LONG READ Ulster have emerged from the doldrums - and Ireland are the beneficiaries

Less than an hour after his player of the match performance against Italy last month, Cormac Izuchukwu entered the press room at Aviva Stadium. Ireland’s media manager alerted the room, and added the game had been Izuchukwu’s Six Nations debut.

“Come on,” prompted Izuchukwu as he initiated a round applause for himself. The media manager pinched the bridge of his nose. Laughing, Izuchukwu took his seat. You do not normally get this play-acting with the Leinster players who dominate Ireland’s squad.

The Ulster blindside, who hails from County Offaly, joked about Stuart McCloskey embodying quarterback Aaron Rodgers for a try assist and how Rob Baloucoune is “a complete joke when he is on form”.

“It’s class to get into camp and be there with so many of your teammates,” Izuchukwu said, “but, at the same time, we’re here with Ireland and it is great to play with lads I look up to – James Ryan, Big Joe McCarthy and Tadhg Beirne. It’s special.”

‘Bangor Bulldozer’ pushes his way to the front

“Don’t print any of this,” McCloskey joked, “as they’ll all get the big heads!”

It was July 2025 and the bulk of Ireland’s senior squad was in Australia with the British and Irish Lions. McCloskey was back in Dublin, preparing to tour Georgia and Portugal. A month shy of his 33^rd birthday and already with 19 caps to his name, few would have thumped a table had interim head coach Paul O’Connell offered him those summer weeks to go spend on a secluded beach.

Instead, McCloskey was the squad’s “granddad” and fielding questions on which of his teammates could be best suited as a hybrid player. “I’d love to have a go at six,” McCloskey insisted. “They always tell me how hard it is at six or eight, the back rows always say how tough it is. I say it’s just like being a back – ‘Lads you can do whatever you want, just carry the ball occasionally and people will think you’re class’.”

Les Kiss had run the notion by McCloskey when Ulster were bursting with centres (Darren Cave, Stuart Olding, Luke Marshall, Jared Payne), but he had his eyes on a different prize. The Bangor native named Leinster’s Ryan Baird and Ulster teammates Izuchukwu and Nick Timoney as back-rows who could operate as hybrids. “They could probably do a job on the wing,” he remarked, “but they don’t have the smarts for it. That’s what I tell them – they’re just big turkeys that run about.”

McCloskey, more than comfortable in his own skin after a dozen years around the professional block, held sway at the press briefing. He regaled the room with recollections of beating a Munster side captained by O’Connell in just his fourth Ulster appearance. “It’s easy to feel a bit more laidback when you’re 32, not 20,” he commented.

When Elliot Daly went down injured on that Lions tour, the more versatile Jamie Osborne was the Ireland centre summoned from their summer excursion. McCloskey started in both games. Since July, he has started seven of Ireland’s nine Test matches. He would have worn the 12 jersey against the Springboks were it not for an injury picked up against Australia.

‘The Irish Fridge’ (as he was crowned by French rugby fans) is spearheading Ulster’s resurgence in the national squad. Five Ulster players – McCloskey, Izuchukwu, Timoney, Baloucoune and Tom O’Toole – were involved in the Six Nations win over Italy, with only Izuchukwu missing out on the victorious fun in Twickenham a week later. Nathan Doak and Tom Stewart are set to be involved against Wales, with impact sub Timoney getting a start at openside.

Former Ulster and Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris is enthused by his province’s upturn in fortunes. He credits Richie Murphy and his coaching staff, along with general manager Rory Best, for righting a ship from a precarious course.

“First and foremost,” he says, “the mood up here has been lifted because of the way the boys are playing. They’re playing good, attractive rugby, and they seem to be really enjoying it. That is something that hasn’t really been said for the last number of years.

“Boys were going into training every day and, especially under Dan McFarland, it started to become a chore instead of something they were enjoying and looking to improve upon. Richie has given the boys a freshness, brought in his own coaching staff with some good ideas and it is going well. Although, as we saw at the weekend (in a URC loss to Ospreys), the scrum is still a huge problem.”

Ulster topped their Challenge Cup pool in January, and although they lie sixth in the URC standings, winning their game in hand against Edinburgh could vault them into second.

“Optimism is definitely more evident than it has been for a while,” says BBC Northern Ireland rugby correspondent, Matt Gault. “Especially when compared to last season. You have someone like Rory Best in there, above Richie Murphy, who is driving a lot off the off-pitch stuff. They have already wrapped up a few eye-catching signings (Matthew Devine, Eli Snyman and Ben Donnell) for next season. They are a fair bit off being the finished article but, if you look at the rest of this season, they have a good chance to go deep into the Challenge Cup, and will be targeting a run to the latter stages of the URC.”

In February 2024, Farrell selected an Ireland 23 for their opening Six Nations game, against France. It was only the fifth time in 145 years, and 747 Test matches, no Ulster Rugby player had been included in a matchday squad. On three of the previous occasions, in the 1990s, players from Ulster had been picked in squads while representing English clubs. The other time was back in 1882. Ulster fans hoped it would be an anomaly, but it has happened again – most recently for the November 2025 loss to the Springboks.

A combination of Ulster starting this season in good form, playing lovely, attacking rugby, and injuries in key areas has helped. McCloskey may have already been in pole position for inside centre, but his case was certainly helped when Bundee Aki’s barracking of referee Eoghan Cross copped the Connacht man a four-game ban.

Ferris played with McCloskey in March 2014 when the centre made his first start for Ulster. “I know Stu has had some injuries when on duty with Ireland,” he says, “but, when he does pick up something, he is rarely out long. Over the years, he has proven himself to be very robust and durable. He has a lot of minutes in the tank, but he still looks very fresh and is playing some of his best rugby, ever.”

McCloskey is contracted with Ulster up until the end of 2026/27 but, a decade after making his Ireland debut, looks to have finally come of international age. When the big games roll around, Farrell must be inking him in as one of the first names on his team-sheet. Such form may see Ulster and Ireland eager to tie him up to a contract extension that takes him past the 2027 World Cup, when he will be 35.

“It’s amazing how much things change,” Ferris reflects. “Stuart has three really good games for Ireland, including one unbelievable game (against England), and now he can almost go and name his price to the IRFU. He can definitely get that year extension, and maybe even two years.”

‘He is like a Ferrari, waiting to get injured’

Baloucoune is another of Ulster’s backs to have become an overnight success, after years of trying. “There is often this talk of Irish wingers lacking pace,” Ferris notes. “James Lowe is hit with that, but he is still extremely quick over five, 10 yards. What has been lacking, though, is that if you do make a half bust that you now have finishers there. Them boys, Baloucoune and Tommy O’Brien, are like Louis Bielle-Biarrey, in that they’re able to run in tries from 40, 50, 60 yards out. That’s a really nice cushion to have – that if you do make line breaks, you’re able to have people that can finish those opportunities off.”

“Rob has been a breath of fresh air,” Ferris adds. “I do worry about him, though, as he is so highly-tuned. He is like a Ferrari, waiting to get injured. He has been out, in recent years, for such a long time. Hopefully, he has caught a good break now and is able to put all those injury woes behind him. He just needs to be managed, very carefully. A bit like Tadhg Furlong over the past seven, eight years, with Leinster. Make sure he is not being wheeled out to play against Zebre on a Friday night.”

On the other Ulster players pushing for starts and minutes off the bench, Gault says “Doak, in particular, has benefitted from John Cooney leaving Ulster. He has had a good run of games and has flourished in this new Ulster attack under Mark Sexton. Stewart has had more involvement with Ireland, in the last few years, without ever fully establishing himself. Whenever he pulls on an Ulster shirt, he seems to be one of the stand-out players. Has a lot of tries in him and is a solid player to have in the set-piece. Farrell had a look at him before the last World Cup, and now feels like the right time to have another look. Timoney, then, has been banging down the door for starts. He always seems to produce the goods when called upon, by Ireland.”

The wildcard from Ulster’s players on Ireland duty is Bryn Ward. The 21-year-old back-row would remind you of Ferris in many ways. He speaks and plays with an easy confidence and backs himself to make big impact plays, in defence and attack. “Hopefully he has a big future ahead of him,” Ferris comments. “Not so much from an Ulster perspective, but I think it was a blessing for Bryn that Juarno Augustus got injured. Bryn might not have found himself in this position, just yet.

“That’s the thing, in sport – when you are given the opportunity, you have to go and take it. Fair play to the young lad, he went and took it. He was probably the stand-out player for Ireland A when they were destroyed by England down in Limerick. He was the only one you could say had a decent game. From what I’ve heard, too, Andy Farrell likes how abrasive he is, and how he takes contact. Defensively, for a big man like that, he could get off the line and put in more dominant tackles, but there’s no doubt that, with the ball in hand, he is a real handful.”