Ulster Rugby CEO reflects on a 'challenging' season at the Kingspan

Ulster Rugby CEO says there's plenty to be positive about as he reflected on what he admitted was a 'frustrating' season at the Kingspan.

The side came in for plenty of criticism following their disappointing United Rugby Championship exit at the quarter-final stage at the hand of inter-provincial rivals Connacht.

But Petrie says it's careful to retain perspective as he looked ahead to the next campaign - one that will see a much changed side.

"I think everyone is in the same space where that was a match that we could have and should have won so there's a degree of frustration around that and I get that out in the ether, that's a frustration coming to us quite keenly from supports as well," he said.

"But in other aspect, if you look over the course of the season, even at periods where we had quite a signifcant dip during the course of the year, we finished the league season in second place, which was progress. We had more points than the year before, we scored more tries than the year before.

"Ultimately, getting to that point when we had period where we didn't play terribly well and still finishing second, there's something you can take from that. I don't say that to brush over the issues or the fact that we went out of the competition earlier than we would have hoped for, but it's important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater on these things as well and look at the things we can build upon going into next year," Petrie added.

In his conversation, Petrie added that the dozen or so players departing the Kingspan gives the opportunity for Academy stars to graduate to the senior side and follow in the footsteps of the likes of David McCann and Tom Stewart, the latter of whom has been selected in Ireland's training squad for the Autumn Series.

He also said movement on a new 3G playing surface at the Kingspan is progressing, while the negative social media reaction over the course of the campaign, that peaked following that Connacht defeat went over the top at times.

Petrie was also keen to stress that Head Coach Dan McFarland has a contract at the club until the end of the 2024/25 season and that he has the backing of those in power.