Sean Reidy: Ulster ready to take on Exeter ‘big boys’

Ireland flanker Sean Reidy hopes there will be no repeat of his personal controversy on Sunday at Sandy Park, where Ulster hope to re-ignite their season with a Champions Cup success against in-form Pool 5 opponents Exeter.

With new tackle laws oming into focus last weekend, Reidy became embroiled in a contentious penalty try award and yellow card decision which went a long way to seeing Scarlets defeat Ulster 16-13 in Llanelli. Subsequently, the PRO12’s referee’s commissioner Ed Morrison said that the decision was wrong. Even in the moment, Reidy instinctively sensed his innocence.

“At the time, I thought I wasn’t in the wrong, I thought I made a good, positive tackle, but obviously the referee saw it in a different light. It was his call. He just said at the time, that the tackle was around the neck area which prevented a try, so he gave a penalty try. I suspect he got the feedback from upstairs. Obviously, the rules have changed, and you cannot make contact in that area, even though during the game there were numerous tackles of similar nature and, indeed, right throughout the weekend.

“Obviously, playing in the back row you make a lot of tackles and, particularly, when it’s close to the line. If you tackle him around the ankles he can just flop over, if you go high, then you’re going to get yellow-carded. It’s a balancing act. I think the laws will ease off a bit these coming weeks.”

Reidy feels Ulster can get back to winning after losing seven of their last 11 games.

“We have shown that we can score points and get into the right areas, but we just have to be a little bit more clinical in the way we finish. A dropped ball, a little mistake here and there has been really costing us, recently, but we are now in Europe and, in the past, we have seen that anywhere from 16-19 points can see us through, so a couple of wins and we will be well in the hunt,” said the Auckland-born player, who won his solitary Ireland cap against South Africa last June.

“Exeter are strong up front. They have some big boys, but obviously we have some class players, ourselves. If we can match them up front we know that our backs can do the business. So you can be sure we intend to go over there and get stuck in,” said Reidy, adding that Ulster will focus on negating Exeter’s rolling maul.

Reidy is looking forward to Springbok back-row forward Marcel Coetzee coming into the equation, after the former Sharks star had to undergo knee reconstruction before he came to Belfast. He is expected to make his Ulster debut against Edinburgh in the PRO12 in a fortnight. Reidy may also have to contend with another Springbok flanker next season, with Ulster attempting to sign Blue Bulls 25-year-old skipper Arno Botha.

“That’s in the future, beating Exeter is the here and now.”