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Andrew Trimble bids farewell to fans in emotional 'open letter'

Andrew Trimble

Ulster’s record appearance holder, Andrew Trimble, is calling time on his professional career.

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The 33-year-old, who has earned 229 provincial caps for Ulster and 70 Ireland caps over a 13-year career, made the announcement in an open letter to supporters.

Trimble posted on Twitter that he had come to “the most difficult decision in any professional sportsman’s life” in recent weeks.

He wrote: “I know that I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have realised not one of my dreams, but two of them; to play for Ulster and to play for Ireland.

“These have been some of the most fulfilling days of my life and I feel nothing but gratitude for them.

“But there’s no way of stopping time – and I see that each day in the lives of my two young children, who are now close to beating me over five metres.

“So I wanted to let you know that this will be my last season playing professional rugby.

“I want to thank the club for allowing me the time and space to think things through before making what is probably the toughest decision that any professional sportsman will make.

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“Most of all, I want to thank you – the loyal and dedicated supporters of this special club. I know that nothing will come close to the experience of taking the field and hearing you raise your voices in support of the team.

“You stood up for me; I only hope that I stood up for you.”

In tribute to Trimble, Bryn Cunningham, Ulster’s Operations Director, said:

“Andrew has been a class act both on and off the pitch. He has been a great ambassador for Ulster Rugby, having done much to promote our work in the community and to inspire future generations of rugby players from across the nine counties.

“I was still playing here when Andrew first joined the squad and it’s been fantastic to follow his journey to becoming the highest-capped Ulster player of all time – a remarkable achievement! He has delivered some incredible performances in both the Ulster and Ireland jerseys over the years and he can be justifiably proud of his playing career.

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“I know that Andrew will be successful in whatever career he chooses next, and I wish him, Anna, Jack and Molly well in this new chapter for them.”

Shane Logan, Ulster’s Chief Executive, added:

“I’d like to thank Andrew for his wonderful service to rugby in Ulster over the past 13 years. He has been an inspiration for so many young players across the Province, due to his uncompromising playing style but also his kind nature and infectious personality.

“I know that he will continue to support Ulster in the years ahead and I wish him well in the years ahead.”

Meanwhile Ulster’s hopes of playing in Europe next season also remain firmly alive.

Having finished fourth in Conference B of the Guinness PRO14, Ulster now look likely to take on Ospreys in a play-off match for Champions Cup qualification, although it’s still possible that they could qualify automatically.

The most likely scenario at this stage is that Ulster would have to play Ospreys in a play-off match for the 7th PRO14 place in the competition. This would be played at Kingspan Stadium on the weekend of 18-20th May.

However, there is a possibility that Ulster could qualify for the Champions Cup without having to play the play-off match, based on the criteria outlined above.

For this to happen, Ulster would need PRO14 Rugby to earn an eighth spot in the Champions Cup. This is possible if Leinster win the Champions Cup and all of the Challenge Cup semi-finalists qualify for the Champions Cup on merit by finishing in the top six of their respective leagues.

Cardiff and Newcastle have already qualified, while Gloucester currently occupy sixth place in the Aviva Premiership and Pau sit in seventh in the TOP 14. Gloucester travel to Saracens next week and Pau host Toulon.

Were PRO14 Rugby to have an eighth place, Benetton Rugby would play Ospreys in a play-off match.

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f
fl 44 minutes ago
‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

"fl's idea, if I can speak for him to speed things up, was for it to be semifinalists first, Champions Cup (any that somehow didn't make a league semi), then Challenge's semi finalists (which would most certainly have been outside their league semi's you'd think), then perhaps the quarter finalists of each in the same manner. I don't think he was suggesting whoever next performed best in Europe but didn't make those knockouts (like those round of 16 losers), I doubt that would ever happen."


That's not quite my idea.

For a 20 team champions cup I'd have 4 teams qualify from the previous years champions cup, and 4 from the previous years challenge cup. For a 16 team champions cup I'd have 3 teams qualify from the previous years champions cup, and 1 from the previous years challenge cup.


"The problem I mainly saw with his idea (much the same as you see, that league finish is a better indicator) is that you could have one of the best candidates lose in the quarters to the eventual champions, and so miss out for someone who got an easier ride, and also finished lower in the league, perhaps in their own league, and who you beat everytime."

If teams get a tough draw in the challenge cup quarters, they should have won more pool games and so got better seeding. My system is less about finding the best teams, and more about finding the teams who perform at the highest level in european competition.

57 Go to comments
f
fl 1 hour ago
‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

"Would I'd be think"

Would I'd be think.


"Well that's one starting point for an error in your reasoning. Do you think that in regards to who should have a say in how it's setup in the future as well? Ie you would care what they think or what might be more fair for their teams (not saying your model doesn't allow them a chance)?"

Did you even read what you're replying to? I wasn't arguing for excluding south africa, I was pointing out that the idea of quantifying someone's fractional share of european rugby is entirely nonsensical. You're the one who was trying to do that.


"Yes, I was thinking about an automatic qualifier for a tier 2 side"

What proportion of european rugby are they though? Got to make sure those fractions match up! 😂


"Ultimately what I think would be better for t2 leagues would be a third comp underneath the top two tournemnts where they play a fair chunk of games, like double those two. So half a dozen euro teams along with the 2 SA and bottom bunch of premiership and top14, some Championship and div 2 sides thrown in."

I don't know if Championship sides want to be commuting to Georgia every other week.


"my thought was just to create a middle ground now which can sustain it until that time has come, were I thought yours is more likely to result in the constant change/manipulation it has been victim to"

a middle ground between the current system and a much worse system?

57 Go to comments
f
fl 1 hour ago
‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

"Huh? You mean last in their (4 team) pools/regions? My idea was 6/5/4, 6 the max, for guarenteed spots, with a 20 team comp max, so upto 5 WCs (which you'd make/or would be theoretically impossible to go to one league (they'd likely be solely for its participants, say 'Wales', rather than URC specifically. Preferrably). I gave 3 WC ideas for a 18 team comp, so the max URC could have (with a member union or club/team, winning all of the 6N, and Champions and Challenge Cup) would be 9."


That's a lot of words to say that I was right. If (e.g.) Glasgow won the URC and Edinburgh finished 16th, but Scotland won the six nations, Edinburgh would qualify for the Champions Cup under your system.


"And the reason say another URC (for example) member would get the spot over the other team that won the Challenge Cup, would be because they were arguable better if they finished higher in the League."

They would be arguably worse if they didn't win the Challenge Cup.


"It won't diminish desire to win the Challenge Cup, because that team may still be competing for that seed, and if theyre automatic qual anyway, it still might make them treat it more seriously"

This doesn't make sense. Giving more incentives to do well in the Challenge Cup will make people take it more seriously. My system does that and yours doesn't. Under my system, teams will "compete for the seed" by winning the Challenge Cup, under yours they won't. If a team is automatically qualified anyway why on earth would that make them treat it more seriously?


"I'm promoting the idea of a scheme that never needs to be changed again"

So am I. I'm suggesting that places could be allocated according to a UEFA style points sytem, or according to a system where each league gets 1/4 of the spots, and the remaining 1/4 go to the best performing teams from the previous season in european competition.


"Yours will promote outcry as soon as England (or any other participant) fluctates. Were as it's hard to argue about a the basis of an equal share."

Currently there is an equal share, and you are arguing against it. My system would give each side the opportunity to achieve an equal share, but with more places given to sides and leagues that perform well. This wouldn't promote outcry, it would promote teams to take european competition more seriously. Teams that lose out because they did poorly the previous year wouldn't have any grounds to complain, they would be incentivised to try harder this time around.


"This new system should not be based on the assumption of last years results/performances continuing."

That's not the assumption I'm making. I don't think the teams that perform better should be given places in the competition because they will be the best performing teams next year, but because sport should be based on merit, and teams should be rewarded for performing well.


"I'm specifically promoting my idea because I think it will do exactly what you want, increase european rugyb's importance."

how?


"I won't say I've done anything compressive"

Compressive.

57 Go to comments
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