'Special time, special team' - Ulster's last trophy winners

Ulster’s major breakthrough had come in 1999 when they won the European Cup with a fairytale run to the final.

A first domestic trophy came seven years later in dramatic circumstances away to Ospreys on the final day of the Celtic League season.

In a tense and error-strewn occasion, David Humphreys’ drop kick came off both posts before it dropped over the bar to spark wild celebrations.

“It was an amazing time to be an Ulster fan, to be an Ulster player,” stated Bowe.

“It’s about the memories that you create on the pitch, but actually what you remember most is what happens off the pitch.

“Those days will live long in my memory. It was a special group of players and a special group of characters.”

The Ulster team at that time was a blend of experienced heads and emerging talent.

Coming through the ranks were the likes Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Rory Best and Stephen Ferris, all of whom became legends with Ulster and Ireland.

At the other end were Humphreys, Justin Harrison and Justin Fitzpatrick, all in the autumns of their careers.

For Harrison, he says being part of a squad with that blend was “very special”.

The former Ulster captain was speaking at last week’s 20th anniversary celebrations event, where more than 30 players and staff from the 2006 squad came together to reminisce.

Such was the commitment from some that scrum-half Isaac Boss flew in from New Zealand for just 24 hours to attend the event before he jumped back on a plane to return home.

“It’s very important when you come to an organisation and a team particularly that you buy into what is the existing identity and it really resonated,” added Harrison.

“Ulster is a proud province. There’s history in Northern Ireland that you don’t need to be a historian to know that it’s very important when you pull on a jersey to represent Ulster, it’s serious. For me it was very important.”

Now the performance director of the Irish Rugby Football Union [IRFU], Humphreys’ last-gasp kick is the enduring memory of the day.

Trimble, who admitted he had a poster of Humphreys on his bedroom wall when he was growing up, stated that he only realised upon watching the highlights at the anniversary dinner that the fly-half had a “stinker” of a match up to that point.

“My memory up until this afternoon was ‘David Humphreys, what an absolute legend, what a strike’,” Trimble joked.

“He actually had a bit of a stinker, which was hilarious to watch and kind of recheck kind of where our heads were at.”

“The day was kind of about him and those three points.”

Montpellier v Ulster

Challenge Cup final

Friday, 22 May at 20:00 BST

Listen on Sounds

‘Montpellier are strong but Ulster can win’

Now, 20 years on from their last triumph, Ulster head to Bilbao for Friday’s Challenge Cup final, where Montpellier stand in their way.

The French side are two-time winners of the competition, are second in the hotly contested Top 14, and will be favourites to get over the line at San Mames Stadium.

Ulster, on the other hand, dropped out of the top eight of the United Rugby Championship on the final day of the season and haven’t won since their impressive semi-final win over Exeter Chiefs.

It puts Murphy’s side in a strange situation, as they have undoubtedly progressed since a dismal campaign the previous year, but could also be left without anything to show for it.

Bowe believes Ulster are capable of playing “a really exciting brand of rugby”, and getting to the final is “special” for a young group of players.

“This team is more than capable of playing a really exciting brand of rugby and running this Montpellier team around.

“Montpellier are strong, but I think Ulster should have full belief to go out there and give it their absolute best and come away with a win.”

For Trimble, the development in the squad over the past 12 months has created “characters”, which resembles the famous title-winning crop of 2006.

“To me it looks like there are characters in that side and it looks like a side that can dig in and get the job done whenever it counts.

“And that to me is a team that’s kind of really matured and grown up and they know how to deliver.”

Trimble added there is “probably hope rather than expectation” that Ulster will win in Bilbao, but Murphy’s team are in a position where “they can get the job done”.

“It’s exciting being an Ulster fan, certainly a lot more exciting than it was last year.

“There have been a lot of difficulties and those difficulties create that character that we’re talking about.

“They’ve an opportunity to try and bring some silverware back to Belfast and, to me, it looks like this is a special group capable of it.”

Trimble’s sentiments were echoed by Harrison, who stated every competition in rugby is more difficult to win than it was in his playing days.

“Ulster have positioned themselves very, very well to be confident, and rightly so going into the final,” former Australia international Harrison added.

“We are here to support the current team, to remind them that once upon a time some players wore the jersey and now, because of that, we are connected.”