IN THE PAST, the criticism always levelled at Ulster was whether they had the pack to compete with the best teams in Europe. Routinely in knock-out games, they would be beaten up front.
But that is a perception that this current squad are trying to change. So far they’re doing a good job of it too, going toe-to-toe with some significant packs in Leinster, Clermont and Northampton Saints and coming out on top against all three.
Not only that but that hardened edge that Ulster have perhaps been lacking is allied with a playmaking ability that gives the coaching staff at Kingspan Stadium a variety of attacking approaches to select from, with Dan Soper taking a lot of credit for improving the handling skills during his time as skills coach.
Lock Sam Carter is among those who believes the Ulster forward corps are now earning their stripes on the European stage, but he claims they’re not listening to the critics and are only interested in the outcome on the pitch.
“A couple of years ago when I first came in, we were good but we didn’t have the reputation as being one of those big packs around Europe,” concedes the Australian, who joined from the Brumbies in 2019.
“A lot of work has gone into that, a lot of honesty in review meetings, preview meetings and a lot of hard work, working together as a pack to put those performances together and to build a competitive nature at training and on the pitch.
“(Those were) three big packs, tough packs to play. They all pride themselves on their set-piece and their physicality around the breakdown. That’s a tough task for us but for where we want to be and what we want to create as our own marker, these are the packs that you have to go up against and play your best footy.
“(Earning respect) is not why we’re doing it, we’re doing it to win. We want to create an environment here where we have a winning culture and play exciting rugby as a team.
“Any news that we can create is a bonus but puts a target on your head as well, so we have to live up to the reputation once we get that and we’re consistent with it.”
Another chance for the Ulster scrum to prove their consistency will come at Thomond Park tomorrow when they end a two-week break after their Covid outbreak by taking on Munster in their only festive inter-pro to survive the Omicron variant.
“The rent is due every week, you have to live up to that reputation and keep putting in the performances every week,” points out Carter.
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because Munster have a good pack as well and that’s something that we have to work towards. Obviously, you need to show it each week to keep building that respect.
“It’s only been two weeks and we’ve been doing contact conditioning when we could, obviously around the Covid protocols and stuff like that. It’s tough but I know exactly the feeling of coming off the off-season to play that first game and you do get stiff and sore. Hopefully, it’s not like that because we’ve been able to keep up the contact the last couple of weeks.
“We don’t want to make excuses about the games that were cancelled or how many games we’ve had over the past two weeks. We were playing well before the break and that’s what we aim to do again this weekend.
“All we can do is back the effort, back the consistency of the guys to be the best we can and if we do that then the result takes care of itself.”
There will be a distinct former Brumbies flavour to tomorrow’s clash, too, with Carter opposed by Munster’s senior coach Stephen Larkham, who will be returning to the Australian side next season to take over as their head coach.
The two overlapped while in Canberra, with Larkham coaching Carter for several years before both made their way to opposite ends of Ireland, and the second row has praised the impact that the coach had on his career and also at Thomond Park.
“He’s had a great impact on Munster, they’ve been a bit more expansive, they play with a lot of skill, a lot of variation off the lineout and scrum,” hailed the 32-year-old.
“For me personally, I’ve had a lot to do with Stephen, or Bernie as we call him, throughout my career. He was there for six or seven years while I was there. He’s had a big impact on me and the way that I’ve developed through my career.
“When I was pretty fresh on the scene I did a lot of skill work with him, just catching, passing, learning the game but then around the leadership side of things too when he was the head coach and I was the captain, we worked a lot together.
“We built a relationship and he’s helped me a lot as a player.”
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