Ulster trio accepts contract extensions
Ulster was given a boost ahead of its Magners League game with Edinburgh after the Irish province declared that Darren Cave, Declan Fitzpatrick and Robbie Diack signed extensions to their contracts.
The three players were rewarded for their performances for Ulster this season. Irish centre Cave will now stay at the club until 2013.
Fitzpatrick and Diack have committed their future to the Irish province until 2014.
The news will be welcomed by fans, particularly as the players have played an important role in the team’s progress this season.
Cave won his 50th cap against Edinburgh in the Magners League last month. The player is a product of the Ulster youth academy and last year Cave received his first cap for Ireland against Canada. The player missed Ulster’s last Heineken Cup match
with Biarritz due to a hamstring injury.
South African Diack has played in all but one of Ulster’s competitive games this season and was Ulster’s player of the season last year. The forward is expected to switch allegiances and declare himself for Ireland as he will become an Irish resident next
summer.
Fitzpatrick has played a prominent part in Ulster’s pre-season before he picked up a calf injury. The player will face tough competition from BJ Botha at tight head, but the prop is expected to feature more this season.
Fitzpatrick is also a player who has come to prominence through the Ulster academy. The forward was offered a contract to provide competition in the front row and is seen as a replacement for Botha in the future.
Ulster will be delighted that the three players have signed new deals and this comes after flanker Stephen Ferris committed his future to Ravenhill for the next two years.
Ulster manager Brian McLaughlin will hope that he can continue to keep his talented players who are starting to deliver on the pitch.
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