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Ulster's Duane Vermeulen. James Crombie/INPHO

Vermeulen: Ulster should 'leave their stuff and walk away' if they don't believe they can top Europe

The Springbok, meanwhile, batted away questions on his own future with the northern province.

UNSURPRISINGLY, WHEN ASKED, Duane Vermeulen did not address the now rather prevalent questions about his future at Ulster when up for media duties on Tuesday.

On the same day the province announced the arrival of Zimbabwean flanker Dave Ewers from the Exeter Chiefs, the out-of-contract Vermeulen was left to answer questions on whether he too was staying on at Kingspan Stadium beyond the World Cup.

The prevailing answer is likely to be no, given the IRFU’s understandable hesitancy to allow provinces to have two non-Irish qualified players in one position, but the presumed-to-be outgoing Springbok number eight suavely batted the questions away.

Instead, it was all eyes on Sale Sharks tomorrow as Ulster try to pick up their first win in Europe this season and qualify for the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup.

“Let’s see where we go from here,” he says by way of summing up Ulster’s situation at present.

It’s about the only approach they can take right now, the northern province mired in a desperate run that has seen them lose six of their last seven games and in the last three weeks they have thrown away winning positions in the final couple of minutes against Munster, Benetton and La Rochelle.

Granted, last week’s game at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre was a much better outing than what they have produced in other games during this run, but Joel Sclavi’s late try meant the 7-3 scoreline still went against them and keeps them searching for that elusive, convincing victory.

It is exactly that which Vermeulen believes will turn this run from one that has Ulster fans peering from behind their sofas every week into one which more accurately reflects what this squad are capable of.

duane-vermeulen-and-will-griffiths Duane Vermeulen in action for Ulster. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

“That is the one thing that will change our season,” insists the World Cup-winning South African. “The confidence is there but something needs to spark just to give everybody just to shine again.

“A lot of guys feel I’m scared of doing this and you stay a little bit in your shell.

When I joined this squad and this club you could see everyone playing and thriving out on the field, everyone was pushing in that direction and it just needs that little bit of something. Hopefully one game can change that for us.

“You have got to have belief and you still have to stay task focused. For us now, and where we are, we still have to believe we can still be champions of this competition. If you don’t believe that then you can just leave your stuff, put your things down and walk away because why are you doing this then?

“You have got to have that belief and it starts with the first step in a forward direction.”

A win over the Sharks could be all they need to reach the knockouts of the Champions Cup despite a fairly abysmal campaign to this point. Ulster’s record reads played three, lost three, but somehow three bonus points from their two games against La Rochelle have given them a puncher’s chance of finishing in the top-eight of Pool B.

They do need a favour elsewhere, namely from the DHL Stormers against rudderless Clermont who, ironically, are headed to Cape Town led by former Ulster player and coach Jared Payne, who has assumed interim charge after another former Ulster coach, Jono Gibbes, was relieved of his post last week.

A Stormers win would mean that an Ulster win would put them into the last-16 despite having barely fired a warning shot in this competition thus far. But just as much as that is an incentive tomorrow, so is the opportunity to put a lot of wrongs right.

duane-vermeulen Vermeulen against La Rochelle. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

The last time Dan McFarland’s side took on Sale, it could not have gone worse. Shut out for the first time in Europe and thrashed to the tune of six tries and a 39-0 loss at the AJ Bell Stadium last month, it was a harrowing day for the province.

So the chance to set the record straight on their own turf is one that Vermeulen is eager to capitalise on. Do that and a place in the knockouts could be awaiting them.

“We were outplayed,” he concedes.

“Everything on that day was up against us from the start, the flights and everything, and that could have played in the back of the mind on some of the guys arriving there and not having a lot of time.

“It was the worst performance of the year and I’m definitely thinking we can go better from there. This past weekend we played in pretty shitty weather – wind, rain and everything – and we still feel confident coming out of that game, so hopefully we can change things around.

“The big thing for us is we need to build a full 80 minutes and hopefully we can walk away with a victory.”

And boy would they take that right now.

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    Mute Con Cussed
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    Jan 20th 2023, 9:28 AM

    I’m really happy that Ulster are in with a chance to qualify for the next round but they and some other weaker clubs should not even be in the running. The old format of the Champions Cup was a lot tougher and by this time we would generally know who was in and who was out. The fact that some teams on 3 points can potentially qualify with just one win means the next round, when announced, will be Titans against Minnows. Bring back the old pool system, it was tight and required consistency for each game.

    Last week was a tremendous game and Ulster nearly pulled it off. I hope they can qualify this week ;0)

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    Mute Ciaran Kennedy
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    Jan 20th 2023, 11:31 AM

    @Con Cussed: Here here. One of complaints against the old format was clubs fielding weakened teams in rd’s 5 +6, but now that’s happening in rd 1 AND teams doing it still can go through. Change it back and it’s only 1 extra game, play 1 league match during November internationals, that’s fairly fair. Premiership is looking like less teams anyway so their load is reduced.

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    Mute Kingshu
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    Jan 20th 2023, 11:54 AM

    @Con Cussed: i dont like the new system, I thought it was just introduced durning covid, should have gone back. It also reduces the income for weaker teams. In old system every team that qualified got guarenteed 3 home games (home games are money makers) now its only two. The top 8 get the extra home game while the second 8 get 25% of that, and bottom 8 dont get that 3rd game. Makes the big teams richer and small teams less well off, compared to old format.

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    Mute David Finn
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    Jan 20th 2023, 12:08 PM

    @Con Cussed: it’s even worse in Pool A of the Challenge Cup where it is likely a side will qualify for the playoffs having lost all four games.

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    Mute Con Cussed
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    Jan 20th 2023, 3:46 PM

    @David Finn: That’s going to turn people off watching, which I imagine is the main reason for getting additional TV and Sponsorship. Keep it competitive and people will watch. In the Champions Cup last week there were some really good games – the Munster & Ulster games and the next day with Harlequins. These were really good to watch. The Leinster game had no real competitive edge but a good win. Maybe on Saturday with R92 needing to win we might see a good game against Leinster.

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    Mute Kingshu
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    Jan 20th 2023, 11:36 AM

    Really looking forward to Ulsters first European Home game of the season.

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    Mute Sean O'C
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    Jan 20th 2023, 1:19 PM

    They should be reducing the numbers of teams in the Champions Cup. Top 3 from each league plus previous year’s Challenge Cup winner. (If the Challenge Cup winner qualifies via league placing, final spot goes to Challenge Cup runner up, to incentivize the secondary competition). So, 4 groups of 4, QF etc.

    The Challenge Cup should be for teams 6 to 10 inclusive from the 3 leagues and the additional place decided by a play off between places 11 in the URC and T14. (There is an argument that the English league should have less than 5 spots given league is much smaller teams wise than URC / T14).

    Europe should be an aspirations for teams, not a given. Make it more elite and get the magic back. This will help get more advertising money on board and in turn increase the prize pot.

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    Mute Con Cussed
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    Jan 20th 2023, 3:40 PM

    @Sean O’C: Even if they kept the top 3 from each pool and the top 2 runner up teams. Then we can have a quarter, semi and finals. The runner up teams force competition for everyone to put their best teams out from the beginning.

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    Mute TL55
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    Jan 20th 2023, 5:50 PM

    @Sean O’C: Top 3 fro each league (URC, Top14 & Gallagher Premiership) is only 9 teams. Would need top 5 + Challenge Cup winners to make 16 teams. Would definitely make a better competition.

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    Mute Cable Stayed
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    Jan 20th 2023, 11:21 AM

    I agree that the new format has greatly diminished the competition. In reality, it now doesn’t get going until the knock out stages. Teams on bad form can slip through, but I don’t think that necessarily means that it’s minnows against titans. You won’t get through on just 1 win, you need a clatter of losing bonus points and you don’t get those unless you were in tight matches. Ulster being the example, they very nearly the competition titan in their own back yard. How many of the mid table teams would have done that?

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