Johnny Bell back at Ulster with drive to help push on the current crop

Bell was instrumental in the province’s European Cup win in 1999 and the abrasive centre hung up his boots in 2005.

After spending three years teaching, Bell retuned to Ulster as Elite Player Development officer before a four-year stint as an assistant coach.

He logged seven years across the Irish Sea at Gloucester, Glasgow and Worcester before returning to Kingspan Stadium to become the province’s defence coach after Jared Payne left for Clermont.

“It’s fantastic being home again,” said Bell. “Being away and being a fan for the last seven years has been strange, I have always watched with one eye very closely on Ulster and how they are doing...it’s been great to see them do so well in recent years.

“It’s exciting being back and being part of this Ulster squad and trying to achieve things this year.

“Dan (McFarland, Ulster head coach, pictured) and I spoke when the opportunity came up and Jared decided to move on.

“I suppose the motivation to come back was two-fold.

“Primarily, from my perspective, I was coming back to a place I love and know and to a team that I hold very close to my heart...that was an easy one for me.

“Family-wise, I have two children, they weren’t born here but they spent the last seven, eight years in Cheltenham so they probably thought of that as home.

“When you are moving anywhere there is an adjustment and, thankfully, everyone has been so welcoming and we have got the children into schools. we are settled.

“The motivation for me was being part of an Ulster squad that was growing and growing and getting better and coming back to try and add value to that.

“It’s just going to take hard work and I am excited”

Bell believes his time in England and Scotland means he is returning to Ulster as a better coach.

“When I left here, I left to grow as a coach and as a person, my mindset was no matter how it goes for me across the water, I am going to be a better coach and a better person for it,” he said. “I had a few great years at Gloucester.

“Was it challenging? Incredibly so...I was working with different groups of players, coaches and I had to change and adapt to them.

“You find out a lot about yourself in the good and the bad times.

“It makes you come back more experienced, if the experiences are good or bad, it steels you.

“But I am glad to come back and lend my experiences to this group of players to help in any way I can.”

While Bell will oversee Ulster’s defence, the role will cover all aspects of coaching.

“Coaches...they don’t work in silos, they work together, the game is so inter-dependent, it’s not just ‘you are dealing with attack’ and ‘you are dealing with defence’,” said Bell. “Yes, you lean on those areas of the game but we talk and we share ideas and try to get the game to be as joined up as we can.

“Defence doesn’t work unless we have a very joined-up system with the attack and, likewise, we don’t want to be putting the attack under pressure.

“So it is working together to get the best blend.

“I find that with the coaching team, there’s that synergy, a real closeness and connection with the players.

“I have been really impressed with the playing group, a really good senior group of players who drive high standards, the younger players are incredibly driven, highly-professional and a great bunch of lads.

“And you don’t get that everywhere, it’s not commonplace in any club, but you can see a real tightness.”