As much as fans are clamouring over Ulster’s next generation of talent, don’t forget that there is a generation that will have to make way for them to come through.
So when asked whether he was encouraged by the performance of young James McCormick off the bench against the Glasgow Warriors a week ago, John Andrew quickly flashes a smile and says: “Not really, he’s a hooker, too.”
As much as the reply was in jest, with Andrew going on to sing his understudy’s praises, it is a timely reminder that Ulster’s old guard are not content with just sitting by and letting the Academy players come in and take their jerseys off them. There is a fight to be had.
For Andrew in particular that is something he knows all too well. Having had to bide his time for years behind firstly Rory Best, he has now had to play third fiddle to Rob Herring and Tom Stewart over the last two years.
Indeed, as if to reflect that point, on Saturday, should he start against the Lions as expected, would be the first time Andrew has made back-to-back starts since March 2022. Last season he made two starts throughout the entire campaign. This season he’ll have started the first two games.
He’s not ready to cede to anybody else, experienced or otherwise, in a hurry.
“I’m not really looking too much past every game, if you start thinking maybe I can play these games or this game you end up not performing the way you want to,” he counters.
“So I’m just happy at the minute in whatever games I get to play in that I try to perform to my best. I’m happy with how it went at the weekend.
“There is still loads to work on and I was pretty rusty, I was happy to get the start and play a few minutes see where I’m at and see what needs improved and what is going okay.”
But right now, more than ever, there is a team focus at Ulster rather than individual. With a deeper squad to build in order to allow them to compete for silverware, there has to be a collective desire to improve as a group.
In that sense, things got off to the perfect start against the defending URC champions last weekend, Ulster showing every bit of resolve and belief they had to fight until the 85th minute and score the winning try through Dave Shanahan to settle a 20-19 scoreline at Ravenhill.
The performance wasn’t pretty, not by any stretch of the imagination, but Andrew was encouraged by one particular aspect of the display, one that cannot be coached or implanted into a player — their character.
“When you show character and show that you are competing right up to the very end, you can work on the other stuff and focus on it,” he explains.
“If we didn’t have that or didn’t have character or stop trying, then you have to work on it and then the rugby tactically aspects take a back seat.
“Because we showed that in week one doesn’t mean it is going to be there in the next rounds but we hope it will be and we improve on that.
“It allows you to actually focus on the technical sides of our game plan, set piece, all those types of things, so you don’t have to worry about it as much.”
John Andrew is expected to start against the Lions
And those improvements, Ulster and Andrew hope, will start to happen quickly as this team begins to gel more, which they will get a chance to do with their annual trip to South Africa, which this season comes early as they head to take on firstly the Lions on Saturday in Johannesburg, followed by a trip to Pretoria to take on the Bulls a week later.
Against what will be two very physical Springbok packs, head coach Richie Murphy will know the scrum that creaked against Glasgow will have to be a lot more resolute, while their ability to finish off their chances in the red zone will have to be much improved, too, particularly against a high-scoring Lions team that can rack up tries in a short space of time.
“We are under no illusions we need to play better, and we need to improve on a lot of things. But, at the end of the day, we won (against Glasgow) and it was a nice feeling on Monday morning,” continues Andrew.
“We would have liked to have shown a bit more of what we have worked on in pre-season but that is our first competitive game so we are not going to be as good as hopefully we will be in a few games’ time when we can put stuff together.
“It was good just to get the win, and to be able to be in the match in the 80-somethingth minute shows that we are fit enough and have done the stuff in pre-season that will help us play well in these games coming up.”
But while the fitness will no doubt play a massive part, can the Ulster pack match up to the Lions and Bulls?
“Yeah I think it can,” insists Andrew.
“I think everyone talks about the South African physicality because they are big and they have big packs, they have big scrums and they are physical, but I don’t think we are not.
“We are potentially not as heavy, but there is stuff that you can do in the scrums as long as your technique is good. But your mindset and mentality has to be right or there is no point in having the technique.
“I think they go hand in hand in trying to do a job over there.”