Missing team-mate Spence never far from Bowe’s mind

Ulster’s Tommy Bowe says Nevin Spence will be on his team-mates’ minds when they take to the RDS tomorrow evening to face Leinster.

Bowe, the only Ulster player assembling with the Lions next Monday, got to know the young Ireland Wolfhounds centre very well on his return from the Ospreys and his tragic death last September alongside his brother Graham and father Noel has had a lasting effect on the players.

“It was such a tragic circumstance,” said Bowe. “I don’t think anything really needs to be said about Nevin. I think the players know that he has always been in the back of our minds right through the whole season.

“His initials are stitched in underneath the Ulster badge on all our jerseys and we have memorials to him in different areas around our training facilities.

“He will be looking down on us this weekend, and it would be a great way to finish off the season with a bit of silverware for him,” said Bowe, who along with fellow Ireland winger Andrew Trimble had been studying at Hibernia College and sat their final management examinations last Monday.

“I suppose we really hadn’t time to think too much about the game with the pressure of our finals. It has taken our minds off it for the last while, which as been good.

“But we are now fully focused on that and you can see there’s a lot of excitement around the squad. Maybe a bit of nervous energy, which I think is exactly what you want going into such a big game.

“It’s a difficult proposition. Everybody knows that to beat Leinster anywhere is tough but to beat them in their own back yard is going to be extremely difficult,” said Bowe.

Having already beaten Leinster twice this season, including at the RDS back in March, Bowe believes Ulster have the where-with-all to claim some silverware.

“We had a bit of a dip in the middle of the season, but we’re back, feeling confident, playing some good rugby and looking dangerous. I don’t think we could be in a better way going into this match.

“We know it’s going to be a very difficult proposition for us, but I think that we’ve played some great rugby. If we can play for a full 80 minutes — we’ve maybe taken our foot off the gas in the past couple of weeks — it’s going to come down to a one-score match. But it’s a final and anything can happen.”

Meanwhile, Ulster have signed 27-year-old Bronson Ross from Coventry on a development contract. He is an Irish-qualified tight-head born in Oamaru, New Zealand. His mother comes from Belfast.

He played for Dunedin in New Zealand and moved to Europe five years ago.