Ulster fan power key to trophy progress for Kieran Treadwell

The new 16-team United Rugby Championship kicks off next Friday with Ulster welcoming the Glasgow Warriors to Belfast and 15,000 fans will be allowed to attend that game plus the following two home fixtures against Benetton and the Emirates Lions from South Africa.

Ulster went on a 26-game unbeaten run from October 2018 to December 2011 before Toulouse lowered their colours in the Heineken Champion Champions Cup game.

Irish provincial rivals Leinster and Connacht also left Kingspan with victories last season.

“It’s absolutely massive, we always say about our 16th man, it is going to be different, but it is going to be great,” said Treadwell. “We actually had a few thousand at the Saracens game and that was massive for us...and it almost felt a bit normal again.

“We like to play in front of a crowd and that is what we do our job for, it is great to hear and see the fans there and have people cheering us on.

“There was a definite onus on ourselves to get ready for a game when there was no-one there, it does make it easier when you have people there that are supporting you and making a bit of noise.

“It is very uplifting and does get you through a game, it definitely is important for me personally and I know for the team, too, to get that crowd back and get that support back into the stadium.”

And Treadwell wants to put the disappointment of not being involved in Ireland’s summer series behind him as he gets ready to embark on his sixth season with Ulster.

The lock has already moved past 100 caps for the province after moving from Harlequins in 2016 - and won three international caps in 2017 on Ireland’s summer tour of the USA and Japan.

Treadwell has been in the international wilderness since and, despite being name-checked by Ulster coach Dan McFarland as a possibility to make Andy Farrell’s squad for this summer’s two test matches, the lock wasn’t selected.

“I was really happy with the way I was going towards the end of the season, I was putting in consistent performances back-to-back,” stated Treadwell. “There has been a little bit of contact and obviously I didn’t make it to the summer series that just makes me hungrier to get better and get back on that pitch and put my name back in the hat again.

“If you’re doing well your name will be in the hat.

“I am always someone that will ask for work-ons and how I can get better, and it is putting those into practice while I’m on the training paddock and putting it on the pitch when playing matches.”

Treadwell is facing a race to be fit for Ulster’s first game in the new United Rugby Championship against Glasgow.

“I’m not sure at the moment but probably looking unlikely,” he said. “It is just a sort of shoulder niggle that isn’t really going away so I’m just taking a bit of time to get myself right for the season.

“At the moment I’m just sort of taking it day-by-day.

“It is a competitive squad and I have always said that...and that will drive us on.

“With the new league coming in, over the United Rugby Championship there will be less games so there is less margin of error there and it is going to be more competitive.”

Treadwell feels Ulster captain Iain Henderson will come back into the team as a better player following his experiences with the British and Irish Lions in South Africa during the summer.

“I think Iain is great and I have always thought ‘Hendy’ has been at the top of his game,” he said. “Getting those experiences of captaining Ireland and to captain the Lions in the midweek game has developed his experience and his knowledge.

“Some of the stuff he says in team meetings does hit home and it is a different perspective...it is not what you see, he sees the big picture and we definitely need that going forward.”

The United Rugby Championship will include four South Africa teams - the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers - and Treadwell knows Ulster will have to meet the Rainbow Nation sides’ power.

“The maul went very well for us last year within Europe and the league so it will be good to pit ourselves against the South Africans teams,” he said. “The four that are coming in have some world-class players, so it will be good to test ourselves against them.

“With regards to our own mindset and the way we like to play, it is not unknown to people that we like to play fast so I think we are trying to up the pace a little bit more.

“So, hopefully, teams can’t live with us at that pace and tempo.”

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