Ulster Rugby vs Bath

automatic place in the last eight. He will want Ulster to start, as it did in Clermont, on the front foot, to build a platform from which to create space, to pressure Bath in every area of the pitch. The capacity Kingspan Stadium crowd will expect but will not assume, there have been disappointments and near misses too often. But this management has fashioned teams which has worked tirelessly on seeking consistency of performance and infusing individual players with confidence to achieve – and winning has become a habit, particularly at home. A coveted home tie in April’s quarter-final is now beyond reach, but by concentrating only on beating Bath, by maintaining the high standards McFarland and his coaching team have demanded, Ulster should emerge after 80 full-throated minutes with another win. Then it’s time enough to ponder the knockout phase briefly, enjoy a short break, then continue its pursuit in the league. That Ulster is so clearly competitive on both fronts is evidence of a club emerging into the light of prospective, even probable, long-term success. Yes, that is now realistic for players, management and supporters.

Last week’s captain Anthony Watson limped out of the Champions Cup defeat against Harlequins, an injury-blighted two years disappointing to him, his club and England. Welsh and Lions centre Jamie Roberts could pose a physical and creative threat to McCloskey and, hopefully, Luke Marshall, while flanker Sam Underhill, wingers Aled Brew, Ruaridh McConnochie, Semesa Rokoduguni and Joe Cokanasiga are proven internationals, while the mercurial Jonathan Joseph has played 50 times for England. Today’s opposing out-halves might well be the Burns siblings, Billy and Freddie, the latter an England ‘cap’, and billy now part of the Ireland squad . Rhys Priestland, the experienced Welsh international, has been occupying the Bath No. 10 spot recently, his place-kicking vital in his club’s sometimes laboured Premiership campaign. Back-rower Taulupe Faletau has been hampered by injury recently but his importance for Wales and the Lions is stellar, while at 35 hard-hitting Francois Louw’s impact at flanker seems undiminished, the celebrated Springbok a model of classy consistency in what should be his final year in the West Country. If Hooper was to be able to select from a ‘full deck’ he might have arrived in Belfast with his side battling for quarter-final qualification but injuries, form and internal issues at Bath mean his priority this year is on domestic fare. His opposite number, McFarland, is acutely aware that, with nothing – literally - to lose in today’s final Pool 3 game the English side could be very dangerous, freed from the pressure of a quarterfinal quest. Look again at the players who could line out for the visitors and any side would be foolhardy to believe that recent form is an accurate guide to the true potential of a team which has its attacking strategies carefully shaped by one of Ireland’s most celebrated and intelligent backs of the modern era, Girvan Dempsey. Skipper Henderson, who cuts such an impressive figure in leading by imposing example, has already cautioned his players about any subliminal assumptions about an

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