Ahead of the crucial interprovincial match against Munster, Jared Payne has paid tribute to the support that the Ulster team receive at Kingspan Stadium. The side are unbeaten at home in the Guinness PRO12 this season and the Ireland international believes that is down, in part, to the backing they get in Belfast.
Ahead of the crucial interprovincial match against Munster, Jared Payne has paid tribute to the support that the Ulster team receive at Kingspan Stadium. The side are unbeaten at home in the Guinness PRO12 this season and the Ireland international believes that is down, in part, to the backing they get in Belfast.
“Every game at Kingspan Stadium we get the fans out and rain, hail or shine they make a lot of noise. The support that we get is incredible and it’s unparalleled. You can’t explain how much of a lift it gives you. It is definitely good to have the 16th man behind you making plenty of noise. It encourages you do that little bit more if you need that little bit of a push,” said Payne.
Ulster will hope for the same passionate support that they received when Leinster came to Belfast a fortnight ago. Many pundits hailed the man-of-the-match performance of Iain Henderson, but Payne is quick to highlight the contribution of outhalf, Paddy Jackson:
"I think in the last few weeks, since I have been back from the 6 Nations, the way he has run the backline has been unbelievable," Payne says. I think if you look back at the Connacht game, he directly influenced at least three of the tries – picking and choosing when to change direction, when to kick and when to attack. No-one can question how well he can pass the ball and as he showed against Leinster, he is slowly developing a powerful running game. He is definitely going to be a world-class fly half in the next year or two".
With just two games remaining in the regular season and a PRO12 play off already secured, Ulster have their eyes firmly set securing home advantage in the final four. To do that, they will have to beat Munster and Payne knows Saturday’s game is huge:
“It’s massive. We have talked about learning from finals and results in recent seasons, but you can’t learn forever, you have to finally put it out there on the pitch. We want to win silverware. After we got knocked out of the Champions Cup we set out our stall to win the PRO12. It would be massive for the team and for the supporters to prove that we can go out there and win something. A play off and a final at home would be huge - we don’t want to be the nearly men, we want to show that we can do it.”
Ahead of the crucial interprovincial match against Munster, Jared Payne has paid tribute to the support that the Ulster team receive at Kingspan Stadium. The side are unbeaten at home in the Guinness PRO12 this season and the Ireland international believes that is down, in part, to the backing they get in Belfast.
“Every game at Kingspan Stadium we get the fans out and rain, hail or shine they make a lot of noise. The support that we get is incredible and it’s unparalleled. You can’t explain how much of a lift it gives you. It is definitely good to have the 16th man behind you making plenty of noise. It encourages you do that little bit more if you need that little bit of a push,” said Payne.
Ulster will hope for the same passionate support that they received when Leinster came to Belfast a fortnight ago. Many pundits hailed the man-of-the-match performance of Iain Henderson, but Payne is quick to highlight the contribution of outhalf, Paddy Jackson:
"I think in the last few weeks, since I have been back from the 6 Nations, the way he has run the backline has been unbelievable," Payne says. I think if you look back at the Connacht game, he directly influenced at least three of the tries – picking and choosing when to change direction, when to kick and when to attack. No-one can question how well he can pass the ball and as he showed against Leinster, he is slowly developing a powerful running game. He is definitely going to be a world-class fly half in the next year or two".
With just two games remaining in the regular season and a PRO12 play off already secured, Ulster have their eyes firmly set securing home advantage in the final four. To do that, they will have to beat Munster and Payne knows Saturday’s game is huge:
“It’s massive. We have talked about learning from finals and results in recent seasons, but you can’t learn forever, you have to finally put it out there on the pitch. We want to win silverware. After we got knocked out of the Champions Cup we set out our stall to win the PRO12. It would be massive for the team and for the supporters to prove that we can go out there and win something. A play off and a final at home would be huge - we don’t want to be the nearly men, we want to show that we can do it.”