Saturday's Ravenhill result was not only good for the winners and the league itself but also beneficial in the long-term context of the Ireland team, writes Gerry Thornley
AS WITH Leinster, no doubt Munster would disagree, but in the same way that understrength Leinster came unstuck in the Sportsground just over three weeks ago, Ulster beating the European champions on Friday night in Ravenhill was a good result for Irish rugby and a good result for the Magners League.
Were Leinster and Munster able to make eight and 10 changes respectively and still travel to Galway and Belfast and win, it would merely have underlined the gulf between the big two and the others. Irish rugby has two strong provinces. It needs four.
Team Ireland has an unhealthy reliance on two teams that, in the longer term, could become even more problematic. Granted, Leinster especially have been good in bringing through some of their academy's production line, such as Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney, Johnny Sexton, Cian Healy, Devin Toner and Seán O'Brien, while Munster have groomed Keith Earls, Denis Hurley, Tomás O'Leary and Donncha Ryan. There's more where they came from as well.
Yet, if one looks at the age profile, it's clear a relatively golden generation of Leinster and Munster players are coming to retirement in the next three years or so and for the sake of Team Ireland it's critical both Ulster and Connacht improve their conveyor belts.
The rush to question Matt Williams's standing as Ulster coach after two years of steep and divisive decline always seemed ridiculously hasty on the basis of six defeats in his opening seven matches. It borrowed too liberally from a football culture where there always has to be a bookies' list highlighting the next in line for the sack.
Nor did it allow for Ulster's goalkicking ratio of 43.5 per cent, easily the lowest in the league; as Williams noted, but for two missed kicks they might now be running third.
The Australian's revolution, for that is what it is, was always going to need time. Eight of Saturday's 22-man squad were 22 or under. That is clearly too great an emphasis on youth and, as with any young side, it will still be an up-and-down year, but once again on Saturday there was evidence to suggest patience will be rewarded.
Even in the midst of what now looks like 10 years without reaching the Heineken Cup's knock-out stages, for four years from 2001-02 to 2004-05 Ulster remained competitive in the pool stages and unbeaten at Ravenhill.
The first three of those campaigns were under Alan Solomons, when the squad drew heavily on imports from the Southern Hemisphere, and usually the template for success was the intensifying of pressure through a territorial, kicking game and then picking off three points, usually through the remarkable opportunism of David Humphreys.
There were, admittedly, stunning exceptions, such as the 42-19 win over Wasps and the 33-0 win over Leicester.
Last Saturday night felt different. Not only was there much more of a young, indigenous feel to the squad, but playing into the first-half gale they showed a willingness to keep the ball in hand, play on the gainline and with width, and stay on their feet. Ulster are beginning to look like a Matt Williams team.
This is something of a culture change, but ultimately it can only be beneficial for Irish as well as Ulster rugby. It's also playing to the players' strengths and youthful exuberance.
When Ulster made four clean line breaks, the first in support to receive the ball every time was David Pollock, their 21-year-old flanker. Such classic openside continuity play might as well be utilised.
For their next trick, Ulster need to get more runners to support Pollock. This is the kind of work-rate off the ball that has been a striking feature of Munster's game this season but wasn't so apparent in Ravenhill.
It's like a striker making those often futile runs inside the penalty area when looking for a rebound off the keeper. Occasionally he'll be rewarded with a tap-in.
Pollock looks a Test player in the making, as does Darren Cave. Admittedly, his passing skills - or lack thereof - are yet another damning indictment of the schools game, where winning cups is paramount. But his game is developing visibly and his defence has come on in leaps and bounds.
Williams has an excellent record in this regard, not only launching the careers of Brian O'Driscoll (okay, anybody might have done that), Keith Gleeson and Leo Cullen, but also relaunching the careers of Reggie Corrigan, Shane Byrne, Victor Costello and Gordon D'Arcy.
Whether coincidental or not, Williams's arrival has coincided with some of the best rugby of Paddy Wallace's career.
The Australian has apparently revolutionised Ulster's training and dietary regimes (and the benefits of their new state-of-the-art gym in Newforge are another long-term investment) and Wallace is not the only Ulster player who has noticeably bulked up. The moment when he bounced of Lifeimi Mafi's hit and kept going was proof of the pudding, so to speak.
Wallace has always been an exceptional talent, but he looks so much more at ease at inside centre. His playmaking skills thrive on that extra pass, that extra second or two.
When Graham Henry sacrificed Ma'a Nonu's dynamic midfield running by bringing on Stephen Donald in the Tri-Nations decider in Brisbane, the presence of a second five-eighth alongside Dan Carter helped turn the game on its head. Perhaps because defences are pushing up harder in midfield and generally tackling better, the crash-ball inside centre is going out of fashion. A second five-eighth is now de rigueur.
But arguably, it's the improvement in Wallace's defence over the last year that has been most striking. Lest we forget, he tackled Nonu on the charge three times out of three in the Wellington Test, when also having the vision and the nimbleness of foot to score Ireland's try, and we all saw what Nonu did subsequently in the Tri-Nations.
Williams has also bucked a trend by bringing Cillian Willis from Leinster. Ulster doesn't tend to feature much in the flow of player traffic between the provinces, but Willis's apparent delight with a move that has probably salvaged his professional career can only help in this regard.
True, it was only one belated win over a Munster side about two-thirds short of optimum strength. But Ulster and Irish rugby needed that win more than Munster.
gthornley@irish-times.ie
