Good start to Europe would cap exciting week on and off the field

IT’S been a great week at the Sportsground for so many reasons. The win over Ulster was complemented by the new stadium expansion announcement. And we can’t wait to give the fans something else to shout about when Bordeaux-Begles come to town tomorrow.

We actually found out about the new stadium plans on the Tuesday of the Ulster week. We had an extra slot on our schedule for a meeting and nobody knew what it was for. We were presented with the stadium plans and we were all a bit shocked. There was a massive excitement in the room straight away. Of course we had heard a lot about a potential stadium but we had never seen anything on paper. To actually see it up on a projector gave us all a big lift.

You could sense that everyone was thrilled with the new look and everything that went with the plans. The only problem then was that we were all told to keep it on the hush until it was officially announced on Monday. That was very hard to do.

We were chatting about it amongst ourselves afterwards, what it means for the rest of Ireland and to us as a club. It gave us a timely boost for the Ulster game on Friday and that worked in our favour, big time. I made my debut in 2009. That was back when there was no Clan Stand, there was just a couple of steps and you would be lucky to have 1,000 people at the game.

Even since then there were so many changes of the Sportsground where things were getting redeveloped. Back then the gym wasn’t where it is now. It was a tiny box gym where the changing-rooms are now.

Then they started adding bits here and there. We got a team room, a place to eat our food, and the different changes kept on coming. It was exciting as it went on.

In the last few years we saw the Clan Stand come about and that was definitely one of the most noteworthy in recent times. It created the special atmosphere that we have there today. We got the nice changing-rooms as well after that. And this announcement now, with the new stand and the high-performance centre and what that entails, it’s all really advanced technology going in there. It’s so exciting.

I am towards the latter end of my career but for the young guys in the academy you expect that will drive them on a bit too. I’m delighted to see the Sportsground growing, to go from 1,000 to 2,000 and now around 8,500, selling out the place and maybe 12,000 down the road.

It’s probably the perfect size for us. If you stepped it up to 17,000 or towards 20,000 it would have made for a false atmosphere. It would be difficult to fill seats. But this way it’s just right and it’s an exciting time for everyone involved.

We found out before the Ulster game and then got the win up there. That was no coincidence, it gave us a kick heading into that game. From the supporters’ side they got the win in Ulster and now this too. It worked out brilliantly.

The momentum is building really nicely now. We have had that tough inter-pro loss at home to Leinster.

And to go up to Kingspan Stadium and win where we haven’t in nearly 60 years, it gives us huge confidence.

We drove back straight after the game on Friday, which is always one of the toughest away trips of the season, because you come back down and it’s a long bus journey. But it’s made that bit shorter if you go and win there.

The weekend is about recovery. On the Sunday after a game a couple of us will go down to Blackrock, we will jump in the sea for a recovery swim for about 20 minutes.

Or we will go in the sauna to try and help that recovery side of it.

It’s all part of recovery to get the blood flowing again and ready for Monday. You go from a cold sea swim into the sauna, and then maybe a few minutes on the bike to get your body into the recovery mode. You don’t want to be stiff and sore. And it’s nice to meet up with the lads.

If you have a big win you are excited and you want to talk about it a bit more, but if it’s a tough loss, like we had against Leinster, you know you are going to be going into a tough meeting the following day. You postpone the chat about the match.

But the review was good this week and we still have plenty of things to work on, that’s exactly the way you want it, especially at this time of the season.

And when you go from the league into Europe it’s always a nice change of emphasis. It freshens things up as well. We are all looking forward to that now.

We have a tough game to come against Bordeaux-Begles. You don’t know what the French teams will do for the Challenge Cup, especially away from home. Sometimes they could send over second or third-choice players but that is irrelevant to us now. We look at this competition as something we can go really far in.

We got the home quarter-final last year and lost to Gloucester. But we want to go again and we are prepared for a tough test against a typically big and physical French team.

It’s vital we keep the momentum flowing for as long as we can. A win in front of a packed Sportsground would do nicely. Hopefully the fans turn out in big numbers and we can celebrate the beginning of a bright future together.

We found out about the stadium before the Ulster game and then got the win up there. That was no coincidence