UNSURPRISINGLY, WHEN ASKED, Duane Vermeulen did not address the now rather prevalent questions about his future at Ulster when up for media duties on Tuesday.
On the same day the province announced the arrival of Zimbabwean flanker Dave Ewers from the Exeter Chiefs, the out-of-contract Vermeulen was left to answer questions on whether he too was staying on at Kingspan Stadium beyond the World Cup.
The prevailing answer is likely to be no, given the IRFU’s understandable hesitancy to allow provinces to have two non-Irish qualified players in one position, but the presumed-to-be outgoing Springbok number eight suavely batted the questions away.
Instead, it was all eyes on Sale Sharks tomorrow as Ulster try to pick up their first win in Europe this season and qualify for the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup.
“Let’s see where we go from here,” he says by way of summing up Ulster’s situation at present.
It’s about the only approach they can take right now, the northern province mired in a desperate run that has seen them lose six of their last seven games and in the last three weeks they have thrown away winning positions in the final couple of minutes against Munster, Benetton and La Rochelle.
Granted, last week’s game at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre was a much better outing than what they have produced in other games during this run, but Joel Sclavi’s late try meant the 7-3 scoreline still went against them and keeps them searching for that elusive, convincing victory.
It is exactly that which Vermeulen believes will turn this run from one that has Ulster fans peering from behind their sofas every week into one which more accurately reflects what this squad are capable of.
“That is the one thing that will change our season,” insists the World Cup-winning South African. “The confidence is there but something needs to spark just to give everybody just to shine again.
“A lot of guys feel I’m scared of doing this and you stay a little bit in your shell.
When I joined this squad and this club you could see everyone playing and thriving out on the field, everyone was pushing in that direction and it just needs that little bit of something. Hopefully one game can change that for us.
“You have got to have belief and you still have to stay task focused. For us now, and where we are, we still have to believe we can still be champions of this competition. If you don’t believe that then you can just leave your stuff, put your things down and walk away because why are you doing this then?
“You have got to have that belief and it starts with the first step in a forward direction.”
A win over the Sharks could be all they need to reach the knockouts of the Champions Cup despite a fairly abysmal campaign to this point. Ulster’s record reads played three, lost three, but somehow three bonus points from their two games against La Rochelle have given them a puncher’s chance of finishing in the top-eight of Pool B.
They do need a favour elsewhere, namely from the DHL Stormers against rudderless Clermont who, ironically, are headed to Cape Town led by former Ulster player and coach Jared Payne, who has assumed interim charge after another former Ulster coach, Jono Gibbes, was relieved of his post last week.
A Stormers win would mean that an Ulster win would put them into the last-16 despite having barely fired a warning shot in this competition thus far. But just as much as that is an incentive tomorrow, so is the opportunity to put a lot of wrongs right.
The last time Dan McFarland’s side took on Sale, it could not have gone worse. Shut out for the first time in Europe and thrashed to the tune of six tries and a 39-0 loss at the AJ Bell Stadium last month, it was a harrowing day for the province.
So the chance to set the record straight on their own turf is one that Vermeulen is eager to capitalise on. Do that and a place in the knockouts could be awaiting them.
“We were outplayed,” he concedes.
“Everything on that day was up against us from the start, the flights and everything, and that could have played in the back of the mind on some of the guys arriving there and not having a lot of time.
“It was the worst performance of the year and I’m definitely thinking we can go better from there. This past weekend we played in pretty shitty weather – wind, rain and everything – and we still feel confident coming out of that game, so hopefully we can change things around.
“The big thing for us is we need to build a full 80 minutes and hopefully we can walk away with a victory.”
And boy would they take that right now.
Get instant updates on your province on The42 app. With Laya Healthcare, official health and wellbeing partner to Leinster, Munster and Connacht Rugby.