As Kukri head Terry Jackson said at the launch, it is indeed
“something new” for the fans and it will no doubt bring in some much
appreciated revenue to Ulster Rugby, but really it’s not a flattering look in
my opinion. Give me a traditional black or red alternate shirt to the purple
monstrosity that was paraded on Friday night any day.
Change is something that we must get used to at Ulster this season,
from the renaming of the stadium all the way up to a brand new coaching set up
at the province, as well as the usual comings and goings on the field too, be
that through new signings or upcoming young stars who got their chance to shine
against Exeter (shout out to Jacob Stockdale making his debut on the wing!).
Every season we deal with a certain amount of change, as does every
team, but this season there will be a lot to get used to, and patience will
indeed be a virtue in Belfast. Mark Anscombe and David Humphreys have moved on
for their various reasons, while Johann Muller returns to South Africa with all
of our best wishes for everything he has provided for the club. That left three
large vacancies to fill.
Therefore I repeat: patience is a virtue. Replacing these three will
not immediately solve all of our problems, no matter what you think of Mark
Anscombe, and this season may not live up to the standards of the last three,
ergo I implore your expectations of this Ulster team to be lowered for the time
being. Transition may turn out to be a very important word for us this year.
Of course I’m not saying write us off completely, the guts of the side
that we had last season is still there and are hungry for revenge after a
desperately unlucky defeat against Saracens in the Heineken Cup and a knock-out
defeat in the Pro12 to Leinster again.
If any team thinks that a game against Ulster will be any easier than it has
been for the previous few years then they will be in for a shock.
What I will say, and what I think everyone will admit, is that we are
definitely not as strong as before. Two reliable props in Tom Court and John
Afoa have departed for pastures anew and as such the scrum is significantly weakened
– an area we weren’t overly strong in to begin with. Factor in the loss of
Stephen Ferris in the back row and an inconsistent Nick Williams at the base
and Ulster’s forward division for this season looks rather lacklustre as
compared to their rivals.
However, the biggest loss is definitely that of Johann Muller’s
leadership. His physical ability, even by his own admission, was not as good as
it was when he arrived and the arrival of Franco van der Merwe will rectify
that, however his role as captain will not be matched. Rory Best will do a good
job, but every Ulster fan will tell you the same thing: Muller was a born
leader.
When he talked, everybody listened, and whenever you exude that much
power, people will respect what you say and will look to you for inspiration.
No offence to Rory but he won’t come close to Muller as far as his leadership
goes, and it will probably be a long, long time before we see somebody else in
a white shirt who does.
Meanwhile up in the coaching box we welcome Mr. Les Kiss as interim
head coach. Fair play to Shane Logan for managing to negotiate that deal,
although one does think that maybe the Irish assistant coach is setting himself
up for a more senior role than just assistant, be that at the Kingspan or
elsewhere…
Nevertheless, I can’t help but think that having someone who is so
highly rated within IRFU circles as head coach, even for a year, will be of a
massive benefit to Ulster and as far as interim appointments go we couldn’t ask
for much better. If rumour is to be believed then maybe cutting ties with
Anscombe isn’t the worst thing that Ulster could’ve done, especially with
Humphreys gone too.
And so, we venture into the unknown for the first time in a while with
Ulster, and it begs a lot of questions as we look to consolidate our position
as a major power in European rugby. How will our new boys do? Will Les Kiss
turn out to be a real success or a damp squib? How many times will we be
subject to the horror that is the purple alternate shirt?
All this will be answered and more in the 2014/15 season – it’s gonna
be great!
