Ulster Rugby vs Scarlets

ROD NAWN

The elation of last week’s despatch at Kingspan Stadium of yet another famous and fancied French side in the Heineken Champions Cup is fresh and lingering. It may be a regular occurrence in recent years, but never have the fans nor players become blasé about such victories. SCARLETS IN ANOTHERLEAGUE

providing a pathway to European qualification. And yet it’s even more than that. The Italian and South African involvement adds to the age-old rivalries amongst the Celts, and who would question the commitment and passion of an Irish-Welsh tussle, or indeed an Ulster-Scots clash? Ulster will show some changes from the exchange with Clermont last week, McFarland indicating that some of his players would be given recovery time before European combat resumes in Belfast next Saturday with back-to- back games against Harlequins. That should not mean any reduction in the attacking armoury behind the scrum, with Craig Gilroy, Robert Baloucoune, Matt Faddes, Bill Johnston, Dave Shanahan and, possibly, Michael Lowry all talented and experienced in the senior side. Up front Adam McBurney, John Andrew, Treadwell, Kyle McCall and Matty Rea are very competitive operators who’ll relish the occasion if opportunity arises. The challenge this evening is formidable, with both teams currently second in their respective PRO14 Conferences, Ulster nine points adrift of Leinster, the Scarlets just three behind Munster. Tonight’s visitors could be described as ‘under new management’, the wily Wayne Pivac having departed to replace Warren Gatland as Wales’s Head Coach, so it’s a relatively unfamiliar face in the Scarlets coaching box. Brad Mooar, another Kiwi, is regarded as one of the game’s brightest new coaches, recent roles as assistant at Southern Kings and then

The energy, tactical nous, imagination and sheer bloody-mindedness which produced another great night are just some of the characteristics more consistently on how in a squad coached by Dan McFarland. McFarland is demanding but absolutely targeted on producing an Ulster Rugby culture which the players avidly embrace, and which is genuinely harmoniously ambitious. The new club captain, Iain Henderson, has described life at the club as having an entirely different ‘buzz’, and he cited the oft-stated ‘squad’ mentality in very real and practical terms. He used the example of the game at Bath two weeks ago and the preparation which went into that win at ‘The Rec’. Kieran Treadwell had not ‘made’ the matchday panel but his contribution and efforts in training had not dimmed, and Henderson was very happy to laud his fellow lock’s attitude and claim it as typical of the senior and Academy players who McFarland views as his talent pool and all part of his project at Ulster. Ulster fans gather this evening, retuned to the aspirations in the Guinness PRO14 swiftly, for the second of three successive weekend feasts. The allure of Clermont last Friday, and of Harlequins next weekend in the Champions Cup, is exhilarating certainly, but the challenge of the Scarlets this evening has no less significance. The Guinness PRO14 is the staple of our rugby, offering tangible rewards and

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