Reidy set to play leading role for Ulster

Jim Stokes

Sean Reidy was Ulster’s go-to player when times were tough last season. Now in his fifth season at the Kingspan Stadium, the 29-year-old Auckland-born Ireland flanker promises there is more to come from him ahead of Saturday’s PRO14 opener at home to the vibrant Scarlets.

Twice capped during Ireland’s tour to South Africa two summers ago, Reidy believes that Ulster are en route to achieve the goals of new Head Coach Dan McFarland.

“He wants us to be quite ambitious and play from anywhere with the team scoring tries off turnover plays,” said Reidy who will play an important role in that aspect of the game due to his strength over the ball at the breakdown. “He also just wants a real community feel to the team.

“There are spots up for grabs and young guys coming in, and if everyone is working hard week-in week-out, we can push to be the best we can be on Saturday.

“I’m not going to say we’re going to win back-to-back games on the trot, but I feel everyone is busting themselves to be the best. There are guys trying to better themselves every day, doing extra training and looking at computers.

“It’s quite astonishing and it’s great to see, it pushes everyone along. In the past we mightn’t have done that sort of stuff, but seeing other guys doing it makes you think that if you want to pull on that jersey, you want to go that extra mile.”

Reidy knows he will have to fight for his place this season with the influx of youth, players back to full fitness like former Springbok Marcell Coetzee, and new Ireland back-row signing Jordi Murphy from Leinster.

“Competition is good and the more guys we can have pushing at training is only going to strengthen the side. Marcell has been out 10 months now and he had a previous similar injury.

"He’s a big specimen. He’s like a bit of a caged bull at the moment, raring to go, so it’ll be good to unleash him. Jordi’s in the mix as well, so it’s good to add that bit of depth.”

Reidy has made 80 appearances for Ulster and is now one of the senior servants in the squad.

“I now just want to be fitter. Last season I slipped off towards the end of the season, so I’ve enjoyed being in for full pre-season so I can go the full 80 minutes with no worries.

"I suppose it’s sort of setting the standards for these young guys about what Ulster is all about, and how we go about doing things. If you set the right standards, guys coming in will follow and sort of add to it themselves.

“The boys are really excited about this week. It’s a good opportunity to get this campaign off to a winning start.

“Scarlets lost last week (to Bath), but they are a classy outfit, so it’s going to take a strong performance from us to beat them.”