The Red Hand

I'm joined by two familiar voices of Ulster Rugby: Commentators Mark Robson and Graham Jewhurst. We discuss Ireland's 6 Nations success from an Ulster perspective,look ahead to the World Cup and discuss the business end to Ulster's season including the decisive clash with Leinster in the Champions Cup.

An in depth and free-wheeling chat with one of the best personalities from Ulster Rugby. Apart from being an Ulster and Ireland legend, Trimby is now a media personality and CEO and balances all this with a busy family life and outside interests. I loved talking to him, hope you enjoy listening.

My next guest is someone who has achieved something very rare – he’s played professionally in two sports. Rugby for Ulster and Jersey Reds and cricket for Ireland (which is seriously impressive). Ross has had a really interesting journey throughout his rugby career and has been hit with set-backs along the way. It’s a story which is quite inspiring – coming back from injury and playing high level sport again. It was an absolute pleasure chatting to Ross. Hope you enjoy listening.

Ulster with a bonus point win: it’s nice getting to say that two weeks in a row! The win at the weekend means that Ulster have their sights set on 2nd place in the URC table. Ulster currently sit third - 5 points behind the Stormers -  but the last 3 games are all at home whereas Stormers have to travel to face unbeaten Leinster  in the next round.. Finishing in the top two is of course the goal because it would secure home advantage right through to the Semi-finals of the URC playoffs. A good win against a side who are going through a tough period for Welsh rugby – aggressive pay-cuts and the stuff going on in the background could not have helped their cause. They were not at the races. But are Ulster back on track or did they simply beat a team in turmoil? To discuss the game and all things Ulster Rugby, I am joined by Jack, Nathan and Simon.

Ulster may have turned a corner in their season with a bonus point win in South Africa in their rescheduled game against the Sharks. The score in the end was 31-24. Granted, both sides were without certain key internationals and Sharks were missing a load of big names but credit where credit’s due for Ulster. Two maul tries from Tom Stewart laid the foundation for the win. Stewart Moore scored a sneaky, opportunistic try and Harry Sheridan - who is quickly becoming a fan favourite – powered his way over to give Ulster the bonus point. Supporting Ulster this season has been a rollercoaster ride even more than usual. We have discussed at various points whether Ulster are on the edge of a precipice or whether they are back on track… Truthfully, it’s difficult to know but as, we have talked about before, we have been consistent in our inconsistency. Let's just enjoy the win and the hope we have at the minute as we enter the business end of the season. As I often say on this podcast, the game at the weekend poses more questions than it answered which means there is plenty to discuss. To help make sense of Ulster’s season so far, I’m joined by Jack Fogarty, Caolan Scully and Iestyn Thomas.

I had the honour of speaking to Ilse van Staden who has been playing rugby at a high level for over 21 years and has shown no signs of slowing down. She is a rugby player, butcher, chef, language teacher and biltong maker from South Africa and living in Northern Ireland. Since moving to Northern Ireland in 2011 she has played for Ulster Rugby, and represented Ireland in the Six Nations as prop. It was a great pleasure speaking to Ilse and getting to sample some Biltong which she kindly brought along. We recorded in SS Moores - the number one sports shop in Belfast.

Ulster’s recent revival came to a disappointing end as Glasgow Warriors came from behind at half time to snatch victory. It was a game that divided fan opinion. There are those who are talking about the start of another crisis and there’s another camp who think a bonus point loss is not too bad considering Glasgow’s recent run of form. Whatever your opinion, we’ve see Ulster throw away half-time leads too many times this season – it has become a recurring theme! Ulster lead at the break but did not score in the second half until the last kick of the game. Glasgow’s maul was Ulster’s undoing – they scored three tries using this method. Ulster remain ahead of Glasgow in the table but only by the slenderest of margins. The result leaves them third in the URC but Glasgow are only a point back and Munster are now also in range of catching them. The question remains over whether Ulster are regressing or whether we have been repeatedly unlucky. Anyway, to discuss the game I’m joined by Jack, Simon on his Red Hand debut and John Anderson – podcaster and writer for the Scottish Rugby blog.

Ulster backed up their famous European win over Sale Sharks with a dominant bonus-point 35-5 win over the Stormers in the united rugby championship on Friday night in fortress Kingspan Nathan Doak, Ben Moxham and Nick Timoney scored first-half tries and Jeff Toomaga-Allen and Mike Lowry scored in the second half. It was a good win and certainly a performance to be happy with albeit the stormers weren’t at the races. To discuss and dissect the game at the weekend I’m joined by regular panelists Nathan and Jack and our special guest this week is AP Cronje.

Well, it’s official… Ulster are back! Or at least they are progressing to the next stage. I think we’re definitely right to celebrate as we haven’t had much to celebrate in a while! There wasn’t a huge amount of optimism for this winner-takes it all pool match, having won just one in our last 7 matches. Feelings of relief were palpable at the Kingspan. Ulster were improved but not perfect. We are certainly now moving in the right direction but whether this squad can get back to playing to its full potential remains to be seen. Indeed, to progress any further in either competition, we will have to punch above our weight. The Ulster squad and Dan seem to be relishing the challenge. Today’s panel have the challenge of explaining ulster’s maddening inconsistency and reflecting on a game which will have mixed emotions for our guests.

I saw the La Rochelle Ulster game described as ‘a chess match played in a storm’ which is pretty accurate. Ulster fell agonisingly short once again away from home to champions cup holders La Rochelle. Ulster dominated in terms of possession but failed to capitalise in the dreadful conditions. This makes it 6 losses in 7 matches however Dan McFarland and many Ulster fans were somewhat encouraged by the performance. To discuss all things ulster at the minute I’m joined by an incredible panel: Nathan, Evan, Caolan, Donal and Jack.