# 2013–14 Ulster Rugby season

The 2013–14 season was Ulster's 20th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and their second under head coach Mark Anscombe. They competed in the Heineken Cup and the Pro12.
They finished fourth in the Pro12, qualifying for the semi-finals and next season's Champions Cup. They lost the semi-final to Leinster. Ulster and Connacht jointly won the Fair Play Award, and wing Andrew Trimble and lock Johann Muller made the Pro12 Dream Team. They topped their pool in the Champions Cup, qualifying for the quarter-final, which they lost to Saracens, after Jared Payne saw an early red card. Out-half Paddy Jackson was leading scorer with 239 points. Andrew Trimble, wing Tommy Bowe and centre Luke Marshall were joint leading try scorers with six each. Andrew Trimble was Ulster's Player of the Year, and IRUPA Players' Player of the Year.
Johann Muller, flanker Stephen Ferris and utility back Paddy Wallace retired at the end of the season. Props John Afoa moved to Gloucester, and Tom Court to London Irish. David Humphreys left as director of rugby to take up the same post at Gloucester. A few weeks later, head coach Mark Anscombe resigned. Les Kiss took over as director of rugby, and Neil Doak as head coach.

## Staff

| Position | Name | Nationality |
| Director of Rugby | David Humphreys | Ireland |
| Head Coach | Mark Anscombe | New Zealand |
| Team Manager | David Millar | Ireland |
| Backs Coach | Neil Doak | Ireland |
| Defence Coach | Jonny Bell | Ireland |
| Head of Strength & Conditioning | Jonny Davis | Ireland |
| Strength & Conditioning Coach | Kevin Geary | Ireland |
| Head of Physiotherapy | Gareth Robinson | Ireland |
| Physiotherapist | Alan McAldin | Ireland |

## Squad
### Senior squad

| Ulster Rugby squad |
| Props Tom Court (27 apps, 16 starts, 5 pts) John Afoa (15 apps, 14 starts, 10 pts) Callum Black (23 apps, 12 starts) Declan Fitzpatrick (13 apps, 6 starts) Andrew Warwick (6 apps, 3 starts) Adam Macklin (5 apps) Kyle McCall (2 apps) Bronson Ross* (1 app) Paddy McAllister (no apps) Hookers Rob Herring (26 apps, 20 starts) Rory Best (9 apps, 9 starts, 5 pts) Niall Annett (13 apps, 1 start) Locks Johann Muller (c) (23 apps, 23 starts) Dan Tuohy (21 aps, 17 starts, 15 pts) Lewis Stevenson (17 apps, 7 starts) Neil McComb (8 apps, 2 starts) | Back row Roger Wilson (24 apps, 22 starts, 5 pts) Robbie Diack (26 apps, 20 starts, 20 pts) Chris Henry (17 apps, 16 starts) Nick Williams (19 apps, 15 starts) Sean Doyle* (20 apps, 13 starts, 10 pts) Iain Henderson (19 apps, 10 starts) Mike McComish (12 apps, 3 starts) Stephen Ferris (4 apps, 2 starts) Conor Joyce (2 apps) Scrum-halves Ruan Pienaar (17 apps, 15 starts, 127 pts) Paul Marshall (22 apps, 13 starts, 15 pts) Michael Heaney (11 apps, 3 starts, 5 pts) Ian Porter (3 apps, 2 starts) David Shanahan (2 apps) Fly-halves Paddy Jackson (24 apps, 24 starts, 242 pts) James McKinney (10 aps, 4 starts, 37 pts) | Centres Darren Cave (27 apps, 24 starts, 25 pts) Luke Marshall (26 apps, 24 starts, 30 pts) Stuart McCloskey (4 apps, 2 starts) Chris Farrell (2 apps, 2 starts) Stuart Olding (4 apps, 1 start) Paddy Wallace (1 app, 1 start) Wings Andrew Trimble (20 apps, 20 starts, 30 pts) Craig Gilroy (21 apps, 17 starts, 20 pts) Tommy Bowe (13 apps, 13 starts, 30 pts) Michael Allen (16 apps, 10 starts, 15 pts) David McIlwaine (9 apps, 4 starts) Chris Cochrane (no apps) Fullbacks Jared Payne (24 apps, 23 starts, 20 pts) Ricky Andrew (9 apps, 7 starts) Rory Scholes (4 apps, 3 starts) Peter Nelson (3 apps) |
| (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 |
| Elite Performance Development Manager | Allen Clarke | Ireland |
| Representative Team Performance Manager | Michael Black | Ireland |
| Academy Schools Coach | Brian McLaughlin | Ireland |
| Strength & Conditioning Coach | David Drake | Ireland |
| Strength & Conditioning Coach | Amy Davis | Ireland |
| Sub-Academy Fitness Coach | Matthew Maguire | Ireland |
| Physiotherapist | David Minion | Ireland |
| Ulster Rugby Academy squad |
| Props Jake Caulfield (2) Kyle McCall (4) Andrew Warwick (1) Bronson Ross (1) Hookers John Andrew (1) Jonny Murphy (3) Locks John Donnan (1) Alan O'Connor (2) James Simpson (3) | Back row Conor Joyce (3) Scrum-halves David Shanahan (1) Fly-halves none | Centres Stuart McCloskey (1) Wings none Fullbacks Rory Scholes (2) Peter Nelson (3) |
| (c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players, number in brackets indicates players stage in the three-year academy cycle. $^*$ denotes players qualified to play for Ireland on residency or dual nationality. Players and their allocated positions from the Ulster Rugby website. |

### Ulster Ravens

The following players, other than players from the senior squad and academy, appeared for the Ulster Ravens this season.
| Players used by Ulster 'A' |
| Props Michael Cromie Ricky Lutton M. McGrath Chris Taylor Hookers Paul Jackson Locks Matty Rea Marc Campbell | Back row Josh Atkinson D. Dass Lorcan Dow Adrian Hamilton Neil McComb Frank Taggart Back three David Busby Ross Adair Adam Liddell |

## Heineken Cup
### Pool 5

| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| Ulster (1) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 179 | 62 | +117 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 26 |
| Leicester Tigers (7) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 159 | 112 | +47 | 16 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 21 |
| Montpellier | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 121 | 124 | −3 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| Benetton Treviso | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 41 | 202 | −161 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com 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 |||||||||||||

### Quarter-final
## Pro12

Pro12 Table
watch · · discuss :
| | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Difference | Tries For | Tries Against | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points |
| 1 | Leinster (CH) | 22 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 554 | 352 | +202 | 57 | 30 | 8 | 4 | 82 |
| 2 | Glasgow Warriors (RU) | 22 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 484 | 309 | +175 | 53 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 79 |
| 3 | Munster (SF) | 22 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 538 | 339 | +199 | 56 | 27 | 7 | 3 | 74 |
| 4 | Ulster (SF) | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 470 | 319 | +151 | 45 | 26 | 6 | 4 | 70 |
| 5 | Ospreys | 22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 571 | 388 | +183 | 59 | 32 | 6 | 6 | 66 |
| 6 | Scarlets | 22 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 435 | 438 | −3 | 43 | 45 | 3 | 6 | 55 |
| 7 | Cardiff Blues | 22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 425 | 538 | −113 | 32 | 55 | 1 | 6 | 41 |
| 8 | Edinburgh | 22 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 397 | 526 | −129 | 38 | 57 | 2 | 8 | 38 |
| 9 | Newport Gwent Dragons | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 392 | 492 | −100 | 34 | 46 | 0 | 5 | 35 |
| 10 | Connacht | 22 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 371 | 509 | −138 | 42 | 54 | 4 | 7 | 35 |
| 11 | Benetton Treviso | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 376 | 591 | −215 | 31 | 72 | 1 | 7 | 30 |
| 12 | Zebre | 22 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 347 | 559 | −212 | 35 | 59 | 0 | 5 | 29 |
| If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: number of matches won; the difference between points for and points against; the number of tries scored; the most points scored; the difference between tries for and tries against; the fewest red cards received; the fewest yellow cards received. |||||||||||||||
| Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places, and earn a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup. Blue background indicates teams outside the play-off places, that earn a place in the European Rugby Champions Cup. Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the European Rugby Challenge Cup. European Rugby Champions/Challenge Cup qualification: The top team from each country, plus the three highest-placed teams apart from those, will qualify for the European Rugby Champions Cup. The remaining teams qualify for the European Rugby Challenge Cup. Updated 19 May 2014. Source: RaboDirect PRO12 |||||||||||||||

### End-of-season awards

Ulster and Connacht jointly won the Fair Play award. Wing Andrew Trimble and lock Johann Muller were named in the Pro12 Dream Team.

## 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 |
| 2013–14 Pro12 | 11 | 13,348 | 16,950 | 10,693 | 2013–14 Heineken Cup | 4 | 14,464 | 16,853 | 12,977 | 204,678 | 13,645 |

## Ulster Ravens
### British and Irish Cup
#### Pool 6

| Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts |
| Cornish Pirates | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 193 | 95 | 98 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 25 |
| Ulster Ravens | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 147 | 175 | -28 | 18 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| Jersey | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 117 | 128 | -11 | 14 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Ayr | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 123 | 182 | -59 | 15 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| Source : www.wru.co.uk Updated: 19 January 2014 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 Women
### 2013-14 Women's Interprovincial Series

| | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Leinster | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 13 | 0 | 12 |
| 2 | Munster | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 45 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | Ulster | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 56 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Connacht | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 73 | 2 | 4 |

## Ulster Rugby Awards

The Ulster Rugby Awards ceremony was held at the Europa Hotel, Belfast, on 5 May 2014. Winners were:
* Bank of Ireland Ulster Player of the Year: Andrew Trimble
* Heineken Ulster Rugby Personality of the Year: Johann Muller
* BT Young Player of the Year: Paddy Jackson
* Rugby Writers Player of the Year: Andrew Trimble
* Ulster Rugby Supporters Club Player of the Year: Andrew Trimble
* Abbey Insurance Academy Player of the Year: Stuart McCloskey
* Ulster Carpets Youth Player of the Year: Adam McBurney
* Danske Bank Ulster Schools Player of the Year: Jacob Stockdale, Wallace High