Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

19543261

and Williams !

awec

Great to see the trio pick up awards:

jacothelad

They should have given Luke a Kevlar scrum cap.....:D

bilston

jacothelad wrote: »

They should have given Luke a Kevlar scrum cap.....:D

Apparently he banged his head against his trophy and got concussion again. I'm going to send him my daughters pink bike helmet so he can look after his noggin...he'll look fetching...

irishbucsfan

Jared Payne signs new 3 year deal with Ulster:

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/11453.php

Great news. Could well be Ireland full back or 13 by the end of it!

awec

BRILLIANT news.

postitnote

And I see he's been picked for the baa baas. Here's hoping he doesn't impress too much and the kiwis want him back!!

totallegend

What an odd choice of photo of Jared Payne though...

Great news to nail him down. If he keeps up this level of form, he'll be making his Ireland debut in November 2014 and will be a strong contender for the world cup.

Bogota

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Jared Payne signs new 3 year deal with Ulster:

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/11453.php

Great news. Could well be Ireland full back or 13 by the end of it!

Great news for Ireland and Ulster but worrying news for Earls who is going to find it increasingly difficult to get into the Irish starting 15 in the future at this rate.

trouttrout

Bogota wrote: »

Great news for Ireland and Ulster but worrying news for Earls who is going to find it increasingly difficult to get into the Irish starting 15 in the future at this rate.

Trust you to take something like this and find a way to critique a Munster player

Delighted Payne is staying on. But I don't really want to see him in green, we have enough talented young backs that are actually Irish

Bogota

trouttrout wrote: »

Trust you to take something like this and find a way to critique a Munster player

Trust you to find something to get offended over. I was pointing out that Payne is going to be the natural successor to O'Driscoll now at 13, leaving Earls in a bit of a predicament.

.ak

No bickering, please.

bilston

Great news.

So he'll be playing against the Lions on June 1st. I wonder what odds you could get on him playing FOR the Lions in 2017 against NZ?

Anyway that's all for the future, this is great news for Ulster.

Looking at our back three options they are all signed on for long term deals. Not sure about Peter Nelson but I imagine he'll be a player that Ulster will want to get on contract pretty quickly as he is another with a big future IMO.

Payne - June 2016
Gilroy - June 2016
Trimble - June 2015
Bowe - June 2015
Allen - June 2015
Nelson - ???

Hagz

I can't see Payne ever wearing 13 for Ireland. Not unless he somehow manages to end up there for Ulster (which I'd love to see), but it's unlikely given that they need him more at full-back than they do at centre. I wouldn't rule it out, but I would think it unlikely.

He'll be a valuable asset at full-back though. Kearney could do with some strong competition.

irishbucsfan

Luke Marshall is going to take the summer off

lurtz

Birch confirmed to be going to rotherham

awec

IMO once Payne is eligible he'll slot in at 15 for Ireland.

Tox56

If Kearney rediscovers his 2012/2009 form when Payne becomes eligible it will be fascinating, we will surely be BODless and will likely have a massive hole at 13, yet Payne is unlikely to be playing there regularly for Ulster. Ireland need him more at 13, Ulster need him more at 15...

bilston

awec wrote: »

IMO once Payne is eligible he'll slot in at 15 for Ireland.

Payne v Kearney could be a bit like Best v Strauss. Ideally if it's a 50/50 call I'd prefer the born and bred Irishman to be in the team but I suppose you can't really operate like that. If a player is available then you use him like any other player.

Payne hasn't played that much at 13 for Ulster, I can only think of two or three games to be honest. He may end up there in the last 10 mins sometimes after all the subs have been made (he might have ended up at 13 on Friday against Cardiff actually but it can be hard to tell that late in the game). If he is a replacement for BOD then he'll need to start playing there more often. But then who plays 15 for Ulster? D'Arcy is off the France so either Nelson comes into the side or else Gilroy or perhaps Bowe play there. I guess it would be Gilroy who did pretty well there away to Castres in the HEC. Believe it or not his kicking game was top drawer that day which kind of flies in the face of his kicking against Wales in the 6Ns!

It's funny when we look at possible replacements for BOD we look at Earls (who is better on the wing), we look at McFadden (not sure if he is a better wing or centre but he seems to play wing as much as centre), we look at Payne (who plays 90% of his rugby at 15) but we (by that I really mean the Irish media and coaching staff) hardly ever bloody look at Darren Cave who is an out and out 13 and a damn good one at that!

bilston

Tox56 wrote: »

we will surely be BODless

It sounds like it will be worse than losing a limb!

Utah_Saint

bilston wrote: »

It sounds like it will be worse than losing a limb!

Still think Olding should be tried at 13.

12 Marshall - 13 Olding for Ulster and Ireland would be fantastic!

irishbucsfan

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Still think Olding should be tried at 13.

12 Marshall - 13 Olding for Ulster and Ireland would be fantastic!

I think I'd prefer it the other way around, I really liked the look of Marshall there (I'm sure I've said this before!)

trouttrout

cough........DARREN CAVE.................cough

overshoot

*cough* chris farrell *cough*


i still have high hopes there too

bilston

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Still think Olding should be tried at 13.

12 Marshall - 13 Olding for Ulster and Ireland would be fantastic!

Well there seem to be a lot of people wanting to have a look at Olding at 10 but like you I guess I'd be looking to try him one out at 13. He seems to have the game for 13. I wouldn't want to hype him too much obviously but he definitely seems to have some BOD like tendencies to his game.

For example something I've noticed is that when other players score tries he is very often the first one there to congratulate them which maybe suggests he runs great support lines and might help to explain the 4 tries in 6 games stat he had going into the Cardiff game last week! He already appears to have a knack of being in the right place at the right time and I would think that those of us who have watched BOD over the last 14 years will tell you that isn't a coincidence.

bilston

overshoot wrote: »

*cough* chris farrell *cough*


i still have high hopes there too

Cannot compute...too many options...cannot compute...

Utah_Saint

trouttrout wrote: »

cough........DARREN CAVE.................cough

I know:(...and i do feel bad for Cave as he is a good, solid, consistant Pro12 Centre,

but maybe (for me anyway) thats his problem. He does all the basic's well and sometimes you barely notice him play. With Olding and Marshall they add more flair, something which BOD had bags of. I'm always looking for a 13 to do something out of the ordinary, something special. I just think Olding and Marshall can offer that more than Cave at this present time...

Utah_Saint

bilston wrote: »

Well there seem to be a lot of people wanting to have a look at Olding at 10 but like you I guess I'd be looking to try him one out at 13. He seems to have the game for 13. I wouldn't want to hype him too much obviously but he definitely seems to have some BOD like tendencies to his game.

For example something I've noticed is that when other players score tries he is very often the first one there to congratulate them which maybe suggests he runs great support lines and might help to explain the 4 tries in 6 games stat he had going into the Cardiff game last week! He already appears to have a knack of being in the right place at the right time and I would think that those of us who have watched BOD over the last 14 years will tell you that isn't a coincidence.

Well spotted...!

I def see a lot of BOD like qualities to his game but as you say - lets not overhype him.

.ak

So basically the consensus is the future 13 of Ireland lies in Ulster. Personally I'd happy with that, as we've seen how a provincial pairing at midfield can work so well together if brought in together for the national team. 12. Marshall / 13. AN Other Ulsterman.

Podge_irl

Marshall could well lose out to Olding methinks.