LONG READ 'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

There was a period of time when Ulster’s players stood for everything that was good about Irish rugby. These days you rarely get to see one of them even getting to stand for the national anthem.

Across the entire Six Nations championship, the contributions of Ulster’s entire squad amounted to 30 minutes of rugby, 19 for Iain Henderson against England, 11 for Rob Herring against France.

If you are wondering why this is such a big deal, then sit back for a rapid fire history lesson. Way back in the 1980s, the greatest rugby team Ulster ever produced beat the ’84 grand slam touring Wallabies, setting in train a sequence of results that lasted all the way through until 1993. “One of the best provincial teams in Irish rugby history,” says Des Fitzgerald, a Leinster stalwart from that era.

Aside from Australia, Ulster also defeated Fiji, Canada, Samoa and Italy in that era. For context, Fiji reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 1987, Canada and Samoa getting to the last eight just four years later. Across those years, Canada beat Argentina, Scotland, Wales and even France. But not Ulster.

Part of the problem was rugby’s outdated structures; its calendar filled with challenge matches and tours, rather than formal competition. Outside the Five Nations, there was no other international tournament until the World Cup came along in 1987, while it took another eight years for someone to dream up the concept of a Heineken Cup. Had there been one in the ’80s, Ulster would have cleaned up.

“We certainly didn’t fear anyone,” says Davy Irwin, captain of that side, noting how Wellington, winners of New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship in 1981 and 1986, were scalped, 29-14, when they came to Belfast in 1982.

Then there was Ulster’s dominance over their Irish rivals. They went nine years unbeaten against Leinster, 13 years unbeaten against Munster, 14 years without a loss to Connacht. When the game turned pro, they were Ireland’s first winners of the Heineken Cup. Seven years later they won the Celtic League.

And now look at them.

Defeated by Zebre earlier this season, the only teams below them in the URC are the two sides whose existence appeared to be in doubt earlier this year: Zebre and Dragons.

Attendances at Ravenhill are down, finances have been squeezed, vanity signings such as Steven Kitshoff – who worked out at £50,000-a-game – no longer on their agenda. And in the 142-year history of the Six/Five/Home Nations Championship, they have just had their lowest ever tally of minutes.

Most of us played for Ireland. Out of that team you had lots of very talented communicators, very talented people who would have loved to have contributed to the professional era.

Willie Anderson

To try and figure out what has gone wrong, we need to go back to that golden era, and to the player who embodied that period, Willie Anderson.

“We beat Australia; we won nine titles in a row,” the former Ulster and Ireland captain says. “Most of us played for Ireland. Out of that team you had lots of very talented communicators, very talented people who would have loved to have contributed to the professional era, whether it was with the academy boys, whether it was to do talks, or just to be brought along to Ravenhill.”

They weren’t asked and it hurts Anderson to see Ulster in such a bad state because he’s a proud man, proud of his Ulster and Irish heritage, proud of his past, worried about the future.

He sees Irish rugby and notes the string of successes: three Grand Slams this century as opposed to one in the previous 100 years; series wins in Australia (2018) and New Zealand (2022); championships in 2014, 2015 and last year; as many championship wins in the last two seasons as the entire 1990s.

Yet a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In the 1980s, Ulster was Ireland’s biggest provider of players. Now it is their lowest. “Irish rugby needs a strong Ulster,” he says.

And for some time they have been weak.

It should have been better. Way back in 2006, an unfancied Ulster team won their last big trophy. There have been no shortage of broken promises, broken dreams, big talk and big egos in the years since.

And while Ulster have suffered, 11 of their league rivals have had their moments in the sun, Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Glasgow, Ospreys, Scarlets, Stormers winning the Pro12/URC; Benetton capturing the once-off Rainbow Cup; Cardiff, Sharks, Leinster and Munster tasting European success; Bulls winning Super Rugby.

Ulster, meanwhile, have lost two Pro14 finals as well as a European Cup decider, enduring a trophy famine alongside makeweights Dragons, Zebre, Edinburgh and Lions.

“Back in 2006, we had a half decent side, all homegrown players bar Justin Harrison,” recalls Stephen Ferris, a Grand Slam winner with Ireland in 2009. “Justin sorted out our set-piece, David Humphreys pulled the strings at 10 and got us over the line.

Towards the end of the Dan McFarland era, the lads were almost scared to make a mistake because they feared that if they tried something and it didn’t come off that they would get a bollocking.

Stephen Ferris

“Any side that wins anything big is a happy one and we were a really happy side in 2006. It was so enjoyable. We would have killed for each other. And every coach that goes in there tries to make it a happy camp.

“But boys get pissed off when things go wrong. Les Kiss (coach from 2015 to 2017) was really controlling in the way he wanted to do things. Towards the end of the Dan McFarland era (Kiss’ long-term successor), the lads were almost scared to make a mistake because they feared that if they tried something and it didn’t come off that they would get a bollocking on the following Monday or be dropped the following Friday.”

And along the way there were a number of sliding doors moments, such as the time in 2013, when the Pro12 final was switched from Belfast to Dublin, giving Leinster home advantage. Leinster, duly, capitalised on the administrative favour.

Then there was 2015, when the concession of a late try in the semi-final at Glasgow, prevented them getting a home Pro12 final against what was then a mediocre Munster team. Onto 2019. Jacob Stockdale crossed the tryline in their Champions Cup quarter-final against Leinster. Alas, he failed to ground the ball. And Ulster lost.

Then there was 2020, a Pro14 decider. Leinster blew them away. Two years later, Leinster were out, surprisingly beaten by the Bulls at the RDS. That gifted Ulster the chance of another home final, and heading into added time against the Stormers, they had the lead. Guess what? They lost it.

And they haven’t recovered since, McFarland sacked last year after a string of average results. In his place came Richie Murphy, an ebullient character with a track record of developing young players.

It’s just as well as the financial tap now trickles rather than flows. They’re reliant on young players again which is all well and good until you realise that unlike Leinster, Ulster don’t have a schools system that produces a conveyor belt of talent. Instead they have relied on outstanding coaches within the schools system – Dan Soper at RBAI guiding James Hume, Mike Lowry, Jude Postlethwaite, Callum Reid and Dave McCann through; Wallace’s Derek Suffern mentoring Jacob Stockdale, Nathan Doak, Scott Wilson and Ben Carson.

The perception outside Ulster is that their players yield too much power and that a blame culture exists. The perception within Ulster is that they feel a little unloved by Dublin and decisions like allowing Ruan Pienaar leave, fuels their paranoia.

Leinster, in contrast, has de-facto sub-academies within a dozen schools which they assist with their own coaches going in to offer advice before the best schools players appear in a pathway as soon as they turn 18. That’s a system that works, Ulster’s a system that is hit and miss.

And that’s not all. After Henderson’s emergence at the tail end of that really good 2011-14 Ulster team, the talent factory dried up for a period. Anderson helped nurture Lowry, Hume, Stockdale and Robert Baloucoune, but after initial success, they have all stagnated.

The perception outside Ulster is that their players yield too much power and that a blame culture exists. The perception within Ulster is that they feel a little unloved by Dublin and decisions like allowing Ruan Pienaar leave, fuels their paranoia.

Amid all this they have a new, young coach in Murphy, who Ferris likes. “All the best sides I have played in have been player driven,” he says.

“The 2009 Grand Slam team was the best example of that. We obviously had our coaches but Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell were the two main guys who drove us around the pitch.

“Richie believes in empowering his squad. Under Richie there is more energy, vigour, aggression, and their contact skills are really, really good. But being player driven is one thing; winning something big requires you to have a pack.

“Do Ulster have that at the minute to win the big games? I don’t believe they do.

“They certainly have a backline with real pace in the centres and out wide, pace that can trouble any side, as Leinster discovered towards the end of last season.

“But when you are coming up against big, massive packs – French clubs, some English clubs – it can be really tough.”

The results back up this point. They lost by 15 points to Benetton, by 28 to Leicester, by 21 to Bordeaux-Begles, by 40 to Toulouse, by 26 to Bulls, by 13 to the Emirate Lions.

Somehow they squeezed into the knockout stage of the Champions Cup but their reward for three defeats from four games is an away trip to Bordeaux who have already hammered them this year.

The URC offers some hope, just two points separating them from the play-off positions, but given where they were two years ago, and given where they were during Anderson and Ferris’ heyday, this isn’t a good look. Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn’t much more than a development province right now.

They face a long road back.