Pro12: Ulster vs Connacht, Fri 5 Oct 7:05pm; BBCNI/RTÉ2

thomond2006

Ulster XV & replacements to face Connacht, RaboDirect PRO12, Friday 5th October, Ravenhill (7.05pm):
J Payne; T Bowe, D Cave, P Wallace, A Trimble; P Jackson, P Marshall;
T Court, R Best, J Afoa, J Muller (c), D Tuohy, S Ferris, C Henry, N Williams;

Replacements: R Herring, C Black, A Macklin, L Stevenson, M McComish, M Heaney, L Marshall, C Gilroy.

Connacht:

15. Robbie Henshaw
14. Tiernan O’Halloran
13. Eoin Griffin
12. Dave McSharry
11. Fetu’u Vainikolo
10. Dan Parks
9. Kieran Marmion
1. Brett Wilkinson
2. Adrian Flavin
3. Ronan Loughney
4. Michael Swift
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Dave Gannon
7. Willie Faloon (captain)
8. George Naoupu

Replacements (from):
16. Jason Harris-Wright
17. Denis Buckley
18. Nathan White
19. John Muldoon
20. Johnny O’Connor
21. Dave Moore
22. Miah Nikora
23. Mata Fifita

Fireball07

Very strong Ulster team...and that's starting without the likes of Afoa, Wilson, Pienaar, Marshall, Gilroy.

Wonder how much Wallace will be pushed for a starting place in the big games by Marshall.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Luke Marshall and Paddy Wallace are the 10 cover leaving NOC out of the squad. Good job Anscomb.

Zzippy

Very strong Ulster team there! Wouldn't be surprised if that was their HEC team, with maybe Afoa and Pienaar to come in when he's back.

Faloon for captain is interesting, Elwood seems to be giving some of the new players a chance to skipper the team, White was captain last week. Would have thought there are more seasoned and inspiring captains in the team, the likes of JOC, Swifty or Wilko...

irishbucsfan

Interesting to see Willie Faloon as captain for Connacht against his old team.

Also interesting that NOC drops out of the Ulster team. Encouraging signs. When Pienaar comes back you'd have to imagine there won't be much use for him in the big games. A shame that Ian Henderson isn't involved but he's got a long road ahead of him and McComish certainly deserves another shot.

For me the exciting thing to watch from an Irish rugby perspective will be the All-Irish front rows going to war (Fitzpatrick v. WIlkinson in particular for me) and also the centers.

Excited for this match!

freyners

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Interesting to see Willie Faloon as captain for Connacht against his old team.

Also interesting that NOC drops out of the Ulster team. Encouraging signs. When Pienaar comes back you'd have to imagine there won't be much use for him in the big games. A shame that Ian Henderson isn't involved but he's got a long road ahead of him and McComish certainly deserves another shot.

For me the exciting thing to watch from an Irish rugby perspective will be the All-Irish front rows going to war (Fitzpatrick v. WIlkinson in particular for me) and also the centers.

Excited for this match!

fitzpatrick out, afoa in

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/news/14834.php

eyeball kid

That's a very strong Ulster team alright. I think we'll be doing very well to get anything out of the game.

bilston

I have a feeling that one of two things will happen. Ulster will get caught up in the emotion of the evening and won't be able to handle it and will either scrape to a narrow win or possibly even lose.

However more likely IMO is that Ulster will put on a show and will win by 20+ points. I'm conscious Connacht beat Leinster last week but when you consider the game was in Galway and then you compare the Leinster pack last week with the Ulster pack tomorrow you realise this is a very different challenge for the Westies. That's not taking away from Connacht's win at all, flip I'd love Ulster to be able to beat Leinster!

Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing some of the young lads in the Connacht backs, particularly Henshaw who I've heard some good things about and also it will be good to welcome Willie Faloon back to Ravenhill.

thomond2006

Fitzpatrick was a definite contender for an Irish bench spot, bad news to hear he's aggravated an injury.

jacothelad

thomond2006 wrote: »

Fitzpatrick was a definite contender for an Irish bench spot, bad news to hear he's aggravated an injury.

Yes. Buckley back then?

wp_rathead

That is a strong Ulster team..
Two match ups I'm worried about from Connacht perspective:
Vainikolo v Bowe (gonna check the odds of Bowe to score try)
Gannon v Ferris

As mentioned above, the centre duel of McSharry/Griffin Vs Wallace/Cave is very exciting, as is the 2nd Row Combos of Swifty/Macca Vs Muller/Tuohy

bilston

wprathead wrote: »

That is a strong Ulster team..
Two match ups I'm worried about from Connacht perspective:
Vainikolo v Bowe (gonna check the odds of Bowe to score try)
Gannon v Ferris

As mentioned above, the centre duel of McSharry/Griffin Vs Wallace/Cave is very exciting, as is the 2nd Row Combos of Swifty/Macca Vs Muller/Tuohy

The back rows do make scary reading for Connacht fans and because of that I don't think it will matter how good the Connacht backs are. In saying that if it's close with 20 mins left Connacht do have two or three good options like Muldoon and O'Connor to spring from the bench.

d-gal

For once you can look at a Connacht bench and can see some game changers. If Ulster have not put the game to bed with 30minutes to go they will be fairly fearful of Buckley, White, Muldoon and JOC coming on!

freyners

loughney can put his hand up for the bench spot massively in this match if he shows up well again v court

thomond2006

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Luke Marshall and Paddy Wallace are the 10 cover leaving NOC out of the squad. Good job Anscomb.

He's clearly in the cold now and will only get back in if PJ gets hurt.

GerM

freyners wrote: »

loughney can put his hand up for the bench spot massively in this match if he shows up well again v court

All things being equal, he is deserving of being looked at but a few things count against him:

- Court has been playing some very good stuff both in the tight and around the park.
- DK is coach. If one of his trusted players is doing well, the alternate option would need to be a hybrid of Stephen Larkham, Sean Fitzpatrick and Richard Hill who is his illegitimate child to be possibly considered for a spot on the bench.



For the Wolfhounds.

freyners

GerM wrote: »

All things being equal, he is deserving of being looked at but a few things count against him:

- Court has been playing some very good stuff both in the tight and around the park.
- DK is coach. If one of his trusted players is doing well, the alternate option would need to be a hybrid of Stephen Larkham, Sean Fitzpatrick and Richard Hill who is his illegitimate child to be possibly considered for a spot on the bench.



For the Wolfhounds.

In the tight has he been at LH or TH, cant remember him TH this season (I havent seen alot of Ulster matches this year:( )

CIARAN_BOYLE

freyners wrote: »

In the tight has he been at LH or TH, cant remember him TH this season (I havent seen alot of Ulster matches this year:( )

In the tight doesn't mean as a TH but rather carrying close in

Anyway this year with two bench spots in the AIs Court imo has the 17 shirt (LH sub) sewn up but the 18 shirt is up for grabs, I would have though Fitzpatrick the obvious contender but since he has a medial ligament injury I'm thinking he mightn't fit for AIs so Loughney imo just has to show up well and he should get the shirt.

freyners

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

In the tight doesn't mean as a TH but rather carrying close in

Anyway this year with two bench spots in the AIs Court imo has the 17 shirt (LH sub) sewn up but the 18 shirt is up for grabs, I would have though Fitzpatrick the obvious contender but since he has a medial ligament injury I'm thinking he mightn't fit for AIs so Loughney imo just has to show up well and he should get the shirt.

Aye, sorry bit of a brain fart there:eek:
forgot about the two bench spots also, need sleep it seems:D

jacothelad

GerM wrote: »

All things being equal, he is deserving of being looked at but a few things count against him:

- Court has been playing some very good stuff both in the tight and around the park.
- DK is coach. If one of his trusted players is doing well, the alternate option would need to be a Cork born, Munster playing hybrid of Stephen Larkham, Sean Fitzpatrick and Richard Hill who is his illegitimate child to be possibly considered for a spot on the bench.



For the Wolfhounds.

Fixed.

jacothelad

Kidney should also look at John Andress who has started all 5 Worcester games this season. I've no idea how he is playing or if he is worth a place but he has got to be in the mix. Here is an irish prop, playing in a 'tought' league and getting games yet he may as well be in Outer Mongolia. The fact that he has been totally ignored is another blight on Deccie's tenure. He certainly is a far better prop for example than Mushy.

awec

I fancy a big win for us tonight.

CIARAN_BOYLE

jacothelad wrote: »

Kidney should also look at John Andress who has started all 5 Worcester games this season. I've no idea how he is playing or if he is worth a place but he has got to be in the mix. Here is an irish prop, playing in a 'tought' league and getting games yet he may as well be in Outer Mongolia. The fact that he has been totally ignored is another blight on Deccie's tenure. He certainly is a far better prop for example than Mushy.

He'll probably drop from being the starting TH now that they've signed Murray but if he can stay as starting TH or even gets a decent split of gametime it would be really impressive

bilston

With Andress there's probably more to it than his playing ability unfortunately, plus playing in the AP doesn't help his cause either. I don't think he'll ever play for Ireland to be honest...unless he comes back to Ireland...but Ulster will hardly want him, he's had two chances here...so it will be Munster or Leinster or perhgaps even Connacht who would need to take him in.

connemara man

Looking forward to this, I hope we can build from the Leinster win. I know this Ulster team is a different challenge to the Leinster team of last week. If we can bring consistency into the performance it will be a good sign, but overall I am worried about it.

also I love it when it's a full derby weekend

Higher

Andreas has attitude problems apparently and doesn't have a good relationship with DK.

eyeball kid

awec wrote: »

I fancy a big win for us tonight.

Thats what I'm worried about. As well as we played against Leinster last week I just can't see us going to Ravenhill and getting anything there especially after the way they played last week against Cardiff. Hope I'm wrong though.

jacothelad

Higher wrote: »

Andreas has attitude problems apparently and doesn't have a good relationship with DK.

I know about them and he has recently got married and has stated in public that he has changed. Worth taking his word for it I'd say, at least until he craps in the nest again.

irishbucsfan

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

jacothelad wrote: »

Kidney should also look at John Andress who has started all 5 Worcester games this season. I've no idea how he is playing or if he is worth a place but he has got to be in the mix. Here is an irish prop, playing in a 'tought' league and getting games yet he may as well be in Outer Mongolia. The fact that he has been totally ignored is another blight on Deccie's tenure. He certainly is a far better prop for example than Mushy.

He'll probably drop from being the starting TH now that they've signed Murray but if he can stay as starting TH or even gets a decent split of gametime it would be really impressive

Dont worry, I'll sneak into HQ later and reschedule all of Worcesters games for Sundays...

bilston

jacothelad wrote: »

I know about them and he has recently got married and has stated in public that he has changed. Worth taking his word for it I'd say, at least until he craps in the nest again.

The problem is Jaco that when Ulster were prepared to give him a second chance he let them down again so I think people are always going to be wary about him.

Give people a second chance by all means, and while I'm not saying don't give him a third chance there's no doubt that you have to think very long and very hard about it before granting him another go.

mfceiling

Again the rte commentary team of George Hamilton and tony ward means that's me watching bbc2

its_phil

Am I the only one who thinks George Hook and Daire O'Brien are well out of line tonight talking about Elwood?

jamiedav2011

its_phil wrote: »

Am I the only one who thinks George Hook and Daire O'Brien are well out of line tonight talking about Elwood?

Disgraceful stuff I think. Hook in particular has absolutely no morals at all as far as I'm concerned. He'll suit himself, say whatever he has to to rile people up and with no insight or logic.
You could see Quinnie getting a bit het up.

keith16

jamiedav2011 wrote: »

Disgraceful stuff I think. Hook in particular has absolutely no morals at all as far as I'm concerned. He'll suit himself, say whatever he has to to rile people up and with no insight or logic.
You could see Quinnie getting a bit het up.

Ah the Hooky monster. How he still has a platform in 2012, I'll never know.

Benny Cake

its_phil wrote: »

Am I the only one who thinks George Hook and Daire O'Brien are well out of line tonight talking about Elwood?

Get down off your high horse, they said nothing out of order.

Its one of the major Irish rugby stories of the week...

CIARAN_BOYLE

First blood in the scrum goes to to Ulster

Foxtrol

its_phil wrote: »

Am I the only one who thinks George Hook and Daire O'Brien are well out of line tonight talking about Elwood?

The irony of Hook talking about internet trolls on his radio show tonight. Cant actually think of a bigger rugby one than him.

jamiedav2011

Benny Cake wrote: »

Get down off your high horse, they said nothing out of order.

Its one of the major Irish rugby stories of the week...

If nothing else, the tone of a flabby buffoon who sits on a sofa each week and talks crap, towards a legend of Irish rugby was highly disrespectful.

Hook is a talking anus.

mfceiling

mfceiling wrote: »

Again the rte commentary team of George Hamilton and tony ward means that's me watching bbc2

should be watched regardless imo. BBC2 NI's commentator is my rugby commentator of choice tbh.

Matt Williams as pundit behind him too is excellent!

PJ slots a scrum penalty straight down the middle.

Ulster 3-0 Connacht

11mins

CIARAN_BOYLE

Loughney and Wilkinson will need to figure soemthing out to improve their chances at scrum time. Both props should be hoping to get on the Ireland bench or the Ireland XV team and aren't doing themselves any favours.

eyeball kid

Any scores yet?

its_phil

Benny Cake wrote: »

Get down off your high horse, they said nothing out of order.

Its one of the major Irish rugby stories of the week...

I think it's well out of order to accuse a man who has clearly gave everything and more of finally paying off the mortgage and just looking to move on. Also saying Connacht Rugby is a structure of failure is an improvement to the amount of great work that has gone on in the last two seasons.

No s*** it's the major Irish rugby story of the week btw.

Fat Nick picks and goes, great offload to Ferris who makes more yards and offloads to Marshall.

Super rob on the ground from Connacht who make their own counter attack before an Ulster knock on prompts a Connacht scrum (under massive pressure again).

Loughney absolutely stuffed in midfield, Afoa times it perfectly and puts him on his arse.

Parks with a beautiful touch finder though.

McSharry in the blood bin, Fifita on.

thomond2006

I couldn't help wondering on RTE "Hooky is EOS' best friend again?"

Zzippy

Shock, horror, was that a bit of booing there a few minutes ago? Disgraceful... :rolleyes:

Good golly, were they at it again?!

Zzippy

Zzippy wrote: »

Shock, horror, was that a bit of booing there a few minutes ago? Disgraceful... :rolleyes:

They were saying Boo-urns, Boo-urns!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWmAez71uMY

Jackson makes the right decision so often. Some great movement from the Ulster backline. Wallace looks really very fresh.

d-gal

Griffin really is a beast in defence