Trimble sees Ulster marching forward

The mind gym is what Joe Schmidt calls it. It's the place where Andrew Trimble has been working out. Shifting loads, arm curling with the best and buffing the grey matter.

Being love-bombed by Saracens, England and Lions centre Brad Barritt may be seen as a challenge to that regime. Nice doesn't sit comfortably with the English Premiership side but when Barritt says Ulster have "been in fantastic form" and are "deserved top-spot winners for the quarter-finals" that's when a workout in the gym begins to pay off.

Son of Ulster and Saracens manager Mark McCall has weighed in too. McCall knows the import of this match for Belfast rugby and that it will be a declaration of intent and a step towards the more hip European elite of Leinster and Munster.

There is anticipation in Belfast, the grand opening also a celebration of fiscal progress and initiative. And with the ground renewal also comes thoughts of re-evaluation and placement and that's where Ulster are now, on a cusp.

More luminous player
On a personal level, Trimble brings a new bearing to Ulster and from being a specialist at recovery and landing on his feet when the Ireland trapdoor has opened, his form throughout the Six Nations has ushered in a more luminous player, a Trimble with the veneer of international permanence.

It's impossible to see past him and Tommy Bowe facing any Saracens' flank combination of Chris Ashton, Chris Wyles and David Strettle.

“Saracens are a team that can travel and it’s going to be a big ask to get the win,” says the Ulster winger calmly. “First things first, though. If we are one per cent off Saracens will chin us.”

Saracens were the top points scorers from the pool stage with 217 in six games and they made the most carries, averaging 9.8 a match. One of the players Trimble will likely meet out wide, Ashton, was the top try scorer, crossing the whitewash seven times, while Wyles and Strettle made it over four times each in five games.

Ulster's top try scorer is inside centre Luke Marshall, with three from six Heineken Cup pool games, while Trimble sits one behind that from six matches.

“Yeah, it’s a massive challenge,” he agrees. “They (Saracens’ wingers) are outstanding. They have performed well for England and for Saracens over the last few years. It’s a big challenge for myself and Tommy. But I think that will bring the best out of us.

“We’ve done a lot of work and we’ve managed to get this home quarter-final and even if we manage to get through this one, we know what we are up against. It’s going to take three enormous games to win this Heineken Cup.”

The spirit of Colomier is always in the air. The 1999 win has been trumpeted for the last four years as Ulster have nudged forward, with Saracens (2013) and Northampton (2011) beating them at the quarter-final stage and Leinster raining on their final day at Twickenham in 2012 to the tune of 42-14.

Became shrill
But over the year's what was once a rallying call has become shrill. Most of the team were teenagers, some still in primary school, when their director of rugby David Humphreys lifted the trophy. Trimble was a 14-year-old schoolboy at Coleraine Academical Institution.

“They even had different scores back then,” he says. But Colomiers have not been mentioned because the win over the French has been as much a reminder of Ulster’s fall and continued frustration as much as a bracing whiff of glory that could spur them on.

“Every year you talk about the spirit of ’99 and that it was special that year, where they went out and got results,” he adds. “It’s something we aspire to but it’s difficult to keep talking about the same thing every year. It just becomes a little bit more frustrating. As much as that was an inspiration we want to have something to talk about ourselves. Look back, maybe, and talk about the 2014 year.

“We need something to show. The last four years we’ve produced a few big performances and got to quarter-finals, developed again to get the home quarter-final. That’s all useless unless we get a win.”

Looking towards Saracens with fearlessness rather than trepidation is a change and a challenge. Trimble has seen off enough of those. But now his head is strong.