Robbie Diack is determined for Ulster to gain some momentum ahead of the new season with a warm up win against Edinburgh this Friday night. The 29 year old was involved as Ulster went down 21-24 to Leinster at Kingspan Stadium last weekend, but he believes there are plenty of reasons for optimism ahead of the start of the Guinness PRO12 campaign. Reflecting on the narrow loss to their inter-provincial rivals, the twice capped Ireland international commented: "Obviously it's disappointing when you look at the result but I think when you take into consideration that it was our first outing, the fact that there are new combinations out there and that guys were playing their first games for Ulster Rugby, it was quite promising. There were some moments that we looked good and there were some moments when we looked shabby. "I think there were some great individual scores and some great phases in attack. We conceded some easy tries at maul time and our discipline was another issue, which seems to have cost us quite a bit over the past couple of seasons." The loose forward sees this weekend's clash at Goldenacre as the perfect opportunity to make some adjustments ahead of the PRO12 opener against Ospreys on 4th September. "Luckily we have this weekend against Edinburgh to fix a few things before going into the league," said Diack. "They had a good win at the weekend against Romania so they will be confident after that result. We need to go back to the drawing board and look at a few different combinations and the sooner Friday comes around the better. We are hungry to get back to winning ways with the first league game fast approaching." With a number of Ulster players likely to be involved with Ireland at the World Cup over the next couple of months, the start of the season represents a big opportunity for the Ulster men, according to the South African born star: "We've said it before that the teams that gets wins on the board early in the season are always the teams that are in the semi finals and final at the end of the season. So it's a huge opportunity for us to target these games. We'll be missing a load of players, but it will be the same for Ospreys. It's important that the more experienced to show the necessary leadership. With 152 caps to his name, Diack is one of those players with a key leadership role within the squad over the coming months: "I've always looked up to certain people so it's funny that at this time of my career I'm one of the guys who's got a lot of caps under my belt. With the guys away at the World Cup we are missing some leadership but we do have players like Rob Herring who played exceptionally well and led from the front against Leinster. There's also also guys like Roger Wilson, Darren Cave and Craig Gilroy out there who have played a huge amount of rugby. When you're at a club like Ulster and there are such good players around you, the likes of Rory Best, Stephen Ferris, Tommy Bowe and (Andrew) Trimble, you learn what makes them tick and how they motivate other players." Diack also made special mention of the loyal Ulster supporter base as the season approaches: "The support we get at Kingspan Stadium is always exceptional. It's something we pride ourselves on and I think other teams enjoy coming to play here because of the atmosphere and the support that we get. For that we are incredibly grateful. To run out in the front of the crowd and here so much noise, no matter what the weather is like, it's a huge boost for the team."
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Diack calls for return to winning ways
26th August 2015
Robbie Diack is determined for Ulster to gain some momentum ahead of the new season with a warm up win against Edinburgh this Friday night. The 29 year old was involved as Ulster went down 21-24 to Leinster at Kingspan Stadium last weekend, but he believes there are plenty of reasons for optimism ahead of the start of the Guinness PRO12 campaign. Reflecting on the narrow loss to their inter-provincial rivals, the twice capped Ireland international commented: "Obviously it's disappointing when you look at the result but I think when you take into consideration that it was our first outing, the fact that there are new combinations out there and that guys were playing their first games for Ulster Rugby, it was quite promising. There were some moments that we looked good and there were some moments when we looked shabby. "I think there were some great individual scores and some great phases in attack. We conceded some easy tries at maul time and our discipline was another issue, which seems to have cost us quite a bit over the past couple of seasons." The loose forward sees this weekend's clash at Goldenacre as the perfect opportunity to make some adjustments ahead of the PRO12 opener against Ospreys on 4th September. "Luckily we have this weekend against Edinburgh to fix a few things before going into the league," said Diack. "They had a good win at the weekend against Romania so they will be confident after that result. We need to go back to the drawing board and look at a few different combinations and the sooner Friday comes around the better. We are hungry to get back to winning ways with the first league game fast approaching." With a number of Ulster players likely to be involved with Ireland at the World Cup over the next couple of months, the start of the season represents a big opportunity for the Ulster men, according to the South African born star: "We've said it before that the teams that gets wins on the board early in the season are always the teams that are in the semi finals and final at the end of the season. So it's a huge opportunity for us to target these games. We'll be missing a load of players, but it will be the same for Ospreys. It's important that the more experienced to show the necessary leadership. With 152 caps to his name, Diack is one of those players with a key leadership role within the squad over the coming months: "I've always looked up to certain people so it's funny that at this time of my career I'm one of the guys who's got a lot of caps under my belt. With the guys away at the World Cup we are missing some leadership but we do have players like Rob Herring who played exceptionally well and led from the front against Leinster. There's also also guys like Roger Wilson, Darren Cave and Craig Gilroy out there who have played a huge amount of rugby. When you're at a club like Ulster and there are such good players around you, the likes of Rory Best, Stephen Ferris, Tommy Bowe and (Andrew) Trimble, you learn what makes them tick and how they motivate other players." Diack also made special mention of the loyal Ulster supporter base as the season approaches: "The support we get at Kingspan Stadium is always exceptional. It's something we pride ourselves on and I think other teams enjoy coming to play here because of the atmosphere and the support that we get. For that we are incredibly grateful. To run out in the front of the crowd and here so much noise, no matter what the weather is like, it's a huge boost for the team."