\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/eurosports.jpg\" "\\"Click")
<\/a>\n\u201cAs a captain you only run at the front, there\u2019s plenty of leaders in the side, plenty of guys who can make call and captain the side on any given day so for me, it\u2019s just about running at the front and making sure the backs make the right calls! I\u2019m really excited and hugely honoured by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ulster, like most teams will face the early part of the season without a number of front-line players due to the World Cup, but Muller believes that after last season\u2019s success, the squad need to maintain momentum;<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a much tougher challenge for us this season, partly because of the World Cup but also because last season people didn\u2019t really expect us to do well and we surprised them. If we want to be a successful side, and a side that can compete in the future with any side in Europe then we need to be better this year than last year, not just in the quarter-finals and semi-finals but every single week and in every single thing that we do, on and off the field. The big challenge not only for me as captain but the whole squad, the management and coaching staff is to make the step up. \u201c
\n[audio:http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Johann_Captaincy_Audio_2.mp3]
\nMuller, who has spent the past four weeks in camp with the extended Springbok Squad while they prepare for the Rugby World Cup returned to Belfast last Thursday. Originally selected as a replacement for the Boks\u2019 first Tri-Nations match against Australia, he withdrew with a hamstring injury, but is on the mend;
\n[audio:http:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Johann_Captaincy_Audio_3.mp3]
\n\u201cInjury wise I\u2019m feeling great, I am starting to run again, it will take a little bit of time to get back to full fitness at my age but I\u2019m feeling great, really fresh and really excited to play again so I can\u2019t wait to get into some of the physical stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether or not Johann will be included in the South African squad for the World Cup remains to be seen at this stage. Having thought that his international career was, in all likelihood, over before he came to Belfast, he is philosophical about whether or not he will get selected but explains that the hunger to wear the international jersey never really goes away;<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will always be there, if you can play for your country and pull that jersey over your head you will want to do that and it\u2019s always a great honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I don\u2019t get picked for South Africa again, if I don\u2019t get picked for the World Cup that\u2019s fine with me, I\u2019ve got a great challenge ahead over here especially with the captaincy, however, if I do get a call up that would be fantastic, and I would be honoured to go to another World Cup and play another game for my country. Whichever comes my way I\u2019m a true believer that everything happens for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ends:15.08.11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ulster Rugby today named Johann Muller as the club captain for the 2011-12 season. Muller joined Ulster at the start of last season and after making his competitive Ulster debut against the Ospreys in the opening round of the League went on to win another 25 caps in his first season, playing more minutes than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5210,5892,6335,4154,5337,4719,5770,6254,6506,5401,6332,3959,5209,5743,6091,1997],"class_list":["post-15080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ulster-rugby","tag-2011-12","tag-as","tag-audio","tag-captain","tag-clips","tag-club","tag-for","tag-includes","tag-johann","tag-muller","tag-named","tag-rugby","tag-season","tag-the","tag-today","tag-ulster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15085,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15080\/revisions\/15085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}