Craig Gilroy to leave Ulster

Craig Gilroy has confirmed he will leave Ulster at the end of the current campaign, ending 13 seasons with his home province.

The 31-year-old has played 211 times for Ulster since making his debut against Cardiff in 2010, leaving him sixth in the all-time list of Ulster appearances, while his haul of 69 tries is second only to Andrew Trimble.

"I have so much to be thankful for and will treasure the many amazing memories created at this club," the wing said in a post on Instagram.

"As a young kid it was my dream to be a professional rugby player and to represent my home province. That dream became a reality not once but over 200 times.I have so many emotions looking back over the last 13 years, my whole adult life has been at Ulster and it's hard to put it into words. I feel an immense sense of pride, I feel sad that it's coming to an end, but so incredibly happy that it happened.

Gilroy, who added that he intends to find a new opportunity abroad, also won 10 caps for Ireland between 2012 and 2017, scoring a try on debut against Argentina while also grabbing a hat-trick in his final Test appearance against Italy in 2017.

Ulster are on course to secure a top-two finish in the URC regular season, knowing a win against Edinburgh on Friday will be enough to give them home advantage in both the quarter-final, and semi-final should they get there.

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