Will Addison is convinced Ulster are on the road to winning trophies

The 27-year-old Irish international utility back has just returned back to Belfast having moved pre-lockdown to Cumbria and the family farm.

He balanced his rugby training duties with milking cows and lifting hay bales, as well as finalising the details around his contract extension, while in England and it also gave him the chance to fully recover from a back and calf injury he had picked up earlier in the season before it was postponed.

Addison pointed to the progress Ulster have made in his previous two seasons and the ethos Dan McFarland and the coaching staff have brought to a talented young squad that makes it a great environment to have been in and to want to continue to be in.

“It was a pretty easy decision given how things have gone over the last two years and the success we will hopefully have over the next two years,” said Addison about agreeing to stay on at Kingspan Stadium.

“It's an exciting young squad and it's an exciting young coaching group that we're working with. I think it's a really enjoyable place to be. Those were the factors.

“You want to be competing for trophies and I think that's what we're going to be doing. In the end, it was an easy decision.”

Ambition with Ireland too have played its part in staying with Ulster - it was part of the reason he was lured from Sale Sharks to the Irish Province - although Addison has not been fortunate with injuries when the international windows came around.

He made his Test debut in November 2018, but since then the injury frustrations have seen only three caps in total.

Addison said: “I’m massively aspirational. When I first came over I wouldn’t have been a name that leapt off the page for Irish fans but it was something that I really wanted to do.

“First and foremost, it was playing for Ulster but backing myself and backing my own talent, I wanted to be in that Ireland frame as well and I was fortunate to do that in my first year.

“It’s definitely in the forefront of my mind – I want to be in that squad, then challenging for a starting place and challenging for trophies as well.

“That came into the decision for sure and hopefully I can put my best foot forward in the next few seasons,” he added.