LONG READ Ulster’s Jude Postlethwaite: ‘They are high pressure games, but I am confident'

Jude Postlethwaite would appreciate how former Kerry sharp-shooter Colm Cooper approached big matches.

Paul Galvin, who won four All-Ireland football titles with ‘The Gooch’, tells a great story about how much of a lie-in his team-mate had before their 2007 final victory. Galvin went to the hotel room he was sharing with Cooper to rouse the forward.

“I said, ‘It’s quarter past one Gooch. We’ve a game there about 3:30, if you wouldn’t mind joining us’,” Galvin recalled. “Gooch just stretches. ‘Ah, we’ve a few minutes yet’. It was like he hit the snooze button. Back asleep for five minutes. Rolled out of bed. Hit one goal and five points, that day.”

While Ulster fans will be gearing up for the big Challenge Cup final against Montpellier on Friday in Bilbao, Postlethwaite will be looking to conserve some energy. “If I’m honest, I do sleep a lot during the day, especially if we’re playing at night,” he says. “I like envisioning what I’m going to be doing. I plan it out in my head, run through the plays. I like a bit of time by myself just before the games. I’m a stresser, so… visualisation, that’s the word!”

This is the 24-year-old’s third full season with the senior squad and his progress has been marked. The 2024/25 campaign saw him travel with Simon Easterby’s Emerging Ireland squad to South Africa and get in an ‘A’ game against England. It was a tough campaign for Ulster, but there are clear signs Richie Murphy is righting the ship. The northern province narrowly missed out on making the knockout stages of the URC, but a Challenge Cup win would earn a return to the Champions Cup and secure their first silverware in 20 years.

Postlethwaite has featured in cup wins over Racing, Stade Français and La Rochelle this season and teamed up, to devastating effect, with Stuart McCloskey in the semi-final win over Exeter Chiefs. “This is big for me, 100%,” he says. “All these must-win games and knock-out rugby. I’m having a great time, experiencing it all at this time of the year, and enjoying every second of it.

As soon as we won against Exeter, I had all my mates texting me, letting me know they were booking all their flights and accommodation for Bilbao.

“All the experience that I’ve gained from my involvement with the ‘A’ games, and then being in for Six Nations camp, I feel in these big games it has helped build my confidence. I know they are high pressure games, but I am confident heading into them.”

“As soon as we won against Exeter,” Postlethwaite adds, “I had all my mates texting me, letting me know they were booking all their flights and accommodation for Bilbao. I’ve a good few going over – about 12 mates – then I have my family heading too.” His mother, her partner, and his uncle, who he describes as ‘the big rugby heads’, will also be at the San Mamés Stadium on Friday night. “It’s exciting times. They don’t get too many away trips, so it’ll be great to have them all along.”

It was around the time Ulster last reached a big European final – the 2012 Heineken Cup, against Leinster – that Postlethwaite was getting to grips with a new sport. “I was eight or nine when I started playing rugby,” he recalls. “I was more into football until then. All my mates were playing rugby and I thought, ‘Right, I’ll have to play’. I didn’t want to miss out. But I’ve enjoyed it, ever since I first started. It has always been a big part of my life, especially going to Inst (Royal Belfast Academical Institution) for secondary school. Rugby was such a big part of my time there, and it just made me love it even more.”

Postlethwaite’s first real taste for the game’s cut-and-thrust came from run-outs with the Minis at Lisburn RFC. Two familiar faces, along his rise to the Ulster senior squad, were Lisburn buddies, Ben Carson and Nathan Doak. “It has been pretty surreal having them lads playing pro rugby and sharing the journey with me.

“Nathan was in the same school year as me but, with the age-grade sides, was playing a year up. Myself and Ben have known each other since we were no age, and grown up together. It’s been class having him around, all the way up through playing age-grade rugby. We’re similar positions, which is funny. Even in school, it was so competitive. We’d play games and then see each other later that night and would be slabbering each other about who was better!” For those not familiar with Ulster lingo, there is no perfect definition for ‘slabbering’ but ‘slagging’ would come closest.

Over lockdown, I was just eating and lifting, so I put on a bit of size, which definitely helped when I was going into senior rugby.

Postlethwaite is now 6ft 4in and just under 17-stone (106kg). When he is paired with McCloskey, the opposition know they are in for a bruising encounter. “I was always quite tall, growing up, but didn’t really have the size to back it up,” Postlethwaite says. “When I left school, there was the lockdown due to Covid and I must have put on about 10 kilos. My brother Dylan is big into his lifting. Over lockdown, I was just eating and lifting, so I put on a bit of size, which definitely helped when I was going into senior rugby.”

The Covid pandemic prevented Postlethwaite, and others of his age group, from linking up with Under-18 or 19s squads, but he was already on the radar of scouts and coaches. He was top scorer in the 2020 Ulster Schools Cup and was brought in by Richie Murphy, when he was preparing for the 2021 Under-20 Six Nations. “It gave me a taste of what was possible,” says Postlethwaite. “I loved every minute of it.

“That first year, being involved, gave me lots of confidence and I really took that into the next year. We ended up winning the Grand Slam, in 2022, which was pretty good. Most lads would probably say the French game away sticks out, but I wasn’t actually playing in that one. I was out with an ankle injury. That was big for them. Charlie Tector hit the winner with the last kick. If we hadn’t won that, there’d be no Grand Slam, so most lads remember that. The game that stood out for me was the last one against Scotland. Being there in Cork and having all our families there was just class. We got to lift the trophy after.”

Postlethwaite got a taste of pro rugby in 2023, when he made two appearances for Ulster’s senior side. He played 11 times the following season, including a Champions Cup quarter-final loss to Leinster. By that stage, Murphy had taken over from outgoing head coach Dan McFarland. It would not happen overnight, but Murphy has instilled a new playing style, and a dollop of belief, in this Ulster squad.

“I played a lot of minutes last year,” Postlethwaite notes, “and when compared to that, it is completely different when you start winning matches and getting into that mindset. When you keep back-to-back winning, it’s so good for everyone at the club. Obviously, having Richie there, and then Mark Sexton coming in with our attack, has really enhanced our game. I’m really happy with it, and enjoying my rugby this season.

“Richie just gives everyone such confidence. He tells us to be brave – and Mark, especially, does that – with our attack. You can see that we’re playing in the best spaces and scoring a lot of points. It’s a confidence thing. Richie’s coaching skills and way of breaking down the game were so good. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Stu is so good. He brings such an attacking threat. He’s able to sit down players too and give me space at 13. He’s very enjoyable to play with.

For a player listing Jared Payne, Luke Marshall and McCloskey as role models, it is no surprise Postlethwaite is not tying himself to one centre position. “I love playing both positions,” he says. “I played 13 most of my way through school and under-age, but I do enjoy playing 12. Most people, I feel, put me down as a 12 because of my size and seeing me with a McCloskey-build, but I do also enjoy playing 13.”

“We have got to play with each other a few times,” he adds of his sometime midfield partner. “I love when we do, because I know that he’s going to get his arms free and hopefully, I will too. Stu is so good. He brings such an attacking threat. He’s able to sit down players too and give me space at 13. He’s very enjoyable to play with.

“With McCloskey, he’s got that ball-playing ability. You saw that in the Six Nations, the way he was able to put people through holes and throwing balls over the top. His ball-playing ability and awareness are definitely areas I want to work on and improve. I feel I have done but it is obviously something I have to keep working on. I don’t want to just be that ball-carrying threat. I want to have everything in my game.”

When it comes to toughest opponents he has faced so far, he picks two versatile centres and a fully-certified sensation. “Bundee (Aki) is always pretty tough. I faced Sione Tuipulotu last season, at the start. It was pretty surreal, playing against him. The way he runs his shapes at the line is pretty impressive. It’s something you would want to pick up on.”

“Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) is a quality player,” he adds. “I can say that he’s probably one of the most talented players I’ve ever played against, to be honest. His ability to break the line and his speed – his acceleration off the mark – is just crazy.”

Postlethwaite even had the honour of getting involved in a shemozzle with the great, irascible Peter O’Mahony at the tail-end of last season, when Ulster travelled to Thomond Park to have a crack at Munster. The photos and footage show neither man was backing down, but Postlethwaite just laughs when reminded. “I probably didn’t even fully realise, until after the game,” he remarks. “Those moments are awesome, though, and you always remember them, too.”

Postlethwaite made the Emerging Ireland tour in late 2024, along with the likes of Doak, Rob Baloucoune, Sam Prendergast and Cormac Izuchukwu, who have all gone on to win full caps. Seeing their progress, Postlethwaite insists, provides him with extra motivation. He has played England Saxons and Spain, with the ‘A’ side, but got a taste of the senior set-up when Andy Farrell included him in his 2026 Six Nations squad.

“It was so good going down to Ireland camp. I was a bit nervous, but having all those Ulster lads there made it great. They helped me along. There’s obviously a lot to learn when you’re in there, but they were great for that. Any questions I had, I could just go to them. It was pretty awesome just being a part of Stu’s journey, and Rob’s journey. They had a class Six Nations. And obviously Nick Timoney and Tom O’Toole, I can’t forget about them. Izzy and Doaky featuring – it’s pretty class, seeing them progress.”

“I remember I was 24th man for the first game, against France,” he continues. “Even experiencing being on the pitch and warming up, that is where I want to get to. I know I have a long way to go to get there, but that is ultimately my goal.”

While Ulster were gutted at missing out on the URC play-offs, Friday’s game against Montpellier has generated a lot of buzz. “You’d be out in the community now and people would come up to you and talk about the games and be excited about the ones coming up. It’s pretty cool, seeing that joy in people’s faces. You just want to keep winning and doing them proud.”

That final has been foremost in most Ulster minds, these past few weeks, but Postlethwaite credits his close friends for helping him switch off from rugby, when he needs to. Away from the game, he enjoys getting out for golf (when the body allows). He got into basketball for a while, during Covid, but credits that phase to taking a fancy for NBA singlets and being inspired by ‘The Last Dance’ documentary, about the Chicago Bulls.

When he wants to talk anything but sport, he calls his nanny, Brenda. “I phone her quite a bit. Just to get my head cleared from rugby. She’s a big person for me and she always sees the bigger picture in things. I find it good to call her when I’ve had a tough day, or a tough game. I’d give her a ring and, to be honest, she doesn’t know much about rugby. She just tells you how it is. She’s very good to talk to, when you’re having them bad days. Sometimes it’s the best thing, to get away from it, clear the head and talk about normal things.”