(Picture from rugbypicture.co.uk)
It was nice to be back on the Prom after an extended absence of nearly six weeks, and boy oh boy did Ulster welcome us back with some style as the youngsters came of age in a comfortable win over Cardiff.
Can’t say that I was that surprised with the result on Friday as Ulster were due a performance like this. Now we’ve to find out if this was a one off performance or the realisation by the management that this fast paced expansive game is the natural home for Ulster’s talents.
Too often this season we’ve been playing to nullify the perceived strengths of our opponents rather than play to our own but this match was a joy to watch as we looked to move the ball round our opponents rather than try and batter our way through them.
The next few weeks will be key to Ulster’s success this season as we wait to see if Ulster complete the transformation by selecting the ball handling Robbie Diack at eight, and how the returning senior players are reintroduced will be interesting indeed.
I’m fairly sure that Robbie will get a run out against Aironi on Friday as Ulster should have a prudent look at their back row options in case Ferris fails to fully recover but the big question is how will the reintroduction of Wallace and Cave be handled after the performance of the little blond munchkins on Friday night.
Watching back on iPlayer on Saturday morning it was amusing how many times that Gusher got the baby faced assassins confused, but with their blonde bonces and similar style it was an easy mistake to make, and something I’m sure I did several times during the ‘live’ match, but one thing you couldn’t mistake is that Luke Marshall and Nevin Spence could have a bigger influence on Ulster’s future than all the South African’s in Euston in the years to come.
In the short term the peroxide pair should force Cave and Wallace to really up their game to re-claim their starting spots. It will be interesting to see how they respond.
Another pair of blondies in the front row are going to force a few interesting selection problems as well with both Kyriacou and McAllister well suited to the fast paced game that Ulster are trying to enforce. Add the fact that they both do the technical parts of their games very well, the return of Best and Court may cause the biggest headaches for the management team!
This one off game has thrown up a Plan B for Ulster, it remains to be seen if we are going to fully embrace it? One thing for sure – blonds have more fun!
Corrections, comments or questions?