‘This Year We Have A Drive As A Team’ – Moyles

A kicking session with John Cooney has helped Ulster out-half Abby Moyles to tune up for Saturday’s Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship clash with Connacht in Belfast (kick-off 2.30pm – live on TG4/BBC iPlayer/BBC Sport website).

Buoyed by their three-try second half salvo against Munster, Ulster return home for the first of three successive games at Kingspan Stadium. Tickets are available to buy here.

Moyles missed last week’s 29-22 defeat to Munster, but replaces Vicky Irwin in the number 10 jersey for the visit of Connacht. The pair got in some valuable kicking practice, working with Ulster Men’s scrum half Cooney, ahead of the second round match.

“We were doing a bit of kicking with him and he honed in on a few details around ball placement, and those little details make a big difference, so it was nice to have him there and it was a very good session,” Moyles told BBC Sport NI.

This is the 20-year-old’s second senior Interprovincial campaign with Ulster since switching from her native Leinster, with whom she won two Under-18 Interprovincial titles. She was their captain for their 2022 triumph.

Moyles made her first Ulster senior starts twelve months ago, with Laura Cairns and Rachael McIlroy joining her at half-back, and tomorrow will see her get to play alongside Ireland international Kathryn Dane for the first time.

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It will also be her first time to line out for the province at Kingspan Stadium, having done so for the Wolfhounds during last season’s successful Celtic Challenge run.

With last season ending on a real emotional high for Ulster, the Trim native bottled up all she could of that famous 36-14 play-off victory over Connacht in Cork, and would love to repeat the result on home soil.

Pointing to their resilient performance against Munster as a sign of further progress this summer, Moyles admitted: “This year we have a drive as a team, we know we are good enough to take on anyone and win.

“I think the performance last Saturday shows that. There was one try in it, it was close. Last year we could see that we were building.

“It was brilliant to get the win at the end (against Connacht), and from last year we realised it is in us to do it, so we don’t go out there being afraid.”

She added: “Sitting watching last weekend was devastating for me, so I’m really excited to be back this weekend.

“Last year, coming into the team I didn’t know it was an 11-year gap (back to Ulster’s last Interprovincial win), so when I saw how emotional some of the girls were, it made me emotional.

“There’s something here now. We want to be in that final on August 31st playing for first place. We know we’ll have to work bloody hard for that but we know we have it in us.

“We know we’re not going to walk over them (Connacht), but they know they’re not going to walk over us. It’s going to be a fight.”

Meanwhile, head coach Murray Houston says there is a positivity and excitement in camp that he feels can inspire Ulster’s first home Interprovincial win since September 2011.

Houston’s first season in charge finished with Ulster ending a winless streak in the Interpros which had lasted since December 2012. They are now determined to win at home for the first time since beating Connacht 15-12 at Ballymoney RFC twelve years ago.

A try scorer on her debut last week, Enniskillen’s Lucy Thompson comes in on the right wing, and Catherine Martin, Moyles’ club-mate at Blackrock College, wins her first Ulster cap in midfield, with Peita McAlister moving to the left wing.

Ireland international Fiona Tuite’s injury-enforced absence at lock is covered by Cara O’Kane, who replaced her in the second half last week. Queen’s University duo Bronach Cassidy and Maebh Clenaghan get the nod at loosehead prop and openside flanker respectively.

With two hard-earned bonus points gained from their first round exploits, Houston said: “We have different expectations on ourselves this year and we know we can beat these teams.

“We’re creating a positive environment where people want to be part of this Ulster squad, and I feel that is helping drive the performances.

“We have players coming through, our standards are improving and we had eight new caps last weekend which is a testament to the work that clubs across the province are doing and what we are doing.

“They are excited and that helps drive things, and it’s been great to be part of. Really pleased with the progress we are making and how we responded in the second half against Munster.”

Overcoming Connacht in last year’s 3rd-4th place play-off gave Ulster a huge psychological boost which has clearly extended into the new season under their Scottish supremo.

That long-awaited win will count for little in Saturday’s rematch, though, as Houston warned that all the focus has to be on the here and now against a Connacht team seeking revenge.

“We can’t just hold onto last year’s win. It’s done, we are a new team and this is another game. We have the ability to win if we get things right.

“We know the threats that Connacht have, they like to move the ball a lot and like to attack. They have a big kicking threat with Nicole Fowley, and we have to be aware of that,” he added.