Jeff ​Toomaga-Allen drive to increase Ulster minutes

Signed last summer on a one-year deal from Wasps, the former All Black tighthead had to bid his time for game minutes in the Ulster front row, then he was called up for the Autumn Internationals with Samoa before suffering torn ligaments in his ankle against Zebre.

However, with Marty Moore and Tom O’Toole injured, Toomaga-Allen played the full 80 minutes against Benetton and followed that up with 70 against European champions La Rochelle last weekend.

Toomaga-Allen is at the coal face again tonight as Ulster welcome Sale to Kingspan Stadium (8pm) in a make-or-break Champions Cup game.

“It is frustrating but then coming back, even more so, feels great because you know that support has been there the whole time, I guess it is something I can’t control, so I have to deal with it,” said the prop. “Well, it’s just part of the job (injury), it is frustrating but it is one of the areas of the job where you just have to roll with, and it’s great, because we have great support.

“And with the tightheads, we all get around each other, so if one of us is down, it’s not like, ‘Ah yes, this is good for me’.

"It’s more like, ‘Bro, what can I do for you? How can I be there?’

With two prop replacements on the bench, it is rare the starters play a full game in the modern era.

“It’s not like the old days, I used to play in those times,” he said. “It’s definitely an adjustment.

"I kind of revel in the fact that it is a special thing to do, playing as a tighthead prop, playing 80 minutes.

“You don’t come across it a lot and when you do it’s like, ‘Man…fair play to him’.

“And the fact I did it off the back of five or six weeks out, justifies the frustration I went through in terms of all my hard work.

“Having played 80 minutes, 70 minutes, showing that Dan (McFarland, head coach) has that trust in me to go that long.

“It’s great, it’s hard, it’s definitely hard, but sometimes you have to bite your knuckle.”

It was a former Ulster and All Black prop that helped Toomaga-Allen chose Ulster when he was leaving the Premiership.

“I actually spoke to John Afoa before I came here, he is a good friend and mentor of mine and he had played here before so obviously I was like, ‘Bro...’.

"I got on the phone, what do you reckon?

"‘Where should I live, what area should I be in, what do you think about the boys?’.

“He was like ‘Just dive in, you will love it’...so talking to him really helped, it was good.”

Toomaga-Allen wants the Ulster pack to stamp their authority early in the game against Sale to pave the way for victory.

“It's bully the bully, everyone says that, having experienced them before with my old team (Wasps).

"You have to meet fire with fire and beat them up front.

“Like we were saying before, belief that's the magic.

"You've got to believe in yourself to bring the magic.”

ULSTER: (v Sale Sharks, Heineken Champions Cup round four, Kingspan Stadium, kick-off 8pm, live on BT Sport) – (15-9): Michael Lowry, Rob Lyttle, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak; (1-8): Andy Warwick, Tom Stewart, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Alan O’Connor, Sam Carter, Harry Sheridan, Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen. Replacements: Rob Herring, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom O’Toole, Kieran Treadwell, Jordi Murphy, John Cooney, Ian Madigan, Ben Moxham.