Brace yourselves, Winter is Coming

Ulster’s season began nicely but hit a road bump in the first of the festive fixtures. Now attention turns to the European fixtures against Sale Sharks and La Rochelle.

Leinster overturned an 11 point half time deficit with a man light, to inflict a painful defeat on Ulster when it looked like they would record back to back away wins over Leinster for the first time in pro era. Ulster need to dust themselves off ahead of a trip to the AJ Bell on Sunday. A welcoming of French giants La Rochelle to Ravenhill beckons after it, making it the hardest draw that Ulster could have got.

The opening round represents the first time Ulster and Sale meet in a competitive fixture and therefore a maiden trip to the AJ Bell Stadium. Currently sitting in second place in the Gallagher Premiership, Sale have been thereabouts over the last number of years and will be hoping this year is the one where they make their first Premiership final since the won the tournament in 2006.

Manu Tuilagi is back and joins former Leicester Tigers team mate George Ford in the backline. Ford’s credentials speak for itself after his time in the East Midlands – he single handedly saved Tigers from relegation in 2018-19 by topping the points chart, despite only Newcastle Falcons finishing below Leicester. There also was the masterful second half performance in the Challenge Cup semi final to topple an 11-point half time deficit against Ulster in 2021.

It will be only the third time Ulster have faced La Rochelle in the professional era, with the other two occasions coming in 2017-18. Coached by the highly rated Ronan O’Gara – who is serving a 10 match touchline suspension for his Rassie Erasmus impression – the Atlantic Coast side defeated Leinster in last season’s Champions Cup final to claim their first ever top level trophy. They currently seit 2nd in the Top14 with seven wins and four losses with Toulouse leading the way.

Gregory Alldritt is one of the standout loose forwards at the disposal of O’Gara with the No.8 unlucky to miss out on the World Player of the Year award. Will Skelton is well known to Leinster fans having given them nightmares in Champions Cup finals for La Rochelle and Saracens. In the backline, Antoine Hastoy was signed from Pau in the offseason and is a promising outside half, while Dillyn Leyds is insanely reliable in either the fullback, fly half or wing jerseys. Teddy Thomas is new acquisition from Racing 92.

Date	Competition	Team
Sun 11 Dec 22	Champions Cup	Sale Sharks (A)
Sat 17 Dec 22	Champions Cup	La Rochelle (H)
Fri 23 Dec 22	URC	Connacht (A)
Sun 01 Jan 23	URC	Munster (H)

Up To Now

The stand out fixtures to date were the away wins against the Lions and Munster. It was a first away win in South Africa for Ulster in the URC era and first since they defeated the Southern Kings in October 2019. Likewise, Ulster recorded a first away win over Munster since May 2014.

Tom Stewart has been the stand out player and leads the try scoring charts with four. His pace makes him a weapon off the lineout or the maul, while his ball carrying ability has given Ulster another outlet in the centre of the pitch. Luke Marshall has also returned from injury like he was never away. With three tries to his name, he is providing good competition for James Hume in the 13 shirt.