Dan Soper’s pride at Ulster progress by past pupils

All three featured in Ulster’s PRO14 season-opening win over Benetton last Friday as Hume and Lowry both scored tries while McCann made his debut from the bench.

Soper left Inst to become Ulster skills coach and he is still overseeing his former pupils’ development as they make their way in the professional game.

“There’s no doubt anyone that watched those three guys coming through school, it was evident they had the potential to do great things,” said the Kiwi. “Dave (McCann) was an interesting one, he played in the centre right through until Lower Sixth and then we had a bit of a discussion that, because of James Hume being in the centre, he probably wasn’t going to make the team come cup time unless he considered a positional change, which he jumped at.

“So he hasn’t been playing in the forwards particularly long but he moved into the forwards, won a Schools’ Cup, played for the Irish Schools and here he is now.

“There was no doubt they had the ability and their strength of character as young men is probably what has carried them through to here.

“They’ve done well to get here but if you asked any of them, they’re delighted to be here but they’re also very aware that getting there is really tough, but staying there and continuing to develop is the key thing.

“It’s brilliant to see there but there’s a lot more to come out of the three of them.

“I suppose my interest in those guys has been going a lot longer than it has with other guys in the squad.

“I do have a real interest in seeing them progress.

“There’s a lot of guys I’m really invested in now, without a doubt.

“To have three guys, four with Rob (Lyttle), in the Ulster squad, there haven’t been four guys from Inst in the side in a long time.

“It was a great crop of guys coming through the school in that time and they’ve kicked on, which is great.”

Soper believed McCann had all the attributes to switch from the midfield to the back row.

“He was always a devastating ball carrier and having played in the backs he had good skills,” said Soper. “I could see him as a rangy, back-row forward that could do a lot of damage on the edge.

“He’s a good carrier, he’s got good footwork, he also had a big collision in him at school.

“There was no question in my mind over whether he’d shy away from the physical stuff as a forward.

“He’s done really well, he’s a smart guy, he’s done a lot of learning, and he’s made a good fist of it.”

Ulster started last season with a bonus point home win but lost their second match 63-26 at the Cheetahs.

“That’s the sort of thing where we want to display the growth we’ve shown as a group, show that we can back up Friday night’s performance on the road,” said Soper. “We haven’t spoken about last year and the Cheetahs but we know we want to grow.

“To challenge consistently in play-off rugby you need to be winning on the road, you need to be a consistent performer.

“There’s no surprise.

“Leinster won the league last year off the back of being unbelievably consistent and that’s the standard we want to get to.”

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