Nick Timoney laying down a marker for next season

Nick Timoney. Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile

Nick Timoney says he is ready to play a major role in Ulster’s back row after the departure of South African star Marcell Coetzee.

For a lot of Timoney’s career, he has been Ulster’s second-choice number eight behind Coetzee, named on Thursday as the PRO14 Players’ Player of the Season, who is going home in the summer to join the Bulls.