Such has been the casualty rate in Ulster’s backline that it is hardly surprising that those sidelined and rehabbing have made up quite the cluster of players longing to be fit again .
Stewart Moore has been there recently, the last time he was seen in an Ulster shirt was at Stade Ernest Wallon when, though he scored a try early in the first- half, things didn’t really work out for the visitors.
A recurrence of a calf issue has kept the 25-year-old out since then and in the company of, just to begin with, James Hume, Jacob Stockdale, Robert Baloucoune and Stuart McCloskey.
Moore cannot recall ever seeing so many backs all sidelined at once and, as such, provides a quip from his time with those unable to play in order to lighten the mood somewhat.
“There was a time I was in the gym and we made a backline out of injured players, and it was a pretty good one, to be fair,” he says with a smile.
“It’s especially in the back three, it kee ps getting worse. It’s nice that I’m obviously back and, yeah, it’s been tough with injuries but that’s the nature of it.”
Hopefully, he has left his own issues behind but not having played now since early December means that Moore has a checklist to get through to ensure that he is on it come Friday night against Exeter Chiefs when Ulster go hunting a first Champions Cup victory — ideally a big one to give them an outside chance at qualification depending on Sunday’s Bordeaux v Sharks contest — and knockout rugby whether it be in Europe’s upper tier or back in the Challenge Cup .
“There are wee things,” he says, “habits as such, especially being injured and in and out of the squad quite a bit, as you tend to come back into training and miss those wee habits so just having that detail around that.
“I write out my week and just make sure I’m pinpointing those habits and, like, once you play a few games in a row, those habits start to appear and the bad habits hopefully don’t.”
Moore, who can play centre, wing or, as he will on Friday, full back, has a lot to process as Ulster attempt to avoid a defeat, albeit against a struggling and heavily diluted Chiefs squad, which would dump them out of Europe.
As he explains, “I’ve been dealing with versatility for quite a while now, I started my career off in the centre (at 12) and then have moved to outside centre and then 15. I fit where needed and I’m very comfortable with that now.
“I haven’t been playing for a while so it will be about my running lines and timings, the launch plays, speed and micro-comms between my centres and wingers.”
Stewart Moore knows the importance of Ulster delivering an 80 minute performance against Exeter Chiefs
The overriding need is to avoid a seventh defeat from their last eight games and to achieve this, the squad know they must produce something close to an 80-minute performance and dodge any notion of imploding as seen most recently at Welford Road.
“That’s something we’ve spoken about,” says Moore which, in fairness, would seem entirely logical.
“Going well in the first- half even when we played against Bordeaux, we were neck and neck on 60 minutes (the scores were 19-all but then the French stretched away to win 40-19) and I don’t know if that’s come down to a mental thing, though I would say it is.
“We have to stop licking our wounds and make sure we put in an 80-minute performance this weekend.”
Conceding soft scores will certainly not do, as once that begins, momentum can be lost and, instead, further points rapidly conceded meaning that the team are having to retreat behind their own line for that demoralising situation when the opposition are converting a score.
“I think it’s one of those things that when you go under the sticks, it probably is a psychological thing, like are your heads down or are you deflated,” states Moore, before pointing out that Ulster are not wired to be dropping their commitment to the cause.
“I think we’re all on the same wavelength, we just get a breath and that’s big for us and refocus on our next goal.
“We’re a very ‘next job’ team so when we’re underneath the sticks, our leaders lead and any other points on that will be discussed but, as I say, we don’t let it get to our heads, and we go to the next kick-off.
He continues, “Pressure is where mistakes are made both sides of the ball in attack and defence, so you need to not let that get to you, so it’s making sure you don’t crack under pressure, I suppose.
“In pro sport, the mental side is huge, we’ve got a psychologist in with us for the last few seasons and we work very closely with him and it’s massive.
“You’re not going to win all the games; you’re going to make mistakes and it’s just about bouncing back from that and, yeah, (we’ve had) a lot of good and tough conversations, but they need to be had to then move it on.”
All that preparation and envisagement will only count for something if the right result is banked and, after missing the last four games, Moore is keen to not only get back on the pitch but also have a crack at English Premiership opposition.
“We’ve had a very difficult run of games and I feel this Exeter game is going to be very important and we just need one of those … we played Connacht which was a big momentum-swinger and then we went to Leicester.
“So, we need a momentum swinger, run with it and then go all guns blazing.”
And what of Moore’s biggest work-on for what remains of the season? The answer is somewhat succinct.
“Stay fit.”
He really doesn’t want to be named in that decent backline only available for the gym and rehab rooms. Point taken.