each of the past two campaigns, may have hung up his boots but he is returning to Stade Félix Mayol in a coaching capacity.
And such is the strength and depth of their expensively assembled squad that they are probably the best-equipped club in the northern hemisphere to withstand that loss.
Leicester are no strangers and, encouragingly, Ulster's record against them is impressive. This will be the fourth time they have squared up in Europe and Ulster have won four of their previous six against these opponents.
That quartet of victories includes the Tigers' two worst-ever defeats in the competition – 33-0 in Belfast (2003-04) and 41-7 (2012-13).
And last year, of course, Ulster managed a home and away double over the Richard Cockerill-coached Aviva Premiership side, winning the October 11 tie at Ravenhill 22-16 and then squeezing home 22-19 in the Welford Road return on January 18 – the first time Leicester had lost a Heineken Cup home game since Munster beat them in the opening pool-stage match of 2007-08.
Scarlets and Ulster know one another inside out as a result of their regular meetings on the domestic front.
Ulster's chief executive, Shane Logan, described the draw as 'tough, achievable and very exciting'. "We knew it was going to be tough; with now only 20 teams in the competition it makes it harder," he said.
"I don't think we have anything to fear – I'm not underestimating the task but we're getting better at winning away in big games; last year we won at Leicester and Montpellier."
As for the prospect of welcoming the holders to Kingspan Stadium, his take on Toulon's visit was: "It's a magnificent fixture – it's mouth watering. We believe we have, perhaps, Europe's best stadium and we want to have Europe's best teams playing at it.
"That's the beauty of this competition and that's the beauty of what we're trying to create. Toulon have a team that is star-studded with some of the world's best players and they'll bring a big crowd over. And I know that our crowd will more than rival them.
"It's great for Ulster Rugby and it will be a pleasure to welcome them to Kingspan Stadium."
As for the other two in Pool 3, Logan said: "We're well used to playing Leicester. And interestingly, when we've had them in our pool, we've gone through to the quarter-finals.
"I think we are the only team in Europe to have gone through to the last eight in each of the last four years. It will be tough, enjoyable, but we'll do our best to make it five years in a row.
"You can't underestimate Scarlets. They beat us well away from home last season (in the PRO12) although we beat them well in Belfast. It's always tough – they play attractive rugby and have a fine coach in Simon Easterby."
His overall assessment was: "We've lost some magnificent servants, but several were towards the end of their careers. So what we've done is bring in younger, but experienced players, to build for the future.
"We also have a very strong crop of local players. We had the largest contingent of any province starting for Ireland on Saturday and we are investing heavily in our succession.
"We also have players like Stuart Olding, who missed all of last season through injury. We have depth and world-class quality in most positions."
Rory Best took to Twitter to have his say. He tweeted: "Tough draw, but exciting times ahead, the Kingspan Stadium will be rocking for the three home games!!"
Ulster's former director of rugby David Humphreys will take on the Challenge Cup next season, his new club Gloucester having failed to qualify for the main event.
The south-westerners will face Brive, Zebre and Oyonnax.
Leinster – winners in 2009, 2011 and 2012 – have drawn Castres Olympique, Harlequins and London Wasps, while Munster – champions in 2006 and 2008 – will face Mark McCall's Saracens who were runners-up last season, ASM Clermont Auvergne and Sale Sharks.
Ulster star Iain Henderson determined to learn from Joe Schmidt
http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/r ... 44709.htmlADJUSTING to the ways of Joe Schmidt can take some time it seems, but by the sounds of things, it doesn't take long to learn what the Ireland coach expects of his players.
Having missed the November Internationals, Iain Henderson found out all about the New Zealander in the spring and, despite being warned by team-mates about what was coming, he still had to learn the hard way. A former headmaster, Schmidt expects his players to have their homework done and for them to turn up for work ready to go.
"He caught me a good few times at the start when I was a little off guard," the young Ulster second-row said. "I'd heard people talking about it. I was injured during the November series and I heard people talking about the detail required from the likes of Luke Marshall and Paddy Jackson and all the boys who were down. "I wasn't quite prepared or hadn't realised exactly what it was like and during the Six Nations games it came as a bit of a shock, whereas now I've had a whole Six Nations of it, so I knew what I was getting myself into. "It just ensures you've got everything nailed off and, come match day, it makes you feel so much more comfortable about yourself.
"You might be a wee bit less comfortable during the week in training, you might be a bit nervous or what not, but come match day, you know your detail because there's no other option. "It's all about detail with Joe, make sure everything is nailed off. There's no point in turning up to training if you don't know what your plays are.
"Schmidt is a fan of the 22-year-old who already has 11 caps to his name and was so impressive for Ulster in recent months. Still, there is room for improvement and the coach has a clear idea of what the lock needs to do . "He's making progress. But, it's funny, you look at Donnacha Ryan or Devin Toner, there is something about the age of 26, 27 that a second-row starts to really develop into the type of player who can compete internationally," Schmidt said.
"To fast track someone like Iain Henderson as a kid is a difficult proposition for the player himself and the things we demand of him. If Paul (O'Connell)'s down or takes a knock and Iain has to suddenly call a line-out, he's got to know those line-outs inside out, he's got to read the defence that the Argentinians are putting up.
"Those are the unseen aspects that are a real challenge for somebody like Iain who is a natural ball-carrier, a naturally powerful kid, although not in the same realm as the Stephen Ferris or Sean O'Brien category, but he's a quality young player. "The difficulty presented to Henderson is the quality of second-row partner he regularly packs down with.
"If Johann goes off and Dan's on, Dan will be calling, so you mightn't get the opportunity to do that," he said. "So, I have been working on other aspects of my game, so maybe next year when Johann is away and there is only Dan there with a few others, I might get an opportunity to do that.
"It is just that I'm more happy with getting match minutes under my belt and that's why my performances started to get better towards the end of the season, because I was able to get into the game, because I had the 80 minutes under my belt."
Iain Henderson happy to buy into Joe Schmidt’s demanding routine in Argentina Gerry T
Having missed out on November series, Ulster star is enjoying playing catch-up with Ireland squad
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/i ... -1.1827394Having missed out on the November Tests through injury, Iain Henderson has been playing catch-up under Joe Schmidt’s watch, which as many players have testified, is not always ideal. Saturday’s first Test was only Henderson’s second under the Irish coach, along with the penultimate Six Nations win over Italy, but the signs are that he is getting there.
Henderson is a huge talent, wonderfully athletic and skilful for such a big man who has a real attitude about him on the pitch, and as Schmidt said afterwards, the 6ft 6ins (1.98m), 116kg (18st 3lbs) lock-gum-flanker is growing all the time. Henderson wouldn’t be known for his attention to detail in training but has clearly learned to do things the Schmidt way.
Asked yesterday what was the best piece of advice the Irish coach had given him in the last year, Henderson immediately and predictably replied: “Know your detail.” He added: “It’s all about detail with Joe, make sure everything is nailed off.
“There’s no point in turning up to training if you don’t know what your plays are. You need to make sure you’ve done all your homework on yourself and the opposition, you’ve watched your training sessions just past, you know what they’re going to be like, you know what their lineouts are, you know what their plays are and what not.
“It’s very intense and I think it’s fantastic.
‘Switched on’
“I think he keeps everyone switched on. Everyone really respects him and I think in training that goes a long way when everyone respects the coach.”
Like everyone, but all the more so later additions to the squad, Henderson has been chastised by the demanding Schmidt along the way. “He caught me a good few times at the start when I was a little off guard. I’d heard people talking about it. I was injured during the November series and I missed that, and I heard people talking about the detail required from the likes of Luke Marshall and Paddy Jackson and all the boys who were down.
“I wasn’t quite prepared or hadn’t realised exactly what it was like and during the Six Nations games it came as a bit of a shock, whereas down here now I’ve had a whole Six Nations of it so I knew what I was getting myself into it. It just ensures you’ve got everything nailed off and come match day it makes you feel so much more comfortable about yourself.
“You might be a wee bit less comfortable during the week in training, you might be a wee bit nervous or what not, but come match day you know your detail because there’s no other options during the week.”
From the outside, this sounds very intense and exacting, yet the eagerness and enthusiasm with which players roll up for duty and buy into this demanding regime is also palpable, and for one main reason.
“I think that’s because people enjoy it when you’re winning and Joe seems to put the pressure to get the result,” explained Henderson.
“I think that pressure, as it pays off, that’s why people enjoy it. At the start it was a bit ‘oh flip, this is all so intense’ but when you see it paying off you think ‘it was worth it then’ and it gets people in good mindsets. ‘If we’re doing all this homework it’s going to pay off and it’s going to work for us’.”
Less Kiss will be looking for significant improvement in backline tackling Gerry T
Ireland missed 16 tackles against Argentina, of which 11 were made by an unusually porous backline
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/l ... 419?page=2Aside from not rewarding visits deep into the Pumas’ 22 with scores, by far the most disappointing aspect of the Irish performance in last Saturday’s first Test were the amount of missed tackles. Ireland missed 16 tackles, of which 11 were made by an unusually porous Irish backline.
Allowance has to be made for the team having been re-jigged and with it being so rusty – 13 of the starting side hadn’t played in three or four weeks, including the entire backline. There could be up to a further seven changes to the run-on XV for the second Test when the team is announced tomorrow, but even so Ireland, and especially defence coach Les Kiss, will be looking for a significant improvement.
“I was disappointed with a couple of elements of defence. Rightfully the players were as well. There were some good things as well but more important there was just one-on-one misses, particularly in the back line which was disappointing.
“That is probably an individual focus for each player, a concentration focus to make sure that you are at the top of your technique because these individuals are very sharp. They have great footwork, they are very strong. We talked about it before the game last week that we cannot just enter a tackle zone and go through the motions. You’ve got to hit, stick and finish off the back end because they are good fighters and they work.”
Kiss largely absolved the pack, where Chris Henry, Iain Henderson and Robbie Diack led the way with 36 tackles between them and only two missed, but what compounded the defensive flaws was the amount of preparatory work they had done on these Pumas. “We had video profiles on these players, we know them inside out basically and we offered them opportunities. I’ll be looking for an increase in focus and concentration and making sure that individually they’re nailed on. If that drops a bit it does give them a chance.”
Defensive coach
The Irish defensive coach singled out the Argentine left-winger Manual Montero. “We just didn’t knock the boy over. If you give him that space he is dangerous. That’s one example. The bottom line for me was we did scramble really well and sometimes the things the things that do define you isn’t the perfection of the system but it’s how you fight your way out of the crap when it happens. We healed ourselves pretty well most of the time but individuals probably need to get in front of certain things and we’ll keep working on our system.”
Montero’s opposite winger, Andrew Trimble, was unusually the most culpable along with Luke Marshall in missing three tackles, but in mitigation of the Ulster winger, he was coming up against a big, strong, quick and surprisingly nimble-footed winger, the kind who would assuredly have landed a Top 14 or Premiership club by now were it not for the Pumas’ commitments to the Rugby Championship making them less attractive to French and English owners.
Kiss admitted there is “something quite special” about the 22-year-old winger, who has scored 12 tries in 11 Test matches, adding: “There is something about him, he just goes for things. He has got a nice gait. Some people who run with a gait it’s difficult to get on to and it surprises you even when he stops and he starts when he went for the corner. Trimbee was just about to jump him, chop him or give him an ankle tap and he has stopped and it put him out of stride so he has got this knack and rhythm that is a really a good place for him. He is a good player but I’d also say we gave him some space to show that too much. Hopefully we don’t offer that again.
‘Take his space’
“You have just got to stay big, get into him, take his space and chop, you have just got to be able to surprise his elements and take away the areas he feels comfortable in. If you can change that, then he has got to find another solution and maybe he doesn’t have that solution yet.”
The Irish management will be keeping an intent eye on all of the 29-man squad each day – “we are assessing them all the time, there’s no qualms about that” – for the remainder of what Kiss says has been an informative tour.
Kiss himself will then travel to Romania to see the Emerging Ireland team play their second game of the IRB Nations Cup against the hosts on Sunday week, while Joe Schmidt will travel to New Zealand to catch the tail-end of the IRB Junior World Championships, where the Irish Under-20s have reached the semi-finals against England on Sunday.
In the meantime, the squad travelled up to Tucuman yesterday and are bracing themselves for a more passionate and testing environment in such a rugby heartland, as well as a much better pitch albeit with a cramped changing area which team manager Mick Kearney likened to “something out of a badly run down club from the 1970s.”
“In memory of playing there, not personally but coaching teams, the Waratahs, I think, it is quite a passionate environment,” said Kiss. “Whatever it is we have to deal with it. We all know this. Whatever is dealt up that’s what this opportunity is for, we will see what this tour is about and how our players handle it. We expect that it’s going to be massively physical test. There’s no doubt that they would probably feel that they’ve got more to offer and try and cut out some of the errors, they’ll tap into their local support up there and it’s a massive, massive test, so shoulders on.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/l ... -1.1827419
Schmidt’s intensity keeps Henderson switched on
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/rugb ... 71697.htmlIreland lock Iain Henderson says that the key to success under Joe Schmidt is the attention to detail which is demanded of every player and member of management.
The 22-year old from Belfast has come up through the Ulster academy and made his mark early in the professional game but he said yesterday that the intensity of the Schmidt operation surprised him when he was first called into the squad.
“Know your detail. It’s all about detail with Joe, make sure everything is nailed off. There’s no point in turning up to training if you don’t know what your plays are.
“You need to make sure you’ve done all your homework on yourself and the opposition, you’ve watched your training sessions just past, you know what they’re going to be like, you know what their lineouts are, you know what their plays are and what not. It’s very intense and I think it’s fantastic. I think he keeps everyone switched on. Everyone really respects him and I think in training that goes a long way when everyone respects the coach.”
Henderson admitted he was caught out a couple of times in the early days of his international career but now knows what’s required.
“He caught me a good few times at the start when I was a little off guard. I’d heard people talking about it. I was injured during the November series and I missed that, and I heard people talking about the detail required from the likes of Luke Marshall and Paddy Jackson and all the boys who were down.
“I wasn’t quite prepared or hadn’t realised exactly what it was like and during the Six Nations games it came as a bit of a shock, whereas down here now I’ve had a whole Six Nations of it so I knew what I was getting myself into it.
“It just ensures you’ve got everything nailed off and come match day it makes you feel so much more comfortable about yourself. You might be a wee bit less comfortable during the week in training, you might be a wee bit nervous or what not, but come match day you know your detail because there’s no other options during the week.”
He is expecting another tough encounter against the Pumas and while his versatility of being able to play in the back row has advantages, he reckons it will be at lock that he will settle.
“I think I am starting to realise my future lies in the second row more than the back row but that is up to the coaches to decide and I’ll play wherever I’m picked.
“It is more to do with my size, more suited to the back row. And if I was a coach I would thinking ‘If I can get three back-row and another back-row in the second-row that would suit my game, I’d like to get as many mobile players into the back five of the scrum as possible,” he added.
OTHER
Australian Rugby Union appoint dedicated concussion specialist
The Union also promise head injury-focused pitch-side doctors with the support of video replays to assess each injury.
Flanker George Smith was at the centre of one of last summer's big concussion controversies against the Lions
http://www.thescore.ie/concussion-speci ... 9-Jun2014/THE AUSTRALIAN RUGBY Union today underlined a growing concern and awareness of concussion in the game by becoming the first union to appoint a full-time ‘concussion specialist’.
The ARU have installed former Stormers and Springbok staff member Dr Ryan Kohler to the role.
He is tasked with overseeing development, implementation and monitoring of concussion guidance given at schools and club levels as well as offering support to team doctors and medical staff at all levels of the game, says today’s statement the ARU website.
Kohler’s first role with the ARU will see him be present on the sidelines for each of the Wallabies’ three Tests against France this month. And the union say that all future Test matches in Australia will have a doctor whose sole focus will be the assessment of concussion present on the sidelines.
That will not always be the duty of Kohler, but the doctor in that role will have access to slow-motion replays to help them more clearly understand the sort of blow sustained by a player showing symptoms of concussion.