He may have only turned 24 over the summer, but it says a lot about how young Ulster’s squad is that Ethan McIlroy is now one of the more veteran members of their back three.
South African Werner Kok was added to their ranks during the off-season and McIlroy’s good friend and Sevens star Zac Ward may be a year older than he, but the former Methodist College man knows that, with 63 caps to his name, he is now one of the most experienced members at Richie Murphy’s disposal.
“From being here the last four or five years, this is probably the biggest change I’ve felt since I have been here,” admits McIlroy.
“There are a lot of Academy guys that we are going to be relying upon this season, more than we have been, with such a big group of players leaving.”
With that comes a fair degree of pressure in that McIlroy now has to be that player the young up-and-coming stars like Ethan Graham, Aaron Sexton and Rory Telfer look up to.
That has required him to do some growing up, by his own admission, and doing some work away from the pitch. On it, he’s put on around four kilos in order to be more combative when he takes on contact, but it is the mental side of the game that has him going into this season feeling like it could be one to remember.
“I feel a confidence this year that maybe I didn’t have the last season or two during pre-season, I feel much more confident in how I’m playing and in how I want to play and I am just ready to kick on,” he explains.
“I think it is just a different mindset. Darren (Devaney, Ulster’s psychologist) has come in and I have had chats with him that has really helped.
“Working on that side of the game has helped and that is where I could have got that extra step forward which hopefully I have got now.”
Ethan McIlroy is excited about the year ahead
Indeed, getting his life outside of Ravenhill sorted out has helped with getting things inside the four white lines of the pitch sorted, too. It’s not that things were a mess when he left training every day, it is more just having a routine that has led to better habits.
“I think it is just being young and naïve with the feedback I have been given,” continues the former Emerging Ireland star.
“I’m much more organised now, I’m much more prepared in what I do. I have been putting in much more extra work and I think that has come with a bit more maturity, maybe I should have had that a bit earlier on.
“But I am happy to be finding that now and it has given me that confidence to really kick on.”
The intention is for him to kick on off the back of getting the start in Ulster’s final pre-season game against Exeter Chiefs at the weekend where, although they might have lost 31-15, it was only down to three late tries that the scoreline looks fairly lopsided.
Of course, results matter little in friendlies, particularly for an Ulster side still trying to perfect Murphy’s style of play in the new head coach’s first full pre-season, with Saturday’s United Rugby Championship opener against defending Champions Glasgow Warriors seen as more of a litmus test as to where this team really is.
Last season was one of personal frustration for McIlroy, who missed a large chunk of it after shipping a heavy blow to the head in a game against Munster, meaning he was never able to rack up the game time he was hoping for and try to work his way into a starter’s jersey, firstly under Dan McFarland then when Murphy came in midway through the campaign.
So as another new season dawns, it’s two ‘C’s that the young full-back is aiming for — continuity from a team perspective and consistency from his own.
“Just try to be consistently in that starting XV, nail down a position and, once you start to get that run of games, hopefully the team will find so form and kick on and get some wins under our belt,” says McIlroy.
“I had a bad knock to the head but I recovered from that quickly and played some good rugby at the end of last season, I want to carry that on into this season and continue that run of form.
“I think we defended really well against a really strong Exeter side that had a couple of England internationals. Where we need to improve is maybe our efficiency in attack, they were bringing crazy line speed. I never felt that line speed in a game before and maybe we need to figure out quicker what we are going to do to go against that.
“I think it was really good to build on the positives from that game and the things to work on to bring into this game.”
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Getting the chance to play alongside boyhood friend Ward is something that also has McIlroy excited at the start of the new season, the pair having lived in the same street in the Spa near Ballynahinch as children before growing up to play for the local rugby club at minis level.
Their paths would diverge pretty early; McIlroy opting to go down the XVs route while Ward instead eventually switched to the Sevens, where he made a name for himself, particularly in the recent Paris Olympics. Now they find themselves back alongside each other at Ravenhill, ready to battle for starts at Ulster.
But it’s not an antagonistic battle in that sense. Rather, it is two friends trying to push each other on to a new level, particularly with Ward looking for some advice on how to adapt to a new position having been switched from flanker to the wing since returning to the XVs game.
“I’ve known him since I was three years old and I have known his little brother since he was a baby, so I’m very close with him,” says McIlroy.
“It was easy to chat to him and it was easy for him to come up to me and ask any questions needed and lean on my experience, especially now that he is playing in the back three.
“Playing with him in the Exeter game, I thought he was really good. We didn’t have lots of ball in attack where he is really dangerous, although he did set up a try for Aaron Sexton with a really nice pass. In defence, working with him I had no problems.
“I don’t think (switching from) wing to full-back would be anywhere as near hard as back-row to wing or back three, but he’s obviously got loads of talent, we have seen that in the Sevens.
“From open space, his running game is so good and he is already good under the high ball, he has had to do a lot of that from kick-offs in Sevens. I think if he just puts a bit of work in, he’ll fly in XVs no problem, especially on the wing.”