BKT United Rugby Championship: Ulster v Vodacom Bulls (Sunday, 5pm, BBC Two & TG4)
Jacob Stockdale, Ulster’s flying winger, has revealed his initial reservations about the province's decision to introduce an artificial playing surface at Ravenhill.
However, he has since formed a more favourable impression of the new pitch.
Dan McFarland’s side are set to face the Bulls this Sunday evening, marking their first match on the newly installed surface.
Training sessions have been taking place on the new surface over the last few weeks, with no more worries about prejudicing the playing surface before a game.
Stockdale, who marked a return to action with a brace of tries in last weekend’s victory over Zebre, shared his own thoughts on making the move to plastic.
"To be perfectly frank, I wasn't particularly keen on artificial pitches” he said.
“I was leaning more towards not having one. But we've had several practice sessions on it, and I'm beginning to change my perspective.
Read more:
- Nathan Doak fully focused on exciting challenges ahead with Ulster Rugby
- Satisfied Dan McFarland admits Ulster have room to improve
- Aki, Keenan and Farrell up for annual World Rugby awards
“It's considerably better than any other artificial pitch I've experienced, and I believe it encourages a faster style of play, which is always advantageous for a winger.
“Ask me again in a couple of months when we’ve had a few games on it, but it’s an exciting surface to play on and we’ll see how it goes.”
Heading into Ulster’s first home game since the disappointing play-off defeat to Connacht last season, Stockdale would have hoped to have been involved in Ireland’s run to the World Cup quarter-final in France.
However, injury and a relatively poor run of form, cost the speedster his place in Andy Farrell’s side. A fact not lost on the Newtownstewart native.
“Yeah of course it was disappointing.
“you tend to spend every day throughout the tournament, waiting on that phonecall to say you’ve been called up.
“But it didn’t happen and it just wasn’t to be this time.
“I think the guys that did make it can be proud of how they did. It’s just so disappointing to go out in another quarter-final, especially with the talent the squad clearly has”.
Having been involved in the World Cup warm-up games in August, after a two-year period in the international wilderness, Stockdale is keen to get back to the dizzying heights of 2018.
“Yeah, after playing in those Italy and Samoa games, I thought I played reasonably well.
“So whilst missing out on selection this time, it has given me a boost in confidence that I can play at that level still and have a real impact”.