In Their Own Hands…
Let us rewind back to early February and look at the RaboDirect Pro12 table. Ulster sat at the top, eleven points clear of their nearest rivals the Glasgow Warriors and in all honesty they looked far...
View ArticleLions Missing Their Best?
Every Lions tour has its shock selections. Think back to Lee Mears in 2009. But I don’t think any other omissions are as controversial as Warren Gatland’s omission of Rory Best this season. Despite the...
View ArticleVenturing Into The Unknown
After the Six Nations ended, nobody believed that Ulster could come back from their international slump. One win in five from the beginning of February to the middle of March made for difficult reading...
View ArticleUlster’s Final Fantasy
The last time Ulster did the league double over Leinster was back in 1999. In fact, that was the last time Ulster beat their provincial rivals in Dublin when they walked away from Donnybrook with a...
View Article#OurDS – Ulster’s Final Test
So this is what it boils down to. A journey that began nine long months ago in August 2012 when a relatively unknown New Zealander took the helm at Ulster Rugby comes to its conclusion with the eagerly...
View ArticlePushing On at Ulster
Take what you will from Saturday’s Pro12 final, but quite simply, Ulster shot themselves in the foot. People will put the blame on a countless number of things including the performance of referee John...
View ArticleUlster Overseas
The Pro12 season may have ended on a sour note, but for Ulster fans and players the action doesn’t end yet. Obviously, the ongoing Lions tour has two Ulster representatives on it, while no less than...
View ArticleBecoming the Best: The Improvements at Ulster
If you’d watched Ulster play three or four years ago, you’d be forgiven for not being sure what you were going to get. To change a quote from Forrest Gump – “Ulster are like a box of chocolates, you...
View ArticleThe Inside Centre Dilemma at Ulster
At the start of the 2012/13 season you would have been forgiven for selecting an Ulster team with relative ease – there was a large gap between the top players and those who would fill in for them...
View ArticleBest at his Worst?
It’s extremely hard to put a positive spin on it, and no matter how hard I try, I cannot. Rory Best’s performances for the Lions have been less than perfect, especially in the line-out, which is why he...
View ArticleReviewing the Anscombe Appointment
One season under his belt, I think it’s fair to say that now we can really assess how Mark Anscombe’s first season as Ulster head coach went. It wasn’t one without ups-and-downs and there were times...
View ArticleUlster’s European Ambitions
Anybody else excited about the new season? Even though there are still around 30 days until Ulster’s first pre-season friendly (recently announced to be against provincial rivals Leinster), there is...
View ArticleUlster’s Seventh Heaven
At the start of last season Chris Henry wasn’t exactly a well-known name in the world of rugby. Having played a lot of games at blindside for Ulster early in his career it seemed like Henry would never...
View ArticleBack to Work at Ulster
Alright, we’ve had three months to prepare and now the week of the return of club rugby is finally upon us. Yes the game this Friday may only be a pre-season friendly, but these friendlies, as all fans...
View ArticleNew Stadium, Old Rivals at Ulster
Mark Anscombe put plenty of emphasis on last Friday’s pre-season friendly with Leinster that is was simply a friendly and that the result didn’t matter. However, if you asked him now whether he is...
View ArticleIt’s All in the Mind for Ulster
“Hope springs eternal at the start of the new season.” Alright, that’s obviously not the exact saying, but it applies just as well to nearly every rugby side in the world. Last season’s exploits are...
View ArticleA Key Moment for Ulster’s Key Men
Friday night didn’t exactly go to plan, did it? Just goes to show you doesn’t it – rugby matches certainly aren’t won on paper. Were that true then Ulster probably would have walked away with that...
View ArticleCourt and Cave Miss the Cut
You could say the entire Ulster squad are unlucky this week. After dominating the entire second half against Glasgow last Friday, an incredible inability to finish off the multitude of chances they...
View ArticleFerris Wheel of Fortune
Saturday 15th October 2005, Ulster defeated the Border Reivers at Netherdale 27-0 in what was then known as simply the Celtic League. Back then players such as Bryn Cunningham, David Humphreys and...
View ArticlePop-Off Pienaar
Three years ago, Ulster Rugby announced possibly one of their greatest signings in the history of the club, and it was an absolutely incredible capture for the small province. Bear in mind, at the time...
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