ULSTER SHOCKED THE rugby world when they announced the signing of Duane Vermeulen last week, and head coach Dan McFarland has praised their transfer policy of waiting for the right player to become available before pulling the trigger on a replacement for Marcell Coetzee.
Having lost stand-out South African number eight Coetzee midway through last season to the Bulls, and then having seen his replacement Leone Nakarawa’s proposed move to Kingspan Stadium fall through due to a failed medical, the province were playing the slow game when it came to testing the market again.
It would have been easy for them to make a quick and rash decision to bring a player in out of desperation to fill a jersey, but instead they held firm on not handing out a contract for the sake of it and looked for the right player to complement an already solid back row of Sean Reidy, Jordi Murphy and recent Ireland cap Nick Timoney.
It still left fans confused as to why they hadn’t moved swiftly to add to the squad now that Nakarawa was out of the picture, particularly given how much they leaned upon Coetzee when he was in Belfast, but behind the scenes Ulster officials were confident they would get the right man.
Nobody thought that ‘right man’ would be a World Cup-winning Springbok, but a player of Vermeulen’s quality was exactly what the head coach was waiting on, with the former Connacht man revealing their plan paid off handsomely in the end. When Vermeulen’s name landed in his office, that was exactly the kind of person he was looking for.
“We decided at that time that rather than diving straight back into the market and signing a player that was available, we’d be very specific about the type of player we wanted. That was someone who we really felt was going to make a difference,” revealed McFarland.
“It didn’t have to be a particular type. We wanted a back-rower, an influential back-rower. When we first looked through the list, there were a lot of really good players, don’t get me wrong, but we already had a lot of really good players.
“We held our breath, kept our powder dry and one day Bryn [Cunningham, Ulster's head of recruitment] stuck his head into my office and said what about Duane Vermeulen? I said: yes, please! – and Bryn took it from there.”
In signing Vermeulen, Ulster aren’t just getting a World Cup winner, they’re getting a player who was the man of the match in that 2019 final, won two Currie Cups and has also been named South African Player of the Year twice.
As far as replacing Coetzee goes, they’ve gone one better and signed the player who, arguably, was keeping Coetzee out of the Springbok squad in the first place.
A hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners number eight, he will add the grit Ulster need in their back row, as well as adding a winner’s pedigree to a club desperate to end a 16-year wait for a trophy.
Now, rather than fans being perplexed at a lack of transfer activity over the summer – until now, short-term arrival Mick Kearney was the only new face in Belfast this season – the 35-year-old’s signature has sparked renewed hope that Ulster will be a force to be reckoned with in the United Rugby Championship.
McFarland was keen to play down the impact that one player will have, instead pointing to the team’s overall progression, although he did concede that Vermeulen’s impact would certainly reduce the gap between themselves and rivals Leinster at the top of the standings.
“In terms of what he can offer? He’s a World Cup-winning number eight, he was the MVP of the final. As a particular player, he’s a big bodied back-rower. We don’t have others, we have really good players but we don’t have big bodies. That’s what Marcell was. Duane brings that and he brings a lot of nous,” added the head coach.
“He’s a really smart player and you can see that from the fact that the Springboks were really keen to get him back in their team, that’s the kind of influence he has on the game and the people around him. It doesn’t need me to explain that he is and has been a top-quality player for a long time.
“I don’t think any one player is going to bridge that gap. The few occasions that we’ve been within touching distance of a trophy, it’s been us as a team that’s fallen short. We are a very good team but the bottom line is that it’s one out of 16 that wins it. You need to be a really good team but you need a little bit of luck along the way and you need to produce the goods on the day.
“Is a player of Duane’s quality going to add to that? Definitely. Do I think it’s the answer that gets you over the line? No, it will be when we’re better as a team. Duane will play a part in that.”
Mullins, u hero, agree with u about Stephen, the fact that he still wants to improve himself after 12 years is a credit to the man himself.