NO MATTER WHAT happens in Kingspan Ravenhill on Saturday night, Nick Timoney knows it has to be better than the seven-try thrashing they shipped to Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld last weekend.
47-21 was the final score. As bad a look as that is, it was helped significantly by late tries from Ben Carson and Stewart Moore, converted by James Humphreys. From the first whistle to the last, however, Bulls physically steamrolled the Ulster pack.
While Connacht don’t have that same power, they do have other very powerful attributes that the flanker acknowledges.
“The Bulls are a big physical team with some athletes; Connacht are maybe not the same size but they will bring that Irish edge that they have,” he said.
“So they will play the game that Irish teams pride themselves on playing, which is they’ll be very switched on, they’ll play their shape properly, they will be very hard at the breakdown, and they will be well-drilled with their set-piece stuff.”
“I guess it is different in a number of ways but no less challenging.”
Timoney will be coming up against another rival for the backrow positions in Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad, Cian Prendergast. It’s a challenge he enjoys.
“It’s always going to be the case when you’re playing against any of the provinces, especially as a back row where there are lads challenging for the Ireland team. We are all equally ambitious,” he said.
“But games like this, it is an important game in our season and that is where all the focus goes. Obviously I want to play well and help the team win, but I won’t be thinking about any selections. I’ll be just doing my best to help the team win.”
At 29 years old, Timoney will now make it 150 caps for the northern province. Although he is Dublin born, an alumni of Blackrock, he is a one-club man with Ulster being his only professional posting since 2017.
Back then, it was Rory Best who was the undisputed dressing-room leader. Now, those responsibilities are handed to Timoney, though he wears it lightly.
On reaching that tally, he says, “I’m excited but I’d always be reluctant to be too big into the milestones because in my head when I think of 150 caps, I think more of the journey over the last eight years than this weekend.
“It is an amazing honour. I would have possibly never of dreamt of getting 150 caps when I first started playing. I certainly remember the days of being delighted to get one, two or three.
“It is great and I just make sure that I never take it for granted, but there are a couple of lads coming in on 200 in the next couple of weeks if they play, so that is more impressive.”
He sees no reason not to target 200 caps, a tally that Andy Warwick is in line to reach at the weekend should he play.
“I don’t feel old — I know I am one of the older lads now apparently — I feel good and I feel excited and as motivated as I ever had been,” says Timoney.
“I come in every season thinking I can get better and keep improving, keep pushing different aspects of my game. Maybe when the day comes when I stop feeling like that, I will stop, but hopefully for now I’ll keep moving.”
International recognition has by and large eluded him. A call-up to the international squad in 2022 for the New Zealand trip was his last involvement.
He could have chosen many times to throw a pity party for himself on that front, but instead, he tends to find where improvements could be made in his game.
“I feel that I have been on the cusp of it for a long time. Maybe the bar just keeps moving a little bit. Maybe I haven’t been improving,” he states.
“I think with everything, there is always 5-10% more to improve. Even the best players in the world probably feel that same way.”
“I still feel there is 10-15% every week that I can still push and work towards and know I’ll never get there, but it is still possible.”
He adds, “I think it is encouraging because I don’t think anyone plays perfectly every week, so I’d struggle to see who is satisfied all the time that they are reaching 100%. For me, it’s good to know there is more in the tank to chase.”
“The day I don’t feel that way, I’ll struggle to keep going because I take motivation from feeling I can improve, where if I feel I am on the way down…”
Like many in the Ulster camp, they shook the sand from their feet on the way out of South Africa. The two defeats will have no bearing on what they do from here on in. Any negatives have quickly been spun into positives.
“If you look at a Charlie Irvine or a James McCormick making their first start, and they are playing against a pack with however many Springboks at Loftus — I know on the face of it, the score wasn’t crazy close, but it actually felt like we were kind of in that game and we could have got a bonus point or two in the end, and that must be motivating in certain ways,” he points out.
“I remember my first couple of games as well, we had a draw and a loss.”
“I certainly remember my second game against the Ospreys, we got hammered, but when you are so young and new, I felt like if I carried and was tackled by Tipuric, who was a Lion at the time, it almost felt to me that I was closer to being a proper player than further.”
“From my point of view, where a loss feels like a defeat, and as much as those lads want to be winning, a first, second, third cap, or a first start, that can be huge for lads and it puts them in a good place.”
They have some neck.
@Patrick Breen: Could still go to the DRA after this and maybe even a court case, who knows?
@Patrick Breen: they’re dead right. Why not just replay the last free again, the idea they have to replay the whole game is a fair solution is madness.
@Paul Mallon: the fact that they blatantly cheated and think they should get away with it is madness.
@Paul Mallon: replay the last free, seriously. So we’ll just make up a new sport..
@Patrick Breen: the more I think about this I’ve changed my mind from it’s 100% a replay to it only warrants a fine! Realistically the chances of a goal with the last kick of the game is unlikely, especially when it’s a 45 with the packed defence fully set up. And it’s telling that the referee allowed the 45 to be taken before the substitutions had been complete properly – Kilmacud will argue that as the subs were not being managed correctly! Players off players on before 45 can take place – clearly ref was going to allow it be taken quickly which added to the panic & confusion. In my view KMc won this game and an extra man on for 24secs over 70+ mins had NO bearing on the outcome. If this was reversed I don’t general public wud be questioning if Glen won it
@BMJF: It’s not really about the likelihood of a goal. Nobody knows what effect the 16th player had, direct or indirect, even as a distraction to the player in possession. The real issue is what happens if there’s no real sanction. Teams will be making substitutions and making sure the player being replaced is at least very slow leaving the pitch. Now we see Glen have pulled out of the appeals process because a replay is unworkable.
@BMJF: especially when it’s an overpacked defence.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: don’t be silly. The GAA will simply learn to make substitutions like every other sporting organisation!! That’s what will happen. Play will pause before a free is taken etc and Players will have to come off before the replacements go on and ref won’t restart the game until they’re in position. It’s not rocket science. GAA should have accepted some responsibility, read their rules and issued a hefty fine the next morning and that would have been the end of it
I’d watch a live stream of that hearing
Hope they throw the book at them and just award the final to the other team.
@Reggie: haha, don’t know about that now Reg. Certainly interested to hear what their grounds for appeal will be though…..seems cut and dried to me that the rule was broken and one of the consequences have been invoked.
The tone of the anti Kilmacud comments is telling. An anti Dub vibe off them. I’m guessing that If this was reversed and Glen had 16 men for 24secs over a 70+ min game, defending a 2point lead with last play of the game, the general public wud be saying that on balance Glen should remain the winners, and that the extra man for 24 secs didn’t really impact the outcome! But because it’s a big Dub club everyone has knickers in a knot!!
If GAA had issued a fine quickly I think Glen would have accepted the result , as their manager did straight after the game
@BMJF: I would say the opposite, the Ulster team (as always) are being portrayed as the bad guys here… maybe I’m wrong
Kilmacud won fair and square on the field of play. Glen will be looked upon as sore losers. There’s no way Kilmacud will replay the match. They are prepared to hand the cup over to Glen. If the Glen club wants to avoid the lasting legacy of poor losers they really should withdraw the objection and gear themselves up to trying to win the title next year on the field of play. That would give the club a lot of respect.
@Brendan Daniel Naughton: ‘fair and square’, hahahaha, are you well.
Great stuff