# 2010–11 Ulster Rugby season

The 2010–11 Ulster Rugby season was Ulster's 17th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and their second under head coach Brian McLaughlin. This season marked the debuts of two South Africans, scrum-half Ruan Pienaar (replacing Isaac Boss, who had moved to Leinster) and second row forward Johann Muller. Ulster were quarter-finalists in the European Rugby Champions Cup, and semi-finalists in the Celtic League. Ruan Pienaar was Player of the Year. Nevin Spence was IRUPA Young Player of the Year.
Forwards coach Jeremy Davidson left at the end of the season.

## Staff

| Position | Name | Nationality |
| Chief Executive Officer | Shane Logan | Ireland |
| Director of Rugby | David Humphreys | Ireland |
| Head Coach | Brian McLaughlin | Ireland |
| Forwards Coach | Jeremy Davidson | Ireland |
| Backs Coach | Neil Doak | Ireland |

## Squad
### Senior squad

| Ulster Rugby squad |
| Props Tom Court (21 apps, 18 starts, 5 pts) BJ Botha (14 apps, 12 starts) Declan Fitzpatrick (15 apps, 11 starts, 5 pts) Bryan Young (19 apps, 10 starts) Paddy McAllister (19 apps, 8 starts) Jerry Cronin (11 apps, 1 start) Alan Whitten (1 app) Adam Macklin (no apps) Hookers Rory Best (17 apps, 15 starts, 10 pts) Andi Kyriacou (17 apps, 12 starts) Nigel Brady (16 apps, 10 starts) Locks Johann Muller (c) (26 apps, 26 starts) Dan Tuohy (20 apps, 15 starts) Tim Barker (9 apps, 3 starts) Ryan Caldwell (6 apps, 3 starts) Neil McComb (5 apps) | Back row Pedrie Wannenburg (29 apps, 26 starts, 25 pts) Chris Henry (29 apps, 22 starts, 5 pts) Robbie Diack* (22 apps, 16 starts, 5 pts) Willie Faloon (23 apps, 14 starts, 5 pts) Stephen Ferris (9 apps, 8 starts, 10 pts) T. J. Anderson (4 apps, 2 starts, 5 pts) Ali Birch (no apps) Scrum-halves Ruan Pienaar (23 apps, 23 starts, 138 pts) Paul Marshall (19 apps, 9 starts) Ian Porter (3 apps) Fly-halves Ian Humphreys (20 apps, 19 starts, 159 pts) Niall O'Connor (6 apps, 5 starts, 59 pts) Paddy Jackson (1 app, 1 start) | Centres Nevin Spence (21 apps, 20 starts, 25 pts) Paddy Wallace (21 apps, 19 starts, 30 pts) Darren Cave (12 apps, 10 starts, 20 pts) Ian Whitten (19 apps, 10 starts, 10 pts) Luke Marshall (7 apps, 3 starts, 5 pts) Paul Emerick (2 apps, 2 starts) Wings Simon Danielli (21 apps, 19 starts, 15 pts) Andrew Trimble (18 apps, 17 starts, 30 pts) Craig Gilroy (14 apps, 13 starts, 40 pts) Tommy Seymour (7 apps, 3 starts, 5 pts) Connor Gaston (3 apps, 2 starts) Mark McCrea (2 apps, 2 starts) David McIlwaine (3 apps, 1 start) Fullbacks Adam D'Arcy* (24 apps, 23 starts, 20 pts) Jamie Smith (5 apps, 5 starts) |
| (c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players. Italics denotes academy players who appeared in the senior team. $^*$ denotes players qualified to play for Ireland on residency or dual nationality. Players and their allocated positions from the Ulster Rugby website. |

### Academy squad

| Position | Name | Nationality |
| High Performance Manager | Gary Longwell | Ireland |
| Elite Player Development Officer | Jonny Bell | Ireland |
| Elite Player Development Officer | Niall Malone | Ireland |
| Strength & Conditioning Coach | Chris Shiells | Ireland |
| Strength & Conditioning Coach | Kevin Geary | Ireland |
| Academy squad |
| Props Conor Carey (Ballymena) (1) Kyle McCall (Ballynahinch) (1) Hookers Niall Annett (Belfast Harlequins) (2) John Burns (Ballymena) (2) | Locks Iain Henderson (QUB) (1) Back row David McGuigan (QUB) (1) Ali Birch (Dungannon) (1) Stephen Lecky (Glasgow Hawks) (1) Scrum-halves Blane McIlroy (Ballymena) (1) Michael Heaney (2) Fly-halves Paddy Jackson (Dungannon) (1) James McKinney (QUB) (2) | Centres Luke Marshall (2) Wings Chris Cochrane (4) Michael Allen (2) Conor Gaston (2) Craig Gilroy (1) Fullbacks Ricky Andrew (3) David McIlwaine (QUB) (1) |

## Heineken Cup
### Pool 4

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Biarritz (4) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 9 | +7 | 140 | 85 | +55 | 4 | 2 | 22 |
| Ulster (8) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 145 | 93 | +52 | 2 | 0 | 22 |
| Bath | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 8 | +12 | 147 | 108 | +39 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| Aironi | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 30 | −26 | 65 | 211 | −146 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
* Biarritz won the tiebreaker over Ulster with a 6–4 advantage in head-to-head competition points.

### Quarter-final
## Celtic League

| | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Pts |
| 1 | Munster | 22 | 19 | 0 | 3 | 496 | 327 | +169 | 44 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 83 |
| 2 | Leinster | 22 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 495 | 336 | +159 | 50 | 25 | 5 | 3 | 70 |
| 3 | Ulster | 22 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 480 | 418 | +62 | 44 | 35 | 3 | 2 | 67 |
| 4 | Ospreys | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 553 | 418 | +135 | 56 | 29 | 6 | 7 | 63 |
| 5 | Scarlets | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 503 | 453 | +50 | 49 | 43 | 5 | 7 | 62 |
| 6 | Cardiff Blues | 22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 479 | 392 | +87 | 37 | 33 | 3 | 3 | 60 |
| 7 | Newport Gwent Dragons | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 444 | 462 | −18 | 47 | 49 | 3 | 4 | 49 |
| 8 | Edinburgh | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 421 | 460 | −39 | 39 | 44 | 2 | 5 | 43 |
| 9 | Connacht | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 394 | 459 | −65 | 32 | 44 | 3 | 6 | 39 |
| 10 | Benetton Treviso | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 374 | 502 | −128 | 29 | 58 | 0 | 2 | 38 |
| 11 | Glasgow Warriors | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 401 | 543 | −142 | 33 | 48 | 1 | 6 | 33 |
| 12 | Aironi | 22 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 247 | 517 | −270 | 21 | 52 | 0 | 8 | 12 |
| Under the standard bonus point system, points are awarded as follows: 4 points for a win 2 points for a draw 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries (or more) (Try bonus) 1 bonus point for losing by 7 points (or fewer) (Losing bonus) ||||||||||||||
| Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places. Correct as of 7 May 2011. Source: RaboDirect PRO12 Archived 2014-01-17 at the Wayback Machine ||||||||||||||

### Semi-final
## Home attendance

| Domestic League | Domestic League | Domestic League | Domestic League | Domestic League | European Cup | European Cup | European Cup | European Cup | European Cup | Total | Total |
| League | Fixtures | Average Attendance | Highest | Lowest | League | Fixtures | Average Attendance | Highest | Lowest | Total Attendance | Average Attendance |
| 2010–11 Celtic League | 11 | 8,476 | 11,426 | 6,651 | 2010–11 Heineken Cup | 3 | 8,863 | 10,566 | 7,777 | 119,829 | 8,559 |

## Ulster Ravens
### British and Irish Cup
#### Pool C

| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TB | LB | Pts |
| Bedford Blues | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 164 | 66 | 98 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 23 |
| Moseley | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 117 | 113 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| Neath | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 78 | 76 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| London Welsh | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 93 | 99 | -6 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Ulster Ravens | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 109 | 128 | -19 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Swansea | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 61 | 140 | -79 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Points breakdown: *4 points for a win *2 points for a draw *1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less *1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match ||||||||||||

## Ulster Rugby Awards

The Ulster Rugby Awards ceremony was held on 10 May 2011 at the Culloden Hotel, Holywood. Winners were:
* Ulster Rugby Personality of the Year: Johann Muller
* Ulster Player of the Year: Ruan Pienaar
* Supporters Club Player of the Year: Johann Muller
* Young Ulster Player of the Year: Nevin Spence
* Ulster Academy Player of the Year: Craig Gilroy
* Most Improved Ulster Player of the Year: Adam D'Arcy
* Youth Player of the Year: Conall Doherty, City of Derry R.F.C.
* Club of the Year: City of Armagh RFC
* Club Player of the Year: Paul Pritchard, Ballymena RFC
* Schools Player of the Year: John Creighton, Campbell College
* Dorrington B. Faulkner Award: Ronnie Clements, Limavady RFC

## Season reviews

* "Review of Ulster's Season", Ulster Rugby, 1 June 2011