HIS BELFAST-BORN grandmother has opened up a completely new chapter in 23-year-old Aidan Morgan’s rugby career.
The Auckland native played for the New Zealand U20s in 2021 and then broke into provincial rugby with Wellington before making his Super Rugby debut with the Hurricanes.
But the Kiwi out-half has now shifted to a new adventure with Ulster, signing for the Irish province on a two-year deal ahead of the new season.
Billy Burns was the main man at number 10 in Ulster for the past six year but he moved to Munster over the summer. It had looked like the northern province might be left a little short at out-half coming into this 2024/25 season but happily, they landed Morgan from Kiwi rugby.
It helped hugely that Morgan is Irish-qualified and now Ulster boss Richie Murphy is looking forward to seeing him on the pitch after making a positive impression during pre-season.
“He’s been good, he’s come in and settled in very quickly,” said Murphy today during a URC launch press conference.
“He’s a big running threat with ball in hand. He’s probably going to spend a bit of time getting used to the balance between that and the European game and what’s expected of him.
“He’s very exciting, he’s fitted in with the group straight away. He’s not a big man, but he’s a very tough defender who defends his channel very well for a man of his size.
“It’s going to be very exciting to see how he develops, he’s only 23 years of age and he’s got a little bit of Super Rugby experience. It’s a new start for him.”
The recent example of Mack Hansen shows how Irish-qualified players can come into the provincial game and rapidly make a big impact for the national team.
Hansen wasn’t a huge star coming from the Brumbies and Morgan is in the same mould in that he wasn’t a key figure for the Hurricanes.
But Murphy was quick to temper any expectations in that regard.
“It’s very early days at the moment,” said Murphy when asked if Morgan could be an Ireland contender.
“Does he compare well with other guys? He’s different strengths to the players we’ve had up through the U20s in the last couple of years.
“The big thing is that he’s played a different game. Super Rugby is very different to the European game. It’s going to take him a bit of time, there will be good days and bad days, but it’s a case of seeing how he goes over the next number of weeks to get him started.
“There’s elements of his game we’re trying to get him to work on, but we’re pretty happy with his attitude, his commitment, his work-rate. He’s sitting outside the room here doing video clips from yesterday and today’s his day off.
“He’s working hard and he’s a promising young player.”
Morgan will be competing with Jake Flannery and James Humpherys for the number 10 shirt in Ulster, while fullback/wing Mike Lowry has also played at out-half in the past.
Morgan, Flannery, and Humphreys are a relatively inexperienced trio of out-halves but Murphy believes in their talent.
“It’s not an ideal situation, but it comes from review, hearing what they have to say and dealing with them after training concerning video analysis and how things work,” said Murphy.
“Obviously, we’ve two 23-year-old out-halves and a 20-year-old out-half, we do have Mike Lowry who has played there in the past, but we’re going to be a young side over the next couple of years.
“Our frontliners, we’ve plenty of experience except for that position, so we’re going to build something around those guys and that’s pretty interesting.”
Backing the youth is a big theme in Ulster this season. There is exciting talent in the playing group and Murphy has worked with many of them in the recent past with the Ireland U20s.
One man who really grabbed his chances last season under Murphy was Cormac Izuchukwu, who had been playing in the second row but was moved to blindside flanker by the new boss.
A few months later, 24-year-old Izuchukwu was brought on tour to South Africa by Andy Farrell’s Ireland. He wasn’t capped but had his self-belief boosted by that experience.
“He’s in a really good place, he’s come back into training and he’s training really hard,” said Murphy of Izuchukwu. “He looks very big and strong. There’s definitely a confidence around him that hasn’t been there before.
“He’s also stepping into that role where he’s using his voice and talking to the guys around him, which is really good. We’re very excited to see him start the season and see where he gets to because he became a very big strong ball-carrier towards the back end of the season for us.”
