Dan McFarland believes it fitting that retiring centre Darren Cave will have the honour of captaining Ulster in Saturday’s Interpro clash with Leinster at the Kingspan.
As a mark of respect, Cave - who has won 226 caps with the province - will lead out the team for the final regular Guinness Pro14 game of the season.
It is a chance for Ulster fans to show their appreciation for the popular 32-year-old who recently confirmed he will hang his boots up next month.
Is Ulster vs Leinster on TV? Live stream, betting odds and ticket details for the Pro14 clash
And while Ulster have a home quarter-final with Connacht to come on May 4, head coach McFarland is eager to gift Cave centre stage this weekend.
“Darren will probably captain the side,” he said. “He is retiring at the end of the season and everybody will respect that it’s a huge day for him.
“There’s a performance element because Darren is a good leader of men and he’ll do a good job, so I think that will add to the performance.
“But there's also the aspect that he's playing at the Kingspan and retiring at the end of the season, so it's a great honour.
“It means a lot to Darren to represent Ulster and to have played for one club throughout his career. He's so proud of that.”
While McFarland has only been at the helm since August, his connection with Cave dates back more than a decade when he was part of Ireland’s U20 coaching ticket.
“I've known Darren since 2007 when I was coaching the U20s forwards that won the Grand Slam - he played outside centre in that team,” he said.
“There were a lot of players in that team who went on to have great careers and Darren is one of them.”
McFarland believes the 11-times capped Ireland centre, who is a big character inside the Ulster dressing room, is equipped to make a real success of life outside rugby.
“Darren is going to be successful,” he said. “I've got a lot of time for him. He's a smart fella, doesn't mind speaking his mind and he's confident.
“In terms of what he's done with the squad this year, a lot of the charity work that's done in the background, he has had a leading hand.
“He'll put a message in the WhatsApp group and you might get 25 or 30 players turning up. They don't have to, but they do when he organises it.”
McFarland was asked if he had suffered any pangs of “jealousy” while watching Leinster beat Toulouse in the European Champions Cup semi-final on Sunday.
Ulster ran their neighbours close in the quarter-finals only to lose 21-18 to a late Ross Byrne penalty at The Aviva.
“Jealousy, no,” he smiled. “Is that to say I didn’t imagine coaching in a semi-final? I did, but we lost and didn’t deserve to be there.”
Keep up-to-date with all the very latest news, what's on, sport and everything else in Belfast and beyond with the Belfast Live app.
Only select news that interests you by picking the topics you want to display on the app's homepage. Plus, our enhanced user experience includes live blogs, video, interactive maps and slick picture galleries. Download it now and get involved.
Click here to get it from the App Store or here for Google Play .
