SAY THE NAME Luke Marshall to any regular watcher of Irish rugby and most will attach a fair bit of baggage to the Ballymena man.
Making an international rugby debut at the age of just 21 comes with a big bright limelight attached and the centre will always be present in memories of Declan Kidney’s final flat weeks in charge of Ireland.
Then there was his awful run of concussions, one seemingly picked up more innocuously than the last. Marshall, a softly-spoken if hard-hitting centre, found himself at the centre of a national conversation about the implications of head injuries. He just wanted to play rugby.
2015 saw the last of Marshall’s concussions, but his luckless run continued into the start of this campaign as a thumb injury required surgery and he sat sidelined for another six weeks.
He had played outside centre early in the season, but having honed his craft one slot in ever since leaving school the barnstorming presence of Stuart McCloskey made you fear Marshall would ultimately be edged out.
Far from it.
This season the 10-turned-12 turned himself into a 13, and made himself a key component in an Ulster back-line with multiple attacking threats.
Outside centre is an extremely difficult channel to operate in, particularly as a defender, but the 5′ 10″ 25-year-old has excelled.
“He’s just one of these guys who are so young and have so much potential. He’s starting to realise it,” says Rory Best with the look of a proud dad about him.
When someone’s as naturally talented as him and so big and strong, you can play him anywhere.”
The captain of his club and country adds: “Lukey in my eyes is a bit of an unsung hero for us, He hasn’t got the plaudits he’s deserved, he’s been a real integral part of the way we play and the way we go about playing.
“His form, when you think about the problems he had last year, the way he’s come back and performed the way he has this year is incredible.
“I’ve a lot of time for Lukey, he’s a great guy and it’s great to see him playing so well and living up to his potential.”
It’s much more than just his attitude or his powerful blockish frame that gives Marshall an edge. While McCloskey brings undoubted impact to the Ulster attack, Marshall is one of the important cogs of the back-line brains trust, stepping in whenever needed to make sure continuity isn’t lost even if a ruck swallows the primary playmaker Paddy Jackson.
“It gives you the ability to take a bit of pressure off Jacko. He doesn’t have to be the guy constantly stepping in and calling plays. If Jacko’s slightly behind the play, Lukey steps in, Jared (Payne) steps in and it’s all about spreading the load.
“You need playmakers, you need guys with voices who aren’t afraid to step up and make a call and go through with it.”
Adaptable, durable and bursting with talent, Marshall is pretty much typical of some of the youthful energy Ulster bring into these play-offs. Though Iain Henderson has spoken about the desire to pick up a trophy to reward Best for his efforts over the years, the veteran hooker is playing for the day he sees the next generation discover the winning habit. If they can do that, Best believes they will be extremely difficult to stop.
Look at these guys, if they can learn to win young enough, they can go on to win several things. Once they get to (the realisation): ‘OK this is how far you have to push yourself to actually win it,’ Leinster cottoned on to it a few years ago and couldn’t stop winning things. That’s what I hope happens to these boys.”
“Probably the biggest thing is: though everyone’s referencing back to games we haven’t won, the age profile of the squad – there’s a lot of them coming in and they see no reason why we can’t win these play-offs.
“You can see it in them, they want to be the group that consistently win games, play-off games for Ulster.
“Look, we’ll see on Friday (kick-off 19.45). They’re not going to get a much tougher test than Leinster in the RDS in a semi-final.”
Leinster
15. Isa Nacewa (captain)
14. Dave Kearney
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Ben Te’o
11. Luke Fitzgerald
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Eoin Reddan
1. Jack McGrath
2. Richardt Strauss
3. Mike Ross
4. Devin Toner
5. Mick Kearney
6. Rhys Ruddock
7. Jordi Murphy
8. Jamie Heaslip
Replacements:
16. Sean Cronin
17. Peter Dooley
18. Tadhg Furlong
19. Ross Molony
20. Jack Conan
21. Luke McGrath
22. Ian Madigan
23. Zane Kirchner
Ulster:
15. Jared Payne
14. Andrew Trimble
13. Luke Marshall
12. Stuart McCloskey
11. Craig Gilroy
10. Paddy Jackson
9. Ruan Pienaar
1. Callum Black
2. Rory Best (captain)
3. Ricky Lutton
4. Peter Browne
5. Franco van der Merwe
6. Iain Henderson
7. Chris Henry
8. Sean Reidy
Replacements:
16. Rob Herring
17. Kyle McCall
18. Andy Warwick
19. Robbie Diack
20. Roger Wilson
21. Paul Marshall
22. Stuart Olding
23. Darren Cave
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