They strode down the Grand Stairway into the Titanic Suite one by one, the captains of the RaboDirect PRO12 all kitted out in battledress and ready for action stations.
rabodirectpro12 – Peter Jackson
Of all the launches of all the competitions for the new season, none could match the awesome grandeur of the Titanic Quarter in Belfast. Those gathered at the bottom of the stairway only had to gaze straight ahead to confront the historic reality of the location.
The window at the opposite end of the suite gave them an aerial view of what used to be No.3 slipway of the Harland & Wolff shipyard where they built the luxury liner more than a century ago on a scale that almost defied belief.
While some of the 12 skippers assembled from the four competing countries may have felt impelled to check on the nearest lifeboat, they will all have made a mental note to avoid the icebergs lurking all around them over the next nine months.
Nobody will be more acutely aware of the danger than Ulster and not just because of what happened to the ship which took 15,000 craftsmen three years to build. As one Titanic t-shirt proclaimed: ‘She was alright when she left us.’
For the first three months of last season, Ulster swept all before them only to finish up with nothing. Northampton’s single-point victory at Ravenhill during the second week of December did rather more than put an abrupt stop to the province’s 13-match winning streak.
It caused sufficient damage amidships to submerge the Ulster dream of conquering Europe as they had done during the season of the English boycott before the turn of the century.
The defeat, just a week after Ulster’s bonus-point victory over the same English Saints at Franklin’s Gardens, condemned head coach Mark Anscombe’s squad to an away quarter-final, at Twickenham where Saracens scuttled their European adventure.
Seven weeks later, during the RaboDirect PRO12 Grand Final in Dublin, Ulster found another iceberg in the shape of Leinster at the RDS. Despite six penalties from Ruan Pienaar, they finished six points short of forcing a thrilling finale into extra time.
Ravenhill’s reconstruction, increasing capacity to 13,500 for the start of the season, will make it sound all the more intimidating.
“Hand on heart, I can say they make more noise and create more passion than 30,000 people at a match in New Zealand,” Anscombe said. “I’ve never been in a stadium which creates such atmosphere.”
Ulster, awash with outstanding young players rolling off one of the most productive assembly lines anywhere in the world, never mind the RaboDirect PRO12, will bank on home comfort going a long way.
As skipper Johann Muller put it: “The noise they make every Friday night is something we really enjoy.”
It will only get a whole lot noisier, what with capacity rising to 18,000 by the end of the season. Arlene Foster, Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for Northern Ireland, said in welcoming the 12 clubs to the Belfast launch, doubtless had that in mind in predicting ‘titanic battles’ starting this weekend.
“Ulster rugby is one of the great symbols of Northern Ireland, unifying people and providing a real sense of civic pride,” she told guests at the launch.
This season, with a cast featuring more Test Lions than in the English Premiership, the RaboDirect PRO12 title will take even more capturing than usual. Leinster, beaten in successive Grand Finals despite reigning supreme in Europe, only managed it at the third time of asking last May.
Andy Irvine, fresh from emulating ex-England prop Fran Cotton’s achievement of making a winning Lions tour as a player and manager, will not forget last season’s all-Irish affair in a hurry.
“We saw some vintage rugby in the Pro 12 last season,” he said. “We had six teams challenging for the play-offs, two cracking semi-finals involving teams from three different countries and a final that was pure box-office.
“It takes two teams to make a great game and the atmosphere that day at the RDS was absolutely electric.
“The whole of Ireland gave a shining example of what sportsmanship is all about, not least with the silence they gave as respect for the goalkickers.”
After a season of increased attendances backed by soaring television and social media figures, the challenge for every club will be to keep the curve climbing ever upwards.
“The RaboDirect PRO12 is in great shape,” Irvine said at the launch. “We must not lose sight of the fact that the game has to be a good spectacle and last season the competition averaged almost four tries per match.
“We have a higher proportion of international players compared to other competitions. But we must also remember that one of our objectives is to bring on new, young talent.”
Every club comes to the starting grid this weekend with something new – coaches, players and, in the case of the Cardiff Blues, a synthetic pitch guaranteeing a perfect surface at the Arms Park whatever the weather.
Champions Leinster open their defence of the title against the Scarlets in Llanelli on Friday night. Beaten finalists Ulster are also in South Wales at the same time, against the Dragons at Rodney Parade.
It may be a bit soon for icebergs but after his day at the Titanic Quarter, Anscombe, for one, will not be leaving anything to chance.
Internationals per PRO12 squad:
Leinster (champions) 22 (21 Irish, 1 SA).
Ulster (runners-up) 20 (17 Irish, 2 SA, 1 NZ).
Glasgow (semi-finalists) 29 (24 Scottish, 3 Fiji, 1 Canadian, 1 Argentine).
Scarlets (semi-finalists) 13 (11 Welsh, 1 Scottish, 1 Fiji)
Ospreys (5th) 24 (19 Welsh, 2 Can, 1 Italian, 1 Fijian, 1 Moldovan).
Munster (6th) 19 (17 Irish, 1 SA, 1 NZ)
Benetton Treviso (7th) 26 (25 Italian, 1 Japanese)
Connacht (8th) 6 (4 Irish, 1 Scottish, 1 Samoan)
Cardiff Blues (9th) 17 (16 Welsh, 1 Tongan)
Edinburgh (10th) 20 (16 Scottish, 1 NZ, 1 Georgian, 1 Welsh, 1 Tongan)
Newport Dragons (11th) 12 (9 Welsh, 1 Fijian, 1 Argentinian, 1 Italian)
Zebre (12th) 19 (18 Italian, 1 NZ).