THERE WAS A line at the bottom of yesterday’s team announcement that told us as much about Dan McFarland’s Ulster as the results in the RDS and Clermont.
Simply phrased, ‘unavailable for selection’, the list contained the following names: Brad Roberts, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Iain Henderson, Cormac Izuchukwu, Jordi Murphy, Matty Rea, Ian Madigan, Stewart Moore, Stuart McCloskey, Luke Marshall, Robert Baloucoune, Jacob Stockdale, Will Addison.
Looking through that list – a Welsh international hooker, nine Irish internationals and three more who have the potential to wear green – you got a sense of the depth Dan McFarland has built.
It wasn’t that long ago when you feared for Ulster approaching any big game without Henderson or Stockdale. These days they’re used to it. Between them the pair have played just four times for their club this season.
And yet Ulster are still winning. That victory in Leinster was just their second one away to their neighbours this century. The win in Clermont was a first on French soil since 2016. Win nothing with kids? Ulster would be unable to function without them.
Since joining Ulster in 2018, the luckless Addison has played just 29 times for the province. Henderson, too, has rarely featured in the last 18 months. Stockdale, Baloucoune, Marshall, McFarland has got used to life without them.
We’ve also got used to new faces becoming established names. It is only three-and-a-half years since James Hume made his Ulster debut. He wins his 50th cap tonight. Then there is Tom O’Toole. When he first came on the scene, Denis Buckley did a number on him at Ravenhill, as Connacht won in Belfast for the first time in over half a century.
Now O’Toole is a full international. Like O’Toole and Hume, Michael Lowry, Ethan McIlroy and Nick Timoney are considered first-teamers at Ulster now and it just makes you wonder what will go through McFarland’s head when Moore, McCloskey, Baloucoune, Stockdale and Murphy are fit again.
If that’s a potential headache, the presence of so many home-grown players emerging from the academy is a dream for the club accountant. For far too long Ulster had built their squads by signing players. Growing your own produce is a lot cheaper.
While Willie Anderson and Kieran Campbell nurtured those players, you have to credit McFarland for selecting them. Many other coaches wouldn’t have. But the benefits are now being seen. Certainly they were evident in Dublin and Clermont.
Winning in Thomond Park tonight (kick off 7.35pm, Live RTÉ, Premier Sports) is another challenge, something Ulster haven’t managed since 2014. It won’t be easy. Aside from having a good home record – Munster have also the additional motivation of needing to answer some noisy critics. You expect them to do so, to front up, to play well and ultimately to win.
While there’s a lot to like about Ulster, there’s also the nagging feeling they are a couple of players short in their pack, that Billy Burns is goodish rather than great at No10, and that there aren’t many alternative suitors for that shirt.
What they do have is plenty of game intelligence. This season they have got much better at minimising their mistakes and maximising their strengths. Players like Moore and Alan O’Connor have massively improved their passing skills. Those little progressive steps made a big difference in Clermont and against Leinster. Indeed the only time they’ve struggled this season has been against Ospreys, Glasgow and Connacht when they were dominated at the breakdown.
Should Ulster avoid that trap tonight they’ll have a chance. It’s likelier, though, that the team with the greater need to win will do so. And that’s Munster.
Munster Rugby: Mike Haley; Seán French, Chris Farrell, Rory Scannell, Simon Zebo; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Dave Kilcoyne, Niall Scannell, Stephen Archer; Thomas Ahern, Fineen Wycherley; Peter O’Mahony (CAPT), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Diarmuid Barron, Josh Wycherley, John Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, Jack O’Donoghue, Neil Cronin, Ben Healy, Shane Daly.
Ulster Rugby: Mike Lowry, Craig Gilroy, Ben Moxham, James Hume, Ethan McIlroy, Billy Burns, John Cooney; Jack McGrath, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor (CAPT), Sam Carter, Greg Jones, Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: John Andrew, Andrew Warwick, Ross Kane, Kieran Treadwell, Marcus Rea, Nathan Doak, Angus Curtis, Rob Lyttle.
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
