Marcus Rea hoping to make up for lost time with Ulster

Between making a try-scoring debut against Leinster in April 2019 and facing the Ospreys, Rea has had to deal with serious injury, the Covid-19 pandemic and watching his older brother Matty establish himself in the Ulster backrow.

However, with the strength of depth Ulster have in the backrow Rea knows its a matter of biding his time and grasping any opportunity that comes his way.

“It’s on us to play well and give him (Dan McFarland) that benefit, so he can go into a game week saying ‘he’s carrying a niggle can we rest him?’ We want to be the players holding our hand up saying ‘don’t worry we’ll get the job done’,” said Rea.

“It is hard to be patient, especially that season, because there were times I just tried to be as mature as I could about it, especially when it came the week of the Leinster game.

“I was hoping I’d get a run-out, but when it didn’t come it was just ‘how can I help’ or ‘what can I do with the players that have played’, the patience kind of came because it had to.

“The likes of Dave McCann, cracking player, Greg (Jones) and a few other boys will get a run out at some stage.”

Rea’s run of injuries started in an All Ireland League game.

“The first one, I actually broke my jaw when I was playing a club game for Ballynahinch down at Trinity.

“It was a cue for a speedy recovery because Christmas dinner was coming up pretty quick and I didn’t want to miss out on that never mind any more games.”

Rea is hoping to win his third Ulster cap against the Dragons at Kingspan Stadium tomorrow afternoon but knows he’ll have to improve to stay in the team.

“[I have to] Just tidy up on small things I’ve found in my game, not that I’ve struggled with but just that I can work on moving forward.

“The coaches seem pretty pleased, so if I can keep tidying up the small areas, keep working on that breakdown and keep working on my carrying then I can be more of an asset to the team.”

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