Tom Stewart hails impact of former Ulster player Niall Annett ahead of crucial festive period
Hooker Niall Annett is having a big impact on Ulster’s hookers after returning to the province following his retiement at the end of last season.
Annett – who made 20 appearances for Ulster – helped Bath to win a treble, lifting the Premiership, the European Challenge Cup and the Premiership Rugby Cup, before calling time on his career.
After 11 years in England, Annett is backing at Ravenhill and is imparting his knowledge to the current crop of the province’s hookers, including Tom Stewart, as Ulster prepare for this weekend’s Challenge Cup trip to face Cardiff.
Former BRA front-rower Stewart has featured in all six of Ulster’s game this season scoring three tries, and captained Ireland A in Spain during November, and believes Annett’s invovlement has proven extremely beneficial.
“He is doing a lot of throwing with the hookers at the minute, he's fitted really, really well into the place,” said Stewart.
“Very enthusiastic about the place, he wants to dive right in and is more than happy to help out.
“He's obviously primarily with the academy and stuff, but he's been doing a lot of stuff with the senior hookers and throwing, and he's been really good for me, just getting extra reps and being able to talk things through, so I think he's really helped develop my throwing game.”
Stewart says he can see the subtle different Annett is making and is enjoying working with the former Ulster player.
“I think just more enthusiasm that he's brought in around the throw. Since Roddy (Grant) we kind of didn't really have a lot because Jimmy's (Duff) had a lot on his hands with scrum and ruck and line out, and all that sort of stuff, so it was kind of more on the hookers to do a lot of the stuff themselves and it's nice to have somebody else to kind of fall back on, and pick their brains a little bit about it too,” Stewart added.
With Ulster playing the three other Irish provinces over the festive period, Stewart knows it’s a chance to put himself in the shop window for the Six Nations and add to the five international caps he’s already won, especially on the back of skippering the A team in Spain.
“For me, it was a great experience to be able to lead our side,” he said. “Any time you put on a green jersey is really special and to be able to lead out a team in that was really good, but I kind of knew coming back into it, it was just another step for me to progress my game – another step for me to get better and come back and put in some good games for Ulster.
“With the likes of Munster, Leinster and Connacht, usually the Irish teams kind of rise to the top in the league. It's nice to be directly competing with some of the boys that you will be competing with for Ireland, but I suppose going into these games, the biggest thing is we just want to get good performances as a team, and we want to put our best performance on the pitch.
“Obviously, the end goal for most people here is to put on a green jersey and play for the senior side, but I think you can't get too far ahead of yourself at times.
“I'm just getting my flow back in and I'm running games with Ulster, and I think that's my main priority at the minute, is just trying to build those match minutes up and keep my rugby feel going.”