Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

PhatPiggins

jm08 wrote: »

Maybe mcLaughlin was confused and thought Brady was Juan Smith;)
it would have been far safer to play Danielli at loosehead than a 19 year old kid, yet to play a pro game. Brady is a seasoned pro of the front row.

by the way, down to 14 men (and Brady on), Ulster didn't concede any more points, so it wasn't all bad.

If you want to find someone to point the finger at, I'd be looking at who is responsible for recruitment and how Ulster ended up with a 19 year old prop on the bench against an Italian team.

Juan Smith plays backrow, I'm seeing a pattern here.

Are you Brian Mclaughlin? Do you want to guest on our podcast? We won't slag you (much).

jm08

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Juan Smith plays backrow, I'm seeing a pattern here.

Are you Brian Mclaughlin? Do you want to guest on our podcast? We won't slag you (much).

eh, according to ulster rugby , brian mclaughlin is delighted with his promotion to assistant in the academy :rolleyes:

great you see a pattern. congratulations .

can't wait to hear jackthelad defending the indefensible , though on second thoughts i'll give it a miss - some experts you lot are when you can't see why a coach might be reluctant to throw a 19 year old into an 8 man scrum in his first professional game .

jm08

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I believe a man called Ian Rainey, a recruiting consultant, was tasked with appointing them.

EDIT: And I think, although not certain, that he is now on the new committee? Someone might correct me on that.

so the committee got one out of 3 right - not great .

irishbucsfan

jm08 wrote: »

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I believe a man called Ian Rainey, a recruiting consultant, was tasked with appointing them.

EDIT: And I think, although not certain, that he is now on the new committee? Someone might correct me on that.

so the committee got one out of 3 right - not great .

Committee has changed.

I'm not 100% certain who hired who. It all changed around the time McLaughlin came in. I know he was appointed by the old committee and I am fairly sure Logan was interviewed and approved by others. I'm not sure about Humphries, although it could be a case of him being the right man appointed for the wrong reasons (Ulster nepotism) and so they'll just keep him on. Humphries came in with no experience but seems to he bringing in top class players. They kept McLaughlin while they changed management structures. Then last year they agreed another season as head coach and agreed the permanent contract because McLaughlin needed the stability. May possibly have been under pressure from RBAI who may only have held his job for a certain amount of time. Now that all the structures are in place they can go about appointing a head coach for the next level and McLaughlin can go about placing a structure on the academy and finally getting the most out of the many youngsters at their disposal. That is the way it was always going to be and McLaughlin knew that.

I have to wonder what will happen between now and the new appointment. Muller will continue to get the best out of the forwards I'm sure, but I hope Terblanche's departure (must be soon?) doesn't have a negative effect on the squad after everything he's brought. I wonder if it'll be possible to keep him on in a non-playing role or if he will return to S XV as a coach.

Someone mentioned Anscombe, he'd be a good appointment. I think it might end up being a lesser-known guy though. With Humphries as DofO the head coach will be purely concentrating on micro-managing the rugby side of things (IE selection, coaching and man management), and so we could see someone lesser known like Sexton. No doubt if that happens there will be a silly overreaction in the media, who suddenly love McL.

It's a little bit worrying that they don't seem to know where theyre going yet and their poor handling of the leak re: McL (which was absolutely not intentional btw) surely hasn't endeared the position to any prospective big name candidates. You'd expect more concrete rumours at this stage. Perhaps they have a guy and are just better at keeping it under wraps, but I doubt that.

irishbucsfan

jm08 wrote: »

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Juan Smith plays backrow, I'm seeing a pattern here.

Are you Brian Mclaughlin? Do you want to guest on our podcast? We won't slag you (much).

eh, according to ulster rugby , brian mclaughlin is delighted with his promotion to assistant in the academy :rolleyes:

great you see a pattern. congratulations .

can't wait to hear jackthelad defending the indefensible , though on second thoughts i'll give it a miss - some experts you lot are when you can't see why a coach might be reluctant to throw a 19 year old into an 8 man scrum in his first professional game .

Well firstly he's Head of the academy, not an assistant, and its a permanenct contract, which he is delighted with. I'm sure he'd prefer to be head coach but that was never going to happen.

And secondly, how is playing a hooker at loosehead EVER any safer than playing a specialist LH there? McCall plays LH in senior scrums week in, week out. The fact Brady repeatedly went to ground showed that playing him was no safer.

HOWEVER

Wasn't the Hooker incident with McAllister on the bench against the Os? McCall wasn't in the squad that day. I think you're getting very confused in your strange attempt to defend one of the daftest substitutions in rugby history!

jacothelad

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Well firstly he's Head of the academy, not an assistant, and its a permanenct contract, which he is delighted with. I'm sure he'd prefer to be head coach but that was never going to happen.

And secondly, how is playing a hooker at loosehead EVER any safer than playing a specialist LH there? McCall plays LH in senior scrums week in, week out. The fact Brady repeatedly went to ground showed that playing him was no safer.

HOWEVER

Wasn't the Hooker incident with McAllister on the bench against the Os? McCall wasn't in the squad that day. I think you're getting very confused in your strange attempt to defend one of the daftest substitutions in rugby history!

No, it was McCall v, Treviso.

irishbucsfan

Apologies so! Very early!

Conceded a penalty try against the Spreys as well, during a binning, and conceded against the Dragons the week before during one as well (not a penalty though), discipline was a major problem obviously!

jm08

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Well firstly he's Head of the academy, not an assistant, and its a permanenct contract, which he is delighted with. I'm sure he'd prefer to be head coach but that was never going to happen.

And secondly, how is playing a hooker at loosehead EVER any safer than playing a specialist LH there? McCall plays LH in senior scrums week in, week out. The fact Brady repeatedly went to ground showed that playing him was no safer.

HOWEVER

Wasn't the Hooker incident with McAllister on the bench against the Os? McCall wasn't in the squad that day. I think you're getting very confused in your strange attempt to defend one of the daftest substitutions in rugby history!

I thought it was a very strange subsitution why i looked up the match report . jackothelads post was like a match report youd read in the Sun out to vilify someone

The highlight of this rubbish was Brady going on at loose head prop while a loose head prop sat on the bench beside him. I was a few feet away from Brady and the look on his face was priceless. "Who? Me?. F*&#". Laughs. Does double take. Looks around for confirmation of the men in white suits coming for McL. Doesn't see them. Wanders on to the pitch with both eyebrows meeting his hairline, trying not to shake his head in incredulity. Shells up a penalty try. Ulster lose to Treviso. Who'd have thought that would happen, eh?

no mention that fitzpatrick was binned or that they were down a man in the pack or that there was a 19 year old prop in his first season in the ulster academy and who has yet to play an ulster ravens game .

i'm not defending using a hooker instead of a loosehead , im making the argument that its not as crazy as jacko wants everyone to believe and that substitution was not the reason ulster lost that game . in fact since ulster didnt concede any poins when brady was on other than the penalty try , it could be argued that it was a substitution to cut your losses which worked.

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/matchcentre/11302.php

gary longwell is the head of the ulster academy and from what i've heard or read , is remaining so .

ospreys match report here - no shame conceeding a penalty try to them , but i see that ulster won one against them as well from a maul . no sign of mccall though .

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/matchcentre/11178.php

Why in the name of all things sane was there a 19 year old prop on the bench that wasn't going to play?

Surely they could've got some lump from the AIL/UBL to come in and sit on the bench to be sprang in an emergency that wouldn't be at risk of death instead.

The insanity of the decision on the day to put a hooker in at prop was a compounding of the insanity of the decision to bring an inexperienced prop to the game. That mistake was the important one, the "shielding" of the player was possibly a "fix" compared to the mistake made earlier, but it simply highlighted the initial error.

jm08

Deleted User wrote: »

Why in the name of all things sane was there a 19 year old prop on the bench that wasn't going to play?

Surely they could've got some lump from the AIL/UBL to come in and sit on the bench to be sprang in an emergency that wouldn't be at risk of death instead.

The insanity of the decision on the day to put a hooker in at prop was a compounding of the insanity of the decision to bring an inexperienced prop to the game. That mistake was the important one, the "shielding" of the player was possibly a "fix" compared to the mistake made earlier, but it simply highlighted the initial error.

mcall was not named in the provisional squad for the match so they were down to bare bones id say - court would have been at the world cup. the sub tighthead is very inexperienced, so they couldnt even try and use him. the major error was not having more loosehead props available - now who is responsible for recruitment in ulster rugby - that is who you should be vilifying .;)

Provisional squad

Paddy McAllister, Conor Carey, Jerry Cronin, Declan Fitzpatrick, Adam Macklin, John Burns, Andi Kyriacou, Niall Annett, Nigel Brady, Dan Tuohy, Lewis Stevenson, Tim Barker, Neil McComb, Mike McComish, Pedrie Wannenburg, Chris Henry, Willie Faloon, Robbie Diack


EDIT: the big lump of an AIL player to cover is jerry cronin (he can cover all 3 positions in front row according to ulster rugby) and ulster were down to him as starting tighthead.

Explain to me what the point in having him on the bench was.

Who selected the 23?

jm08

Deleted User wrote: »

Explain to me what the point in having him on the bench was.

Who selected the 23?

tournament rules that you must have substituton props on the bench so that you cant fake an injury and go to uncontested scrums if the scrum isnt going well for you.

i don't know who selected the 23 - probably brian mclauglin from those fit . no one would have noticed anything if fitzpatrick had not got carded . he might have put him on if fitzpatrick was injured , at least he would have had some sort of a chance in an 8 man scrum.

PhatPiggins

This is easily the dumbest arguement I've seen on boards this year. Repeating the same tosh over and over again doesn't make it any less invalid.

Whats worse is you keep adding 'evidence' to support your initial arguement, but all your doing is sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting louder.

BTW its jacothelad , he's easily one of the more articulate and well informed posters on here so you might have the manners to spell his name correctly, seeing as your so concerned with 'The Sun' style of reporting.

jm08

PhatPiggins wrote: »

This is easily the dumbest arguement I've seen on boards this year. Repeating the same tosh over and over again doesn't make it any less invalid.

Whats worse is you keep adding 'evidence' to support your initial arguement, but all your doing is sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting louder.

BTW its jacothelad , he's easily one of the more articulate and well informed posters on here so you might have the manners to spell his name correctly, seeing as your so concerned with 'The Sun' style of reporting.

how sweet , coming to the rescue of your good pal jacothelad. if he is so well informed and articulate , how come he has you defending his original post - surely he can come up with some 'evidence' to support his statement ?

I am pie

This is silly stuff. I strongly believe that the majority of Ulster supporters were questioning aul mcglock's team selections this year, that's the vibe i got from anyone i spoke to, and the vibe i get from reading the UA blog.

It's not been handled well, and to be honest Brian played his own hand really stupidly in speaking out, but I'm confident the changes are for the best.

I believe that Brian will do a great job as permanent head of the academy. I hope the new coach will be more consistent with team selection and be able to lay down a more consistent and professional game plan. Defensively we could be sharper and sometimes our decision making can appear hurried.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Ulster Match Day Squad to face Cardiff, Friday 17th February 2012, Cardiff Arms Park (kick-off 7.05pm)
(15-9): S Terblanche; C Gilroy, N Spence, P Wallace, I Whitten; I Humphreys, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, N Brady, J Afoa, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, C Henry (capt), W Faloon, R Diack;
Replacements (16-23): A Kyriacou, P McAllister, A Macklin, T Barker, M McComish, P Marshall, S Danielli, A D'Arcy
Unavailable due to injury: Jared Payne (achilles), Declan Fitzpatrick (neck), Darren Cave (foot), Pedrie Wannenburg (foot), Johann Muller (calf), Ali Birch (knee)
Cardiff XV: 15 Ben Blair 14 Richard Mustoe 13 Gavin Evans 12 Gavin Henson 11 Tom James 10 Dan Parks 9 Lloyd Williams 8 Xavier Rush 7 Josh Navidi 6 Michael Paterson 5 Paul Tito (c) 4 Cory Hill 3 Scott Andrews 2 Ryan Tyrell 1 John Yapp

Replacaments: 16 T Rhys Thomas 17 Nathan Trevett 18 Ryan Harford 19 Maama Molitika 20 Martyn Williams 21 Richie Rees 22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Chris Czekaj

CIARAN_BOYLE

ulster 3 cardiff 0 Pienaar kicking

they've given away a few penalties in good positions but so its good that they got a score

CIARAN_BOYLE

8-3 Diack try I missed it but Diack was doing good earlier like he was trying to prove himself

Redsock

Anyone who wishes to know why ulster need a new coach need only look at this 30 minutes against Cardiff. Clueless, and lacking structure which has been a recurring theme in ulsters play since mcglock took over.

its_phil

Lovely break from Paddy Wallace with the dummy.

its_phil

Christ! Dan Parks blocked down in exact same position that he was blocked down versus England only difference was the bounce of the ball

****

CIARAN_BOYLE

damn it cardiff try

its_phil

Is it just me or was that forward?

whatawaster

Humphreys is so stupid

CIARAN_BOYLE

humphries in the bin Cardiff 18-11 up still

Redsock

Steady on PC! I'm an ulsterman and whilst some of clancy's decisions have been poor to suggest he has been biased is absurd. Ihumph has done more than the ref' to win this game for Cardiff.

pcworldisajoke

dude when the commentators are crying foul, you know things are funny.

He robbed scotland so many times aswell,. Is it a conincidence that both times hes making bizarre decision that would benefit the team the bookies would rather win.

Its probably a coincidence, but questions seriously need to be asked.

pcworldisajoke

CLANCY LOOKING AWAY FROM THE ULSTERBREAKDOWN FOR ABOUT 5 SECONDS SO HE CANT SEE cardiff hands on the ground!

im sorry, i know that sounds silly. But thats what hes doing. Looking down towards the cardiff full back line!!!

RuggieBear

pcworldisajoke tone it down and no more accusations