Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

jacothelad · 02-01-2013 9:55pm

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Would Marshall be ahead of Wallace for the ERC now?

It's a close call but the change needs to come at some time. I'd make it now. Mincer is great cover to have and they can be rotated. Both can play 10 and 13 for example. Marshall is a decent kicker. The sad thing of course is the loss of Nevin Spence.

bilston · 03-01-2013 1:19pm

Scarlets team v Ulster Friday 4th January 2013 kick-off 7.05pm Ravenhill;
15 Dan Newton
14 George North
13 Gareth Maule
12 Jonathan Davies (capt)
11 Kristian Phillips
10 Aled Thomas
9 Tavis Knoyle
1 Phil John
2 Emyr Phillips
3 Jacobie Adriaanse
4 Sione Timani
5 Richard Kelly
6 Josh Turnbull
7 Johnathan Edwards
8 Rob McCusker

Replacements: 16 Matthew Rees, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Deacon Manu, 19 Tomas Vallejos, 20 Craig Price, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Scott Williams, 23 Adam Warren

Important that Ulster win the battle up front because that's a dangerous backline.

CIARAN_BOYLE · 03-01-2013 1:22pm

and the Ulster team

(15-9): A D’Arcy, A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, R Herring, A Macklin, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, R Diack, C Henry c, N Williams;
Replacements (16-23): N Annett, C Black, J Afoa, N McComb, R Wilson, M Heaney, P Wallace, R Andrew.

No Henderson, no Payne, no Best, Afoa not starting, no P Marshall getting a little worried about this one

bilston · 03-01-2013 1:27pm

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

and the Ulster team

(15-9): A D’Arcy, A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, R Herring, A Macklin, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, R Diack, C Henry c, N Williams;
Replacements (16-23): N Annett, C Black, J Afoa, N McComb, R Wilson, M Heaney, P Wallace, R Andrew.

No Henderson, no Payne, no Best, Afoa not starting, no P Marshall getting a little worried about this one

Someone was saying elsewhere that Paul Marshall is getting married soon (maybe even this weekend) which might explain his non selection.

GerM · 03-01-2013 1:31pm

bilston wrote: »

Someone was saying elsewhere that Paul Marshall is getting married soon (maybe even this weekend) which might explain his non selection.

Surely no pro rugby player in this country would arrange their wedding for January when there are HEC games and Irish selections to play for?

irishbucsfan · 03-01-2013 1:33pm

GerM wrote: »

Surely no pro rugby player in this country would arrange their wedding for January when there are HEC games and Irish selections to play for?

You're assuming he had any say in the matter!

darragh_haven · 03-01-2013 1:34pm

GerM wrote: »

Surely no pro rugby player in this country would arrange their wedding for January when there are HEC games and Irish selections to play for?

and risk the wrath of the bride...... i'd rather my balls between my legs than carry them around in a bag.

bilston · 03-01-2013 1:48pm

Of course wedding or no wedding maybe Anscombe is simply rewarding Heaney for his cameo against Munster.

mfceiling · 03-01-2013 2:08pm

GerM wrote: »

Surely no pro rugby player in this country would arrange their wedding for January when there are HEC games and Irish selections to play for?

Not too many female pro rugby players ger!!

CatFromHue · 03-01-2013 2:20pm

Lanelli are missing a few players of note: Liam Williams, Scott Williams, Aaron Shingler, and Preistland too.

Ulster have also had a good scrum from what I've seen of them, anyone who saw the Ospreys Lanelli game will know why this is important. The Ospreys blew them away in the scrum!

awec · 03-01-2013 4:57pm

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

and the Ulster team

(15-9): A D’Arcy, A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, C Gilroy; P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, R Herring, A Macklin, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, R Diack, C Henry c, N Williams;
Replacements (16-23): N Annett, C Black, J Afoa, N McComb, R Wilson, M Heaney, P Wallace, R Andrew.

No Henderson, no Payne, no Best, Afoa not starting, no P Marshall getting a little worried about this one

Why no Best, Afoa or Payne?!

ssaye · 03-01-2013 5:17pm

awec wrote: »

Why no Best, Afoa or Payne?!

few niggly injuries and rest for Afoa I think

Banbridgeman2 · 03-01-2013 7:29pm

Rest up for the big 2 weeks ahead

bilston · 03-01-2013 8:08pm

awec wrote: »

Why no Best, Afoa or Payne?!

Payne is ill apparently. Not sure about Best and as already said Afoa is just being rested while MA tries to give Macklin game time

Stanza2 · 04-01-2013 6:34pm

These are the games that new/young players should be tried out, especially given the current league position

bilston · 04-01-2013 7:35pm

Stanza2 wrote: »

These are the games that new/young players should be tried out, especially given the current league position

This is 1st vs 2nd in the league!

ssaye · 05-01-2013 10:40pm

RTE 2 Coverage after Munster game, Lenihan and Horgan really impressed like us all with Ulster but saying drop PJ this year put Pienaar 10 and Marshall 9 and a great team atm would have an even better chance of winning HEC. Thoughts? I think its fine at the moment.

Hagz · 05-01-2013 10:49pm

ssaye wrote: »

RTE 2 Coverage after Munster game, Lenihan and Horgan really impressed like us all with Ulster but saying drop PJ this year put Pienaar 10 and Marshall 9 and a great team atm would have an even better chance of winning HEC. Thoughts? I think its fine at the moment.

It's harsh but I think it's true. I would still say Ulster have a good chance of winning the HC, but if they come up against a goliath team like Clermont, then I think they need to go with Piennar at 10.

bilston · 06-01-2013 12:36am

Pienaar is one of the top 9s in the world and we'll keep him there thanks very much!

Jackson played well yesterday anyway so why look to drop him? If it had been after Leinster or Northampton then their views would have had more traction but since then Marshall has had a 'mare in Munster and Jackson has had a good game against the Scarlets. Leave things as they are.

sixy · 06-01-2013 1:23am

ssaye wrote: »

RTE 2 Coverage after Munster game, Lenihan and Horgan really impressed like us all with Ulster but saying drop PJ this year put Pienaar 10 and Marshall 9 and a great team atm would have an even better chance of winning HEC. Thoughts? I think its fine at the moment.

Thought Jackson played better on Friday night and think it was done to the fact that Pienaar was kicking the goals. It takes a bit of pressure off and just lets him concentrate on his game. He is still young after all. Besides, Pienaar is one of the best 9s around and Marshall is a better impact player than a starter i think.

leonard7 · 06-01-2013 3:15am

paddy jackson is a better 10 than marshall is a 9 imo

Hagz · 06-01-2013 4:14am

leonard7 wrote: »

paddy jackson is a better 10 than marshall is a 9 imo

True. I just don't think he's at that stage yet where he would look "in place" with a Heineken Cup Champion team. But he can definitely get there. But I look at someone like Piennar and he has Heineken Cup Champion written all over him. But I suppose to get there you have to play there.

irishbucsfan · 06-01-2013 11:01am

Jackson is the future. What little difference there is between Pienaar/PJ and Marshall/Pienaar is completely outweighed by Jackson's huge potential and young age. For me it's not even that much of a debate in my mind, because i think Pienaar is a better 9 than 10 as well.

I think that Marshall should be starting a lot of games though. Ulster should be looking towards a sustainable IQ halfback group in the case of Pienaar leaving.

bilston · 06-01-2013 11:09am

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Jackson is the future. What little difference there is between Pienaar/PJ and Marshall/Pienaar is completely outweighed by Jackson's huge potential and young age. For me it's not even that much of a debate in my mind, because i think Pienaar is a better 9 than 10 as well.

I think that Marshall should be starting a lot of games though. Ulster should be looking towards a sustainable IQ halfback group in the case of Pienaar leaving.

Yep and Marshall has started loads of games this season.

Sinbad_NI · 06-01-2013 2:51pm

irishbucsfan wrote: »

...

I think that Marshall should be starting a lot of games though. Ulster should be looking towards a sustainable IQ halfback group in the case of Pienaar leaving.

Ulster should be playing their strongest available team, end off. For me that's still RP at 9 and PJ at 10. Especially if RP is going to be place kicking. Otherwise when RP leaves we'll be in a right mess.

the_doctor199 · 06-01-2013 3:44pm

Will certainly be interesting to see who kicks for the next two HC games, seems pretty unanimous that everyone thinks Jackson had a better game without the pressure of kicking.

Hopefully Nick starts at #8 too and bring on Roger around the hour mark.

bilston · 06-01-2013 3:48pm

the_doctor199 wrote: »

Will certainly be interesting to see who kicks for the next two HC games, seems pretty unanimous that everyone thinks Jackson had a better game without the pressure of kicking.

Hopefully Nick starts at #8 too and bring on Roger around the hour mark.

It seemed to take the pressure of him although he was kicking at the end and still playing very well but by then there was no pressure. Its fine for now but eventually he will have to come to terms with the kicking duties.

One irony from last night is that RTE watched ROGs performance and decided it was Jacksons place in the Ulster team that was worthy of debate...

shuffol · 06-01-2013 3:59pm

bilston wrote: »

It seemed to take the pressure of him although he was kicking at the end and still playing very well but by then there was no pressure. Its fine for now but eventually he will have to come to terms with the kicking duties.

One irony from last night is that RTE watched ROGs performance and decided it was Jacksons place in the Ulster team that was worthy of debate...

There's that mentality among Irish commentators in particular that kicking the ball out of play for a gain of 10 metres is a good thing. That said ROG is doing the same he's always done only arguably better now than ever, its just that he no longer suits those around him, pundits will never look to him at being the issue though.

Tox56 · 06-01-2013 4:13pm

bilston wrote: »

It seemed to take the pressure of him although he was kicking at the end and still playing very well but by then there was no pressure. Its fine for now but eventually he will have to come to terms with the kicking duties.

One irony from last night is that RTE watched ROGs performance and decided it was Jacksons place in the Ulster team that was worthy of debate...

Madigan was protected from the pressure of place kicking where possible up until this season, and his all round play has developed well because of this. In the Ulster situation it's a no brainer for me. Pienaar is not only more experienced, he is probably a better kicker. 10 doesn't need to kick, and at his age PJ should be learning how to play outhalf, not worrying about his kicking.

jacothelad · 06-01-2013 4:13pm

Tox56 wrote: »

Madigan was protected from the pressure of place kicking where possible up until this season, and his all round play has developed well because of this. In the Ulster situation it's a no brainer for me. Pienaar is not only more experienced, he is probably a better kicker. 10 doesn't need to kick, and at his age PJ should be learning how to play outhalf, not worrying about his kicking.

....................while learning to kick.

Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Comments