'When I left I had just over 20 caps. For me, I look back on that and that's p*** poor'
Former Ulster hooker Niall Annett has urged young Irish talent to look abroad for contracts rather than be satisfied with bit-part roles as part of wider provincial squads in the PRO14.
Annett won 20 caps for Ulster before recognising that he was on the verge of being “spat out” of the Irish professional rugby system. His decision to join Worcester Warriors, who were then in the RFU Championship, has paid dividends, with the 29-year-old having now amassed over 100 caps for the side, the vast majority coming in the Gallagher Premiership.
Speaking on the Telf Rugby Podcast, Annett said he hoped that other young players in the Irish system followed his path instead of resting on the glory of the odd senior cap.
“Do I feel regret that I’ve had to leave Ulster? Yes, because I’m Ulster born and bred. I’m very passionate about Ulster, even now, when I’ve left,” Annett told the podcast. “Have I grown as a person for having to leave? Undoubtedly. Life’s very easy when you’re in Belfast.
“I’ve had to struggle since I left Belfast, which has done me a huge amount [of good] as a person, but also as a player. As a player I’m better than I could have ever been had I sat at home and waited.
Honoured and privileged to join the 100 club at @WorcsWarriors : the club has given me so much. Thanks for all the kind messages. We go again ?? pic.twitter.com/J4lok0TOul
— Niall Annett (@NiallAnnett2) March 16, 2021
“In pro sport you get offered things once. If you’re very, very, very lucky, you get offered it twice. At the time that I was offered something I wasn’t ready or mature enough to take the opportunities that I had to.
“I feel very settled with the decision I made because if I hadn’t have left I would have been spat out of the game.”
“I would have been playing All Ireland League rugby, which wasn’t good enough for me.
“The thing that you need to be conscious of is that when you make that decision, I had reached a ceiling in the All Ireland League. I was getting the occasional game for the Ravens as it was back then, or the Ulster A I think it is now. I was getting even less appearances for the senior Ulster team.
“When I left Ulster I think I had just over 20 caps. For me, I look back on that and that’s p*** poor, but that’s just my mentality.
“When you reach the point where the rugby that you’re playing no longer serves its purpose, and I’m in no way having a crack at the All Ireland League or the lads I played with, who are good mates at Belfast Harlequins, who I chat to and who any time I’m home, I go and see. When I made my decision that I was going to be a professional rugby player, and I had reached my ceiling there, the decision was easy for me.
“Had no more to do there without being given guaranteed quality game time at a higher level.
“So when you’re handed that opportunity and given that decision, you’ve got to back yourself, and I want to see more people make the brave decision to leave for good clubs in England.”
Annett had some direct advice for young players stuck in academy contracts with only faint prospects of progression within a provincial set-up.
“You have to acknowledge where you are. You can’t live in fantasy world anymore. I could easily have stayed at Ulster and could easily have been rocking around Belfast going ‘I play for Ulster’, wearing all my Ulster tracksuits and living in fantasy land.
“But the reality is you have to decide ‘Is this something I want to do’ and ‘where do I want to take this?’ To a 20-year-old two to three years on an academy contract, I’d say ‘What’s your progression path? What does your ideal scenario look like and how do we work towards it?’
“Mine was always to play for Ireland, which now looks dead and gone.
“I want to see more people being brave. I don’t want to see Niall Annett from seven years ago playing in the All Ireland League anymore. He’s playing but he’s actually regressing as a player. I want to see him playing in the Championship, where I got my head kicked in for a full year. But it was the best thing I ever did because my progression went from being a gritty, Ulster A player who can do a job for the seniors to being a professional, playing at Worcester in the Premiership.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
16 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments