Ulster about toentera golden era, says Henry
AS he prepares to begin his testimonial year, Chris Henry is in a good position to assess the relative health of Ulster’s standing on the cusp of a new campaign.
The side take on Gloucester at Kingspan Stadium this evening (5.30pm), their first match action since seeing off the Ospreys in a Champions Cup play-off at the end of May.
And while, with 33 players set to see game time and nobody set to bank more than 40 minutes of action, there is little usually to be gleaned from such contests bar the blowing off of some cobwebs, thereisagenuinecuriosityabout the northern province at present.
With the largely disappointing Les Kiss era coming to a close back in January, the man expected to be his replacement, Jono Gibbes, remained in post for only a matter of months and departed at the end of last season, initially to take care of a family matter at home but he’ll be in France with La Rochelle by the winter.
With Dan McFarland hoping to arrive earlier than the January date set by his contract with the Scottish Rugby Union, Ulster’s pre-season has been led by coaches Dwayne Peel, Jared Payne and Aaron Dundon with Ireland forwards coach Simon Easterby overseeing matters.
Henry believes a different emphasis this summer has produced something of an altered gameplan.
“In this pre-season we’ve done so much more rugby,” he said, himself certainly looking lean for the work put in.
“Our fitness, we’ve been pushed to the limit while doing rugby. That’s the important thing, we need to be focused on rugby and putting our skills under pressure. The way we want to play is different from last year. I think there’s going to be a lot more decision-making on the pitch, which will be good for us, we’re not going to be just as direct and one-dimensional.
“There’s going to be a bit more about us, hopefully. I think we’ve got the players to do that. We want to play a good brand of rugby. I wouldn’t say we’re the biggest pack or the biggest team, so we need to play to our strengths.
“You want to try and improve on every aspect, but for us, we want to be rugby players and run into space and not just hit contact. So that’s the way we’re going to try and play — obviously weather and opposition can dictate things at times but at the start of the season, certainly in these friendlies, we want to throw the ball around and enjoy it. Hopefully, the results come from there.”
With 10 of the players named for today’s game either Academy, sub-Academy or, in the case of winger Aaron Sexton, still in school, the opportunity for a runout at Kingspan Stadium will be a memorable occasion, even if few will remember the score down the line.
“There’s a real good young group of core players coming from the Academy,” said Henry.
“Stewart Moore, Michael Lowry, Jonny Stewart for me are the three who have done really well and there’s something special about. Hopefully, when they get their chance, they can take it and put pressure on.
“In the pack, Marcus Rea has been doing unbelievably well, bit of pressure on him with how well his brother’s done. You could go on with a list of names.
“You can see how every training session means an awful lot to everyone who’s there. The hunger and the youthfulness, the young guys are really creating a buzz and hopefully the guys who’ve been around a little longer can feed off that as well.”
A special occasion for Henry too of course, with this game the first event in a testimonial season that will be geared towards raising money for the charity Chest, Heart and Stroke.
“It’s been talked about for quite a while,” he said. “It’s really exciting, there’s such good feedback from people.
“Kingspan very generously gave us the opportunity, and we raffled off a mascot.
“Joy and Lewis, seven and eight year olds, won and they’ll get to lead the team out.
“Kukri donated jerseys for the game, so we’ll be able to raffle or auction them off at some stage and Boojum and Balloo Hire have taken sponsorship in the ground as well.
“The supporters club are making cupcakes, so it’s amazing to see fans and people going above and beyond. There’s lots going on butmyfocusisverymuchongoing out there, enjoying the match and getting stuck in.” ULSTER’S European campaign will begin with the hosting of Leicester Tigers at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday, October 13.
A familiar fixture that brings back plenty of good memories for the province’s fans — most recently a 26-7 win in 2015 that included a Darren Cave hat-trick — the Tigers missed out on the Premiership play-offs last year for the first time since 2004.
They still boast the likes of English internationals Ben Youngs, Jonny May and George Ford, however, and added David Denton and Kyle Eastmond this summer.
One week from that opening fixture and Ulster will travel to Paris for their glamour fixture with last season’s finalists Racing 92. The Top 14 high-spenders play in the state-of-the-art Paris La Défense Arena, opened only in December of last year with a game against Toulouse.
Having come up just short in last year’s final against Leinster, the club lured Irish international and Munster favourite Simon Zebo this off-season.
After returning to PRO14 action and a break for the November internationals, when Europe resumes, the traditional December double-header will this season be against Scarlets.
The 2017 Pro12 champions are naturally familiar visitors to Kingspan and indeed, due to a quirk in the fixture list, Ulster will play the Welsh region three out of four weeks with one league fixture preceding the back-to-backs in Europe.
By the time Racing come to Belfast in round five, Ulster will expect to have a firm idea on their prospects of a first quarter-final berth since 2014, while they round out the pool with a trip to Leicester.
Ulster Heineken Champions Cup fixtures: Ulster v Leicester, October 13, 17.30pm; Racing 92 v Ulster, October 20, 17.30pm; Scarlets v Ulster, December 7, 19.45pm, Ulster v Scarlets, December 14, 19.45pm; Ulster v Racing 92, January 12, 15.15pm; Leicester v Ulster, January 19, 15.15pm.