​Ulster celebrate Kingspan pitch progress

It’s a case of so far so good for Ulster on the new 3G pitch with two wins from two games over the Bulls and Munster.

The Lions come to Belfast tomorrow night hoping to be the first team to inflict a defeat on Dan McFarland’s Ulster since the grass was removed in the close season.

“There have been a few things, the ball is faster, the rucks are faster, defensively our tackle selection and trying to get two people into tackles, which is common throughout rugby, is harder because it is faster,” said Newby. “Getting set on defence is a little bit harder because the ball is so fast, so there are different skill sets that come with that being out of position or in different positions.

“We have found the dew that sits on the pitch can make the ball wet even on a nice day so that is something that we have had to adjust to. The ball bounces a little bit differently to our back field, so in terms of kicking, catching and fielding kicks and positioning, everyone is kicking it further because it is a nice ground. There are a few subtle things, but our fundamentals have stayed the same.

“We really push our catch and pass, our tackle and our ruck are the big rocks of our fundamentals they don’t change. We adopt subtly for the opposition rather than our pitch now, we have got a mindset of how we want to play and this pitch helps that.

“We are lucky to have home advantage, but I’d say teams are probably excited to come here now and they know they are going to get good rugby and good opportunities. I can’t speak more highly of the pitch it has made it so much more positive.

“From the academy to the girls more people are training on it, people are getting excited about it and we are not worried as much about the wear and tear as we used to.”

One of the former All Black’s jobs at Ulster is to work with the injured players and get them ready to slot back into the first team.

“I see the ups and downs, all the lows, we've a really good process for those guys, it's really thorough, but there's a lot of breathing space too,” he said. “They'll work hard for a certain amount of time and then they'll earn time off. That allows them to clear their heads, get refreshed and go again.

“We work them really hard so they have to be ready when they're coming back. Re-injury is at its highest when you're coming back from something like that so we don't rush our players back.

“There can be frustration for us as coaches because obviously you want your best players playing, the fans want to see the best players.

“In terms of injury rehab, it's individual needs. It all fits in that framework but it's individually tailored to their athletic performance, their rugby return.

“At certain points they'll get back into the general population and we start ticking off the boxes that need to be ticked.”