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New Ulster CEO needs to stand up to the IRFU - Neil Best

Ulster have appointed a new CEO

Relationships feed on credibility, honesty and consistency

If I’d known that the core criteria for Ulster Rugby’s new CEO were; former international flanker, early 40s, commercial experience outside rugby and Scots (or Ulster-Scots) background, I might have applied myself – but alas I didn’t, and yesterday Ulster unveiled the former Edinburgh Managing Director John Petrie as the new CEO of Ulster Rugby.

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It’s interesting that of all the many names that were bandied about as potential successors to Shane Logan, the name John Petrie didn’t really feature. Yet he clearly ticks the boxes of a good rugby pedigree and commercial experience. And he’s likely to start out more measured in his ambition and optimism than his predecessor – Petrie instantly brings paper credibility.

I’ve played against him but have no stand out memories that gives me a sense of his character or temperament. But what he needs to come to terms with early on is the character of the club and its fans.  Despite Belfast being a smaller city than Edinburgh or Glasgow, Ulster is a bigger club both in terms of fan base and expectation. It’s also a not just a city club, it represents a much wider region.

And although he may feel that in a large part the measure of his success should be commercial – he will be judged on what happens on the pitch, no matter how successful the money side is off it.

It’s also only a matter of time before some local journalist asks him about the forced departures or Jackson and Olding or indeed that of Ruan Pienaar before them. They’ll not only ask him about whether those decisions were right, but about the way they were handled too.

The fans are desperate for leadership at Ulster that is prepared to stand up to the IRFU and be seen to take decisions in Ulster Rugby’s interest. And John will need to decide how, at what point and on what issue he’s prepared to send the signal to the fans – that he’s that man.

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When Shane Logan took over he set out to grow rugby in the southern counties of Ulster Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal, and has had some success with emerging talent in the academy such as Joe Dunleavy.

I think John should set a different target of breaking the class divide of Ulster’s playing pool. The local component of the Ulster squad remains virtually exclusively Grammar school educated. Yet vast numbers of prospective players reside outside the grammar school system. And of the sixty plus grammar schools in Northern Ireland only a handful really produce players for the current squad or academy. Ulster still operates like a farmer who only harvests one field yet complains of the volume and quality of output.

But the best thing for John coming in will be the welcome he receives. For historic reasons the psychology of Belfast is still really keen to see a visitor. And the fans will get behind him creating time and space for him to show his worth.

It’s quite common in Belfast for guests to pitch up with a gift -I don’t know if that applies to incoming CEOs, but if it doesn’t he could do a lot worse than bringing backrow Bill Mata with him -a player Edinburgh have really got the best out of. And that will be Petrie’s job at Ulster -to get the best out of everyone.

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Every great person is always being helped by everybody; for their gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.

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Flankly 24 minutes ago
Maro Itoje: What was said as Lions fell 'far behind' on scoreboard

This is what dreams are made of

Umm. Credit to a winning team, but to be clear … the team you beat is ranked 6th in the world, did not make it out of the pool stage of the last RWC, and came last in the 2024 Rugby Championship. Not sure any bookie has them as favorites for the 2025 RC either.


Australia have made progress for sure, and of course that matters. But for a team made up of 4 leading rugby nations, including two that are ranked much higher than this opposition, a win is expected and a loss would be humiliating. Furthermore, with weeks of playing together, planning together and living together it is hard to argue that the Lions have had less opportunity for cohesion than Australia.


A win is a win, and no-one should question that. But a last-minute one-score win that depended on a 50/50 penalty call is one to humbly accept, rather than to crow about. It was neither a beating, nor even a compelling win. I thought win was not undeserved, but it’s a close call on which was the better team on the day.


And let’s get off this nonsense about it being like a world cup final. The local pub teams may feel that their big game is like a world cup final, but it’s stupid to pretend it is the reality. The RWC final is played by two of the top teams in the world, and there is no evidence that either of these teams fits that description. There is a game in Eden Park later this year between the #1 and #2 ranked teams that would be a lot closer to it, of course.


Well done to the Lions, and congrats to the Wallabies. Let’s enjoy a good game for what it was, without pretending it was something bigger than it was.

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