SO begins the long goodbye.
Nick Williams would have liked to spend his final few months at the Kingspan Stadium - or another few weeks at the very least – still dreaming of European glory.
By the time the big Kiwi number 8 woke on Sunday morning, though, it was all but over.
The squad headed to Slieve Donard for the day with their families and Williams found that the afternoon put their European exit very quickly into context.
”Thankfully we were all with our families. There are more important things than rugby.
“You look in your children’s eyes and realise that’s the ammunition you need. Your children will never say ‘Oh Daddy, you lost’; they’ll always put a smile on your face.
“That’s another good aspect I’ve seen since [Les] Kissy’s been in; he realises that there’s a bigger reason why you play, and that is your family.
“He’s brought in the partners, they’re more involved. We have childrens’ days as well, so I think it’s in really good stead.
“Yeah, you’re disappointed, but I think we would have been more disappointed if we hadn’t got as many points as we did. It was out of our hands at the end of the day.”
By bedtime on Saturday night it looked as though they would be left with little to regret following such an emphatic 56-3 win over Oyonnax.
But Bordeaux’s unexpected and dramatic win at Clermont meant that a single extra point would have been enough to see Ulster into the last eight ahead of Northampton.
They would have come up against Saracens again and, rather than the missed bonus points against Toulouse and Oyonnax earlier in the tournament, Williams felt that taking nothing from the 27-9 loss to the Sarries in their pool opener was crucial.
“We probably should have got a point here against Saracens. We tend to back ourselves out there. There was a lot of character in coming back from 23-0 down [away to Oyonnax], but that one point would definitely have made the difference.
“You look back and you can see the positives and the negatives, but if you dwell on it you won’t be able to move forward.
“We learned some lessons. On Saturday, the senior boys stood up and said ‘look, we’ve done all we can, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens’. Unfortunately it just didn’t go our way.”
From a personal perspective, though, it was a fine way to sign off from European action with his adopted province.
The 32-year-old was given the man of the match award in the 56-3 win over Oyonnax, and a huge ovation by the Kingspan faithful when he was replaced by Clive Ross on the hour mark.
Looking back over his time at Ulster, you get the sense that even the thought of the end being nigh is tickling at his emotions.
”I’ve never hidden the fact that this place has rekindled my love for the game. My wife and my kids love it here. I really appreciate everything that the Ulster people have done for me.
“It’s always special when you come off the field, but when you think back about your last European match, you kind of get a bit emotional.
“I’m still here for another three months so hopefully we can give them something to cheer about.”
The personal accolades like man-of-the-match awards – of which he has collected four already this season – and the 2012/13 Pro12 Player of the Season award have been welcome mantelpiece decorations.
But with Europe gone, and the internationals having swanned off to camp, the focus for Williams is very much on making sure that he leaves as a Pro12 champion. That road begins in Treviso on Saturday.
”That’s why I came here. To be frank, I came here to win. That’s why we play the game, to win. There was a bit of a sense that we lost on the weekend, even though we won, with not being able to qualify.
“Travelling from the other side of the world to come up here was to win. It’s a bit gut-wrenching at times but such is life,” said the New Zealander.
The tributes have been flowing since it was announced in December that his time was coming to its end.
The long goodbye indeed.
“It’s a bit like I’ve left already. I have another three or four months, and I hope to be in Edinburgh. I haven’t really thought about Cardiff.
“My wife’s very supportive, she tells me every day I come to training, ‘do your thing, the future’s the future’. I’m able to control what I do and right now that’s Ulster. I really, really love it here. Really, really love it.”
