Nick Timoney reflects on how both Ulster past pain and past progress part of path to European final in Bilbao and shot at end to 20-year trophy wait

“It feels like a lot has changed in a year, obviously...as a whole group, that's all players and all coaches and everyone involved,” said Timoney. “I think we realised last year - and we knew at the time it wasn't good enough - but it's sometimes hard to reflect when you're in the moment and you're going week to week and you feel like you're trying your best but it's not working and then that leads to frustration and lack of confidence and all that.

“We had an off-season, we looked back, there was a conscious effort from the coaches that things were going to get better.

“There was great buy-in from the players – and certainly from some of the important players, leaders in the group and whatnot - that we were going to steer this thing in the right direction.

"And obviously it hasn't always been perfect, but it feels like from within it'd be hard to deny that there hasn't been progress.

"But as soon as you feel like you've made it or you've cracked it, then that's when life trips you up.

“So we just need to keep pushing, keep working hard and every single week, every single day we come in we need to know that we're trying to get better again for the next week.”

Reaching the Challenge Cup final in Bilboa was never on Timoney’s radar as Ulster sat in below-zero degree temperatures watching their group game against the Cheetah’s being postponed.

“That's the Challenge Cup, isn't it?,” he said. “That's the beauty of it, you get some experiences out of it.

“I've never been to Bilbao...I can't wait to get there, looking forward to it.

“It looks like an unbelievable destination, venue and, hopefully, it'll be a great occasion.

"We need to make sure we're on it for now the next couple of weeks, back into the league and then put ourselves in that good spot where we know where our performances are at...we're not just hoping and praying, we need to give ourselves belief going into this final and certainly the last couple of URC games that it's not fluke, it's not just luck.

"We're going in the right direction and we need to keep pushing.”

Timoney has suffered many false dawns over his 181 Ulster caps but now he wants to bring silverware back to Ravenhill for the first time in 20 years.

“I think Richie's done a good job of speaking about it, certainly,” he said. “It's hard for me, who's been around for a number of years and for ‘Hendy’ (Iain Henderson) and Stu (Stuart McCloskey) and all these lads...you kind of look back and you think ‘oh, we lost the semi-final in 2021 and we lost the semi-final of the league in 2022’.

"But it's such a different team, you look around and all the lads that are gone and all the lads that are in...I haven't looked back at that Leicester game (2021 Challenge Cup semi-final) but probably scarily few of us that were actually even playing, even though it doesn't seem that long ago.”

“It seems like a new team since then, sometimes it's hard to put your finger on when it has become a new team because there might only be a couple of changes each year – but certainly you look back and there's a lot of change now to the group.

“It's about this current journey and sometimes it's good for individuals and for me and for the likes there to have those lessons built up over a number of years.

"But that's the beauty sometimes of newer lads who don't have those experiences, who don't have those scars and it doesn't even factor into their minds as much as there's lessons to learn.”

“If you were there at the time, you certainly had to learn them...there’s sometimes a beauty in freshness or being new to it all.”