How Ulster's Andrew Warwick has defied the odds throughout his career to become top of the props
When Ulster and Toulouse take to the field in the south of France on Saturday, the hosts will have perhaps the most talked about loosehead in the world of late in their ranks.
While the likes of Steven Kitshoff, Joe Moody and Ellis Genge would all be alongside him in the conversation for the title of world’s best, few in his position have caught the eye like Cyril Baille in recent months, the dynamic 28-year-old proving to be a cornerstone of Les Bleus’ Grand Slam-winning side.
In stark contrast, the man who seems most likely to be in the Ulster No.1 jersey for the first leg of this Champions Cup last-16 tie may well be one of the most understated players left in the competition.
That is, you sense, just the way that Andrew Warwick would have it.
While his social media footprint is small, in one piece of footage from four years ago he is interviewed by his long-time team-mate and fellow Ballymena man John Andrew who jests at the end “we know you love the limelight” to much amusement from those in the background, while in more traditional briefings he gives the impression not of someone who is stand-offish but of a man who isn’t quite sure why someone would be seeking his opinions.
Yet the story of the 31-year-old who recently made his 150th Ulster appearance is a compelling one, a journey that encompasses initial rejection overcome by a steely determination and more recently fighting through career-threatening injury to be picked ahead of two Irish internationals for all three of the European games he has been fit for so far this year.
Ten years ago, having slipped from the sub-Academy, he was playing in the All-Ireland League for Ballymena and putting his HGV licence to good use in his father’s business.
Even when brought back into the fold by Allen Clarke and impressing in action for the ‘A’ side in December 2012, he still had to patiently wait for an opportunity having been an unused replacement for the senior side before finally being granted that elusive first cap against Cardiff in March 2014.
“Not at all, not at all,” says his one-time club coach Andy Graham when asked if Warwick’s first cap, let alone 150th, seemed a certainty.
“He was a very dynamic ball carrier when he was younger. That was one of the big things, how well he carried the ball, but he’s not the biggest and he certainly wasn’t coming out of school. He’s had to work hard at that to put on weight and stuff.
“For him, his father had the business, and he was giving up on that to play rugby so he wanted to make a success of it and he was driven to do that.
“He’s one of those guys that never shirks anything. I think back to whenever (Mark) Anscombe was coaching Ulster and they’d no tightheads. He moved across to play there against Munster (in 2014) and that was a big, big ask for the guy.
“But he did it and there’ll have been no questions asked about it either.”
That his journey has been replete with twists and turns rather than one linear ascension is not lost on his team-mates either.
Hooker Rob Herring, who has spent much of Warwick’s career standing beside him at scrum-time, says: “He’s the kind of guy everyone gets on really well with. A great bloke to be around.
“I think another thing about Waz is his resilience and definitely some of that comes from the journey he has made.
“I came in and I think Allen Clarke had brought him in, he’d been playing club and guys were wondering who he was. He was working with his dad and doing steel welding, but he came in with raw strength and power.
“He’s had these setbacks but then he’s come back in and made things happen for himself. You can see that in the way he trains and the way he plays.
“He is always trying to improve as well, and I think that comes from where he came from when he started at Ulster.
“It’s a good story for guys who didn’t get those opportunities straight out of school and hopefully people see that and that there are still options and ways to get into professional rugby. He’s a good beacon for that.”
In truth, this second act is just as unlikely as the first. It’s not so long ago that Graham recalls having conversations with his erstwhile player over how “he might have to give up rugby altogether”.
Hip surgery — a procedure that was delayed due to the start of the pandemic — ultimately saved his career but when he returned it seemed as if he was fourth on the depth chart behind Eric O’Sullivan, Jack McGrath and Kyle McCall.
But a festive inter-pro against Connacht in 2020, when he came off the bench to solidify a creaking scrum, seemed to spark a change of fortunes and set him on a new trajectory.
Ulster coach Dan McFarland, a former loosehead himself, remembers: “Andy came off the bench that day and scrummed really well.
“It was a big game for a lot of players that day, a very tough proposition and as a group we were very proud of that performance in a difficult place to play rugby against a team that was playing very well. Andy played a big part in that.
“Over the time that I’ve been here, Andy has made significant progress and steps forward. He’s always been a hard worker, he’s always been very determined.
“He’s extremely tough, he’s extremely competitive.
“The strengths in his game have really started to shine. He’s a really good scrummager, his mauling is excellent, his maul defence is excellent. He’s where he needs to be when he needs to be there.
“He tackles well and he’s physical in his contacts.
“He’s got bigger, he’s got stronger. He’s worked hard with the hookers and he really studies how he’s going to go about it. The more experience that he’s got in terms of scrummaging at the Champions Cup level, he’s demonstrated that he’s well able for that.
“I’m always looking for guys that put their hands up and tell me why they need to be picked.
“There are so many good players at this level that being good at lots of things doesn’t get you picked anymore.
“You’ve got to be good at everything and be really excellent at something.
“Waz is really excellent around that set-piece stuff.
“As a prop he’s pushed himself where he maybe sat a little lower in the depth chart to one who is battling it out to be the first-choice loosehead in our club and credit to him.”
It’s a renaissance that will be enjoyed nowhere more than in Ballymena, where he still returns to assist in coaching the club’s forwards.
Graham adds: “It’s great to see that he’s back to where he was again.
“A couple of years ago you’d have thought that Eric O’Sullivan was the only loosehead for Ulster going forward, and then Jack McGrath came in, but now Andy is back in there and he’s fighting for that No.1 jersey every week.
“He has always had that grit and determination in him to see it through.
“He was always working hard and trying to be better.”
With attention already turned to outing No.151 in the pro ranks, the man team-mates playfully dubbed ‘The Big Licence’ still is.
