Ulster victory will be good for Kidney and Ireland!

[girwin90]

Hey everyone, I published an article today on Talking Rugby Union. I just thought I would share it here, it was written by David Blair. I have added the website link in case you want to go and follow us on twitter and facebook etc as I don't want to post the social media links here. Enjoy!

http://talkingrugbyunion.co.uk/pro12/ul ... nd-ireland

Very few teams have escaped from Thomond Park with victory in the Heineken Cup. Visiting teams are more often overwhelmed by the vociferous Limerick support, inspiring memorable performances by their Munster charges and creating an air of invincibility in their home city.

Travelling to Limerick for the first time, it was immediately clear the city had been taken over with Heineken Cup fever. The Munster emblem draped from bunting and from every available flagpole. The Limerick public were understandably confident of victory over an Ulster side making just their second appearance in a Heineken Cup quarter-final since winning the trophy in 1999.

Turned over by Northampton at the same stage last season, the Ulster support travelled to this fixture with greater expectation, they believed the northern province had a realistic chance of upsetting the odds. And so it proved. Ulster recorded a historic victory against their Irish rivals. Pienaar contributed 14 points in addition to an Ian Humphreys drop goal in the first half and a fantastic individual score by Craig Gilroy.

It was an extraordinary opening twenty minutes, as Ulster raced into a deserved 19 point lead. The product of a well executed game plan for which Brian McLaughlin can take much of the credit. Ulster played with a greater intensity from the start, with Pienaar accurate with three long range attempts at goal. The Ulstermen couldn’t have wished for a better opening period. Munster, in contrast, struggled to get a foothold in the game at all.

However, a shell shocked Munster crowd in Thomond finally woke up when Simon Zebo went over in the corner. Ronan O’Gara converted then added a long range penalty to reduce the deficit to only 9 points before the half-time interval. Ulster had Chris Henry in the sin bin, furthering the visitors cause for concern. The tables had turned, and quickly.

The Munster resurgence continued early in the second half. O’Gara added another penalty to make it 13-19, and Ulster’s now slender lead looked increasingly vulnerable with a good thirty minutes still on the clock. Though Pienaar edged Ulster further ahead with his final successful place kick of the match, O’Gara replied to really up the ante.

Never expect anything less of Munster. O’Connell came to the fore as it looked as through Ulster would finally wilt, pinned in their twenty-two by a series of precise O’Gara grubbers.

Against the odds, Ulster held firm. Dan Tuohy, Stephen Ferris and Johann Muller were the pick of an outstanding defensive effort which somehow kept Munster at bay. It could prove a significant result as Ulster aspire to reach the level of success seemingly exclusive to their provincial rivals, Munster and Leinster, in the last decade.

If Ulster begin to compete regularly with the big players in European rugby, and they have every chance of being at the Twickenham final in May, one beneficiary of their progress will be Ireland coach Declan Kidney.

Despite an influential non-Irish continent on the Ulster books, Ireland can only benefit from a third province challenging in Europe’s premier rugby competition. The likes of Ferris, Trimble and Rory Best are already starting regularly for Ireland. But with greater exposure to knockout European rugby on a consistent basis, others will surely follow.

Darren Cave has been unfortunate to pick up injuries which have stalled his international prospects. But now, with a clean bill of health the Ulster centre is a genuine contender to replace Brian O’Driscoll in the Irish backline. His head-to-head against Keith Earls was interesting. Cave, a specialist in the outside centre, starved Earls of time to run at the Ulster backline. He made several key tackles in the midfield denying Munster’s outside backs any space.

Alongside Ferris in the back-row is Chris Henry. Ever consistent and reliable, Chris has developed into a useful openside, and a key component of Ulster’s defence which was so impressive at the weekend. Henry was a constant pest at the breakdown, his yellow card the only blight on a successful afternoon. Willie Faloon joins Connacht at the end of the season and Roger Wilson returns from Northampton Saints to cover no.8, so Henry looks set to continue his openside duties considerably increasing his chances of more Irish appearances.

Another young gun with the potential for Irish caps in the not too distant future is Craig Gilroy. An instant hit at Ravenhill, Gilroy burst on to the scene scoring twice in a bonus point win away to Cardiff Blues in 2010. His second try that day was a sign of things to come. As Gilroy danced his way through the attempted tackles, and showed clean pair of heels to the Cardiff backline, it was clear the boy had talent. With an exceptional try and solid performance on Sunday Craig went some way to realising his potential. The next step is international honours, and Gilroy already has a place in Irish rugby history having scored the first ever try at the Aviva in a combined provinces match. Don’t be surprised if he adds to that Aviva tally before long.

Kidney should be watching Paul Marshall very closely. He will look a long time to find a scrum-half quicker off the mark than Marshall, whilst his distribution has improved immeasurably in tandem with his game management under the tutelage of Ruan Pienaar. It’s been said before, but Dan Tuohy has been harshly overlooked by the Irish management to this point. In an all-action performance at Thomond Tuohy illustrated his worth to the Ulster team. Both these players look ready for the next step. Kidney needs to add depth to his squad. It’s a no brainer really.

Time will tell if Ulster can continue to compete at this level long-term. That’s the aim, and you will hear it repeated regularly by Ulster players, staff and senior management. And to that end the management has gambled with a coaching reshuffle this summer. Kiwi Mark Anscombe will come in as head coach with Brian McLaughlin moving to a role within the Academy. It’s a risk, and hasn’t been entirely popular with some Ulster fans unhappy with the poor treatment of McLaughlin.

But they’re playing the long game and that is what they must do if Leinster, the standard bearers of Irish rugby are to be challenged. Should the masterplan come together McLaughlin will remain a key piece of the Ulster puzzle, developing academy hopefuls into future Ulster starters. Sustainability is the important factor here, but with a fruitful academy and a nucleus of experienced world class athletes, Irish or not, Ulster now have a path to long-term success, which can only be good for Ireland.

Credit – Rugby Picture

[Cornerfleg]

Superb article, well written, not sensationalist and reports facts as different from how other fans and players see some things.

Thanks for posting that girwin90.

If you ever see David Blair or have any contact with him give him a big pat on the back, this is what 99% of rugby fans want to read, acurate reporting, a nice turn of phrase and some extra views laid out to consider but not with adjectives strewn across the page laced with a hidden agenda or bias.

Makes Hugh look like an ever bigger tw@t ... if that is possible.

[girwin90]

I just emailed him your reply! Cheers!

[Big-al]

Great article!!!

I assume Mr Blair is an experienced journalist? If not, the man has a promising future!!

[Husky]

Yeah. Kidney & Co look ecstatic!

[girwin90]

David is on twitter if anyone is interested http://www.twitter.com/viscount_89 . I believe he is going to start a masters in journalism at Queens this coming September.