Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Fooker

Could possibly see Henderson at 5 and Williams at 6?

Swiwi

Do you guys think Payne will stay & try and qualify for Ireland, or return to NZ and push for an AB spot?

shuffol

Swiwi wrote: »

Do you guys think Payne will stay & try and qualify for Ireland, or return to NZ and push for an AB spot?

Do you think he's good enough to hold down a spot for NZ?

mfceiling

Swiwi wrote: »

Do you guys think Payne will stay & try and qualify for Ireland, or return to NZ and push for an AB spot?

I would say his age would count against him returning and making the AB's.

backawaygo onahead

Swiwi wrote: »

Do you guys think Payne will stay & try and qualify for Ireland, or return to NZ and push for an AB spot?

I've no doubt he will become Paddy Payne, rumour was he stayed here last year so it didn't effect his qualification.

Like most of out NIQ brigade he is said to love things here and the rugby isn't going too badly. Why would he gamble with a career now on track to get him a well paid Irish central contract and play for a successful club?

Surely it would involve a significant pay cut to try his hand in NZ again?

Swiwi

shuffol wrote: »

Do you think he's good enough to hold down a spot for NZ?

Too much competition at 11/14/15 but in terms of the midfield:

Nonu & Smith are ageing
Kahui is prone to injury
Ellison & B Smith are fairly untested at international level

Other players such as Freuan, Crotty, Bateman are probably never going to make it. The little of Francis Saili (Blues) I have seen looked reasonable.

And all Kiwis hope SBW comes back from league.

It would be no guarantee, but I would say he would have a better than even chance.
***
You would think he would be in the running for the Irish midfield, given BOD & Darcy are nearing the end, and that there is not a lot of other Irish players saying pick me, maybe Marshall & Cave excepted.

Swiwi

backawaygo onahead wrote: »

I've no doubt he will become Paddy Payne, rumour was he stayed here last year so it didn't effect his qualification.

Like most of out NIQ brigade he is said to love things here and the rugby isn't going too badly. Why would he gamble with a career now on track to get him a well paid Irish central contract and play for a successful club?

Surely it would involve a significant pay cut to try his hand in NZ again?

Therein lies the rub...

Tox56

Swiwi wrote: »

***
You would think he would be in the running for the Irish midfield, given BOD & Darcy are nearing the end, and that there is not a lot of other Irish players saying pick me, maybe Marshall & Cave excepted.

He probably would be but the problem is he is playing for the same province as Marshall and Cave.

Cave had another good game last night, and he is 2 years younger than Payne. If Payne wanted to play 13 for Ireland, he would have to play there for Ulster, and it's hard to see that happening (in the big games anyway)

In terms of fullbacks we are well stocked with Rob Kearney and Felix Jones only 26 and 25 respectively (Zebo is 22, Henshaw in Connacht only 19).

I should also probably say I'm totally opposed to him (and project players in general) playing for Ireland.

QwertyIII

IMO i think he is good enough to maybe get a few AB caps, but he'll be 28 by the time his ulster contract is finshed, so age could be a problem for him, plus less ££££! Stating the obvious but theres a much better chance for him to get plenty of caps for ireland.

I think a big thing is the fact that he is here, on a 3 year contract & not for 1/2 seasons, if he wanted to go for caps AB, would he have left? Paddy Payne all the way. Love watching him, just seems so effortless for him.

QwertyIII

Does anyone know how the ravens are getting/got on, cant seem to find anything on them.

Swiwi

QwertyIII wrote: »

IMO i think he is good enough to maybe get a few AB caps, but he'll be 28 by the time his ulster contract is finshed, so age could be a problem for him, plus less ££££! Stating the obvious but theres a much better chance for him to get plenty of caps for ireland.

I think a big thing is the fact that he is here, on a 3 year contract & not for 1/2 seasons, if he wanted to go for caps AB, would he have left? Paddy Payne all the way. Love watching him, just seems so effortless for him.

Depends what he wants and if SBW decides to come back to NZ. I'm sure Payne, like every player, would like a crack at RWC 2015, so maybe he will decide whether to stick with Ulster +/- Ireland or return to NZ. If he does want to go for the ABs he'll need to play S15 in 2014, leaving it to 2015 will be too late.

QwertyIII

QwertyIII wrote: »

Does anyone know how the ravens are getting/got on, cant seem to find anything on them.

Found the result, Ulster 40 -Cardiff 14, D'Arcy, Cochrane (2) & Birch with the tries, & Olding 3 pens, glad he got 10 over NOC.

backawaygo onahead

Tox56 wrote: »

I should also probably say I'm totally opposed to him (and project players in general) playing for Ireland.

You are well entitled to your opinion but that boat sailed long ago, its the way of the rugby playing world now, like it or not.

QwertyIII

Have I just missed it, or how come there is no team out yet?

Hope there isn't too many changes from last week, (no more broken bones/injuries please please please) other than Henderson/McComb/Big Nick lock/6 debate. IMO would like to see McComb in for Muller, I know he started against the 2 italian sides, and an international deprived Edinburgh and Scarlets, but just think it a good chance to see how he get on in a HC game.

Would be hard to justify many changes after last weeks preformance, but MA does seem to like a bit of rotation, well in the rabo anyway. Or maybe he has decided on his best starting 15 now.

Think it might be a bit closer this staurday. Can see ulster being just as good, but cant see the Saints as wasteful, e.g. Courtney Laws just droping the ball out of play etc.

& of course no Hartley, brings a smile to my face. only 2 weeks 2, with his record, a disgrace!

totallegend

Teams will be announced by noon today at the latest

bilston

Henderson to the row and Williams to 6, other than that same as...

irishbucsfan

bilston wrote: »

Henderson to the row and Williams to 6, other than that same as...

I think it'll have to be this. Is McComb fully fit?

A real shame it can't be Stevenson with Muller out.

bilston

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think it'll have to be this. Is McComb fully fit?

A real shame it can't be Stevenson with Muller out.

As far as I know McComb is fully fit so he could start with Hendo at 6 which gives us more lineout options but means we'd be less effective around the park.

backawaygo onahead

The team will be as many expect, same again with Henderson replacing Muller & Fat Nick to 6.

There is simply no good reason to do anything else, Williams took longer than expected to shake off the rib injury which saw him less than effective in Italy but he is now ready to go & I suspect a few Saints will feel the effects tomorrow.

Concerns about Henderson are misguided, he is & will be a special one.

That said there is always a calm air when Johann is there and there are few if any more secure lineout operators about.

Frankly can see absolutely no good reason to think Saints are capable of turning this around, much as I hope Ulster will approach it as simply another home HC game to be won & not feel there is any real expectancy of a rout. It they do all the usual things right then it could develop into bloodbath but first things first, get the game started as normal & take it from there.

Think I'd like Diack to start at 6 with Nick on the bench as an impact sub.

Hype710

Good for Henderson to get time at lock. Will improve his chances of 6N selection as a lock/blindside replacement.

awec

For some reason I thought this game was tonight.

I am quietly confident. Glad to see Williams back, I have missed the sight of tacklers bouncing off him! :pac:

leonard7

Ulster XV & replacements to face Northampton Saints, Heineken Cup, Saturday 15th December, Ravenhill (6.00pm):
(15-9): J Payne; T Bowe, D Cave, P Wallace, A Trimble; P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, R Best, J Afoa, I Henderson, D Tuohy, N Williams, C Henry (capt), R Wilson;
Replacements (16-23): N Brady, C Black, R Lutton, N McComb, R Diack, P Marshall, L Marshall, C Gilroy.

awec

Strong team. Get a bit of a lead then introduce Gilroy to get at them more.

bilston

Deleted User wrote: »

Think I'd like Diack to start at 6 with Nick on the bench as an impact sub.

That's probably what I would have done but I'm not going to question Anscombe at this stage.

backawaygo onahead

Cowboy knows best gents, and Fat Nick is an Anscombe favourite. Fat boy will be rampant after a wee rest.

Can't wait to see it, happy to have Robbie on the bench and really ready to see our top guys out there after quite a few weeks on the road. I reckon teh place will be jumping.

bilston

backawaygo onahead wrote: »

Cowboy knows best gents, and Fat Nick is an Anscombe favourite. Fat boy will be rampant after a wee rest.

Can't wait to see it, happy to have Robbie on the bench and really ready to see our top guys out there after quite a few weeks on the road. I reckon teh place will be jumping.

Yeah the place will be bouncing. Not there this week but there will bells on next week, where I hope we'll be going for 15/15.

Podge_irl

I would have liked to see one of Marshall or Gilroy starting (similar to how Schmidt approaches home and away games differently), but that's a very strong team.

ScissorPaperRock

awec wrote: »

For some reason I thought this game was tonight.

Ah crap.. so did I. I've been looking forward to it all day. Thought there was going to be a nice spread of rugby over the weekend!

CatFromHue

ScissorPaperRoc wrote: »

Ah crap.. so did I. I've been looking forward to it all day. Thought there was going to be a nice spread of rugby over the weekend!

It's not too bad I think.

Connacht tonight, Leinster followed by Ulster tomorrow, and then Munster on Sunday. For me anyway there's no overlap of games that I want to watch except maybe Ospreys Toulouse and Treviso Leicester.