Ludik: 'The future is bright'

The season may not have ended the way Ulster wanted over the weekend, but Louis Ludik believes the past ten months show the future is bright at Kingspan Stadium. On their return to the Guinness PRO14 semi-finals, the Province were beaten 50-20 by an in-form Glasgow side who will contest the final with Leinster this Saturday. And while second best at Scotstoun, a season that brought knock-out rugby in both the league and Heineken Champions Cup has been one that augurs well for the years ahead. "As you can imagine, there are a lot of emotions, but we'll try to think about the year as a whole and what we've achieved, not just the semi-final," said Ludik, who returned from a knee injury in the last four clash. "There's been a lot of changes from last year, a lot of guys have grabbed a hold of their chance and Dan (McFarland) has done a really good job. With all the young guys, the future is bright. It's great to be a part of it." While various injuries have restricted the versatile Irish-qualified South African to 14 games this year, Ludik has really enjoyed the new style of play that Dan McFarland has implemented during his first year in charge. "For me, I've been injured, but the way we are trying to play with tempo, putting width on the ball, as a player, that's the way you want to play," he said. "I think a lot of the young guys grabbed onto that and guys are trying to use their talent and bring it out on the field. That's the exciting part as a senior guy, young guys taking ownership and showing what they can do. "I think detail-wise, this year has been unbelievable. Throughout my whole career, this has been the most detail there has been. The coaches are telling us how they want us to play, the lines they want us to run. Even though there is a lot of planning, you still have the freedom to play heads up rugby, but there's a system within that to make it exciting. The detail is impeccable. "Hats off to the coaches, they try to have us understanding exactly what they want us to do and how we take that onto the field. It shows in the way we played against Leinster (in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final). I was a spectator in that game but that's exactly the way we wanted to play. It's a great example of what we can do and that makes me very excited." After a season that gave Ulster fans real hope looking forward, it was also time to look back on the legendary careers of Rory Best and Darren Cave, the skipper and centre, who equalled Andrew Trimble's appearance record on Friday, both having now pulled on the white jersey for a final time. While Friday wasn't the way either wanted to bow out, Ludik is hoping Best can go on and win the World Cup for Ireland in Japan later this year. "We wanted to celebrate Besty and Cavey's last game and I don't think we did them justice," he admitted. "As a team we're really disappointed with the send-off we gave them. "It's very emotional. It's been a long career for them in an Ulster jersey. They leave the club as heroes. You never know if they'll be back in some other capacity but they've done a great job and left the jersey in a much better place than where it was. "It's a privilege for me to have shared the field and shared the jersey with them. It's very sad that it's ended this way but hopefully, Besty can lift the World Cup before he's finished."