Rugby Union: Exiles' return aids resurgent Irish

IT IS, as usual, a filthy Friday night in Belfast and the rain is lashing horizontally across Ravenhill. Some 12,000 supporters are sardined into the very stadium where Ireland completed their one and only Five Nations' Grand Slam more than half a century ago and, much as their forefathers did on that famous day in 1948, they are yelling and screaming like banshees. The ball is permanently in the air, the fires are burning in the souls of 15 granite-hard Ulstermen, God is in his heaven and Toulouse, those swaggering rugby aristocrats from south-west France, are on their way out of the European Cup.

"That," smiles Harry Williams, the Ulster coach, as the dust settles on a wonderfully unexpected 15-13 triumph, "must be the best result in our history." Maybe, maybe not; Ulster have had lots of best results in their history. They beat Andrew Slack's 1984 Wallabies, one of the two or three finest sides ever to tour these islands, and they twice fought the All Blacks to a standstill in thunderous drawn matches. They also won nine successive inter-provincial titles from 1985 to 1993, when they could boast Trevor Ringland and Keith Crossan on the wings, David Irwin in the centre, Willie Anderson in the boilerhouse and Phil Matthews in the back row.

This much, though, can be set down in reinforced concrete: victory on Saturday over Stade Francais, the most lavishly gifted club side in the world, would be an achievement worthy of its own special place in the Ravenhill memory bank. It would be spectacular enough as an end in itself; European Cup semi-finals are not exactly common currency among the Irish provinces and besides, the visiting Frenchmen really are that good, armed as they are with a team of internationals welded together by Max Guazzini's countless millions. But this occasion delves far deeper and runs much wider as a symbol of Ireland's rugby renaissance.

From Belfast to Cork via Galway and Dublin, the game is on a mighty roll; virtually an entire Test team, from Simon Mason at full-back to Eric Miller at No 8, have abandoned lucrative careers in the English Premiership and returned home, thereby enabling the three European Cup provinces - Ulster, Munster and Leinster - to prevail over quality French opposition during the pool phase of the current European tournament. As a result, the crowds are well up on last year and the national team is feeling better about itself and its chances of making a decent fist of this autumn's World Cup adventure.

"I'll take as much European rugby as I can get," said Warren Gatland, the Ireland coach, this week. "It's all about demystifying the game at the highest level; when Irish provincial players face the best French teams with such regularity and start beating them, they begin to realise their opponents are not such supermen after all. Why put them on a pedestal? Two or three years ago, Ulster would not have beaten Toulouse in a European Cup quarter-final; they would have caved in as the game moved into its later stages. This time, though, I genuinely see the match as a 50-50 game.

"The fact that we have so many of our leading players training together on a professional basis here in Ireland has led to a big improvement in fitness levels. The gap between what has been happening in England and France and the things happening here is closing very quickly and judging by the way things are shaping up, I think we're looking at a very competitive Five Nations' Championship this season."

By luring seven players back from the Allied Dunbar Premiership, Ulster proved themselves the most persuasive of the provinces. Three of those recruits - Mason, Jonathan Bell and the former London Irish stand-off, David Humphreys - have featured throughout the European Cup campaign while a fourth, the hooker Allen Clarke, has missed only one match. With 106 points already in his kitbag, Mason, once of Richmond, is the tournament's leading scorer. Humphreys, meanwhile, dropped two goals to help beat Toulouse on that rainswept night a little over three weeks ago and has shouldered the captaincy burden in the prolonged absence of Mark McCall.

Their presence, along with that of Gatlin's remarkable back row discovery, Andy Ward, has been the driving force behind Ulster's welcome re-emergence as a representative side of serious stature. Traditionally the strongest of the four Irish provinces, the All Whites fell on hard times after winning their last domestic title almost six years ago. Their early forays into Europe bordered on the embarrassing - two victories in 12 matches over three years - and when Tony Russ, such a successful coach with Saracens and Leicester, jumped ship in 1997 after deciding that life with lowly Waterloo offered the brighter future, the northerners were down on their uppers.

"They were bad times," acknowledges Michael Reid, the energetic and resourceful chief executive at Ravenhill who has presided over the dramatic about-turn. "We needed to make something happen, so we went after big names across the water. I'm glad to say we got it right. Humphreys and the rest have been a revelation; I'd go so far as to say that they brought professionalism with them across the Irish Sea.

"I moved here 15 months ago and it seemed to me that even though the existing squad considered themselves professionals, they were going through the motions. Playing at it, almost. There is no doubt in my mind that the players we signed from the big English clubs have thrown a completely different light on the meaning of professionalism; the Allied Dunbar is a tough, high quality competition and those involved know what it is to make the necessary sacrifices and put it the requisite amount of effort. The Bells and Clarkes of this world are serious operators and they've brought a new dimension to our rugby."

Talking of new dimensions, Reid, a former coach with the Irish Fourth Division club Collegians, has drawn on his banking background to turn things round commercially. "Our decision to start playing big matches on a Friday night rather than a Saturday afternoon has been justified by a wave of public support; we're averaging crowds of 8,500 this season, as opposed to a couple of thousand last year. The floodlighting here is magnificent, the atmosphere is very special and the whole package has earned us an awful lot of converts.

"In many ways, it's a shame Stade Francais wouldn't play this one on Friday night. Still, we don't need to perform under lights to give the French something to think about. Our whole attitude is different somehow. Twelve months ago we'd have happily settled for a European Cup quarter- final and not even dared ask for anything more. We wouldn't have considered ourselves worthy. Right now, though, we'll have a go at anyone. A nice final at Lansdowne Road? That would be grand, wouldn't it?"