Viral tries, new mates and the ghost of Joe Schmidt: Why Angus Bell loved his Irish sabbatical

In chasing new experiences during a six-month sabbatical in Ireland, Wallabies star Angus Bell discovered there were many reminders of home.

For starters, the rugby shapes and systems used at Ulster, in Northern Ireland, were still based on the coaching of Joe Schmidt, seven years after the Wallabies boss finished as Ireland coach.

And as far as Bell was concerned, his Ulster teammates and the people of Belfast may as well have been Australians, too.

“They’re very similar people, very similar cultures, you know, they love a beer, they love going to the pub, they love hanging out, it’s very similar to what the Australian identity is, even around the change room,” Bell said. “So I’ve made friends for life from Northern Ireland and Belfast.”

A few weeks after Bell returned home, the familiarity theme will continue next week when the 25-year-old star lines up against Ireland in Sydney. Ireland’s 36-man squad includes 10 Ulstermen.

“It’ll be interesting playing those boys. We’ve been talking over the past three, four weeks – I only came back a week ago – so it’s going to be interesting going up against them, they’re top fellas,” Bell said.

Several important areas of Bell’s Belfast stay were not the same as usual, however, and at the very top of that list was surviving a serious injury scare, largely unscathed.

Since debuting for the Wallabies as a 19-year-old in 2020, Bell has endured a torrid time with chronic foot injuries. They saw him miss large chunks of three seasons between 2022-2024. He even contemplated quitting rugby.

Radical surgery to shave down bones fixed the toe ligament problem, but hearts were in mouths when Bell was carted off in April with another foot injury, suffered against Leinster.

It was not Bell’s “bad” right foot, but the big prop revealed he felt a very similar dread when he lost feeling in his left foot when squeezed down awkwardly in a tackle on Ulster’s unforgiving synthetic pitch.

“There’s not much give when it comes to feet sliding,” Bell said. “So I sort of just essentially sat on my own foot. It just went numb and I had some minor tears and stuff in it, but it wasn’t as near as bad as I first thought, or the staff thought, at the start.

“When the doctor came out, I just got him to clear everything. Obviously as a rugby player, I’m a pretty anxious sort of bloke anyway, and with what I’ve had in the past, so I just got them to clear all the big ones and they said it was fine. That sort of put me in a better headspace. But when it initially happened, it was pretty scary.”

To the relief of Wallabies and Ulster fans, Bell returned three weeks later.

But the danger of sabbatical stints like Bell’s can often have the physical and mental fatigue attached, and injuries can follow. Bell went straight from the Wallabies spring tour to Belfast, after Australia’s draining year in 2025.

He says he is feeling fresh, however, after the injury provided a few weeks of downtime, and the “silver lining” of Ulster missing the United Rugby Championship finals means he last played five weeks ago, in the Challenge Cup decider in Bilbao.

The sabbatical in Europe also left him mentally refreshed, and returning home a better player, due to another key area of difference over the last six months.

Bell says the variety of opponents in the URC and the European Challenge Cup was a stimulating challenge, particularly at scrum time. In 21 appearances for Ulster, he faced Irish, Scottish, Welsh, South African, English, French and Italian sides.

“The week-to-week challenges that are really different, similar to what Test match Rugby is,” he said. “You’ve got different nations week-to-week, so it’s always just shifting your mental to get ready for those different challenges and different front rowers. There’s different pictures every week.”

Bell gave the Ulster locals a different picture of what a 127kg front rower can do, too. The mobile Wallabies prop scored a memorable try against Cardiff, which went viral and later won the URC’s try of the season award.

But the familiarity theme continues in July, with the Wallabies facing the last three sides they played and lost to during last year’s winless tour: Ireland, France and Italy.

It was a deflating end to a year that also contained great highs.

But Bell says the Wallabies have firm belief in their ability to beat anyone.

“We just need to tighten that gap (between good and bad performances) because we know we’ve got the talent to compete with the best teams in the world.”