Ulster may have lost the pre-season game against Leinster, but Neil Doak and his coaching staff will have taken positives from the match, not least the performance of centre Luke Marshall. Injuries and suspension restricted his participation to just nine matches last season, but the 24 year-old looked in fantastic form as he scored a try and bagged the man of the match award on Friday night. "It was good to get the rustiness out, he says. "Ultimately, we were disappointed with the result, but we will take the good things out of it. We scored some good tries and we will look to build on that against Edinburgh this week before the first game of the PRO12 season, against Ospreys." Ulster were well on top in the first half but fell away in after the interval. With so many replacements, Marshall believes it's a game that you can't read too much into given the many changes, however he believes that there are areas that the team need to improve in: He says: "We had two completely different teams and new combinations and that messes with your rhythm. A couple of times our concentration let us down. Even through it was just a friendly, we were playing Leinster and against a good team like that, if you drop your concentration levels you get punished. We need to learn and learn quickly and get a better performance next week. Luke scored one of Ulster's first half tries, outpacing the Leinster defence to score. He is glad to see the hard work of pre-season paying off, especially after the disappointment of last year. "Fortunately, the defender I was trying to outpace was a hooker!" he jokes. "I am supposed to be fit by now but I was still blowing a bit out there. It was just so good to be back in a game and to be back playing again. Having said that, there is real competition for places. Even though the World Cup is on there is still massive quality in the ranks. The likes of Sam Arnold, Stuart McCloskey and other guys are pushing hard for places so there is a lot of hard work to be done." Â
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Luke Marshall - back playing and back scoring tries
23rd August 2015
Ulster may have lost the pre-season game against Leinster, but Neil Doak and his coaching staff will have taken positives from the match, not least the performance of centre Luke Marshall. Injuries and suspension restricted his participation to just nine matches last season, but the 24 year-old looked in fantastic form as he scored a try and bagged the man of the match award on Friday night. "It was good to get the rustiness out, he says. "Ultimately, we were disappointed with the result, but we will take the good things out of it. We scored some good tries and we will look to build on that against Edinburgh this week before the first game of the PRO12 season, against Ospreys." Ulster were well on top in the first half but fell away in after the interval. With so many replacements, Marshall believes it's a game that you can't read too much into given the many changes, however he believes that there are areas that the team need to improve in: He says: "We had two completely different teams and new combinations and that messes with your rhythm. A couple of times our concentration let us down. Even through it was just a friendly, we were playing Leinster and against a good team like that, if you drop your concentration levels you get punished. We need to learn and learn quickly and get a better performance next week. Luke scored one of Ulster's first half tries, outpacing the Leinster defence to score. He is glad to see the hard work of pre-season paying off, especially after the disappointment of last year. "Fortunately, the defender I was trying to outpace was a hooker!" he jokes. "I am supposed to be fit by now but I was still blowing a bit out there. It was just so good to be back in a game and to be back playing again. Having said that, there is real competition for places. Even though the World Cup is on there is still massive quality in the ranks. The likes of Sam Arnold, Stuart McCloskey and other guys are pushing hard for places so there is a lot of hard work to be done." Â