CONCERNING COMPARISONS

Once again I find myself typing up a blog post following another day of Pro12 rugby on Sky Sports in a less than satisfied manner. This time though, it is not at the television company.

Rather, having returned home late in the afternoon, I discovered that Leinster had handily disposed of the Scarlets by a rather a commanding scoreline of 42-12, and this is what incensed me. Now I know full well that Leinster at the best of times can play a thoroughly irresistible brand of rugby with flowing attacking moves and a rigid defensive structure, backed up a domineering forward pack, but even so to see them dismantle the side that only a week previous should have put Ulster to the sword gave me a moment of pause.

Again, nothing against Leinster who, I am reliably informed, played very well on Saturday and deserved the five points they walked away from the RDS with, yet it does belittle our draw at the Parc y Scarlets massively. We struggled just to get three points – Leinster cruised to five. The difference between us and our top four rivals is very evident at the moment, even in how we played on Friday night.

You may think I’m overreacting, and I possibly am, but even at this early stage there are distinctions being made between the top sides, and those who will ultimately be on the outside looking in. So far, Ulster look very much like the latter. A backs to the wall salvaged draw at the Scarlets and a thoroughly unconvincing win against Zebre at home, bonus point or not, has done nothing to dispel the fears of rugby followers nationwide that the province are slowly on the slide following the difficulties of the summer months.

Which brings me nicely onto Friday night’s laboured victory at the Kingspan. For me it is worth ignoring the various negatives you could pull from Ulster’s scrappy play, regardless of how many there were, and instead focus on the few shining lights that emerged from the darkness around Belfast with which we shall head to Cardiff basing our optimism upon.

One of those shining lights is what a signing we have found in Louis Ludik. I gave him my man of the match for his brand of stylish running rugby and his ability to always manage to make yards with ball in hand, and for a player that was named amongst the substitutes that is a very impressive feat. He brings an attacking threat into the line whether he is utilised at outside centre or at full-back, and on current form you cannot justify dropping him from the starting XV. Where he plays, however, is another question entirely.

The likely position is full-back, his self-professed preferred position, considering the blazers in Dublin see Jared Payne as the successor to BOD at outside centre and that while he remains fit he will probably have the 13 jersey all to himself, however should Payne continue to struggle in the centre, there is the possibility of him being shifted to the back three once more – a position many would feel he excels in – with Ludik now having to find a new place in the team, with a straight switch to the centre a distinct possibility also.

Whatever the decision made with the backs, an area where Ulster have an abundance of riches across the line, it is relieving to see that another area of Ulster’s game that was superb on Friday night was the set piece. A front row of Warwick, Best and Herbst pulled together and tore apart their opposite numbers in the scrum and provided Ulster with the required platform to go on and get the four tries required – remember it was two monumental shoves that rewarded the hosts with their first and fourth tries of the night, the first of which was won against the head too.

Admittedly the opposition maybe was not the best to adequately judge against, especially considering Rory Best, a British & Irish Lion, was up against Oliviero Fabiani who was making his first competitive start for the Italians. Nevertheless it was very pleasing to see the youth of Andrew Warwick excelling at a Pro12 level, a home-grown player whom many in Ulster circles have high hopes for, and the prolific scrummaging ability of Wiehahn Herbst seems to suggest that the replacement for John Afoa may prove to be a very handy addition to the Ulster roster.

Still, maybe it is slightly naïve to overlook the fact that we had nine internationals on the field and yet we still made heavy going of seeing that fourth try cross the line, and in the end it took a yellow card for Ricky Andrew to actually shock us into action, whenever in truth the Leinsters and Glasgows of this world would have put that Zebre side to the sword before the referee had time to blow for half-time. For years we have said we want to be at that level and yet here we are still comparing ourselves to them.

Complaining about a five try bonus point win is probably rather pernickety, but it’s only by pushing ourselves to the top level that we will eventually break that trophyless streak that now stretches back nine seasons. Whatever you may have read about Les Kiss leaving this week and however much we expect from the Ulstermen, make no doubt that this side is just as dedicated as ever and will push to the limits to succeed on both fronts this season. And that dedication continues at the Cardiff Arms Park this Friday.

Marshalling the troops

So our worst fears have finally been realised, not that his fortuitous run was without its bumps and scrapes, but we will now be facing life without Ruan Pienaar for at least four weeks, if not more, should his injury be in the latter bracket of six weeks, showing that our worst fears can actually be added upon, as melodramatic as that sounds.

What does this mean for Ulster? Sadly, a hell of a lot as Pienaar is one of those players you simply don’t “replace” in a team. Like Sean O’Brien for Leinster or Conor Murray for Munster, you have your stand-in guys and they can do a job for you if you let them. However, they will not replicate their superior’s playing ability every week, nor will they provide the flashes of brilliance that those superiors do either.

Now we see where Paul Marshall stands in accordance with Pienaar. For years we have decreed that St. Ruan is irreplaceable in the Ulster line-up, but in fairness to his understudies, he actually hasn’t been absent enough for that to be tested. Certainly when Pienaar came off against Saracens last season, his replacement, Marshall, was more than capable to fill his boots in the second half, and this season so far the understudy has looked lively and at the same time a lot more composed than he has in previous years.

But this is a major step up for a player who has always been the second choice at Ulster, especially considering he is now in line to start at Welford Road and against Toulon at the Kingspan a week later, and is likely to be facing off against two of the best in the trade in Ben Youngs and Sebastien Tillous-Borde. If that isn’t a test of his ability at this level then I don’t know what is.

This is the time for Marshall to show that his Springbok counterpart has a real rival for his spot at Ulster and if he can continue how he has started this season then I for one feel that Pienaar may come back with a lot to think about beyond the injury. That said, there are a lot of games to come between now and the beginning of the Champions Cup, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Nevertheless, with a point to prove and a starting berth to play for, we may be in for something special from Marshall.