A Trip to The Province

This weekend’s trip to Belfast completes my own personal odyssey of the Irish Provinces. It started a couple of years ago with a very jolly weekend in Dublin. I managed to leave my handbag on the airport bus and discovered what lovely chaps the Irish are. They went back to the bus depot, retrieved the handbag and gave us a free ride back to the hotel!

It was there I discovered what rugby in general and the Heineken Cup in particular means to the Irish. Every hostelry has a rugby post over the doorway and green Heineken balloons floating all around it. On the pavement are more temporary bars which in no time are literally over-flowing whatever the weather. Everyone is welcome, all the better if you are sporting a rugby shirt, and the friendliness and sheer passion for the game almost makes up for the cost of the beer! Well that game against Leinster proved a bit of a disaster (and found out a certain tango-coloured Welshman) and we realised what a steep learning curve we were on if we were to reach the heights of European Rugby.

The following season we went to Limerick. A very different town to Dublin but if anything the passion was even greater. The town was decked with the red, navy and white of Munster. The buses stopped anywhere and everywhere for rugby supporters. People came over to chat to us when they saw our rugby shirts. They were genuinely worried we would beat them. In Thomond park we glimpsed what our future could be like at Allainz. But our journey towards the top of the European tree was still incomplete and we lost a game we probably should have won. The curve got steeper.

Then it was off to Galway Bay where we took on Connacht, the Irish minnows. Galway is different again, a little town with a big heart, way out on the West Coast. But the people were no less rugby-crazy and being a small town we met people at the compact little ground we had earlier lunched with! We won, but only just. To start with it all seemed too easy; maybe complacency set it and things could easily have gone wrong right at the death. But we had a bit more grit, a bit more resolve and we hung. The curve continued upwards.

And now we go to The Province, to Belfast, to complete the set. Visit Belfast, the official visitor website, tells us that the Giro d’Italia will start there – but not until May, or we could go to Rose Week – in July! How about the Spring Fair? No that’s next weekend. So what shall we do this weekend? Visit the Titanic of course, maybe go to the Zoo or Aunt Sandra’s Candy Factory, Hillsborough Castle or even the Crumlin Road Jail and Oh yes there’s a rugby game in town!

So can we win? Well this time last year we beat the Irish fairly easily at Twickenham. Ravenhill, however will be a different matter. The ground has been refurbished, it will be “packed to the rafters” in the words of Ulster CEO Shane Logan. Last weekend Ulster lost their unbeaten 2014 record to Cardiff Blues. (Although despite that they are only the 3^rd best Irish Team in the Pro12!) It appears that the Irishmen fielded a strong team including Andrew Trimble & Chris Henry along with Stephen Ferris, Tommy Bowe and Paddy Jackson. Ulster hope to have their influential fly half Ruan Pienaar back on Saturday along with Rory Best who missed the defeat against The Blues.

This is of course home territory for Mark McCall, former coach of Ulster before he joined Sarries in 2009. He will be our secret weapon. Nobody understands the Ulstermen like an Ulsterman. Last year, victory was achieved through solid defence along with Owen Farrell’s usual accuracy from the tee. Sarries were the better team throughout. This Saturday things will probably be much closer. Saracens hope to have Billy Vunipola back and his presence would be a huge bonus. Brits and Kruis both appeared to pick up injuries last weekend and may or may not be available. In comparison to last year, Will Fraser is out but Jacques is back!

Saracens will need every bit of their mantra:- Honesty, Work-Rate, Humility, Discipline. But they can win - if they believe.