Faddes staying cool on a new Ulster contract
Far away from home, winger hopes his rugby will do the talking
THE weather forecast for Christmas Day in Balclutha, New Zealand has the temperature around 16 degrees.
It will be a pleasant summer’s day, but instead of spending it in the mild climate of his home town, Ulster winger Matt Faddes is looking forward to his second Christmas in Belfast, where he’ll have to cope with a much cooler seven degrees.
“There’s been some barbecues back home,” he laughs of the difference between Christmas in Northern Ireland and New Zealand. “You’ve almost got to turn off social media just to remind yourself you’re in Belfast enjoying a Northern Irish winter!”
When he was with the Highlanders in Super Rugby, Faddes would have been in the middle of their off-season at this time, but with Ulster, he is now preparing for the first of three interprovincial clashes on their return to Guinness PRO14 action, starting with a trip to Connacht on Sunday.
Instead of this being a time of joy for the former All Blacks Sevens star, you wouldn’t blame him if he was looking ahead with apprehension.
Faddes is out of contract at the end of the season and, with Covid tightening the purse strings within every province, anybody who doesn’t have their long-term future secured will be looking nervously at the situation, particularly after IRFU performance director David Nucifora admitted they won’t start contract discussions until the new year.
Being a non-irish player, Faddes will be acutely aware that he, more than anybody else, will have to prove that he’s worth his wage given the premium placed on import players, but he’s not too concerned.
“Whatever happens, happens. All I can do is play the best rugby I can and hope that’s good enough to re-sign here. It’s such an unknown,” he insists.
“Can’t say I’m losing any sleep over something in the future, that’s for sure. Probably the last 12 months you’ve been taught not to expect anything really. Control the controllables. It’s been such a weird year. You can’t just hope for things, you have to put your best foot forward. If that works, it works. If not, you’ve got to move on.”
The first part of controlling the controllables will see Faddes hope to continue his run of starts in this Ulster side when they travel to Galway on Sunday and help the province dispel the disappointment of their Heineken Champions Cup exit last week.
The Otago man has started in Ulster’s last four games and featured in five of their eight unbeaten games to start the PRO14 campaign, and he says he feels he’s improved with frequent minutes and the backing of the coaches, praising attack coach Dwayne Peel in particular.
“As a player, having regular game time is everything, it grows confidence, you’re able to work out combinations,” he adds.
“For myself, it’s been great,
I’ve been able to work on little things that I’ve wanted to get better at and I’ve seen some inroads into that.
“(Peel’s) the sort of bloke that gives guys a bit of confidence and he gives you that bit of a licence to have a crack.
“Things seem to be working well for us, and we’re using a lot of kicks to our advantage as well. It’s a lot of fun to be a part of.”