Leo’s Ringing endorsement for fit-again star

Ulster hoping their structural revamp will add more bite

LEO CULLEN is backing Garry Ringrose to up the ante in his bid to regain a place in the Ireland team after pairing the centre with his 2017 Six Nations partner Robbie Henshaw for this evening’s clash with Ulster at the RDS. The fit-again centre is one of just two Leinster players to start a second Pro14 derby in five days. Bundee Aki started in Ireland’s midfield during November with Ringrose unavailable through injury and was more influential than his Leinster rival in Connacht’s narrow defeat in Dublin last Monday. However, Ringrose will hope to impress Ireland boss Joe Schmidt with a good display alongside Henshaw this evening. And Cullen believes that Ringrose, 22, is ready to rise to the challenge. ‘It’s good he gets another game. He was out for quite a while. He’s back with Robbie as well. It’s good to get some more minutes with those guys together,’ said the Leinster head coach. ‘Garry had a pretty big surgery so he’s trying to get over that and get his body right… but I wouldn’t have any worries about Garry.’ Cullen was less certain when Sean O’Brien, last in action on December 16, might figure again. ‘I couldn’t give you a timeframe. I always find it very difficult trying to comment when players will return because different injuries respond differently. ‘He’s making good progress, but I couldn’t tell you exactly when he will be back.’

ULSTER’S starting pack on New Year’s Day was a sign of the changed times up north. Belfast’s own Kyle McCall was at loosehead, but the local identity started and stopped with the No1.

Three Dubliners (Alan O’Connor, Greg Jones and Nick Timoney), a Londoner (Kieran Treadwell), two South Africans (Rob Herring and Jean Deysel) and a New Zealander (Rodney Ah You) made up the rest of their forwards. Stand up the Ulstermen? Stand up for the solitary born and bred Ulsterman, more like.

This cross-pollination was added to by the presence of two more South Africans on last Monday’s bench and continues today at the RDS, three of the starting eight forwards considered locals. It’s no real surprise then the club has a culture committee headed up by Tommy Bowe to help give those hailing from outside the province a sense of what it means to wear the famed white jersey.

‘Once or twice a month we get past players coming in for a chat, so the lads get a feel for what it means to play for Ulster and how proud they were wearing a white jersey, building all that around our club ethos, trying to work hard for each other and being a collection of players,’ explained Iain Henderson to Sportsmail last month.

‘We’re quite proud of our values and what we have got in terms of our fan base, the facilities we have got, but also the history behind the club.’

That history is littered with grizzled, uncompromising forwards, no nonsense characters you’d hate to encounter at the bottom of a ruck. Willie Anderson, Steve Smith, Jim McCoy, Gary Longwell, Nigel Carr, Neil Best, Stephen Ferris, Philip Matthews, Denis McBride… when they tackled you, you stayed tackled.

Ireland rugby fans of recent vintage, those who only know the sport since it went pro in 1995, would find it hard to believe that Ulster lopsidedly ruled the roost before money came into play.

In a 12-season spell from 1983 through to 1994, the northerners, initially inspired by the philosophy of the late Jimmy Davidson, won eight outright provincial titles and shared another three, nine of those campaigns passing by with no Irish rival recording a win over the country’s dominant force.

They were once feared and feted in the same breath and while they went on to become the first Irish side to win the European Cup in 1999, all they have had to show in the 18 seasons since is a 2006 Celtic League title win.

This famine had led to a change in their DNA. Where once fearsome forwards were their calling card, they are now renowned as a club that produces a bountiful array of stylish backs who have it tough as their inconsistent pack, especially in recent times, don’t wield sufficient dominance.

Despite having Henderson and Rory Best in their midst, a talismanic pair who set standards their colleagues too often don’t match, the Ulster forwards collectively are viewed as a soft touch compared to the calibre of growling packs that went before them.

Last Monday’s desperate firsthalf highlighted this brittleness. The scrum, lineout and maul all coming off a poor second best to leave a capacity home crowd frustrated.

It’s a feeling the supporters have had to become used to, given the now traditional unreliability of their team’s grunt work, and terrace disenchantment, eventually silenced the other night by a storming last-quarter comeback to beat Munster 24-17 after trailing 0-17, is something Les Kiss, in the thick of the third of his contracted five seasons in charge, best not lose sight.

The pro-era pattern for Ulster coaches is to not to get more than three European campaigns at the helm (Mark McCall resigned one game into his fourth), so the pressure will be heaped on Kiss in coming weeks as the club attempts to reach a first quarter-final since 2014.

If he sees that challenge through, he could potentially prosper longterm from good times promised by their structural revamp, the iconic Anderson, who infamously led Ireland charging into the New Zealand haka in 1989, on board as academy pack coach to help restore the club’s old reputation for formidable forwards.

‘Over the last couple of seasons, we have highlighted what we need coming through the academy in terms of position, type of player and character,’ explained team manager Bryn Cunningham.

‘We have some grizzly, uncompromising forwards coming through over the next three to five years who could provide the backbone of our team and reinforce some of the traditions of what Ulster Rugby was built on decades ago. When you add in some of the talent in the backs and pace in the outside channels only entering our academy now, I’m very optimistic about the future.

‘There is great integration between the academy and senior squads, in which Kieran Campbell (academy manager) is integral. A big reason we hoped to get someone like Willie Anderson in there as forwards coach was to highlight the type of player we have lacked coming through for a number of years, physical and uncompromising.’

There is a determination now to improve their talent identification programme to better harness the local youth, Ulster under-18s recently won the Inter-Provincial Championship for the first time in 12 years while 80 percent of 2017/18 academy entrants are forwards.

Then there are unheralded names, such as Adam McBurney, Matt Dalton and Aaron Hall who debuted in the senior team this winter, who are tipped by Cunningham to not only become Ulster pack mainstays but Ireland internationals. In time, the hope is for tarnished reputations to be given a fresh shine. ‘Getting the right blend of leadership, hardness, competitiveness and talent will be key to rejuvenating Ulster, staying true to our roots but evolving at the pace required to win trophies,’ continued Cunningham, who describes himself as a bit of a traditionalist, a oneclub man as a player for 13 years who believes a sense of loyalty can still exist in the cash-influenced modern era. ‘I believe the squad is stronger and will be stronger again next year. The depth is getting better as we now have development and even academy players capable of playing and competing at Pro14 level which we didn’t have two years ago. The foundations are better.’ Only time can tell though if Kiss will be around to reap these anticipated benefits. Grizzled forwards who play for the white shirt are a must.

They were once feared and feted in the same breath