Ulster’s Adam McBurney hoping to seize chance against Benetton

Ulster lost four lineouts in the game on their own throw, McBurney was replaced after 56 minutes and was left out of the squad for the remaining four games.

He made a triumphant return in the white shirt for Ulster A last Friday by captaining the side in a victory over their Leinster counterparts at the RDS and grabbed a try, however the Connacht game was a reality check for the 24-year-old.

“That Connacht game, and then missing out on those big games, I was bitterly disappointed, I had to reflect on those performances and, if I’m being brutally honest, I probably didn’t put my hand up to where it needed to be to play in those big games,” said McBurney.

“So it took a lot of reflection on that and a lot of hard work behind the scenes, and thankfully I got that chance against Leinster A to get minutes and put my hand back up again.

“I was extremely thankful for that and it was a great result, and the boys that took the field there did the jersey proud, it was good to get back on the pitch.

“No-one here is stupid, everyone knows there’s more aspects to the line-out, and obviously hooker is a big part too, but there were other areas around the park that I wasn’t happy with that I need to hold myself accountable for, and I did, and that’s what I’ve worked on over the last couple of weeks.”

McBurney is hoping to get the nod in the No2 shirt for the Pro14 opener against Benetton at Kingspan Stadium tomorrow night in game that is likely to see centre Stewart Moore make his first start for the province as Stuart McCloskey and Luke Marshall are both ruled out injured.

“It’s important you don’t worry too much about other sides because a lot of other sides haven’t played much rugby,” he said.

“For us, thankfully we’ve played a couple of games now and we know what we’re all about, so going into this game, for us it’s about doing our stuff and what we talked about rather than worrying what Benetton will bring.

“We haven’t seen too much footage to know how they’ll play against us, so we’re just focusing on us and making sure we get that side of the game right.”

* A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Irish and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. To subscribe, click here.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Thank you,

Alistair Bushe

Editor