Guinness PRO12: Ulster v Leinster (Saturday, 5.15pm, live on BBC2)
FIVE Ulster stalwarts, both home-grown and adopted, will bid farewell to the province with varying degrees of reluctance after this evening’s anti-climactic end to the competitive season when Leinster visit the Kingspan Stadium for no more than a dead rubber.
Ruan Pienaar has been passed fit to play his last game for the team after his contract was effectively terminated by the IRFU due to a perceived need for its constituent provinces to nurture Irish-qualified talent for the number nine jersey.
The 33-year-old Springbok will move to Montpellier, his sense of regret no doubt enhanced by the fact his seven-year stint with Ulster failed to yield a trophy.
Another member of Ulster’s South African contingent, lock Franco van der Merwe, is also off to pastures new as he will be playing for the Cardiff Blues next season.
Veteran back row forward Roger Wilson will play his 221st and final game for his province as he prepares to begin a new life in the United States next spring.
Head coach Neil Doak and forwards coach Allen Clarke will also say farewell to the Ulster faithful this evening, due to the imminent arrival of their replacements, Jono Gibbes and Dwayne Peel.
Doak says he has no regrets, although adds that he would jump at the opportunity to re-join the coaching set-up if it came along at some stage in the future.
“Without a shadow of a doubt.” Doak replied with no hint of a moment’s hesitation when asked if he would consider such an offer.
“My heart is here and has been here for a long period of time; ultimately I never really saw it as a job.”
“It was a way of life for me and I am obviously disappointed I am going (but) it is out of my control and I would love to have been staying around.
“I have been here 10 years and put a lot into this and that is one of the reasons why it has been unbelievably frustrating for the last 18 months.
“Obviously I would have loved to have won a couple of competitions but I have no regrets.
“If you are a professional, whether you get paid a penny or £100,000, the professionalism is in your actions and attitudes.
“It is not about the coach at all to me; I don’t make any tackles or passes, it is about players and trying to make sure they play with a smile on their face and that is ultimately what I’ve been trying to do for the last number of years.”
There haven’t been too many smiles on Ulster faces this season, with the team failing to make the PRO12 semi-finals for the first time in five years after suffering back-to-back defeats against Munster and Ospreys in the run up to this evening’s game.
Ulster director of rugby Less Kiss admits there will be pressure to deliver next season and says he shares the supporters’ pain.
“There will be more pressure and I’ll certainly put more pressure on myself; I can only imagine people are disappointed and they have every right to be.” said the Australian.
“It’s not where we’d like to be; I accept it; anything in life that is of worth has some degree of toughness and we’re in a pretty cut-throat sort of business (so) you’ve got to accept that’s part of the game.
“Even when you win there’s pressure but as soon as something goes wrong, the questions come quickly so I don’t think it ever relents.
“I had a lot of hope and belief and conviction that we wouldn’t be in this position but this is the business; it’s not nice and we take it personally that we haven’t been able to do something that would make a lot of people happy this year.
“When things go against you, you’ve got to be good enough to work a way through it and around it; collectively we agreed that we need to step it up and we will.”
SATURDAY'S PRO12 FIXTURES (5.15pm)
Munster v Connacht, Ulster v Leinster,
Glasgow v Edinburgh, Dragons v Cardiff Blues,
Scarlets v Ospreys, Zebre v Benetton
