Ulster Rugby v Benetton Rugby

ARTICLE BY ROD NAWN FREELANCE JOURNALIST AND SPORTS ENTHUSIAST @RODNAWN1

talent to disrupt and confuse. Having just about escaped with a win in Treviso early in the season, and in real peril at the ‘death’ in that game, Director of Rugby Les Kiss and Head Coach Jono Gibbes will have been drilling home the message to tonight’s team that the opposition is capable of creating real problems by dint of well-organised scrums and what can appear to be rather chaotic but effective efforts at the breakdown. It is not chaotic, it’s not ill-disciplined mayhem which Benetton can deploy up front, but it’s a tactic deliberately employed to unsettle even the most skilled opponents. For Ulster there has been a rest from competitive rugby as the Guinness PRO14 takes its first significant break to chime in with the early stages of the Autumn internationals, but for players not involved with Ireland, and for coaches, this is a critical time. With the second phase of Champions Cup qualifiers just a fortnight away this is a significant time to cement both league position and form. If maximum points could be gleaned this evening against Benetton the trip to Rodney Parade and the Dragons next weekend might prove a little less daunting than it too often has! For the key run-in to the Christmas and New Year period it’s imperative that as healthy and in-form a squad is ready for a truly intense and, often, defining period of the season. The return to the team of Jared Payne after his travails with the Lions in New Zealand cannot be rushed, neither can it be underestimated. This most intelligent back brings an entirely different dimension to Ulster’s game when and wherever he plays, and the prospect of Piutau, Stockdale, Trimble, Bowe, Gilroy, Marshall, Ludik, McCloskey, Cave and Nelson – to name but a few! – being available creates selection options for Kiss and Gibbes other coaches would envy. With John Cooney and Christian Leali’ifano so quickly forming a partnership at half-back of imagination, energy and no little courage the backs have often been unstoppable, and against the visitors from Treviso the team will want to make an early statement of intent.

The players speak highly of the value of the time spent in the southern hemisphere for the Southern Kings game earlier this month, of the opportunity to bond even more firmly, to build further resolve. Even if the team wasnt at its best, a 7-try bonus point win has applied further pressure to the Scarlets in Conference B. Tonight we hope that the forwards will take swift charge, that the crowd roars its unmistakeable approval, that the try-laden promise of the wondrous pool of backs will find possession and space in abundance and thrive accordingly. It would be a tremendous fillip to everyone if Benetton was respectfully put to the sword in front of an approving Kingspan, and there is no doubt that this group of Ulster players is capable of demonstrating that it can be even more than the sum of its parts. So as we all gather again, Guinness PRO14 and Champions Cup hopes refreshed, let the optimism and confidence in the seats and on the terraces transfer to a team which feeds off the positives within and without.

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