The two coaches were together at Neath, Ospreys’ Lyn Jones as the man in charge and Ulster Caretaker Steve Williams as a player, while opposing wings Nikki Walker and Simon Danielli were Borders and Scotland colleagues.
Jones is looking forward to meeting up with Williams for the first time since the Welshman stepped up to the role of Caretaker Coach on the departure of Mark McCall.
“He’s from Baglan just down the road from here and he played at Neath while I was coach there before moving on when professionalism came in,” said Jones.
“Ulster at the moment can be viewed at being at sixes and sevens with Steve taking over as coach and not a lot going right for them at the moment, but it is probably the most difficult time to play Ulster; when they are super underdogs they are even tougher to play.
“Steve is a nice fella and a talented rugby player. Ulster have gone through a difficult time and they are moving from one era to another with David Humphreys having been a huge influence.
“They have the ability so it is just a question of how quickly Steve can turn things round.”
Flying Scotsmen Nikki Walker and Simon Danielli played together for the Borders, but will be in direct opposition for their new clubs in the Heineken Cup clash hoping to push their international claims.
Walker feels that leaving Scotland for Swansea was the best thing that ever happened to his international career and believes that maybe Danielli recognised those benefits in moving to Northern Ireland along with former Edinburgh centre Rob Dewey.
“I think I am a better player now, but not that much better, it is mainly that I have a lot more opportunities here whereas the Border were struggling a bit and you did not get many opportunities to express your talents on the wing there,” said Walker.
“I am playing with better players here and they are giving me more ball, space and the chance to show what I can do.
“One of the things I am enjoying about playing down here is that I am told to move around and play what is in front of me, rather than staying out on the wing and waiting for things to happen.
“Rob Dewey and Simon Danielli are both big boys, similar players to me, so it would be good to come up against them.
“Simon played on one wing with me on the other for the Borders, being on opposite wings means we will be up against each other – similar sizes and both competing for places in the Scotland squad as well.
“He will be trying to get one up on me and I will be doing my best to stop that.
“Moving away helped me get back into the Scotland squad and maybe he looked at that and is maybe why he moved away from Scotland as well.
“He felt he would get more chance to shine in Ulster and he has, so he will probably not be too far away.”
Walker’s move has also given him a realistic chance of progressing through to the later stages of the Heineken Cup, it is beginning to look like an Ospreys v Gloucester head-to-head to top Pool 2.
The Scotland Rugby World Cup squad member has also been able to shine in Swansea thanks to the little and large combination with Welsh wizard Shane Williams on the other wing.
The pair pop up all round the pitch and the contrasting challenges that they offer defences seems to work in opening up some space for each other. It has worked well for the Welsh region, particularly in their hammering of Worcester in the EDF Energy Cup when the two wings ran riot.
“It is a good balance, we often swap wings, I am more likely to go through people while Shane will go round them – the big difference there makes it harder to defend against,” said Walker.
“We are both pretty busy wingers and that is what the coaches like us to do.”
Ulster have yet to win a game in this year’s Heineken Cup and have parted company with coach Mark McCall, so the Ospreys will be favourites to win this Friday before a tougher task on the return to Ravenhill – with Scottish pride on the line as well as the Welsh and Irish.
