Confidence flowing for Jackson on back of rich vein of form

All outhalves feel slightly undermined if not trusted with the goal-kicking duties. Think back to Johnny Sexton on the Lions tour when Warren Gatland retained faith in the metronomic Leigh Halfpenny, and how grumpy it made Sexton, even by his standards.

Paddy Jackson is no different. He has a similar "problem", so to speak, in the presence of Ruan Pienaar, who also has a longer range than Jackson. Yet Pienaar hasn't been striking the ball as sweetly as usual as evidenced by a success ratio of 64.58 per cent in the Guinness Pro12, which even allowing for how many long- range kicks the Springboks' scrum-half takes, is well down on his average.

Kicking duties

Hence, on the back of his rich vein of form lately, for Jackson to be handed the kicking duties last Saturday against

Munster

by Neil Doak looked astute, and was vindicated by his five from five return. This upped his place-kicking ratio in the league to 75.7 per cent, albeit still behind Ian Humphreys (89.36 per cent)

Ultimately, the game hinged on a difficult conversion about five metres in from the left touchline, but Jackson held his nerve and bisected the posts straight down the middle.

“Actually just before I was thinking about how I was kicking with Humphs (Ian Humphreys) on Friday and I missed four in a row from the exact same position,” Jackson revealed. “Once I got that out of my head, all I was thinking about was the strike and I’d been striking it sweet all day. The warm-up had gone really well for me and I was just thinking to keep my head down, get through the ball and it paid off.”

Pretty nervous

“It was a great day for kicking. Myself and Keats (Ian Keatley) both kicked well, and I’m glad to get back kicking. I haven’t kicked since Toulon. I was pretty nervous before the game but once I kicked well in the warm-up and once I got my first kick, I felt really good so it’s a bit of a confidence boost for me.”

As to whether Jackson retains place-kicking duties in Glasgow on Saturday afternoon, when Ulster need to win and hope the Ospreys or Munster slip up away to Connacht or at home to the Dragons to earn a home semi-final, he said: "Yea I hope so . . . As an outhalf and as a player you want to be in these positions where you're trying to win a game. You want to be kicking."

Jackson was irked by a few loose kicks from hand but once again he orchestrated some clever set moves as well as some penetrative if profligate play by Ulster’s talented backline.

His conversion followed yet another bullet-like, try-scoring skip pass, which has become one of the stand-out features of the Pro12 run-in since he helped lay on three tries in the win over Connacht and another in the win over Leinster.

Ulster made nine line breaks to Munster’s three, although they left about four tries behind them. “It’s definitely enjoyable, but it’s quite tiring as well. We were running the ball from deep, whereas Munster were looking for the territory game.

“It wasn’t the intention from the start of the game; we were just looking up and seeing space so we decided to take it . . . It’s definitely a big positive for us that we’re playing adventurously, but those tries that we left out there was a nightmare for us and it could have totally changed the game.”

Jackson’s head seems to be in a good space in four unbeaten games since his return from a broken arm he sustained in Toulon, which he admits was not the case when making his belated seasonal return from a shoulder operation.

“When I was coming back from injury the last time I was so focused and I was desperate to be playing well, whereas this time I’ve taken a back seat almost and reset myself, and just tried to relax and play the rugby I know I can play.”

On current form, he appears to be the best back-up out-half to Sexton. “Yea, I have been happy with how I’ve been playing. I don’t think things were running as smoothly as they have been in the last few games. I was pretty annoyed with that pass which didn’t leave enough air for Jared. But if keep this form up I should be able to be thereabouts. I’m just desperate to try and win something here and we’ve another big game next week against Glasgow.”

Win, lose, or, as it transpired, draw against Munster, Ulster were going to have to win in Glasgow anyway. To that end, it would help no end if his equally in-form teammate and buddy Iain Henderson avoids a suspension.

“He’s massive, he’s a massive person, he’s massive on the pitch and you just see how physical he is,” admitted Jackson. “Having somebody like that ball carrying and hitting rucks, I desperately hope he doesn’t miss the whole season.”

“We were all in disbelief,” Jackson said of Henderson’s red card last Saturday. “He said he didn’t make contact with him (Munster’s Ronan O’Mahony) with the head and I think Nigel said: ‘You can’t lead with the head’, but I can’t really see any other way of going into a ruck.”