1996–97 Ulster Rugby season

The 1996–97 Ulster Rugby season was Ulster's second season under professionalism, during which they competed in the IRFU Interprovincial Championship and the Heineken Cup.

1996–97 Ulster Rugby season
Ground(s)Ravenhill Stadium (Capacity: 12,500)
Coach(es)Tony Russ
Captain(s)Denis McBride
Top scorerDavid Humphreys (52)
Most triesStuart Duncan (3)
League(s)Heineken Cup (4th in pool)
IRFU Interprovincial Championship (3rd of 4)
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

In June 1996, Ulster hired former Leicester Tigers coach Tony Russ on a five-year contract as their Director of Rugby. He would coach the Ulster senior team, organise strategy, and help develop the game from schools to senior level, working closely with IRFU Director of Rugby Ray Southam.[1]

At this stage the Irish provinces were still representative teams, not professional clubs. However, Ulster were now offering contracts and match fees for Heineken Cup and Interprovincial matches, although these contracts sometimes conflicted with players contracted to clubs in England.[2] Meanwhile, clubs in England and Wales were unhappy at having to compete against representative teams from Ireland in the Heineken Cup.[3] Out-half David Humphreys and lock Jeremy Davidson defied their club, London Irish, by competing in the Heineken Cup for Ulster,[4] but were unavailable for Ulster's match against Australia as it clashed with London Irish's league match against Wasps. In Humphreys' absence, Ulster called on former Scotland "A" international Stuart Laing.[5]

In November, Russ quit to join English second division club Waterloo F.C.,[6] unhappy that after eight games, he would not be able to work with his Ulster players again for six months.[7]: 11  Clive Griffiths was lined up to take over, but withdrew for family reasons.[8] Davy Haslett, a geography teacher at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and assistant coach on the 1997 Ireland A rugby union tour of Oceania,[7]: 10–11  was named as coach for the 1997–98 season in June.[9]

Players selected
Ulster Rugby squad

Props

Hookers

Locks

Back row

Scrum-halves

  • Andrew Matchett, Ballymena
  • Stephen Bell, Dungannon

Fly-halves

Centres

Wings

Fullbacks

  • Robin Morrow, QUB
(c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players.
* denotes players qualified to play for Ireland on residency or dual nationality.

    1996–97 Heineken Cup
    Main article: 1996–97 Heineken Cup

    Pool 3
    Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff Pts
    Brive 4400138510665418
    Harlequins 43012081213195366
    Neath 42021016–683109–264
    Ulster 4103610–47587–122
    Caledonia 40041320–7117156–390
    13 October 1996
    14:30
    Caledonia 34-41 Ulster
    Try: Shepherd, Rouse, Grimes
    Con: Shepherd (2)
    Pen: Shepherd (4)
    Drop: Newton
    		 Report[4][10] Try: Humphreys (2), Cunningham (2), McKinty
    Con: Humphreys (2)
    Pen: Humphreys (2), Laing
    Drop: Humphreys
    McDiarmid Park
    Attendance: 2,400
    Referee: J. C. Gastou
    Ulster lineup
    • 1. Richard Mackey, 2. Stephen Ritchie, 3. Gary Leslie, 4. Paddy Johns, 5. Jeremy Davidson, 6. Stuart Duncan, 7. Denis McBride (c), 8. Stephen McKinty, 9. Stephen Bell, 10. David Humphreys, 11. Jan Cunningham, 12. Sheldon Coulter, 13. Maurice Field, 14. James Topping, 15. Robin Morrow. Replacements: Neil McCluskey, for Coulter, 30 mins), Stuart Laing, for Field, 73 mins)


    16 October 1996
    19:00
    Ulster 15–21 Harlequins
    Pen: Humphreys (4)
    Drop: Humphreys
    		 Report[11][12] Try: Watson, O'Leary
    Con: Carling
    Pen: Carling (2)
    Ravenhill
    Attendance: 8,000
    Referee: I. Ramage
    Ulster lineup
    • 1. Richard Mackey, 2. Stephen Ritchie, 3. Gary Leslie, 4. Paddy Johns, 5. Jeremy Davidson, 6. Stuart Duncan, 7. Denis McBride (c), 8. Stephen McKinty, 9. Andrew Matchett, 10. David Humphreys, 11. Jan Cunningham, 12. James Topping, 13. Sheldon Coulter, 14. Neil McCluskey, 15. Robin Morrow. Replacements: John Patterson (for McBride).


    26 October 1996
    14:30
    Neath 15–13 Ulster
    Try: Williams, Gerrard
    Con: Davies
    Pen: Davies
    		 Report[13] Try: Matchett
    Con: Humphreys
    Pen: Humphreys (2)
    The Gnoll
    Attendance: 2,000
    Ulster lineup
    • 1. Richard Mackey, 2. Stephen Ritchie, 3. Gary Leslie, 4. Gary Longwell, 5. Jeremy Davidson, 6. Stuart Duncan, 7. Denis McBride (c), 8. Stephen McKinty, 9. Andrew Matchett, 10. David Humphreys, 11. Jan Cunningham, 12. Maurice Field, 13. Mark McCall, 14. James Topping, 15. Robin Morrow.


    2 November 1996
    14:30
    Ulster 6–17 Brive
    Pen: Humphreys
    Drop: Humphreys
    		 Report[14] Try: Duboisset, Carrat, Viars
    Con: Venditti
    Ravenhill
    Attendance: 3,500
    Referee: H. Lewis
    Ulster lineup
    • 1. Richard Mackey, 2. Stephen Ritchie, 3. Gary Leslie, 4. Paddy Johns, 5. Jeremy Davidson, 6. Stuart Duncan, 7. Denis McBride (c), 8. Stephen McKinty, 9. Andrew Matchett, 10. David Humphreys, 11. Jan Cunningham, 12. Maurice Field, 13. Mark McCall, 14. James Topping, 15. Robin Morrow.

    1996–97 IRFU Interprovincial Championship
    Main article: IRFU Interprovincial Championship
    Team P W D L F A BP Pts Status
    3 3 0 0 117 92 - 12 Champions; qualified for next season's Heineken Cup
    3 1 0 2 88 92 - 4 Qualified for next season's Heineken Cup
    3 1 0 2 81 89 - 4 Qualified for next season's Heineken Cup
    3 1 0 2 77 90 - 4

    Top three teams qualify for next season's Heineken Cup.

    21 September 1996
    Ulster 25-35 Leinster
    Try: Ritchie, Duncan, Topping
    Con: Laing (2)
    Pen: Laing (2)
    		 Preview[15]
    Report[16]    		 Try: McKenna (2), Jameson, Spicer
    Con: Governey (3)
    Pen: Governey (3)
    Ravenhill
    Referee: L. Mayne
    Ulster lineup
    • 1. Richard Mackey, 2. Stephen Ritchie, 3. Clem Boyd, 4. Gary Longwell, 5. Charlie Simpson, 6. Stuart Duncan, 7. Denis McBride (c), 8. Stephen McKinty, 9. Stephen Bell, 10. Stuart Laing, 11. Jan Cunningham, 12. Mark McCall, 13. Maurice Field, 14. James Topping, 15. Robin Morrow.


    28 September 1996
    Ulster 32-27 Connacht
    Try: Duncan, Laing, Topping
    Con: Laing
    Pen: Laing (5)
    		 Report[17] Try: Carey, Elwood
    Con: Elwood
    Pen: Elwood (5)
    Drop: Elwood
    Ravenhill
    Referee: B. Smith
    Ulster lineup
    • 1. Richard Mackey, 2. Stephen Ritchie, 3. Clem Boyd, 4. Gary Longwell, 5. Alan Robinson, 6. Stuart Duncan, 7. Denis McBride (c), 8. Stephen McKinty, 9. Stephen Bell, 10. Stuart Laing, 11. Jan Cunningham, 12. Mark McCall, 13. Maurice Field, 14. James Topping, 15. Robin Morrow.


    5 October 1996
    Munster 27-24 Ulster
    Try: Dineen, Galwey
    Con: Begley
    Pen: Begley (3)
    Drop: McIvor, Keene
    		 Report[18] Try: Duncan
    Coulter
    Con: Laing
    Pen: Laing (4)
    Thomond Park
    Referee: A. Lewis
    Ulster lineup
    • 1. Richard Mackey, 2. Stephen Ritchie, 3. Clem Boyd, 4. Gary Longwell, 5. Alan Robinson, 6. Stuart Duncan, 7. Denis McBride (c), 8. Stephen McKinty, 9. Stephen Bell, 10. Stuart Laing, 11. Jan Cunningham, 12. Sheldon Coulter, 13. Mark McCall, 14. James Topping, 15. Robin Morrow.

    Friendlies
    16 November 1996
    Ulster 26-39 Australia
    Try: Topping, Penalty try
    Con: Laing (2)
    Pen: Laing (2)
    		 Report[19] Try: Eales, Roff, Campese, Penalty try
    Con: Burke
    Pen: Burke
    Knox
    Ravenhill
    Referee: K. Macartney
    Ulster lineup
    • 1. Richard Mackey, 2. Stephen Ritchie, 3. Gary Leslie, 4. Gary Longwell, 5. Paddy Johns, 6. Stuart Duncan, 7. Denis McBride (c), 8. Stephen McKinty, 9. Andrew Matchett, 10. Stuart Laing, 11. Jan Cunningham, 12. Mark McCall, 13. Maurice Field, 14. James Topping, 15. Robin Morrow.

    References
    1. "Ulster name pro director", Irish Independent, 5 June 1996
    2. "Reid's cautionary note on contracts", Belfast Telegraph, 23 March 1996
    3. Peter O'Reilly, "Ulster coach warns on power balance", The Sunday Tribune, 22 September 1996
    4. Bill Leith, "Rugby Union: Topping grabs spoils", The Independent, 13 October 1996
    5. "Ulster lose London Irish pair", The Irish Times, 14 November 1996
    6. Micheal McCleary, "Russ job! Rugby chief quits", Sunday Life, 17 November 1996
    7. Jonathan Bradley, The Last Amateurs: The Incredible Story of Ulster Rugby's 1999 European Champions, The Blackstaff Press, 2018
    8. Peter O'Reilly, "Contract jitters go on despite moves", The Sunday Tribune, 11 May 1997
    9. Micheal McGeary, "Davy has a job", Sunday Life, 22 June 1997
    10. "Humphreys points the way for Ulster", Irish Independent, 14 October 1996
    11. Jim Stokes, "Defiant Ulster lose to late Harlequins try", Irish Independent, 17 October 1996
    12. Jim Stokes, "Salute brave Ulster", Belfast Telegraph, 17 October 1996
    13. "Ulster rue missed chances as Neath steal it", Sunday Independent, 27 October 1996
    14. "Ulster challenge fades tamely", Sunday Independent, 3 November 1996
    15. Jim Stokes, "Ulster seek sweet revenge", Belfast Telegraph, 20 September 1996
    16. Peter O'Reilly, "Leinster pack steamrolls ahead", The Sunday Tribune, 22 September 1996
    17. Sean Diffley, "Connacht falter with the winning post in sight", Sunday Independent, 29 September 1996
    18. Michael McGeary, "Ulster fall short", Sunday Life, 6 October 1996
    19. Micheal McGeary, "Brave Ulster", Sunday Life, 17 November 1996
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