MARK Anscombe has signed a one-year contract extension to continue coaching Ulster next season.
Kiwi Anscombe (right) joined Ulster in 2012, replacing Brian McLaughlin as head coach.
After leading Ulster to an unbeaten 16-game run in his first season at the helm, Anscombe has continued to strengthen the province's hand. Ulster have registered a first-ever 100 per cent Heineken Cup pool stage record this term, teeing up a home quarter-final against Saracens on April 5.
Targeting trophies in the second half of his Ulster plan, Anscombe said: "I said when I started at Ulster that I believed that this would be a three-year project. "We are halfway through that now. We have a home Heineken Cup quarter-final and we are competing for a play-off place in the RaboDirect Pro12 once again. "My focus over the next year-and-a-half will be to finish the job that I have started and to bring some silverware back to Ravenhill." Ulster rugby director David Humphreys said: "We believe that Mark is the right person to deliver immediate success through winning trophies and also long-term success through the development of future Ulster and Ireland players."