IN ANY WALK of life the search for an answer, a solution, often brings an end.
Just as well, then, that Andrew Trimble still has a few blank spaces he wants to fill in.
At Ravenhill – to paraphrase Mike Tyson – he is a God. 50 tries in 155 games, eight scores this season and blonde locks Achilles himself would envy.
The international scene has never been quite so generous to Trimble. His last appearance for Ireland was the November defeat to South Africa, and since then he has found himself below Craig Gilroy, Keith Earls and Fergus McFadden in the pecking order.
The record-breaking stats up north don’t tally with the work-horse wing witnessed in action under Declan Kidney.
With a red hand upon his chest, Trimble is the go-to man; a body with the necessary weight and acceleration to puncture and punish defences. In green, it’s just never quite materialised that way.
“I actually don’t know the answer,” the unfailingly honest Trimble tells TheScore.ie. “If it’s something that is imposed on me or if it’s baggage that I bring to playing for Ireland. But I agree with you; I find it a lot more difficult to get my hands on the ball in a green shirt.
“The intensity is higher; your time on the ball is lower. You need to anticipate two or three phases in advance where the ball’s going to be or where the opportunity will come.
“I don’t know what it is, [maybe] it’s a comfort thing after playing 150-155 times for Ulster now.”
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That so-called comfort must feel implausible and distant as the sleet falls against the thin walls of Ulster’s gym, a thinly walled shed within their Newforge base. When Trimble was reportedly shown around the facilities of Stade Francais in Paris early this year the move to warmer climes felt more sensible than most rugby transfer rumours.
“Well, no. [The Paris reports] weren’t off the mark, but I’m really pleased with how it worked out in the end.
“I think I’ve got a lot I still want to achieve, a lot I want to do and if I left I’d look back and – if things went well without you – you’d be devastated, because it just means so much to you.”
Practice
Trimble’s on-field persona has appeared more intense since being dropped by Ireland. To achieve all he wants to, he continues to try to hone and improve his game.
“I want to always continue and keep practicing and working on things that I would see as a weakness.
“I just want to be a better player. Every week I want to try and perform as well as I can. Just by doing little things out on the pitch after session has finished, they make a big difference.”
Make no mistake: the Heineken Cup is the measure Ulster want to be judged by. The easy out would be to trot out the safe only-focusing-on-the-next-game. In Ulster, however, they trust their players to treat that as an unspoken truism with the actual goal of a European quarter-final overshadowing all.
Mark Anscombe’s men are now embarking on a three-week period in which two visits to national stadia sandwich an increasingly competitive inter-pro in the RDS. It’s a daunting run of three away fixtures, yet Trimble is able to maintain the perspective of a man who entered the side on the low ebb of an upward curve in 2005.
“You find yourself now saying, ‘these are the three biggest games of the season’. But earlier on, before Christmas we had Northampton, Northampton and then we had Leinster at Christmas, then Glasgow and Castres in January.” Says the Coleraine-born wing.
‘We just have to…’
“It’s always the next big thing. If you pass those tests, the next thing is the biggest month in your season. It’s definitely the case that these three games are going to set us up, really.
“Obviously at the minute, we’re looking at Edinburgh. We want to make sure we go to Murrayfield and get a result, because we have to…” on a ground which perhaps yielded Ireland’s most disappointing Six Nations result, the winger emphasised the point: “We just have to get a result there.”
“Then the RDS, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but it’s a little bit in the back of your mind. And then, obviously, the Heineken Cup quarter-final. Going over to Twickenham is going to be an unbelievable occasion. Everyone’s really excited.
“These three games are definitely going to set the tone.”
'I just want to be a better player' - Trimble honing in on pivotal 3-week period
IN ANY WALK of life the search for an answer, a solution, often brings an end.
Just as well, then, that Andrew Trimble still has a few blank spaces he wants to fill in.
At Ravenhill – to paraphrase Mike Tyson – he is a God. 50 tries in 155 games, eight scores this season and blonde locks Achilles himself would envy.
The international scene has never been quite so generous to Trimble. His last appearance for Ireland was the November defeat to South Africa, and since then he has found himself below Craig Gilroy, Keith Earls and Fergus McFadden in the pecking order.
The record-breaking stats up north don’t tally with the work-horse wing witnessed in action under Declan Kidney.
With a red hand upon his chest, Trimble is the go-to man; a body with the necessary weight and acceleration to puncture and punish defences. In green, it’s just never quite materialised that way.
“I actually don’t know the answer,” the unfailingly honest Trimble tells TheScore.ie. “If it’s something that is imposed on me or if it’s baggage that I bring to playing for Ireland. But I agree with you; I find it a lot more difficult to get my hands on the ball in a green shirt.
That so-called comfort must feel implausible and distant as the sleet falls against the thin walls of Ulster’s gym, a thinly walled shed within their Newforge base. When Trimble was reportedly shown around the facilities of Stade Francais in Paris early this year the move to warmer climes felt more sensible than most rugby transfer rumours.
With the ink still wet on a new two-year central contact, the 28-year-old remains honest. The fear of missing out on an organic success had kept him close to his roots:
“Well, no. [The Paris reports] weren’t off the mark, but I’m really pleased with how it worked out in the end.
“I think I’ve got a lot I still want to achieve, a lot I want to do and if I left I’d look back and – if things went well without you – you’d be devastated, because it just means so much to you.”
Practice
Trimble’s on-field persona has appeared more intense since being dropped by Ireland. To achieve all he wants to, he continues to try to hone and improve his game.
“I want to always continue and keep practicing and working on things that I would see as a weakness.
“I just want to be a better player. Every week I want to try and perform as well as I can. Just by doing little things out on the pitch after session has finished, they make a big difference.”
Make no mistake: the Heineken Cup is the measure Ulster want to be judged by. The easy out would be to trot out the safe only-focusing-on-the-next-game. In Ulster, however, they trust their players to treat that as an unspoken truism with the actual goal of a European quarter-final overshadowing all.
Mark Anscombe’s men are now embarking on a three-week period in which two visits to national stadia sandwich an increasingly competitive inter-pro in the RDS. It’s a daunting run of three away fixtures, yet Trimble is able to maintain the perspective of a man who entered the side on the low ebb of an upward curve in 2005.
“You find yourself now saying, ‘these are the three biggest games of the season’. But earlier on, before Christmas we had Northampton, Northampton and then we had Leinster at Christmas, then Glasgow and Castres in January.” Says the Coleraine-born wing.
‘We just have to…’
“It’s always the next big thing. If you pass those tests, the next thing is the biggest month in your season. It’s definitely the case that these three games are going to set us up, really.
“Obviously at the minute, we’re looking at Edinburgh. We want to make sure we go to Murrayfield and get a result, because we have to…” on a ground which perhaps yielded Ireland’s most disappointing Six Nations result, the winger emphasised the point: “We just have to get a result there.”
“Then the RDS, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but it’s a little bit in the back of your mind. And then, obviously, the Heineken Cup quarter-final. Going over to Twickenham is going to be an unbelievable occasion. Everyone’s really excited.
“These three games are definitely going to set the tone.”
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Andrew Trimble Interview Ravenhill Ulster