Gibbes happy to see players dig in and respond after tough week
ULSTER head coach Jono Gibbes praised his side’s work throughout a difficult week that culminated in last night’s nine-try win over Southern Kings.
Up against the PRO14’s lowest-ranked side, the province bagged nine tries in what was their first game since former Director of Rugby Les Kiss departed Belfast.
With Gibbes now heading up the ticket having originally come in to work under the Australian, the one-time Leinster and Clermont coach was pleased by how the squad approached the week in Kiss’ absence.
“It was a good reflection of how we trained and the effort the guys have put in, not only the 23 that played but our guys outside the 23 too,” said the former All Black.
“We trained Thursday and Friday last week and the quality of the sessions has been really high,theenergywasreallyhigh, and that’s probably one of the challenges that’s been laid down fortheplayinggroup.
“Are we able to bring a bit more energy and intensity in our work through to the game? I think that’s the good thing about (this win), the scoreboard looks good but there was a hell of a lot of effort that went into getting that.”
On injuries to Charles Piutau, Rob Lyttle and Sean Reidy, he added that further absences ahead of next week’s big game with Edinburgh could stretch a squad already missing key men on Six Nations duty for Ireland.
“Injuries are always the concern when you lose three players like that,” he said.
“The Six Nations period is always a bit tricky but if those three are deemed to be serious then we’ ll have to call up someone else into the squad and they’ll have to step up.
“They’ll be assessed when we can and we know that, having looked through the Edinburgh stuff this week, we need 100% fit guys for that game.”
Edinburgh’s five-try win over Leinster means that they remain just three points behind Ulster in the Conference B’s final play-off spot ahead of next week’s meeting. ULSTER: C Piutau; C Gilroy, L Marshall, S McCloskey, R Lyttle; J McPhillips, J Cooney; A Warwick, J Andrew, W Herbst; A O’Connor (capt), K Treadwell; M Rea, S Reidy, N Timoney
REPLACEMENTS: R Herring (for Andrew, 57), K McCall (for Warwick, 57), R Ah You (for Herbst, 57), M Dalton (for Lyttle, 59), C Henry (for Reidy, 34), J Stewart (for McPhillips, 61), D Cave (for McCloskey, 61), L Ludik (for Piutau, 20)
SOUTHERN KINGS: M Banda, Y Penxe, B Klaasen, L Vulindlu, A Volmink; M Du Toit, R Gouws; S Ferreira, M Willemse (capt), P Scholtz; S Greeff, B De Wee; A Ntsila, M Burger, R Lerm
Replacements: S Coetzee, J Smith (for Ferreira, 74), D van der Westhuizen (for Scholtz, 61), J Van Vuuren (for Greef, 61), E Bredenkamp, G Masimla (for Gouws, 61), B Janse van Rensburg (for Vulindlu, 66), H Klaasen (for Volmink, 51)
Referee: J Neville (IRE)
THE Jono Gibbes era at Ulster could hardly have began in a more resounding fashion after Southern Kings were put to the sword in a game that was a contest only in name.
In the first game since Director of Rugby Les Kiss departed, the hosts weren’t given anything resembling a challenge but did the needful in a nine-try, 59-10 win highlighted by Craig Gilroy’s hattrick on his return from injury.
While the PA blasted Muse’s Matt Bellamy proclaiming “it’s a new dawn, a new day” before kick-off, it would surely be an optimist to read too much into a win against a side still patently adjusting to their own new beginning in the northern hemisphere.
But, given the struggles the side had in November’s reverse fixture out in Port Elizabeth, there were certainly signs of encouragement, most notably Gilroy showing that recent injury hadn’t interrupted his try-scoring form.
The back-line accounted for all but one of the scores — Kieran Treadwell providing the forwards’ sole representation — with Rob Lyttle bagging a brace.
It wasn’t a night devoid of concern though, with Lyttle himself, as well as Charles Piutau and Sean Reidy, departing with injuries.
In terms of scoring though, it was a procession.
Alan O’Connor, captain for the first time, made his presence felt early by stealing a line-out in the opposition ‘22’ but Johnny McPhillips cross-field kick to Craig Gilroy was dealt with comfortably by the Kings.
Still Ulster attacked though, withanypenaltysenttothecorner and the throwing of caution to the wind paid off at the third attempt when a simple strike move off a maul set Gilroy, moved central, through a gap and an attempted tackle to score under the posts.
In his first game back since a broken cheekbone, the winger picking up right where he left off before the injury will have been an encouraging sign for this Six Nations window.
Despite the seeming one way traffic, Kings would score next when Masixole Banda punished a Luke Marshall offside with a routine penalty.
It would provide only a blip though, and when Ulster were in again, Gilroy was again involved.
Taking an nice inside pass from McPhillips, he scythed through the line before offloading to Stuart McCloskey. Already having built up a head of steam, there was never going to be any stopping the centre from close range.
Penaltieswereprovingaproblem for the Kings but it was Ulster who were given real cause for concern when All Black import Charles Piutau was taken from the field supporting his arm in his jersey after 20 minutes.
Things got worse in that regard when Sean Reidy followed him down the tunnel before the half with what appeared to be a calf injury.
While Ulster’s accuracy wasn’t always there — there were more scoreless visits to the ‘22’ than Gibbes will have cared for — but in Gilroy the hosts had a player for whom the Kings had no answer.
With half-time approaching, the 26-year-old was on the scoresheet again, from virtually the same lineout move, if admittedly this time the Kings gave him slightly more to do as he