ON HIS FIRST start at full-back for Ulster, it didn’t take long for Stewart Moore to realise just what would be required of him at Kingspan Stadium.

Surprisingly handed the No.15 jersey for their game against Cardiff a week ago, Moore – normally a centre – was targeted with an early box-kick and discovered that all that pre-game prep he had done with assistant coach Jared Payne had fled his memory.

“The first box-kick, I was standing a mile away!” he grins. “I thought it was maybe a bad box-kick, but it was actually landing perfectly so I had to sprint a few metres before I got to it. It was fortunate I had that early in the game, it settled me.”

He settled and then some, the 22-year-old finding life at full-back so comfortable that he walked away with the player of the match award having set up two tries for Robert Baloucoune and Aaron Sexton, while also looking assured in defence.

It has naturally led to questions about whether this could be a long-term home for Moore, who up to now has played exclusively at centre and thrived, making a name for himself with the Ireland Under-20s before seamlessly transitioning into senior rugby with Ulster.

While a permanent switch to 15 seems unlikely given his skill-set at centre, it has at least opened up the avenue of playing there again in the future, similar to how team-mate Mike Lowry came through as a fly-half but has become an Ireland international since being deployed at full-back.

“It’s versatility, whatever’s going to get me on the pitch. A lot of players do it, there’s a lot of different combinations like most back three players can now play anywhere in the back three and outside centre,” explains Moore.

“You have the likes of (David) Havili who can play 12, can play 10, 15. It’s very important, it allows you to learn the game. If I’m back playing centre again, I know what the full-back is going through and I can help them. It’s learning from another perspective.

“We’ve got two internationals and three or four more beyond them (in the centre at Ulster). It’s nice to have another option in there.”

If he could follow Lowry into the Ireland squad at some point, that would be the ideal scenario for Moore. Indeed, the centre laughs when recalling a text conversation he had recently with his newly-capped provincial team-mate.

“The last time we played together was Northampton and since then he’s gone on to play for Ireland and I’ve gone back to play for Malone against Old Wesley!” he chuckled.

“That’s the first time in a long time, certainly since Covid, I’ve played for them. I enjoyed it. You learn loads in those kinds of games.”

As much as he enjoys it, the ideal situation is that he won’t be sent back on club duty as he will be required for provincial – and, hopefully in future, international – matters instead in the future, and tonight he will be in a big top of the table inter-pro against Leinster at Kingspan Stadium.

Back at his more familiar position of centre alongside Stuart McCloskey, Moore is under no illusions how big this game is, with Ulster not only able to climb to the top of the United Rugby Championship standings above their southern cousins but also able to do the double over them for only the second time since the turn of the century.

“It speaks for itself: top of the table clash with Leinster – we know what they’re about, I’m sure they know what we’re about from last time,” adds Moore, referring to Ulster’s 20-10 win at the RDS Arena just before Christmas.

“Excited to say the least and you can tell there’s a buzz in training. With our preparations over the last years and years, you take it week by week. We have a good mentality that way and you have to ask: why would we fear such a good challenge like that?

“That’s what we’ll take into this weekend and what we take into every weekend.”

Gavan Casey and Murray Kinsella look ahead to Twickenham and two big URC games involving three of the provinces

The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud