McCall flying up coaching ladder

Never mind which Irish province will win the Heineken Cup, which of the three Irish coaches still involved in the tournament has the best chance of guiding his side to European glory?

Everyone knows Leinster, Munster and Ulster have reached the last eight together for the first time in the tournament’s history and have now won the title five times between them.

But of those five wins, only three have come with Irish coaches at the helm – Harry Williams with Ulster in 1999 and Declan Kidney with Munster in 2006 and 2008 – and there is only one Irish coach left in the mix in Ireland.

That is Brian McLaughlin, whose Ulster side travel to Thomond Park on Sunday to battle Munster for the right to reach the semi-finals.

Elsewhere, Michael Bradley is loving his first taste of Heineken Cup action in Edinburgh and Mark McCall is seeking more silverware with Saracens. How ironic that Bradley, who had coached Connacht for almost a decade, should have to wait until he joined Edinburgh to enjoy his first involvement in the Heineken Cup. His reward for steering the Scottish side through to only their second quarter-final was a home draw against four-times champions Toulouse.

Then there is McCall, the man who led Ulster to the Celtic League title before parting company with the team he captained and played for with such distinction. He added the English Premiership crown to his CV with Saracens last season and finds his latest club as the sole English survivors in the last eight, ASM Clermont Auvergne standing between them and a home semi-final.

When it comes to the Heineken Cup, McCall has history – both good and bad. He was the nominated captain of the Ulster side in the 1998/’99 season, but a neck injury forced him to miss the whole European campaign and ultimately led to his premature retirement.

So, was 1999 good for him or just a bad memory to be erased, possibly, by a Saracens win this season, or was the Lansdowne Road victory over Colomiers a moment to be savoured?

“It was a brilliant memory and a brilliant journey for everyone concerned. Ulster seized their moment and nobody can ever take away from us that achievement,” said McCall.

“It was a very different competition then. We had a home quarter-final that season because Toulouse lost in Ebbw Vale. They had won the home game 108-16 in the first round, yet lost 19-11 less than two months later in Wales.”

Injury forced McCall to launch his coaching career at Ballynahinch but he quickly rose up the professional ranks and enjoyed stints at Ulster and Castres Olympique before joining Saracens. Can they go all the way and wreck Irish dreams of retaining the trophy? McCall is wily enough not to get involved in what might happen in future rounds, but he knows if his side wins he is likely to have to cross swords with Leinster in the semi-finals. Then it could be either Munster or his old club Ulster in the final.

“All of our focus is on Clermont. It is about the here and now and seizing what is our moment. We think we are ready,” said McCall.