BACK LINE BRILLIANCE

Not a bad start to the season is it? No matter what the game, everybody loves to see their team win, and Friday night was no exception as a capacity Ravenhill crowd watched a thrilling friendly win for Ulster over interprovincial rivals Leinster, courtesy of a late try from replacement scrum-half Ian Porter.

I don’t think any Ulster fan will deny that if we had lost that match there would be a little bit of disappointment. On a night that the new stands at Ravenhill were “officially” opened, the stage was seemingly set for the Ulstermen to get their season off to a positive start and if the away side had come away on the right side of the scoreline then the crowd would have left with something of a sour taste in their mouths.

To tell the truth, Ulster probably were the better team, as outlined by the fact they outscored their opponents by three tries to one. The attacking play by Ulster was very impressive and with a stronger backline they could have had a few more as well – a few opportunities butchered at the Aquinas end could have made the game safe.

In the end I was rather disappointed in Leinster. Usually in friendlies sides will turn down kickable penalties to instead go for tries and run pre-planned moves. However, Leinster relied on fourteen of their points from the boot of new fly-half Jimmy Gopperth and seemed to be focused on the win. While it was good to see them making a contest of the match, it left fans wanting to see more – they only threatened the line once or twice.

Regardless of the opposition, Mark Anscombe will be happy with what he saw. His side came from behind twice to snatch the victory and the game also saw the return of a few players from injury, ready to make up for lost time this season. Expect Roger Wilson to put pressure on Nick Williams at number 8 and Chris Farrell to be pushing for a few starts at outside centre.

Speaking of outside centre, Jared Payne looks set to be having a few games there this season as the IRFU prepare for life after Brian O’Driscoll. With Payne becoming Irish Qualified at the end of the season, it is likely that Payne will be the one whom Joe Schmidt will turn to as O’Driscoll’s replacement. Expect to see Jared at 13 more often this year.

It’s a good job he impressed on Friday then. Playing alongside Chris Farrell at centre, he ran good lines and took his try well with very impressive strength. I don’t think any Ulster fan would complain if Payne played like that every week at 13. And with Peter Nelson looking like he could be the real deal at full-back, the void that Payne would leave would be filled very quickly.

In fact, the competition in the Ulster back line is starting to really heat up. Just look at inside centre with Luke Marshall and Stuart Olding (both Ireland internationals) fighting it out for one shirt, and that’s still with the veteran Paddy Wallace to return from injury later in the season! And at outside centre, as I have already mentioned, there’s Darren Cave, the returning Chris Farrell (who was probably Ulster’s best player on Friday) and you could probably factor Jared Payne into that battle too.

Meanwhile at wing, you would be forgiven for thinking that the two spaces are easily filled by British & Irish Lion Tommy Bowe and Ireland international Andrew Trimble. But another international in Craig Gilroy is there as ample back-up to those two and there is also the ever impressive Michael Allen who was a livewire on Friday night and was a constant thorn in Leinster’s side. We should see a lot more of him this season too.

And that’s leaving out a host of young players who can play across the back three if needed – Chris Cochrane, Ricky Andrew, David McIlwaine and Rory Scholes were all on show on Friday night and all four certainly did their chances at getting a competitive start no harm. It just shows what strength in depth Ulster now have in the back line, it is amazing compared to what they had only a few years ago.

So I think we’re more or less in agreement that Friday night was a success for Ulster – a win to start the 2013-14 season over Leinster and proof that Ulster have a very strong squad, not just a good 1^st XV. Now to take that momentum to Welford Road next weekend to take on Aviva Premiership champions and Heineken Cup pool opponents Leicester in the final friendly before the real season starts.

It’s good to have rugby back!