Luke Marshall signs new two-year Ulster deal

Ireland centre Luke Marshall has ignored a number of lucrative deals to sign a two-year extension to his Ulster contract that will keep him at Kingspan Stadium until the summer of 2018.

Marshall, 25 today, has six caps, having made a tremendous debut against Scotland just over two seasons ago. But a series of concussions and surgery on a damaged right thumb curtailed his international ambitions.

However, the pacy Ballymoney man has stormed back into form with five tries for the province and has been the ‘24th man” on a couple of occasions for the Ireland match-day squad.

In a competitive Ulster midfield which features Jared Payne, Darren Cave, Stuart Olding and recent Irish debutant Start McCloskey, Marshall is happy to fight for his place in the hope of adding to his international appearances.

“It is always a privilege for me to play for my home province, so I’m delighted to be staying on for another couple of seasons,” said Marshall, who will again feature in the Ulster midfield when they tackle Zebre tomorrow night.

“We have a strong squad that will only get better, and with the coaching team we have in place, I believe we are well-positioned to challenge for silverware in the near future. ”

Ulster’s Director of Rugby, Les Kiss, was obviously delighted to have Marshall for another couple of seasons.

“We’re delighted Luke has committed his future to us, particularly given there was a high level of interest in him. Luke is one of our core group of indigenous players which is the bedrock of this squad and, at just 25, we believe that his best rugby is still ahead of him. He is an outstanding professional and a really good person to have in the squad.

“Luke has been in superb form for us in both the PRO12 and in Europe. His clever running lines and strong ball-carrying have been a real asset to us in attack, particularly during our European campaign in which he scored three tries.

“He consistently demonstrated his ability to distribute the ball from first or second receiver which has really benefitted Paddy Jackson. .”

The downside for Ulster yesterday was the revelation exciting young winger Rory Scholes is leaving to join Edinburgh at the end of the season. It was thought Scholes would be a ready-made successor to Andrew Trimble having impressed during his 22 appearances for Ulster scoring five tries in the process.