Cooney hopes for a new chapter after his World Cup heartbreak

John Cooney has put his World Cup omission behind him, and is focused now on impressing new Ireland head coach Andy Farrell with good displays for Ulster over the coming months.

The scrum-half, who is set to earn his 50th cap for Ulster off the bench in Ulster’s Pro14 home game against Zebre tonight (7.35pm), says he didn’t ‘sulk’ after being left out of Ireland’s 31-man squad by outgoing head coach Joe Schmidt, and has made a superb start to Ulster’s season.

“I get on well with Faz [Farrell] and I hope I am the player he likes in defence and in attack,” Cooney said.

“Things are always uncertain when a new coach comes in. I’ve been on the wrong side of them before at Leinster when Matt O’Connor came in.

“You never know what they think of you or whether they want you in their plans.

“So there are no certainties I’ll be in that squad but all I can do is the same as the last two years and try to play well every week.”

Cooney, 29, is now keen to move on and showcase his talents at the place he feels most valued. The former Leinster and Connacht scrum-half established himself as a fans’ favourite in record time and admits he’s been eyeing up the 50-cap milestone for Ulster since the season started.

“I was obviously very disappointed but it’s not going to get me too far if I’m sitting at home sulking or feeling sorry for myself.

It was nice to get home and just be where I’m appreciated, or liked. I was annoyed, but I was happy to be home,” he said. I enjoy the environment and the speed we’re playing with and I’m feeling good in these first few games.

“Getting to 50 caps is something I’ve been looking forward to. It was the first personal milestone I wanted to get to — to do it in two and a bit years, whereas in three years at Connacht I only just got over the 40 caps, it is nice.”

Ulster have made six changes from last week’s win over the Blues, with former Munster player Bill Johnston and Dave Shanahan forming a n all-new half-back partnership.

Rob Lyttle and Matt Faddes also come into the backs with Rob Herring, a late call-up to the Irish squad after the injury to Sean Cronin, returning as captain.

Nick Timoney is in the back row in place of Sean Reidy. Zebre only lost 3-0 at home to Leinster last weekend, which suggests they will be hard for Ulster to break down on Friday night, although they have made nine changes.

ULSTER: W Addison; L Ludik, M Faddes, L Marshall, R Lyttle; B Johnston, D Shanahan; J McGrath, R Herring (capt), T O’Toole; A O’Connor, K Treadwell; M Rea, N Timoney, M Coetzee.

Replacements: A McBurney, K McCall, R Kane, S Carter, S Reidy, J Cooney, A Curtis, C Gilroy.

ZEBRE: J Laloifi; C Walker, J Elliott, T Boni, M Bellini; C Canna, M Violi; D Fischetti, O Fabiani, G Zilocchi; I Nagle, G Biagi; M Mbandà, G Licata, R Giammarioli.

Replacements: L Bigi, D Rimpelli, E Bello, L Krumov, A Tauyavuca, G Palazzani, E Lucchin, J Renton.