Andy Ward won the Heineken Cup with Ulster back in 1999, now the former Irish international reckons that the current crop of players can repeat the feat. He spoke to JOE ahead of their Heineken Cup Semi-Final against Edinburgh.
JOE: There seems to be real buzz about Ulster’s first Heineken Cup Semi-Final since 1999, what is the sense you’re getting in Ulster?
AW: The exact same as you’re gettiing, there just seems to be a complete hype. I think there’ll be a mass exodus up in Ulster for Dublin on Saturday morning or late Friday evening.
The last person out of Belfast will turn the lights out. So it should be a good afternoon.
JOE: Of course previous to this Ulster fans have always managed to light up Lansdowne Road on these big occasions…
AW: That’s it.
For some reason it raises everybody’s game a little bit. I think that might make it a difficult afternoon for Edinburgh.
Then again I think the senior players and the coaching staff will have a big job this weekend to make sure that everyone keeps their feet on the ground and plays the game, not the occasion.
JOE: What about some the injuries and lack of match practice of some of the senior players? Stephen Ferris, Rory Best and Dan Tuohy weren’t involved at the weekend and there are doubts over Paddy Wallace. Do you think that will have an effect?
AW: I don’t think so.
I think those guys are all experienced enough and I think they’re all being rested for various reasons. Those reasons will be well looked after and catered for.
This is a big, big moment for Ulster rugby. It’s ten years since the last big outing like this. These were all precautionary measures and these guys will be no problem for the weekend.
JOE: You don’t really need extra motivation for a Heineken Cup Semi-Final, but if you wanted to find extra motivation – the fact that it has been 1999 since they were in a similar position, they’re playing a team that is beatable and of course the fact that Brian McLaughlin is leaving at the end of the season and he has brought through so many of them are all reasons that could be pointed to…
AW: Exactly, you hit the nail on the head on several occasions there.
These guys have an opportunity to rewrite history and carve a new chapter for Ulster rugby. That’s a key element too.
To have the chance to etch your name in history and that’s a key ingredient as well. That’s what the Heineken Cup does, it gives you an opportunity to do something on a grand and international scale.
JOE: It seems when things aren’t going right for Leinster they can play on the fly, with Ulster it seems like they are very rigid, very structured, but it seems to work for them…
AW: Everybody has really bought into Brian’s gameplan. They really understand what they are trying to achieve. They know where they’re meant to be at any given moment…
That’s something that has taken four to six years for the side to get. It’s been up and down as some people didn’t buy into and let the side down. They’re now slowly beginning to get it together and they’ve created a bit more consistentcey in the past year.
That’s a process that’s taken Brian three seasons to get to and get everybody to buy into the structure.
JOE: With hindsight we can probably say this quite easily, but given that Brian has taken them to that place now and they’re bringing Mark Anscombe in – does that decision have to be looked at again?
AW: I think the decision has been made. I don’t think they’re going to go back and turn it around for anything short of a miracle.
It’s a difficult one for all considered.
It’s just the way things were handled a wee bit has left everybody slightly up in the air about it.
This just happened to get out in the press and things went mad.
JOE: This all happening really because the success has been so unprecedented…
AW: It has, we wouldn’t be in this room having this conversation otherwise.
It’s all due to the fact that thy have done exceptionally well in the Heineken Cup. Although they have probably lost more games this year in the RaboDirect Pro 12 than in the previous season.
So it all comes down to the heightened media attention around the Heineken Cup.
JOE: What about Edinburgh? Nobody expected them to do as well as did against Toulouse in the last round…
AW: They were awesome.
JOE: They’re a bit of a schizophrenic side though in terms of how they play in the RaboDirect and how they play in Europe. What is their real side? Is it the side that we see in Europe?
AW: I think so. I think that’s the side they would like to see in Europe.
I think Brads (Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley) has done a cracking job over there and they just need to solidify and be a lot more consistent.
I mean what’s their position in the RaboDirect table? Not great…
That sort of says that there is a little bit of inconsistency from one week to the next.
That makes them dangerous because you just don’t know what the hell you’re going to get.
Will it be another Toulouse performance or attitude? I mean that attitude they showed against Toulouse isn’t something they brought into the RaboDirect fixtures.
It’s a bit of an unknown quantity and that’s what makes them more dangerous this weekend.
JOE: For posterity we might ask this question. Most people are expecting the winners of the other semi-final between Leinster and Clermont Auvergne to be the ultimate winners of the Heineken Cup, do you think there is any chance that the winners of Edinburgh and Ulster might be the ones lifting the cup?
AW: I know everybody is talking about the Clermont match and thinks the winner of that will go on to win it, but looking at last weekend and the way the RaboDirect match between Ulster and Leinster was played. I thought there was a respect from Leinster in fielding some of their best players and I thought they didn’t play too well.
But Ulster left me in a bit of a quandary, because if you put some of the power players like Stephen Ferris and Rory Best back in their side and also eliminate some the clinical errors in the wrong part of the pitch out of it, Ulster can start to believe.
Leinster have been a bit of a bogey side for Ulster in recent seasons and I think last weekend gave them a little bit of belief back and they were also a little bit unlucky against Clermont in the group phases too.
I think Ulster can now believe if they can get to final they can have a pop at it.
I hope they get through this weekend and have a go at it.
Former Ulster star Andy Ward was in Dublin to discuss the chances of Ulster in the Heineken Cup semi-finals this weekend.
The Heineken Cup Semi-Finals and Final are all exclusively live on Sky Sports HD and Sky Go on laptops, phones and tablet devices for all Sky Sports subscribers. For more information go to sky.com/skygo
