Interview with Ulster coach Mark McCall: Gerry Thornley talks to the new Ulster coach as he sets out on his first Celtic League campaign

There's a decidedly greener and redder hue to the set-up in Ravenhill this season. It's not just that one of the bright young indigenous coaches, Mark McCall, has replaced Alan Solomons, or that he has brought in Allen Clarke as his assistant in place of the departed Adrian Kennedy.

The team itself also looks like being truer to the Red Hand than in the last three years.

On many occasions last year, such was the influx of Southern Hemisphere imports under Solomons that seven or eight of the squad on a given weekend weren't qualified to play for Ireland. For the means of making Ulster competitive again after a couple of low-key seasons following the province's unforgettable 1999 Heineken Cup triumph, it was perhaps a necessary step.

In the South African's three years at the helm, Ulster lost only two competitive games at Ravenhill and were only denied a Celtic Cup-League double on the last weekend of the season away to Llanelli.

All comers were beaten at Ravenhill in the European Cup, where Ulster three times shared four wins apiece with their main pool rivals but ultimately came up short of qualification for the knockout stages.

All the while Solomons went out of his way to stress the blossoming of home-grown talent such as Roger Wilson, Neil McMillan and Neil Best whom, he forecast, would comprise the Irish back row one day.

Yet only now, with the departures of Robbie Kempson, Matt Sexton, Warren Brosnihan, Ryan Constable, and the retirement of Tony McWhirter, will Ulster's young tyros be given their head.

Campbell Feather, an experienced utility back rower from Wellington, who arrived via The Borders, has been added, as has Kevin Maggs, but otherwise the emphasis has been on promoting indigenous players and committing the tyros to long-term contracts.

All bar four of the 40-man squad are Irish-qualified and as 26 of them are under 26, it looks like being quite a leap for McCall and his mostly young squad, though he doesn't seem fazed.

"Both from an IRFU and an Ulster perspective there is a realisation that this is the way it had to go," says McCall. "There were games last year when seven of our starting line-up weren't eligible to play for Ireland. We all accepted that, looking forward, this was simply too many.

"Ultimately, the aim must be to become self-generating although, realistically, there's always going to be the need for some experienced players from abroad in a few positions, but I think a maximum of about three or four is okay."

Aside from two years as Solomons' assistant and last season's stint with the under-21s, McCall brings a usefully varied playing career to his first head coaching role.

Whatever else, he intends being his own man.

"I've got to bring my own slant to things. I'm not in the business of copying other people. I've served under some good coaches as a player and as an assistant.

"There's good and bad in all of them, and I think it's important to learn from both. But I captained most sides I played for and it always seemed like a natural progression."

Satisfying Ulster's craving for places on the Irish team after a relatively barren few years, and then ensuring the production line keeps ticking over is as vital as the results achieved on the pitch.

As things stand, David Humphreys, Kevin Maggs, Tyrone Howe and Simon Best are all part of the Ireland squad's extended pre-season and because of injuries carried over from last season, Wilson and McMillan are liable to miss the first month or so of the campaign also.

Ulster begin their Celtic League programme away to Edinburgh on Saturday and McCall admits he's grateful that Ulster's only Welsh opponents in the first five weeks will be the Ospreys, at home, in week four; all the more so after Ulster's 30-7 defeat to the Gwent Dragons in a hastily arranged friendly last Saturday.

"Whereas we were missing some injured players and our internationals, the Dragons started the game with 13 Welsh internationals. With the Welsh reduced from five to four sides I've no doubt they are all going to be stronger this year," says McCall.

McCall echoes Michael Bradley's assessment that this season's Celtic League is going to be a good deal tougher.

"Up to two years ago we were playing the likes of Caerphilly and Ebbw Vale, which weren't really Celtic League games. Last year was the first year of the Celtic League in many respects and as it was a World Cup year everybody wasn't competing equally. But this is a good development," maintains McCall, whose province are also backing the proposal to make the League a qualifier for the European Cup in Ireland.

"It is absolutely essential that the Celtic League becomes a vibrant league, like the English Premiership and the French championship."

The Cardiff Blues, whom Ulster also meet in another typically daunting European Cup pool alongside Gloucester and French champions Stade Francais, are a prime case in point of Welsh strength.

"They've always had a very talented back line but have now beefed up their pack with forwards like Sidoli. It's going to be a tough group, but no one will relish coming to Ravenhill either."

Being "there or thereabouts" in the Celtic League, qualifying for the knockout stages in Europe for the first time in six years, and improving Ulster's representation on the Irish team are McCall's targets. That's all.

Having punched above his weight as a player, he knows there may be a few brickbats with the bouquets along the way.

"I've had my share of three out of 10 ratings," he jokes, "which has given me a thick skin."