When The Ship Comes In

Oh the time will come up

When the Ravenhill winds will stop

And the breeze will cease to be breathin’

Like the stillness in the wind before the game begins,

The hour when the ship comes in.

Gone is my pre season rampant optimism of previous years to be replaced by a quiet confidence that Ulster rugby are building a solid team. A team and squad that, while not maybe challenging for major honours at the business end of the season, will though have all the building blocks in place for a concerted campaign the following season.

Why not this season then? In my opinion there is too much integration of new members to withstand the furnace of top class competition as the season progresses. Nevertheless it would be reasonable to expect a better Magners campaign this time round and potential progression in the Heineken, given the group we’re in is not the hardest in the competition though that is not to dismiss Bath or Biarritz as lightweight competitors. Compared to the groups of Munster and Leinster we are in a relatively good place.

Reasons for quiet confidence centre in the main round the solid and competitive nature of the pack. A prospect that appeared to have Jeremy Davidson licking his lips in anticipation when he appeared in the question and answer session at the kiddies day event. If there are concerns it is the lightweight nature of the half back positions.

Given that Pienaar, on whom a whole lot of optimism is pinned, may not be available for parts of the season we are left with one relatively inexperienced no. 9 and another who is bereft of top level experience at all. Marshall will be called upon to step up to the plate when the ship comes in and get us off to a positive start in the Magners. Much too depends on Pienaar when he is available being able to survive the hurly burly of the Magners competition unscathed. Remember Hugo may not have been the most spectacular passer of the ball but his defensive work rate was fantastic and Pienaar will be called upon to do his bit here.

The coaches appear to have learned some lessons from last season which is good. Silly substitutions and lack of tactical nous were in part responsible for our demise last year.  Much has been made of the Bath win and its aftermath when they thought they had qualified for the Amlin. This was a mistake of UR’s own making and such unprofessional actions can’t happen again if we are serious about making headway in these competitions.

Last season we played Niall O’Connor at 10 and for much of that time, the ball was kicked to the opposition with little intent to reclaim it, thus putting us on the back foot for much of the game.  If we are going to play a kicking game, then the chase and pressure on the opposition has to be top rate. I recently saw the Cheetahs play that kind of the game in the Currie Cup and it was successful because the kicks were followed up and the opposition put under pressure in their own half. For me mini Humph provided the real zip and threat at 10 and needs to stay fit during the season.

To sum up, we are lightweight in the sum of the parts at halfback, it is to be hoped we can overcome this with the pack providing the necessary go forward ball that will allow the talented outside backs to play. The ship may not truly come in this season but I am confident we are building a head of steam!

A BILL YOU’LL  LIKE

In an era of expanding electricity bills, bills for car repairs, telephone bills and credit card bills there comes a Bill you might like. Jonathan Bill that is, the erstwhile Secretary of the Ulster Rugby Supporters Club. Here is a bloke who goes quietly about his job with a minimum of fuss. On Saturday afternoon at the Ulster Rugby kiddies fun day, Mr. Bill could be observed attending the URSC stall, sporting a South African version of a deer stalker, a fake animal furry topped trilby in safari brown, complimented by safari cargo shorts. Taking part in the penalty shoot out, attending to supporter matters and engaging in general tete-a-tete. The erstwhile Hammer is a bloke you would want on your team.

GRACEY DISGRACEY

Following on from his ranting and raving on the radio, Jim Gracey of the Sunday Life reiterated his rant in print against Unionist politicians who failed to back his desire for a National Sports stadium at the Maze site, calling the politicians hypocrites amongst other rather unsporting jibes. Mr. Gracey should understand that politicians are answerable to the people who vote them into a position of power, something Mr. Gracey doesn’t have to worry about.

I’d suggest he sticks himself up for election on a pro Maze Stadium ticket and see what response he gets. We’d see if all those people he reckons are pro Maze Stadium really exist. I rather suspect that in pushing his own pithy agenda he has left himself open to exaggerated hyperbole in making claims for the pro Maze Stadia faction.

A HURRICANE BOWS OUT

I can still remember the days of Eddie ‘steady’ Charlton with those stuck on effect eyebrows and the demeanour of a battery hen, or the death warmed up pallor of Griffiths the Welshman who made paint drying seem like an exercise in animation. Along came a relative youngster who was animated to the point of hysteria and suddenly snooker on TV was watchable and in his wake a whole host of characters, with a gamut of personalities.

The recently demised Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins could be said to have blazed the trail for snooker into the public consciousness. When Higgins beat a gradual and painful self destructive retreat out of the game and its public face on television, to be replaced by a host of young and automated snooker players, the game lost its edge as entertainment and its element of danger.

Higgins led its rise in popularity and with it his own burgeoning star but it ultimately burned him up in a prolonged orgy of self destruction. It is a surprise that he lasted as long as he did given his penchant for alcohol and an addiction to cigarettes.

I saw him twice in the flesh in my lifetime in an interesting juxtaposition of lifestyles and a gruesome demonstration of the ravages of living life to the extreme.

The first time was in the Europa hotel when he was still famous for being a snooker champion and as our small party approached we noticed him alone at the bar. He turned to face us as we approached and we walked past as though he wasn’t there. The second time I saw him was during my works Christmas outing, a few years back in the Washington bar. We were playing pool in the bar and he came over with his pint of Guinness and newspaper crossword and sat beside the pool table quietly filling out the clues and ignoring our poorly executed pool shots. As we prepared to leave, I perhaps felt guilty about ignoring him all those years ago and felt I owed him something for the times when I sat glued to the TV, as he entertained a global TV audience with his snooker.

I shook his painfully thin and fragile hands and my colleagues all lined up and did the same.   It was a startling moment for us all to see a former star reduced to a shadow of his former self.

Higgins in later life came across as a boor most of the time and backed it up with base behaviour that made him a poor role model for Northern Ireland and its beleaguered population at a time when the provinces image was already at an all time low because of civil strife. So whilst one is conscious of his achievements in the game of snooker, one is also aware of his very public failings.

The gushing platitudes printed in our local papers should not hide the warts and remember we have other sports stars whose role model behaviour failed to make the news because they lived life without the excess.

In Mike Gibson we have one of the greatest rugby players ever to grace the game but you’d never know it. Gibson is a quintessential rugby hero, getting on with life in an unassuming and dignified way that belies his status as a legendary sportsman

WHEELS ON FIRE – LE TOUR IGNITES

On Tuesday evening a broadcast on the life and death of Tom Simpson, who was another sporting hero to burn out through excess, though it was drugs rather than alcohol abuse which brought about his early demise. Simpson’s star burned brightly in the world of professional cycling during the 1960’s. A working class English boy, he cycled to the heady peaks of the continental professional cycling world, embracing the whole ethos of the peleton and in return being much loved by the French cycling public and media.

Renowned for his endurance and combativeness in cycling, Simpson was determined, 1967 would be his year for a Tour De France victory and a contract from one of the big Italian teams the following year. Simpson pushed himself beyond the normal limits of endurance taking amphetamines and under pressure, he finally collapsed in intense heat, not just of competition but from a burning sun. Combined with the effects of the tablets, it left him drained and unconscious on the arid upper slopes of Mount Ventoux, one of cycling’s iconic and most hazardous climbs. The world of cycling was stunned but largely ignored the fact that drugs had hugely contributed to his death.

More than 40 years after Simpson’s untimely death, the 2010 Tour De France finally rolled to a halt in Paris last Sunday having witnessed an eventful 3 weeks. What with a dog crashing the peleton, wet conditions in a forest stage injuring a host of riders, cobblestones causing mayhem, weeping podium winners, cyclists in punch ups and a rider disqualified for head butting, the race was decided by a moment of unethical riding. Forget the amphetamines, the EPO, the blood transfusions, they are all part of the peleton but you dare not transgress the unwritten rules. The key moment took place on the slopes of the high Pyrenees when the race leader, Andy Schleck suffered a dropped chain as he attempted to accelerate away from his rival Alberto Contador. Contador took full advantage and made up a 31 second lead on the back of his rival’s misfortune, the 31 seconds that separated them at the finish and ultimately won him the race. One of the sports major unwritten rules is that you do not take advantage of a rival’s mechanical failure or an accident. Contador broke that unwritten rule and though publically apologising for riding away he nevertheless did not hand the yellow jersey back and won the race.  Never mind the drugs, just don’t break the ethical standards of racing!

DON’T MENTION THE GOLF!

Not mentioning Rory McIlroy this week though I dare say UR’s nutritionist will, as Rory kindly blogged he’d been out for a nourishing Chinese with his Ulster Rugby friends Niall and Darren. They kindly let him have some tee practice with them, rugby tee practice by the way, as Rory considered options for an alternative career and an antidote to his back pain.  Darren and Niall meanwhile are rumoured to be doing extra laps of the big hill at Barnetts!