Paul Marshall's Blog - Pre Season Preparations 2

Monday 12 September 2011

From the depths of despair at the bottom of the sand dunes to the heights of an impressive 'friendly' win against a very strong Harlequins team, August has been a fun, intense and intriguing month leading into the newly formed Rabo Direct Pro12 league.

With the Northern Ireland golfers, Rory McIlroy (an avid Ulster Rugby supporter) and Darren Clarke both winning majors over the past few months there was heightened excitement surrounding our squads golf day at Shandon Park Golf Club at the start of the month. The coveted 'Purple Jacket' this year was won by Stephen Ferris. Stevie, claiming to play off an 18 handicap carded 43 points. Interestingly, his handicap hasn't changed in the last couple of years; bandit!!

The light at the end of the tunnel appeared when we embarked on a pre-season camp to Bayonne. With the matches starting, it meant an end to pre-season! We played a very strong Bayonne team whilst in France and unfortunately we came up against a very skilful, physical Bayonne side that put us to the sword, 40 points to 3. I felt my age in the Bayonne game, as I was the oldest back on the pitch at the age of 26“ the wealth of talented young backs is starting to make me feel old!!

The hotel was situated in a picturesque town called Capbreton and with the beach 10 metres away from the hotel, it was a supreme location for a bit of rest and recovery after the game.

Myself and Ian Humphreys provided a successful pairing when taking on David Humphreys and Jonny Bell at one of the local golf courses and we were shaking hands on the 15^th green after Ian sank a beautiful par putt to wrap up the contest.

We had plenty of time in France to discuss some team issues and tactics moving forward and the camp was a definite success despite the result in the game.

A young Ulster side then put in a great performance over in Neath to establish a victory margin of 34-15. There were 3 talented prospects playing in that game having just left school and Chris Farrell, Peter Nelson and Stuart Olding all performed with great skill and showed great promise. Its becoming very apparent that our Academy system is producing seriously talented individuals and the benefits will surely be seen over this coming year and future years within the Ulster ranks.

The final friendly game of the season was our first outing at Ravenhill. A strong Harlequins team visited and we played with great intensity in both attack and defence that led to an impressive victory 22 points to 5. It was great to be back at Ravenhill and our loyal fans turned out in good spirits and enjoyed some fast-flowing rugby.

Training has changed slightly in format now with more and more emphasis being placed on to the specific rugby elements of the game. We have a fantastic conditioning base from the hard work put in throughout June and July which will stand us in good stead for the start of the season. There will be 6 Rabo Direct Pro12 games consecutively for us at the start of the season so we want to ensure that we are in a good position at the end of this 6 week block. All teams will be inhibited due to the World Cup so it will be hard to gauge how each team will be affected. This World Cup window will provide some players an increased opportunity to prove themselves in the first team and will inevitably provide a steep learning curve for some players.

Our international players have also departed for the Rugby World Cup this month and we wish them all the very best and look forward to their progress throughout the competition. (Ireland “ Rory Best, Tom Court, Stephen Ferris, Andrew Trimble, Paddy Wallace; South Africa “ Johann Muller, Ruan Pienaar; New Zealand “ John Afoa; Scotland “ Simon Danielli)

With such a vast number away representing their country, the onus is on myself and other players that have been around the Ulster set-up for a few years to step up, take increased leadership within the team and make sure we do ourselves and our fantastic supporters proud whilst the World Cup is on. Chris Henry has been appointed Captain, as Johann Muller is away with South Africa. I've known Chris since I was 8 years old and hes always demanded respect whilst leading from the front and we know he will direct us well over the coming weeks.

Pre-season is over ¦and the season is about to start with a bang!

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