Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

I am pie

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Missed it myself.

Was it good?

Ulster: 15 Adam D'Arcy, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Stefan Terblanche, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Willie Faloon, 6 Mike McComish, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Lewis Stevenson, 3 John Afoa (capt), 2 Andi Kyriacou, 1 Callum Black.
Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Tim Barker, 20 Ali Birch, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Nevin Spence, 23 Simon Danielli.


Dragons: 15 Martyn Thomas, 14 Jamie Smith, 13 Adam Hughes, 12 Ashley Smith (capt), 11 Aled Brew, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Wayne Evans, 8 Gavin Thomas, 7 Darren Waters, 6 Jevon Groves, 5 Rob Sidoli, 4 Adam Jones, 3 Nathan Buck, 2 Steve Jones, 1 Nathan Williams.
Replacements: 16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Phil Price, 18 Dan Way, 19 Hugo Ellis, 20 Tom Brown, 21 Joe Bedford, 22 Andy Tuilagi, 23 Lewis Robling.


Date: Friday, February 10
Kick-off: 19:05
Venue: Ravenhill
Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy)

Spence starting at 12 rather than wallace

I am pie

Poor discipline from the ulstermen, 2 tries up but only 3 points in it.

OldRio

Cracking try
Ulster 15 v Dragons 9
Good game

irishbucsfan

There are certain egotistical refs who wouldnt admit to that mistake...

I am pie

Spence has to get a look in at some stage at 12 for Ireland, playing better rugby than darcy right now. Not for this 6n tournament, hopefully next.

I am pie

Bit pedestrian thereat the end, feels like we left points on the pitch there.

profitius

The commentator just said he met an Irish woman in New Zealand originally from Tipperary. She was Karl Haymans mother!

Neil3030

Tuohy is a beast.

RuggieBear

try of the season scored by pienaar...well it will be something special to beat it.

Burgo

Lovely bp try.

overshoot

RuggieBear wrote: »

try of the season scored by pienaar...well it will be something special to beat it.

9 ulster players involved, great team effort... yessss, bonus point! thought it was gone when they went for the posts 2 mins ago. 30-12ft then

jacothelad

Tuohy was incredibly dynamic all through and Nevin Spence is a kamikaze in the centre. He is feckin' awesome in the physicality of his game. He appears to be quite insane....but in a good way.

irishbucsfan

THought the referee deserves a special mention. On a Friday night in Ravenhill he came down and reffed the game perfectly. Ulster kept infringing on the deck, doing their best to slow down the Dragons, but he consistently picked them up on it. The two sin binnings were spot on, the first after he ahd warned them for consistent fouling and the second after Whitten cynically knocked it from Thomas' hands at the breakdown. Well done Mr. Italian ref. As close to a 10/10 as I could give for a refs performance.

As for Ulster I thought their defense was excellent. Not great conditions and they messed up a lot of poissession with silly errors but they stood their ground without the ball. I though Ian Whitten had a shocked, indecisive with his defensive positioning, knocked on a few and got sin binned for something absolutely stupid. I know he's not a 13 normally but he will be disapoointed... Ulster need a better stand-in for Cave at 13.

Tuohy or Pienaar my MOTM, Falloon close to them (Birch was good when he replaced Falloon, deserves a mention because he's still in the academy).

irishbucsfan

I don't know what there was more iof in that game. Ulster penalties or TV shots of Ulster men sneakilly drinking from their hip flasks!

wp_rathead

enjoyed this game. Ulsters 2nd try was barbarian style- great stuff

thought Ulster had bottled the TBP with going for 3 points with 2 mins to go when 8 points up. Tuohy had yet another beast of a game and Gilroy yet again proved he should been in the wolfhound squad atleast

jacothelad

irishbucsfan wrote: »

THought the referee deserves a special mention. On a Friday night in Ravenhill he came down and reffed the game perfectly. Ulster kept infringing on the deck, doing their best to slow down the Dragons, but he consistently picked them up on it. The two sin binnings were spot on, the first after he ahd warned them for consistent fouling and the second after Whitten cynically knocked it from Thomas' hands at the breakdown. Well done Mr. Italian ref. As close to a 10/10 as I could give for a refs performance.

As for Ulster I thought their defense was excellent. Not great conditions and they messed up a lot of poissession with silly errors but they stood their ground without the ball. I though Ian Whitten had a shocked, indecisive with his defensive positioning, knocked on a few and got sin binned for something absolutely stupid. I know he's not a 13 normally but he will be disapoointed... Ulster need a better stand-in for Cave at 13.

Tuohy or Pienaar my MOTM, Falloon close to them (Birch was good when he replaced Falloon, deserves a mention because he's still in the academy).

The ref had a couple of howlers. Giving a k.o. when the ball came off a player's head, binning Faloon for not releasing a player he didn't tackle and penalising D'Arcy when he had already been subbed 15 minutes earlier. He was mainly good though. He's been good before.


I've never seen Whitten as bad - by a long way. Spence was at 12 b.t.w. and he was excellent and he's a 13. This is an example of Mclaughlin's 'strange' selections. Daft really and potentially costly. Whitten was woeful. He's normally very reliable. He was superb against Clermont for example.

Tuohy was a feckin' brute and ruled the lineout and battered the midfield with ball in hand. Even Diack showed glimpses of what he was like when he came here at first. It's hard to be too O.T.T. as it was 'only' the Dragons and they rarely win away and were without Faletau, Lydiate and Charteris.

irishbucsfan

jacothelad wrote: »

The ref had a couple of howlers. Giving a k.o. when the ball came off a player's head, binning Faloon for not releasing a player he didn't tackle and penalising D'Arcy when he had already been subbed 15 minutes earlier. He was mainly good though. He's been good before.

I missed the knock-on. But for the Faloon thing he mistook Faloon for Tuohy I think. should have been Tuohy off the pitch (although I think Ulster might have preferred Faloon off?) And when he penalised D'Arcy I could have sworn he said 13 and then the commentator said he said 15. He had trouble with his pronunciation. In the replay it was clearly Whitten. I'm sure he got other stuff wrong though. When he penalised McAllister for not rolling away he literally gave him a nanosecond, which I thought was harsh.

I've never seen Whitten as bad - by a long way. Spence was at 12 b.t.w. and he was excellent and he's a 13. This is an example of Mclaughlin's 'strange' selections. Daft really and potentially costly. Whitten was woeful. He's normally very reliable. He was superb against Clermont for example.

I really like Whitten as a 12. I especially did when he first came through. I think perhaps McLoughlin just had Whitten at 13 all week and when Wallace pulled out he preferred to just slot Spence straight in rather than shift around too much... although it did seem the wrong way to go. Would have much preferred Whitten/Spence to Spence/Whitten.

overshoot

5 bonus points in a row now for ulster, 4 try bp including munster, leicster and away to edinburgh, and the losing one in clermont, not too shabby at all

rosskind

Serious second try there.

CatFromHue

Considering the Dragons record in Belfast that's a pretty good win.

I am pie

We were hoping for a favour from the connacht lads last night, still looking like a big ask / mission almost-impossible to squeeze into the top 4.

If tommy comes home, i would be worried about gilroy's development faultering. Looking like a serious talent.

the_doctor199

[QUOTE=wprathead;77023797thought Ulster had bottled the TBP with going for 3 points with 2 mins to go when 8 points up.[/QUOTE]

This decision was absolutely bizarre, luckily it paid off and we got the BP try. The reaction in the stands was amazement that we were looking for the 3 points and not the bonus.

Hagz

TomsOnTheRoof

Hagz wrote: »

Christ, talk about a load of BS. McLaughlin was screwed, simple as. This guy is a smarmy B*****d. Himself and Humphreys are well suited. Would love to see Munster wipe the floor with Ulster after this.

danthefan

Both Humph and yer man there are clearly talking nonsense. He obviously wants to remain coach. The only reason there's no question of him staying on is because they don't want him. As I said when all this broke it seems Ulster have become somewhat obsessed with big name foreigners.

I am pie

TomsOnTheRoof wrote: »

Christ, talk about a load of BS. McLaughlin was screwed, simple as. This guy is a smarmy B*****d. Himself and Humphreys are well suited. Would love to see Munster wipe the floor with Ulster after this.

Don't see it myself, but i think your looking for a bit of motivation/sht stirring before the match! Should have been communicated better, by the club and also by Brian. Clearly working to a plan which as a fan I am happy to accept.

thomond2006

Poor McLaughlin, I'd say he can't believe he's been shafted (and that's what it is no matter what Humphreys and the blazers say to spin it). How better could Ulster have done? They're in a winnable quarter final in the Heineken Cup and in a healthy position in the Pro12, plus over McLaughlin's tenure they have developed some good youngsters while the foreign signings have generally been successful.

It's a disgrace tbh.

I am pie

danthefan wrote: »

Both Humph and yer man there are clearly talking nonsense. He obviously wants to remain coach. The only reason there's no question of him staying on is because they don't want him. As I said when all this broke it seems Ulster have become somewhat obsessed with big name foreigners.

Why should Ulster not focus on overseas players to fill gaps where we are weak. Please do not try and tell me Munster and Leinster do not do the same thing !!!

danthefan

I am pie wrote: »

Why should Ulster not focus on overseas players to fill gaps where we are weak. Please do not try and tell me Munster and Leinster do not do the same thing !!!

:rolleyes:

There was no gap at head coach, being the point.

irishbucsfan

McL knew in November what was happening. He has other reasons not to remain on as well.

This is best for Ulster as well as McL.