Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

bilston

Fooker wrote: »

I see Jamie Smith has been dropped for next season by the NG Dragons. It shows how far Ulster have come in that a few years ago that the likes of Smith and D'arcy got alot of game time..

I remember watching Smith play in the Schools Cup final maybe 5 or 6 years ago and thinking that he was a cert to play for Ireland one day. Shows what I know!

CIARAN_BOYLE

Would any of the Ulster based posters round here be able to tell me a bit about Stuart Morrow Ballynahinch. Ulster Bank Division 1B Player of the Year.

I know he is a centre and thats it. Is he young or old, was he ever involved in the ulster setup. Does he play 12 or 13 or both. Any other details?

the_doctor199

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Would any of the Ulster based posters round here be able to tell me a bit about Stuart Morrow Ballynahinch. Ulster Bank Division 1B Player of the Year.

I know he is a centre and thats it. Is he young or old, was he ever involved in the ulster setup. Does he play 12 or 13 or both. Any other details?

Don't know anything of him, but the Hinch website says he's 30 and looks to be a 13.

bilston

The closer we get to Saturday the more ridiculous the decision to play this game the RDS becomes. We may have got 50% of the tickets but I am pretty sure Leinster fans will have got their hands on hundreds of them. We're going to be outnumbered playing at the home of Leinster. Genius.

awec

We'll certainly be heavily outnumbered IMO.

.ak

Apparently Ulster returned 200 of their allocation as well.

Tox56

bilston wrote: »

The closer we get to Saturday the more ridiculous the decision to play this game the RDS becomes. We may have got 50% of the tickets but I am pretty sure Leinster fans will have got their hands on hundreds of them. We're going to be outnumbered playing at the home of Leinster. Genius.

What was the alternative?

Winters

bilston wrote: »

The closer we get to Saturday the more ridiculous the decision to play this game the RDS becomes. We may have got 50% of the tickets but I am pretty sure Leinster fans will have got their hands on hundreds of them. We're going to be outnumbered playing at the home of Leinster. Genius.

What was the alternative?

.ak

Tox56 wrote: »

What was the alternative?

Winters wrote: »

What was the alternative?

I knew it. Re-regs, caught finally! :cool:

iamjenko

Could havv opted for Thomond Park... Bit of a trek tho

bilston

Tox56 wrote: »

What was the alternative?

Thomond

justsomebloke

iamjenko wrote: »

Could havv opted for Thomond Park... Bit of a trek tho

would of been even more one sided towards Leinster supporters if it had gone to thomond

bilston

Winters wrote: »

What was the alternative?

The Aviva

justsomebloke

bilston wrote: »

The Aviva

Given that Ulster didn't sell out their allocation for the RDS, the Aviva would of been an even worse choice, as it wouldn't of been nearly full and again it would of seen an even bigger imbalance towards Leinster supporters

the_doctor199

iamjenko wrote: »

Could havv opted for Thomond Park... Bit of a trek tho

I think given the game was only confirmed two weeks in advance you would get even less fans making the journey. Bit of a ballache, but RDS really was the only option if we can't use GAA grounds.

bilston

Or my own preference is that the contractors would have got a kick up the arse and re-developed Ravenhill a bit quicker...something a bit like this maybe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cl7cxopNjg

irishbucsfan

The premiership final sold out very quickly... I think we could have made a decent job of selling out the Aviva in a similar way. Would've been 70% Leinster fans though.

A thought: The final should rotate between Aviva/Murrayfield/Cardiff/Rome?

justsomebloke

irishbucsfan wrote: »

A thought: The final should rotate between Aviva/Murrayfield/Cardiff/Rome?

You wouldn't get enough travelling support to make this a runner

bilston

justsomebloke wrote: »

You wouldn't get enough travelling support to make this a runner

I think part of the problem for the Pro 12 final is that fans only have two weeks notice about where the final is going to be.

If we knew months in advance that the final was going to be at the Aviva then I think it would probably sell out. This may or not be the case if it was in Cardiff or Edinburgh but then you just choose smaller stadiums.

From memory I think the first few Premiership finals were far from sell outs at Twickenham.

bilston

bilston wrote: »

Or my own preference is that the contractors would have got a kick up the arse and re-developed Ravenhill a bit quicker...something a bit like this maybe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cl7cxopNjg

FAO Justsomebloke - What does "re-braking it" mean?

Winters

The RDS was clearly the only viable venue for this weekend's final. Yes it would have been nice if Ravenhill could have been used but with a knowledge of both construction and project management, speeding things up introduces risk of the project going over budget and worse still failing.

If the Ravenhill work hadn't even started the RDS would still be the only option. Just stop giving out, be glad you are getting a stadium redevelopment for free and look forward to all the finals can have from 2014 onwards.

justsomebloke

bilston wrote: »

FAO Justsomebloke - What does "re-braking it" mean?

I think you changed it a couple of times to get the youtube link embedded but hadn't got it fomatted correctly. I changed it so it was working but after that you changed it again so that it wasn't working again. At which point I redid it again to get the link working

irishbucsfan

justsomebloke wrote: »

You wouldn't get enough travelling support to make this a runner

Ah I think you might. You'd have to flog tickets cheaply enough though.

If you have a year to sell the tickets rather than 2 weeks I think it'd work.

Maybe when the league improves it reputation a little bit.

vienne86

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Ah I think you might. You'd have to flog tickets cheaply enough though.

If you have a year to sell the tickets rather than 2 weeks I think it'd work.

Maybe when the league improves it reputation a little bit.

No way would there be enough travelling support IMO, especially at the very end of the season when most of us are broke. I think it has to be defined by which teams are in the final.....Did the RDS sell out when Leinster played Ospreys in the final last year? I just can't remember, but even if it did, remember that Leinster fans were on a high from the previous week which would have boosted demand.

TheGoldenAges

How about play it in the home countries national stadium that finishes first, that would give at least 3+ weeks to sell tickets at least if the league went down to the wire

vienne86

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

How about play it in the home countries national stadium that finishes first, that would give at least 3+ weeks to sell tickets at least if the league went down to the wire

And possibly have two Irish teams playing in Cardiff....or Edinburgh? Ugh! Or even Italy?

I am pie

Highest placed finalist gets a home tie...is that the current rule and we couldn´t go ahead because of minimum seating/construction phase of Ravers? Sorry for my ignorance!

TheGoldenAges

vienne86 wrote: »

And possibly have two Irish teams playing in Cardiff....or Edinburgh? Ugh! Or even Italy?

The odds of that happening now :pac: The away teams rarely win the semi finals, just look at the last few Heineken Cup or Rabo semi finals

vienne86

TheGoldenAges wrote: »

The odds of that happening now :pac: The away teams rarely win the semi finals, just look at the last few Heineken Cup or Rabo semi finals

But it could happen, and that would be enought to rule it out as an option IMO.

CIARAN_BOYLE

I am pie wrote: »

Highest placed finalist gets a home tie...is that the current rule and we couldn´t go ahead because of minimum seating/construction phase of Ravers? Sorry for my ignorance!

yep thats it. The stadium has to be at least 18,000 though for the final.