A BRAVE NEW world awaits, and tonight will be a night of firsts at Kingspan Stadium as the newly-revamped Guinness Pro14 gets underway.
Not only is it a fresh start for a competition which has broadened its horizons, but for Ulster this is the beginning of what the province hopes to be a new chapter. The start of their journey back to the top.
It’s eleven years now since Ulster lifted the Pro12 title and Les Kiss, as well as several senior players, have made it clear over the last few weeks that there is no more room for excuses. This has to be a season of deliverance in Belfast.
With a reshuffled backroom team, including the addition of Jono Gibbes and former Welsh scrum-half Dwayne Peel, and a host of new faces in the playing squad, Kiss and Ulster have made changes over the summer in search of that elusive spark.
“Changes are interesting and the players have responded well. We just have to do the business when it matters,” director of rugby Kiss said.
He knows a fast start for his side is essential, with the Toyota Cheetahs providing a tricky first assignment under the lights at Ravenhill [KO 7.35pm, BBC NI].
The South African side, making a historic debut in the competition, come into the season as something of an unknown quantity but Rory Duncan’s side will carry a considerable threat with pace and power running through the spine of their side.
With the club also in Currie Cup action on Saturday, the Cheetahs are using two squads to compete on two fronts in different hemispheres simultaneously, but their main focus is on the Pro14 competition.
“There’s a lot of excitement amongst the group, so looking forward to our first challenge,” the head coach said after Friday’s session at Kingspan Stadium.
“We’re a team that has been used to touring in Super Rugby. And because we don’t have the time difference that we had in going to places like New Zealand, I think the travel is going to be a bit easier for us.”
For Ulster, there are new faces in their dressing room too. Christian Lealiifano, John Cooney and Jean Deysel will all make their competitive bows for the province later in a side captained by Chris Henry.
The fit-again Tommy Bowe has shifted to centre to accommodate Andrew Trimble and Louis Ludik on the wings, while Charles Piutau starts at fullback. On paper, this Ulster backline is a formidable and exciting prospect.
There will be a huge emphasis on the new halfback pairing of Lealiifano and Cooney clicking immediately and Kiss explained that his team have worked hard over pre-season on being a more resilient unit.
“Being there a year and a bit, looking at the programme as a whole within the organisation it was about trying to work out what’s the best direction to make the right moves,” he said of the changes made during the summer.
“To address what it really is to be a high performing team in a cutting edge environment and trying to get solutions in that area. I made some decisions around the edges and through the middle of that. You don’t make them lightly but make them because you have a vision and that’s what we’re working hard on.
“Our big focus is become a better, stronger team week on week. To be more resilient about what we can deliver each week. The hits come from left, right and centre and you can’t predict them and to be in with a chance at the back end you need to be a strong team and be better than the hits, or a poor refereeing decision or better than an injury run.
“You’ve got to try and find that space and that’s what we’ve been trying to build and hopefully we can slowly but surely build that as the season goes on.”
Elsewhere in the Guinness Pro14 this evening, Munster welcome Treviso to Musgrave Park [KO 7.35pm, TG4] while Richard Cockerill takes charge of his first game as Edinburgh head coach when they face Cardiff at the Arms Park.
Ulster
15. Charles Piutau
14. Andrew Trimble
13. Tommy Bowe
12. Stuart McCloskey
11. Louis Ludik
10. Christian Lealiifano
9. John Cooney
1. Kyle McCall
2. Rob Herring
3. Wiehahn Herbst
4. Robbie Diack
5. Alan O’Connor
6. Jean Deysel
7. Chris Henry (captain)
8. Marcell Coetzee
Replacements:
16. John Andrew
17. Callum Black
18. Rodney Ah You
19. Matthew Rea
20. Sean Reidy
21. David Shanahan
22. Peter Nelson
23. Darren Cave
Toyota Cheetahs
15. Sergeal Petersen
14. Rosko Specman
13. William Small-Smith
12. Ali Mgijima
11. Makazole Mapimpi
10. Clayton Blommetjies
9. Shaun Venter
1. Charles Marais
2. Jacques du Toit
3. Johan Coetzee
4. Justin Basson
5. Reniel Hugo
6. Paul Schoeman
7. Henco Venter
8. Niell Jordaan (captain)
Substitutes
16. Torsten van Jaarsveld
17. Ox Nche
18. Tom Botha
19. Rynier Bernardo
20. Gerhard Olivier
21. Tian Meyer
22. Cecil Afrika
23. Ryno Benjamin
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU).
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