CENTRE James Hume is hoping to be physically and mentally fit for the business end of the season as Ulster look to halt their 17 year wait for a trophy by challenging for silverware domestically and in Europe.
The Kingspan Stadium side are third in the United Rugby Championship table and travel to Cardiff tonight for their last regular season away game before finishing with three home games - and they have a last 16 Champions Cup clash with Leinster at the start of next month.
It has been a frustrating season for Hume after the highs of the previous campaign, starting with being injured on Ireland’s summer tour in New Zealand.
“When I came back from injury, I just thought I’d be exactly where I was, I didn’t appreciate how bad the injury was,” recalled Hume.
“Three tendons off the bone. I was just like, ‘it’ll be fine, I’ll be back in four months’, but it doesn’t really work like that. I lost a bit of lateral power which is obviously a big part of my game, that was something that I couldn’t accept for whatever reason.
“There was a lot of learning to do through December and January then I finally got a bit of form in that Sale game and played well against Stormers at home.
“It’s unfortunate with these breaks, training weeks, and Europe being so far away, that there’s so much time in between but it’s about trying to maintain those performances.
“Mentally, I’ve accepted everything and physically I’m on the way back up.”
Hume struggled to come to terms with the injury.
“I like finding the problem within myself. I don’t know if its egotistical to say I don’t like going and asking others for help sometimes but I just like figuring it out and then knowing when it comes good that it was me that figured it out,” he said.
“I obviously talk to important people in my life, my girlfriend, mum and dad, friends, I would speak to them about how I’m feeling and that has definitely helped. But in terms of solving the actual problems, I just look at myself and I know what makes me tick. Hopefully it’s coming good.
“The difference even in mindset that I have from that Ireland ‘A’ (November) game to now, it was more acceptance. I had so much expectation on myself, thinking ‘right, I’ve got to go out and do this’, it just wasn’t feasible, especially with the condition my body was in, I was operating at nowhere near my potential.
“It was acceptance and just moving on and trying to be the best version of myself, that sounds very cliched but it’s true.”
Hume remained in Belfast last week as Ulster beat the Sharks in Durban but returns to the midfield at the Arms Park for another must-win game in the fight for play-off seedings.
“We could easily take the foot off and not get that home quarter or home semi,” he said.
“That’s the stuff that ultimately can make the difference.”
“Last year with Munster coming up, we know how much better it is to have that big crowd behind you, quarter-final of the URC, the buzz is so much better.
“That’s the goal for us, to get as high up that table as possible and get some home games.”
