The 2011–12 Ulster Rugby season was

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

's 18th season since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, and their third under head coach Brian McLaughlin. They competed in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

and the inaugural

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

, successor competition to the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

. They finished sixth in the Pro12, and qualified for next season's Champions Cup as the third highest placed Irish team. Scrum-half

Ruan Pienaar Ruan Pienaar (born 10 March 1984) is a retired South African professional rugby union player who played either as a scrum-half or as a fly-half for the in the Currie Cup. Pienaar is the son of former Springbok fullback Gysie Pienaar. Ru ...

, lock Dan Tuohy and prop BJ Botha made the Pro12 Dream Team. They finished second in their pool in the Heineken Cup, beat

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in the semi-final, and lost to

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

in the final. Out-half

Ian Humphreys Ian Humphreys (born 24 April 1982 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a retired Irish rugby union footballer, who played at fly-half for the Pro12 team Ulster Rugby and English sides Leicester Tigers and London Irish. He joined Ulster in 2008 from ...

was Ulster's top scorer with 168 points. Wings

Andrew Trimble Andrew Trimble (born 20 October 1984) is a former Irish rugby union player who played for Ulster and represented Ireland at international level. Club career He attended Coleraine Academical Institution, where he competed in the Ulster Schoo ...

and Craig Gilroy were joint top try scorers with six each. Flanker Chris Henry was Player of the Year. Craig Gilroy won the IRUPA Try of the Year award. Brian McLaughlin, who was coaching Ulster while on sabbatical from his regular job as a teacher at

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

, stood to lose his teaching position and pension if he extended his contract with Ulster any further, and as head coach risked losing his job at any time. Director of rugby David Humphreys decided to offer him the security of a full-time position coaching the academy, and to replace him as head coach with

Mark Anscombe Mark Anscombe (born 1957) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, having played rugby spanning across 15 years. Anscombe (father of Welsh international Gareth Anscombe) has been a rugby union coach since 1994, coaching various ages and styles in bot ...

Staff

Squad

Senior squad

Players in (Season 2011/2012)

John Afoa Ioane Fitu "John" Afoa (born 16 September 1983) is a New Zealand professional rugby union player. His position of choice is at prop. Afoa currently plays for the Crusaders in Super Rugby. Personal life Afoa was a student at Auckland's Papakura ...

from

Auckland Blues The Blues (; known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 1999) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established b ...

* Callum Black from

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

* Mike McComish from

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

* Jared Payne from

* Lewis Stevenson from Harlequins * Stefan Terblanche from

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

(On 3 Month Deal)

Promoted from academy

Niall Annett Niall Annett (born 7 May 1991) is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays for Bath, having previously played for Worcester Warriors and Ulster Rugby. His favoured position is hooker. In the 2011 junior Rugby Championships, Annett capta ...

Paddy Jackson David Patrick Lindsay James "Paddy" Jackson (born 5 January 1992) is a professional rugby union player from Northern Ireland who plays for Lyon OU; in the Top 14, in France. He primarily plays at fly-half and previously played for Irish provin ...

* Luke Marshall *

James McKinney James McKinney (April 14, 1852 – September 29, 1934) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. Biography Born in Oquawka, Illinois, McKinney attended the public schools of Lewis County High School and was given the nickname of "Downey" from ...

Players out (Season 2011/2012)

* T. J. Anderson to

"Connacht sign Anderson from Ulster"
''The Irish Times'', 7 March 2011 * BJ Botha to

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby () is one of the professional provincial rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union, ...

* Ryan Caldwell to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Paul Emerick Paul Emerick (born January 24, 1980) is the head coach of the Colorado Raptors, American Raptors in Glendale, Colorado. He was the defense and skills coach and the 2019 interim head coach for the Houston SaberCats of Major League Rugby. He was a ...

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

* Mark McCrea to

* Niall O'Connor to

Tommy Seymour Thomas Samuel Fenwick Seymour (born 1 July 1988) is a Scottish former professional rugby union player. He made 55 international appearances for the Scotland national rugby union team 2013–2019, scoring 20 tries which placed him fourth-top try ...

Glasgow Warriors The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...

* Jamie Smith to Newport Gwent Dragons * Bryan Young to Cavalieri

Academy squad

Players in

Stuart Olding Stuart Olding (born 11 March 1993) is a rugby union rugby player from Northern Ireland. He plays at centre and fullback. Olding played for Ulster from 2011 until 2018. In 2017 Olding was charged with rape, and in 2018 he was tried and acquitted. ...

* Chris Farrell * Jonny Murphy * Peter Nelson * Ryan Jablonski * David O'Mahony * James Simpson * Neil Faloon * Conor Joyce * Sean O'Connell

Players out

* Dominic Gallagher * Stephen Lecky * David McIlwaine to

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Knights Rugby Football Club ''(formerly, Doncaster RFC)'' are a professional rugby union club representing the city of Doncaster, England. The club play in the 2nd division of English rugby, the RFU Championship. Being the most prom ...

Season record

Heineken Cup

Pool 4

Quarter-final

Semi-finals

Final

Pro12

End-of-season awards

2011–2012 Dream Team

Home attendance

Friendlies

Ulster Ravens

British and Irish Cup

Pool C

Quarter-final

Ulster Women

2011-12 Women's Interprovincial Series

Ulster Rugby Awards

The Ulster Rugby Awards ceremony was held at the Culloden Hotel on 10 May 2012. Winners were:"Ferris lost for words as he scoops top Ulster award", ''News Letter'', 12 May 2012 *Ulster Player of the Year: Chris Henry *Ulster Rugby Personality of the Year:

Stephen Ferris Stephen Ferris (born 2 August 1985) is a retired Irish rugby union player who played for Ulster and represented Ireland internationally. Ferris played club rugby with Dungannon. He is from Maghaberry and attended Friends' School Lisburn. He p ...

*Young Player of the Year: Craig Gilroy *Supporters Club Player of the Year: Pedrie Wannenburg *Academy Player of the Year: Chris Farrell *Most Improved Player of the Year: Paul Marshall *Dorrington B. Faulkner Award: John Wilson *Youth Player of the Year: Russell Blair *Schools Player of the Year: James Harrison *Club Player of the Year: Richard Lutton *Club of the Year:

Malone RFC Malone RFC (Malone Rugby Football Club) is a rugby union club based in Belfast, in Northern Ireland playing in the Division 2B of the All-Ireland League. The club is affiliated with the Ulster Branch, itself part of the Irish Rugby Football ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulster 2011-12 2011–12 in Irish rugby union 2011–12 Pro12 by team 2011–12 Heineken Cup by team