It is a decade now since Ulster last won a trophy and four years since they negotiated their way into the final of the Heineken Cup. But, while that 2012 final defeat by Leinster was meant to serve as their launchpad into a new era, instead it acted as a precursor for a sorrier tale, as the nearly men of Irish rugby have subsequently lost another final, the 2013 Guinness PRO12 decider, as well as three more PRO12 semi-finals. Throw in a couple of Heineken Cup quarter-final defeats by Saracens into the mix and you get the idea. When it comes to sealing the deal, Ulster have a habit of messing it up.
And never has this been more apparent than in the last two seasons. Good enough to beat Toulouse home and away in last year’s European Champions Cup and yet they still failed to get out of their pool — a lack of concentration costing them against Oyonnax, the French team who ended up getting relegated from the Top 14 but who prevented Ulster snatching a bonus point when the province visited there in January.
“Why don’t we finish jobs off? I don’t know,” Jared Payne, who is once again unavailable for tomorrow’s crucial trip to Clermont Auvergne, said.
Ulster defeated the Top 14 league leaders in a nine-try thriller last week. Yet while that win at Ravenhill highlighted the potential of Les Kiss’s side, their opening round match of this year’s competition at Bordeaux-Bègles, summed up their capacity to self-destruct. Ahead at half-time, and seemingly in control, they found a way to lose - as they often do.
Subsequent victories over Exeter Chiefs and Clermont have provided them with a lifeline – and yet the reality remains that they need to win two of their final three matches to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stages. That the first of those is against Clermont, one of the richest, and best, teams in world rugby, suggests games five and six — at home to Bordeaux-Bègles and away to Exeter — is where their fate will be determined.
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Yet that isn’t how they’re looking at this fixture. “We’re going there to win and we believe we can,” Kiss, the Ulster director of rugby, said. “Last week’s performance and victory has given us plenty of confidence.”
They needed that injection of belief because while the quality is there, gelling it together has proven difficult, not just for Kiss but also his predecessors, Mark Anscombe and Neil Doak. Strong in certain areas — especially with their outside backs and centres — the brilliance of their footballers has largely been undone by a lack of ball-carriers and a strong enough pack.
Iain Henderson’s recent return from the hamstring injury which ruled him out of most of last season helps. So does the Tommy Bowe’s timely recovery. Last week in Belfast, he recreated some of the magic from his past. So, for that matter, did Ulster. “But that was last week,” Kiss said. “We start from scratch again.”
And they start with practically the same team, with Kiss making only one change with Franco van der Merwe replacing Robbie Diack, the lock who picked up an injury that will keep him out for four weeks. Otherwise he has kept faith with the players who delivered for him — Rory Best and the prop duo of Kyle McCall and Wiehahn Herbst comprising the front row, Peter Browne partnering van der Merwe in the second row, with the Ireland trio of Iain Henderson, Chris Henry and Sean Reidy named in the back row.
Ruan Pienaar and Paddy Jackson’s effectiveness at half back are complemented by the presence of Stuart McCloskey, Luke Marshall, Louis Ludik, Tommy Bowe and Charles Piutau in the remainder of the backline.
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“Ulster have talent,” Alan Quinlan, the former Ireland flanker, wrote recently in his Irish Independent column. “Yet their problem has stemmed from a lack of dominance in the pack. They need a few more players making line-breaks.”
They had that last week, Henderson, McCloskey, Henry, Reidy and Piutau ticking that particular box. Furthermore, their confidence to withstand periods of Clermont pressure augurs well for tomorrow, even though it will clearly be a lot harder to find a way to win in France than it was in Belfast.
As things stand, Ulster could probably get away with a bonus-point defeat today, providing, of course they back that up with two victories in their final pool games.
The time has come for the nearly men to turn into delivery men.