| Teamname: | 2005–06 Ulster Rugby season |
| Capacity: | 12,500 |
| Captain: | Simon Best, Justin Harrison[1] |
| Top Scorer: | David Humphreys (267) |
| Most Tries: | Tommy Bowe (11) |
| League: | Heineken Cup (3rd in pool) Celtic League (champions) |
| Nextseason: | 2006–07 |
In the 2005–06 season, Ulster were Celtic League champions for the first time. This was their eleventh season under professionalism, and their second under head coach Mark McCall. They also competed in the Heineken Cup.
In pre-season, Gary Longwell replaced Maurice Field as head of the academy.[2] Scrum-half Neil Doak retired as a player and became a High Performance Coach with the academy.[3] Flanker and captain Andy Ward also retired.[4] New signings included Australian international lock Justin Harrison,[5] and Irish-qualified New Zealand-born scrum-half Isaac Boss.[6] Prop Justin Fitzpatrick returned from Castres Olympique.[7]
Ulster finished top of the table in the Celtic League. Tommy Bowe was the league's top try scorer with ten. David Humphreys was second top points scorer with 229, and second leading marksman with 81 successful goal kicks. Justin Harrison was joint top of the appearances table with 20.[8] In the Heineken Cup, they finished third in Pool 4, failing to qualify for the knockout stage.
Players who made their debuts this season include flanker Stephen Ferris,[9] prop Declan Fitzpatrick,[10] centre Andrew Trimble,[11] and lock Ryan Caldwell, Andrew Trimble was Ulster's Player of the Year, and IRUPA Newcomer of the Year. Neil Best won the IRUPA Unsung Hero award.[12]
| Position[13] | Name | Nationality | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director of Coaching | Mark McCall |  Ireland | |
| Assistant coach (forwards) | Allen Clarke | Ireland | |
| Assistant coach (defence) | Neil Kelly |
Isaac Boss from Waikato[14]
Castres Olympique
Justin Harrison from New South Wales Matt Mustchin to Edinburgh| Ulster Rugby squad[23] | ||
|---|---|---|
Props
Hookers
Locks
| Back row
Scrum-halves
Fly-halves
| Centres
Wings
Fullbacks
|
| (c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players. * denotes players qualified to play for Ireland on residency or dual nationality. |
See main article: 2005–06 Heineken Cup.
| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biarritz (2) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 10 | +14 | 182 | 93 | +89 | 4 | 0 | 24 | |
| Saracens | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 13 | −1 | 128 | 129 | −1 | 1 | 0 | 17 | |
| Ulster | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 126 | 111 | +15 | 2 | 0 | 14 | |
 Benetton Treviso | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 28 | −15 | 104 | 207 | −103 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
See main article: 2005–06 Celtic League.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ulster | 20 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 510 | 347 | +163 | 49 | 31 | 3 | 2 | 75 | |
| 2 | 20 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 545 | 427 | +118 | 59 | 45 | 8 | 2 | 74 | ||
| 3 | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 439 | 372 | +67 | 49 | 42 | 7 | 3 | 66 | ||
| 4 | 20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 475 | 389 | +86 | 51 | 38 | 6 | 5 | 63 | ||
| 5 | 20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 418 | 415 | +3 | 48 | 45 | 5 | 3 | 60 | ||
| 6 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 418 | 402 | +16 | 49 | 37 | 3 | 4 | 57 | ||
| 7 | 20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 381 | 409 | -28 | 33 | 38 | 1 | 2 | 55 | ||
| 8 | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 355 | 456 | -101 | 40 | 51 | 2 | 7 | 45 | ||
| 9 | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 386 | 501 | -115 | 39 | 59 | 1 | 7 | 44 | ||
| 10 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 325 | 466 | -141 | 28 | 51 | 1 | 4 | 37 | ||
| 11 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 371 | 439 | -68 | 39 | 47 | 2 | 7 | 37 | ||
| Due to the uneven number of participating teams, each team had two free weekends and were awarded 4 match points each time. | ||||||||||||||
| Source: RaboDirect PRO12 | ||||||||||||||
| Domestic League | European Cup | Total | ||||||||||
| League | Fixtures | Average Attendance | Highest | Lowest | League | Fixtures | Average Attendance | Highest | Lowest | Total Attendance | Average Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005–06 Celtic League | 10 | 9,181 | 12,300 | 6,487 | 2005–06 Heineken Cup | 3 | 12,284 | 12,300 | 12,252 | 128,665 | 9,897 | |
The Ulster Rugby Awards ceremony was held at the Ramada Hotel on 18 May 2006. Winners were:[25]