Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

jacothelad

In the cold light of day and lacking the Grolsch fuel of last night it was an awful performance by Ulster and the ref and McLaughlin wasn't the one knocking on, dropping balls, over running team mates, kicking out on the full, nor was he the one ignoring or re-interpreting most of the laws at the breakdown. I say ignoring, but that presupposes that the ref actually was aware of them in the first place.

Next week, if fit he needs to play at some time a team of:-
Court
Best / Kyriacou
Botha / Fitzpatrick
Muller
Tuohy / Barker
Ferris /Henry
Wannenberg / Diack
Faloon

Pienaar / Marshall (meh)
Humphreys

Trimble
Wallace
Spence
Danielli / Gilroy
D'Arcy / Gaston

overshoot

looks like Saints are back on form before the H cup meeting, bet wasps 39-3 at the weekend. they are pretty comfortable in the premiership play offs, 4th and 4pts ahead of london irish with a game in hand.
still reckon we have a better chance against them than going down to france but its going to take one hell of a effort

Digifriendly

overshoot wrote: »

looks like Saints are back on form before the H cup meeting, bet wasps 39-3 at the weekend. they are pretty comfortable in the premiership play offs, 4th and 4pts ahead of london irish with a game in hand.
still reckon we have a better chance against them than going down to france but its going to take one hell of a effort

Hope I'm proved totally wrong but can't see Ulster troubling Northampton - with England players back and Courtney Laws from injury (did you see his tackle on Van Gisbergen?) they should win with a bit to spare.

PhatPiggins

Digifriendly wrote: »

Hope I'm proved totally wrong but can't see Ulster troubling Northampton - with England players back and Courtney Laws from injury (did you see his tackle on Van Gisbergen?) they should win with a bit to spare.

Wasps are no yardstick but I'd have reservations about Ulsters recent form. They've really been making hard work of beating teams they should beat comfortably. I know winning when playing badly is a good indicator of teams potential but no HC quarter finalist should be struggling against Arioni/Dragons/Glasgow on successive weekends.

Hopefully we'll see a return of their HC form this weekend

thomond2006

ULSTER SQUAD FORWARDS
Jerry Cronin, Declan Fitzpatrick, Tom Court, BJ Botha, Paddy McAllister, Bryan Young, Rory Best, Nigel Brady, Andi Kyriacou, Ryan Caldwell, Dan Tuohy, Johann Muller, Tim Barker, Pedrie Wannenburg, TJ Anderson, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack.

ULSTER SQUAD BACKS
Ruan Pienaar, Paul Marshall, Ian Humphreys, Niall O'Connor, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence, Paddy Wallace, Darren Cave, Mark McCrea, Andrew Trimble, Simon Danielli, Tommy Seymour, Craig Gilroy, Conor Gaston, David McIlwaine, Jamie Smith, Adam D'Arcy.

http://www.magnersleague.com/news/7482.php

CIARAN_BOYLE

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/9207.php

Ferris is out for the QF

I'm hoping that Ulster go for a bit of continuity, playing the same team for the next two games

1 Court
2 Best
3 Botha
4 Muller
5 Tuohy
6 Wannenberg
7 Falloon
8 Diack
9 Pienaar
10 Humphries
11 Danielli
12 Wallace
13 Spence
14 Trimble
15 D'arcy

thomond2006

Northampton have found their form in the last few weeks. In saying that, I give Ulster a good chance of winning. Like many English sides Northampton may be overrated.

GerM

Going from saying he's feeling great and setting personal bests in the gym to requiring surgery within a few days? Something definitely not right with that. Beginning to wonder if we genuinely have seen the best of the man.

David900

I think Ferris is a massive loss to Ulster. So much so I'd be less confident about them winning. The man is Ulster. In saying that I agree with Thomand, I think Northampton are slightly overrated. They have a good squad which keeps them near the play-offs in the premiership but with all their talk they lost their first knock out match in both competitions last year. Don't get me wrong Ulster won't be favourites going into this but its the best team they could have hoped for, they'll really fancy their chances.

OT but did anyone see Foden got arrested in London too?

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/rugby/2011/0329/1224293333924.html

jacothelad

GerM wrote: »

Going from saying he's feeling great and setting personal bests in the gym to requiring surgery within a few days? Something definitely not right with that. Beginning to wonder if we genuinely have seen the best of the man.

I think. like Flannery having an op on his calf, he has been requested to have a surgical exploration of the knee by the IRFU in a bid to get him right for the RWC. He is optimistic himself and I think that is his nature. Lert's hope he can get some help to make it to N.Z. at least.

With regard to Ulster v. Northampton, Ulster usually would have probably the physically smallest and lightest pack out of any M.L. or A.P. side. While size isn't everything it does tell eventually towards the end of the game. You could see this with Ireland v. England who started to get into the game a bit simply by their physicality.

The Saints have a big pack as a rule with Tonga'huia at 21 stone being a real handful and has scored an impressive 17 tries and Brian Mujati as two very good props. Dylan Hartley is a good player if a bit of a loudmouth. That's a good front row. Guys like Lawes and Wood in the side make for a top quality set of forwards. Forwards win games 9 times out of 10. Much as I'd be ecstatic if we won I won't lose too much sleep if we don't.

Digifriendly

jacothelad wrote: »

With regard to Ulster v. Northampton, Ulster usually would have probably the physically smallest and lightest pack out of any M.L. or A.P. side. While size isn't everything it does tell eventually towards the end of the game. You could see this with Ireland v. England who started to get into the game a bit simply by their physicality.

The Saints have a big pack as a rule with Tonga'huia at 21 stone being a real handful and has scored an impressive 17 tries and Brian Mujati as two very good props. Dylan Hartley is a good player if a bit of a loudmouth. That's a good front row. Guys like Lawes and Wood in the side make for a top quality set of forwards. Forwards win games 9 times out of 10. Much as I'd be ecstatic if we won I won't lose too much sleep if we don't.

Excellent post. Ulster getting to knockout stages of HC is an achievement in itself. Going further would be a big bonus but success of the season doesn't depend on it. Realistically a top 4 finish in ML and a shot at that title is more achievable.

thomond2006

Ulster Team v Scarlets (Magners League, Ravenhill, Friday 1st April, kick-off 7.05pm)

A D'Arcy; A Trimble, N Spence, P Wallace, S Danielli; I Humphreys, R Pienaar;
T Court, R Best (capt), BJ Botha, J Muller, D Tuohy, R Diack, W Faloon, P Wannenburg;

Replacements (16-23): A Kyriacou, P McAllister, D Fitzpatrick, T Barker, C Henry, P Marshall, I Whitten, C Gilroy.

Scarlets starting XV v Ulster 1/04/2011, Ravenhill kick-off 1905:
Rhys Priestland, Gareth Maule, Regan King, Jon Davies, Morgan Stoddart, Stephen Jones, Tavis Knoyle,
Iestyn Thomas, Matthew Rees (capt), Rhys Thomas, Lou Reed, Rob McCusker, Josh Turnbull, Johnathan Edwards, Ben Morgan.

Replacements: Emyr Phillips, Rhodri Jones, Peter Edwards, Aaron Shingler, David Lyons, Martin Roberts, Daniel Evans, Scott Williams.

Big game for Ulster, must win for Scarlets or they are out of running for the playoffs. Great to see BJ Botha back, he'll be very important against Northampton.

CouchSmart

Should be a good game, both teams at full strength. Ulster are favourites (-7), think I'll be putting money on Scarlets to cover that spread, they're a decent team when they've all their players.

Digifriendly

CouchSmart wrote: »

Should be a good game, both teams at full strength. Ulster are favourites (-7), think I'll be putting money on Scarlets to cover that spread, they're a decent team when they've all their players.

Where's George North? Is he injured again?

CouchSmart

Digifriendly wrote: »

Where's George North? Is he injured again?

Haven't heard anything, probably has a niggle and is being rested. Stoddart isn't a bad replacement.

thomond2006

North is missing because of concussion.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/12892628.stm

damianmcr

http://www.theblues.co.nz/News/2011-4-1/Payne-signs-with-Ulster.aspx

Blues centre and Northland captain Jared Payne will head for Ireland later this year, having signed to play for Irish club Ulster Rugby.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/9219.php

CIARAN_BOYLE

Ulster sign Jared Payne from Blues

http://www.theblues.co.nz/News/2011-4-1/Payne-signs-with-Ulster.aspx

He primarily seems to be a FB but he also plays wing and at outside center. It seems to be a good signing. He is going to take Ulsters project slot. He has 30 Super Rugby caps so he has a fair amount of experience.

Afoa
Muller
Wannenberg
Pienaar
Danielli
Payne -- Project

I would have to wonder if D'arcy is leaving since he hasn't signed a new contract yet and would lose his starting spot with Ulster to Payne.

EDIT http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/9219.php

damianmcr

Too slow old chap;)

CIARAN_BOYLE

damianmcr wrote: »

Too slow old chap;)

ah well I got my other points in, updated a roster of NIQs ect

thomond2006

He's been playing 13 with Auckland atm. As long as he isn't played at 13 and denys Spence games then fair enough.

Is he any good? I've never seen him play.

CouchSmart

thomond2006 wrote: »

He's been playing 13 with Auckland atm, keeping Rene Ranger out of the team. As long as he isn't played at 13 and denying Spence games then fair enough.

Is he any good? I've never seen him play.

He's a 15, not sure about him playing 13 there's obviously a reason but prior to the last few weeks he's been a 15. He's consistent and very solid, a good signing for Ulster and probably their last - unless they contract some Irish lads.

CIARAN_BOYLE

CouchSmart wrote: »

He's a 15, not sure about him playing 13 there's obviously a reason but prior to the last few weeks he's been a 15. He's consistent and very solid, a good signing for Ulster and probably their last - unless they contract some Irish lads.

3 tries in 6 games at 13 so far this season.

Last season he played FB for Crusaders and the season before he was on the wing for crusaders I beleive. He is multitalented

There seems to have been a large group calling for him to get a spot in the RWC squad as a utility back

sock puppet

thomond2006 wrote: »

He's been playing 13 with Auckland atm. As long as he isn't played at 13 and denys Spence games then fair enough.

Is he any good? I've never seen him play.

He's really excellent. If he stayed he'd almost certainly have become an All Black. One of the best centres in the Super 14 this year and a great fullback too

CouchSmart

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

There seems to have been a large group calling for him to get a spot in the RWC squad as a utility back

He might get a spot, but NZ depth is just so good. Some of the talent they'll be leaving out of the squad is crazy. They could probably field 2 if not 3 teams well capable of playing international level.

CIARAN_BOYLE

CouchSmart wrote: »

He might get a spot, but NZ depth is just so good. Some of the talent they'll be leaving out of the squad is crazy. They could probably field 2 if not 3 teams well capable of playing international level.

I'm aware.

The idea of going to the RWC is gone since he is contracted up here for 3 years now and Ulster could not have signed him if he wasn't going to be a project

CouchSmart

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I'm aware.

The idea of going to the RWC is gone since he is contracted up here for 3 years now and Ulster could not have signed him if he wasn't going to be a project

Oh right, so he's signed as a 'project' player. Is Danielli leaving?

sock puppet

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I'm aware.

The idea of going to the RWC is gone since he is contracted up here for 3 years now and Ulster could not have signed him if he wasn't going to be a project

Him being a project player seems a little silly. He'll be almost 30 by the time he qualifies for us.

Podge_irl

sock puppet wrote: »

Him being a project player seems a little silly.

The entire concept of project players is silly.

Risteard

sock puppet wrote: »

Him being a project player seems a little silly. He'll be almost 30 by the time he qualifies for us.

Plus the fact that when he does 'qualify' he shouldn't be picked anyway.