ULSTER FULLBACK LOUIS Ludik says he and his Ulster team-mates are feeling fresh ahead of their crucial Champions Cup fixture at home to Saracens this Friday.
The scheduled Saturday lunchtime kick-off was one of five European rugby fixtures postponed in the wake of the horrific Friday the 13th attacks in Paris.
The northern province’s players traveled to France on Friday, arrived in the Alpine town of Oyonnax but then watched on like the rest of us as the horror unfolded in the French capital.
However, as far as Ulster were aware, their own plans were unchanged. So while the world wept for Paris, the self-confessed selfish priorities of professional athletes took over: carbohydrates, water, a good night’s sleep and more carbohydrates.
“We were just thinking of the game and we never really thought it would be necessary to call it off, because it’s quite a bit of a journey from Paris,” Ludik told The42 today.
“We never thought they’d cancel it, there was no conversations about that and we were just preparing for the game as usual. We felt that security might be a bit more intense and stuff like that.”
Tournament organisers EPCR postponed Racing Metro v Glasgow by 10am on Saturday morning. Still though, Ulster’s squad continued about their business not knowing the 1pm kick-off that could help shape their season would be officially called off just before noon.
“We were on the bus, raring to go and play, it was about an hour and a half before kick-off when we were told the game was postponed.
“It was really bizarre — so, after testosterone pumping and being ready to go, we just went for coffee and sat around the hotel.”
If it sounds like the South African is having a moan in the above paragraphs, rest assured, he is not. The whimsy of sport is never comparable to matters of life, death and atrocities. We were simply interested to hear about the experience of an Ulster squad that found themselves in the shadow of a seismic event in European history.
The experience was quite a sharp comedown, from building themselves up for high speed collisions, to contemplating the meaning of life over hotel lounge coffee in the space of a few minutes. Ludik commended Ulster’s logistical staff for pulling their return journey forward by a few hours to limit their time on the road.
With no game to play (and, at the time of writing no date for the rescheduled fixture) Les Kiss put his squad through a more-rigorous-than-usual Monday training session to put the extra carbohydrates and pent-up aggression to good use.
“If it was on a Friday evening we might have trained on Saturday,” explains the 29-year-old.
“Yesterday was a little bit tougher. We could afford to go a bit harder, a different type of training, a bit longer than normal. Because normally on a Monday you’re just trying to get the blood flowing because everyone’s still a bit sore from the weekend.”
“The bodies are very fresh,” adds Ludik. And it’s just as well. Because charging down the tracks are a Saracens outfit who look in rude health after running out 32 – 7 winners over Toulouse.
Ludik is wary of the many threats posed by Mark McCall’s men and, as a fullback, knows he must be very careful when deciding whether to run or kick ball that’s pumped his way.
“They’ve got a really immaculate defensive system. So it’s no use just running the ball back.
‘Keep the ball’
“When Toulouse tried to run from too deep in their half, Saracens got up and countered the rucks quite well.”
To beat them, Ludik says, Ulster must keep two clear directives in their head. Get these right and then they will be able to build a performance.
“We can’t give away penalties, number one. And, number two, we have to keep the ball.”
“Especially in their half — if you keep the ball for a lot of phases it puts them under pressure. That’s something they do well and I think we need to do the same to counter that.”
