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Ulster’s Showing its Quality<br />
– and More to Come!<br />
Two games, two emphatic wins and<br />
a maximum points return in the new<br />
competition format has certainly<br />
raised hopes, again, of a season with a<br />
silverware lining!<br />
The United Rugby Championship may be in<br />
its exceedingly early stage but the meeting<br />
of this evening’s sides at Kingspan Stadium<br />
is already quite intriguing: Ulster, with its<br />
ambitions clear and with an authentically<br />
polished squad, sit second in the league<br />
table, Munster ahead by virtue of a small<br />
points-scored quotient.<br />
This evening’s visitors are right on the heels<br />
of the early pacesetters, the <strong>Benetton</strong> team<br />
boasting successive wins over formidable<br />
South African newcomers the Stormers and<br />
backing that up with a thrilling defeat at<br />
home of Edinburgh.<br />
And, of course, Head Coach Marco<br />
Guest article:<br />
Rod Nawn<br />
Bortolami’s team comes to Belfast on a<br />
winning run of eight competitive matches<br />
and proudly carrying the title of Rainbow<br />
Cup winners. A tournament too far for so<br />
many more storied clubs last season, but it<br />
was an opportunity grasped with real style<br />
by the Treviso outfit.<br />
Any idea that <strong>Benetton</strong> would revert in<br />
the <strong>UR</strong>C to whipping boys was dispelled<br />
with a world-wide trawl for top talent, and<br />
two outstanding recruits have been fullback<br />
Andries Coetzee and the reliable and<br />
imaginative out-half Tomas Albornoz. With<br />
Monty Ioane and Marco Zanon staples of the<br />
three-quarter line, the backs have become<br />
a potent scoring force and a physically<br />
impressive defensive unit.<br />
Dewaldt Duvenage has skippered the side<br />
to its two big <strong>UR</strong>C wins, and the scrumhalf<br />
is often tactically replaced around<br />
the 50-minute mark by the shrewd and<br />
experienced English pivot Callum Braley.<br />
Ulster will, though, be confident that it has<br />
players behind the scrum with a skillset<br />
to counter the much-improved <strong>Benetton</strong><br />
backline, with James Hume, Nathan Doak<br />
and Ethan McIlroy stepping up to the plate so<br />
impressively and with a maturity which will<br />
serve them and Head Coach Dan McFarland<br />
well in their careers. Jacob Stockdale, Rob<br />
Lyttle and Robert Baloucoune have still to<br />
take their bows, but a resurgent Craig Gilroy<br />
and Will Addison, clearly in a rush to make<br />
an impactful contribution, have pleased the<br />
fans and the demanding McFarland.<br />
While <strong>Benetton</strong> has strengthened, it is a fact<br />
that Ulster has deepened an already gifted<br />
squad, and it might be up front where that<br />
will be demonstrated.<br />
With Rob Herring making his 200th Ulster<br />
appearance tonight, the return of Ireland’s<br />
most undervalued hooker will illustrate that<br />
depth in the squad. Eric O’Sullivan and Tom<br />
O’Toole have caught the eye of international<br />
coach Andy Farrell, and they are getting<br />
game time knowing that Marty Moore, Jack<br />
McGrath and Andrew Warwick are amongst<br />
those with credit in the bank, and will know<br />
form is the key to regular outings.<br />
Tonight’s visitors have concentrated a<br />
lot on making the contest between the<br />
packs a more consistently competitive<br />
area of their game: with Bortolami in<br />
charge the technical quality of the front<br />
five will be soothing to respect, but it is<br />
not to be feared. The O’Connor brothers,<br />
Mick Kearney and Sam Carter are proven<br />
performers, and the promise of captain Iain<br />
Henderson’s availability in view, there is a<br />
steel in the powerhouse of the scrum.<br />
The set piece, as it so often does, could<br />
determine the result, and although the<br />
Italians will be obstinate and physical, and<br />
often the visitors will play ‘on the edge,’<br />
knowing the longer the match remains<br />
in doubt they might frustrate a more<br />
innovative Ulster.<br />
The visitors would certainly hope that<br />
Springbok Braam Steyn can influence<br />
affairs at the breakdown, and his experience<br />
and back row intelligence will again<br />
examine the Ulster breakaways, Matty<br />
Read, Nick Timoney, David McCann and the<br />
indomitable Sean Reidy.<br />
There will be mutual respect when the<br />
teams line out at Kingspan Stadium, and<br />
there should be a rowdy, hefty support<br />
as Ulster bids to retain its one hundred<br />
per cent.<br />
This time of the season is often regarded<br />
as akin to ‘shadow boxing’, but that just is<br />
not true now: there are the same five points<br />
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