As Ulster prepare for their Champions Cup clash against Exeter Chiefs on Friday night in Belfast, former Ulster and Exeter centre, Ian Whitten, says both clubs must show patience as they put their trust in developing young players.
Whitten - who won two English Premiership titles and the European Champions Cup with the Chiefs after leaving Ulster - observes that there are many similarities between his former sides.
Indeed, they are both teams in transition and have demonstrated a shift in emphasis towards relying on young, home-grown talent.
In addition, both sides have endured difficult seasons so far, have yet to win a game in the competition and suffered chastening defeats last weekend.
Exeter suffered their record home defeat - a 17-69 hammering against Bordeaux - while Ulster were also put to the sword 38-10 by Leicester Tigers after the English side ran rampant in the second half.
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With qualification for the next round of the Champions Cup very unlikely but still mathematically possible, perhaps the more significant motivation for both sides will be simply to secure a win and a momentum-boosting performance as they seek to turn a corner in their respective seasons.
Whitten told the Irish News he thinks the game on Friday night will be too close to call, but thinks his native province will undoubtedly benefit from home advantage.
“It’s a really difficult one to predict because both teams are the same at the minute in terms of where they are.” The 37-year-old explains.
“I’d probably favour Ulster because they’re at home but both sides can have their moments, both good and bad.
“Exeter have a big, heavy pack of forwards so Ulster will really have to front up there and both backlines are inexperienced so it will just be whoever wants to take charge of it.
“It will be an interesting game and a close game so it should be a good one to watch.”
As for who he’ll be supporting on the night, Whitten refuses to be drawn on the question given his strong connection to both sides.
“I’m bringing my three boys to the game so I’ll just follow what they’re doing.” He laughs.
Reflecting on his own journey from Ulster, where he won 62 caps, before moving to Exeter in 2012 where he went on to win Premierships and a European Cup, Whitten is well used to projects that take time and patience.
It was five years after Whitten joined Exeter and seven years after the Devon side were promoted to the top-flight league in their history that the Chiefs were crowned champions of England.
The twice-capped Ireland centre is hopeful his former sides can bounce back from difficult recent periods in their history.
“Exeter have been having a tough year. They’ve won one game in the league and haven’t won any in Europe.” Whitten explains.
“It’s all changed at the club since I was there. Covid hit them hard as it did with all English teams. They’ve been rebuilding since then and have had to cut budgets and had to cut back on the squad quite a bit.
“What they do have is a very exciting bunch of young guys to start again with. This year seems to be particularly tough for them and they are looking at reinventing their defence and attack, trying to decide how to play the game.
“So, there’s a lot of things in flux at the minute. There’s still a lot of potential for them to have a good team in the future. If they can get it together they have a good core of players that will be competitive in the future.
“I am a long time out of Ulster, but looking at it from the outside it looks very similar to Exeter in terms of Richie Murphy coming in and they’ve changed their style of play from what Dan McFarland had. They’ve had some positive signs including playing really well away to Connacht.
“Richie Murphy did really well with the Ireland under 20s and I’m sure he’ll be hoping to replicate that success with some of the same players.
“The main thing I’m excited about for Ulster is the number of young, homegrown players coming into the team which is something Ulster have to keep working at - trying to bring young Ulster players through because it’s good for rugby in the province if school players can see there’s a pathway there.
“It gives them the belief that they can be a professional player and dream of running out at Ravenhill in front of all those people.
“I’m excited for the likes of James McNabney, Dave McCann and the two young centres Ben Carson and Jude Postlethwaite.
“Zac Ward looks also promising. Nathan Doak in the past few games looks like a guy who is going to start taking charge of things. You’ve got a really good core of young players coming into the team and it’s going to take time and you have to be patient.”
Having been on a similar journey with Exeter, Whitten’s advice to Ulster fans and Richie Murphy’s squad is to embrace the process, find an identity and show patience in developing youth.
“Supporters and players need to have the sense that there is potential to go places, that the style of rugby you’re playing will ultimately work and be successful,” Whitten explains.
“I had that feeling from the moment I joined Exeter. We could play Leinster or Clermont or Toulouse and we would have nowhere near the star power, but we could take the ball and hold on to it. If we had the ball, no team could hurt us.
“Ulster will want to show the potential they have going forward. It has been a really up-and-down season. Connacht was good. Leicester was obviously pretty disappointing. But you’re going to get that with any young team.
“I hope they stick with these guys. There will be ups and downs. Patience is definitely going to be required. In the end, hopefully trusting in them will be worth it.”
