Glasgow v Ulster 16/05/2015 Scotstoun Sky Sports 15:00

awec

Ulster
(15-9): L Ludik; R Scholes, S Arnold, S McCloskey, M Allen, I Humphreys, P Marshall; (1-8): A Warwick, R Herring, R Lutton, L Stevenson, F van der Merwe, C Ross, C Henry (C), R Diack; Replacements (16-23): R Best, K McCall, B Ross, I Henderson, R Wilson, R Pienaar, P Jackson, T Bowe.

Glasgow
15 Stuart Hogg,14 Tommy Seymour,13 Richie Vernon,12 Peter Horne,11 Sean Lamont,10 Finn Russell,9 Nikola Matawalu

1 Ryan Grant,2 Dougie Hall,3 Rossouw de Klerk,4 Jonny Gray,5 Alastair Kellock (Captain),6 Josh Strauss,7 Chris Fusaro,8 Adam Ashe

16 Pat MacArthur,17 Gordon Reid,18 Michael Cusack,19 Leone Nakarawa,20 Ryan Wilson,21 Henry Pyrgos,22 Duncan Weir,23 Peter Murchie




Neil Doak has clearly decided that sending the reserves to Glasgow is the pragmatic approach to take this weekend. Ulster know that they could send over their strongest side, bust a gut and still probably come away with an away semi final. Doak's call is brave and may raise questions about the obligation of teams to field their strongest side within reason, especially at the business end of the season.

The advantage for Ulster is their front line players will get a bit of a rest, and it minimises the risk of injury.

Glasgow have fielded a strong team and will surely eye this one up as a 5 pointer.

Prediction
5 points for Glasgow, a good thrashing for Ulster that nobody will actually complain about.

CatFromHue

No one cares about this game now :pac::D

Cookiemunster

awec wrote: »

Prediction
5 points for Glasgow, a good thrashing for Ulster that nobody will actually complain about.

Munster will.

donfers

Ulster will get hammered and they'll get beaten again in the semi-final by the same side

The draw with Munster has effectively ensured they'll go another season without a trophy and their team selection is making it likely Munster will miss out on home semi unless Connacht help them out

Buer

Munster have benefitted several times from weakened teams being fielded against them. It happens.

If they miss out on a home semi, they can look at losing at home to Edinburgh as the reason for it. Still a very good chance. Glasgow will be hard pushed to score four tries as will Ospreys.

If Munster get their own BP, I would imagine you'd get short odds on one of the others failing to do so.

bilston

awec wrote: »

Ulster
(15-9): L Ludik; R Scholes, S Arnold, S McCloskey, M Allen, I Humphreys, P Marshall; (1-8): A Warwick, R Herring, R Lutton, L Stevenson, F van der Merwe, C Ross, C Henry (C), R Diack; Replacements (16-23): R Best, K McCall, B Ross, I Henderson, R Wilson, R Pienaar, P Jackson, T Bowe.

Glasgow
15 Stuart Hogg,14 Tommy Seymour,13 Richie Vernon,12 Peter Horne,11 Sean Lamont,10 Finn Russell,9 Nikola Matawalu

1 Ryan Grant,2 Dougie Hall,3 Rossouw de Klerk,4 Jonny Gray,5 Alastair Kellock (Captain),6 Josh Strauss,7 Chris Fusaro,8 Adam Ashe

16 Pat MacArthur,17 Gordon Reid,18 Michael Cusack,19 Leone Nakarawa,20 Ryan Wilson,21 Henry Pyrgos,22 Duncan Weir,23 Peter Murchie




Neil Doak has clearly decided that sending the reserves to Glasgow is the pragmatic approach to take this weekend. Ulster know that they could send over their strongest side, bust a gut and still probably come away with an away semi final. Doak's call is brave and may raise questions about the obligation of teams to field their strongest side within reason, especially at the business end of the season.

The advantage for Ulster is their front line players will get a bit of a rest, and it minimises the risk of injury.

Glasgow have fielded a strong team and will surely eye this one up as a 5 pointer.

Prediction
5 points for Glasgow, a good thrashing for Ulster that nobody will actually complain about.

Oh I will be complaining if we get hammered. And I'll complain even more if we then lose the semi final.

Of course if we win then I'll call Doak a hero.

The perils of a rugby coach...

matthew8

Can't agree with resting at all. The team has only had a match 4 of the last 7 weeks. It's not like Connacht have no chance against the Ospreys either.

buck65

Connacht could beat the Ospreys, better teams than them have lost in Galway this season. Ospreys will earn the win not to mind the bonus point win. Glasgow will beat Ulster probably a 5 pointer as will Munster.
So it looks like Glasgow vs Ulster and Ospreys vs Munster or Munster V Ospreys either way its an all Irish final in Belfast.

thomond2006

awec wrote: »

Prediction
5 points for Glasgow, a good thrashing for Ulster that nobody will actually complain about.

With Matawalu at 9, ANYTHING can happen.

bilston

matthew8 wrote: »

Can't agree with resting at all. The team has only had a match 4 of the last 7 weeks. It's not like Connacht have no chance against the Ospreys either.

From what I can tell of last week's 23 only Tuohy is being fully rested. There are 6 of last week's squad injured plus Gilroy. Of course we could have picked a stronger team and no doubt some of the 6 "injured" could probably have played if absolutely necessary but I've come round to this selection now. I might have started Henderson and Jackson though but once you decide to rotate then I suppose you need to protect your most crucial players and those players are Henderson, Pienaar and Jackson who irreplaceable within the Ulster squad.

NB I still reserve the right to turn on Doak if it goes pear shaped!!!

Digifriendly

buck65 wrote: »

Connacht could beat the Ospreys, better teams than them have lost in Galway this season. Ospreys will earn the win not to mind the bonus point win. Glasgow will beat Ulster probably a 5 pointer as will Munster.
So it looks like Glasgow vs Ulster and Ospreys vs Munster or Munster V Ospreys either way its an all Irish final in Belfast.

Are you that confident of Ulster winning an away semi-final in Glasgow?

awec

Digifriendly wrote: »

Are you that confident of Ulster winning an away semi-final in Glasgow?

Not confident of us winning away anywhere, but barring something miraculous we will be away from home and our chances improve with a fresh team.

bilston

A full strength Ulster team can win anywhere in the Pro 12.

George Hook

I don't like this attitude - it's very defeatist.

You should always always field your strongest team. Always strive to win. Give no quarter and put the fear of God into them.

finatron

bilston wrote: »

A full strength Ulster team can win anywhere in the Pro 12.

Not at home last week :-)

Buer

finatron wrote: »

Not at home last week :-)

Which wasn't full strength.

jacothelad

George Hook wrote: »

I don't like this attitude - it's very defeatist.

You should always always field your strongest team. Always strive to win. Give no quarter and put the fear of God into them.

Are you suggesting that Ulster should play injured players?

thomond2006

It's understandable. Even if Ulster picked up a TBP win which is unlikely they would have to rely on Munster not getting a TBP win AND Ospreys not winning.

At the same time I would have thought for continuity a stronger team would have travelled.

ray jay

I bet Sky will complain after they bagged the match of the weekend only for Ulster to send a weakened team.

bilston wrote: »

A full strength Ulster team can win anywhere in the Pro 12.

Same could be said of any of the top 4 teams.

George Hook

jacothelad wrote: »

Are you suggesting that Ulster should play injured players?

Well it's all relative isn't it? If someone has a broken leg he can't play better than someone with two working legs.

Don't put words in my mouth chum.

bilston

ray jay wrote: »

Same could be said of any of the top 4 teams.

Indeed

bilston

Jeesh Humphreys.

That restart went about three metres.

Edit - he has the wind behind him...

bilston

Great counter maul from Ulster.

thomond2006

Keep it under 50 4 tries please.

bilston

Early penalty for Glasgow

3-0 after 5 mins

bilston

3 penalties conceded in less than 8 minutes by Ulster.

bilston

thomond2006 wrote: »

Keep it under 50 4 tries please.

Just you concentrate on winning on your own game

bilston

Beautiful kick from Marshall

thomond2006

bilston wrote: »

Just you concentrate on winning on your own game

We're doing alright, two tries in the bag. Now do your part, fellow Irish team.

bilston

Nice wee wee half break by Arnold. He has started well.

bilston

Ah ballix. Van Der Merwe looks in a bad way here.

Probably a season ended you'd think

awec

Crap.

awec

VDM's season looks to be over.

shuffol

What will that mean for next week, Henderson into the row and Diack to 6?

awec

WTF? What happened there?

awec

Yellow for Jonny Gray.

awec

TRY!

Chris Henry.

thomond2006

Keep it up Ulster.

Connacht have already conceded 3 so you'll have to do us a favour.

Fireball07

Excellent Ulster!!

bilston

Good conversion by Humphreys

thomond2006

With Ulster in with a chance of winning, will the subs be used? It would be a great boost to morale if Ulster won.

bilston

How many fecking penalties have there been?

awec

thomond2006 wrote: »

With Ulster in with a chance of winning, will the subs be used? It would be a great boost to morale if Ulster won.

We have a huge wind advantage in the first half, still can't see us winning.

bilston

thomond2006 wrote: »

With Ulster in with a chance of winning, will the subs be used? It would be a great boost to morale if Ulster won.

Henderson is on already and Bowe and Wilson have already been used as blood replacements so the chances are they will be needed through need rather than choice.

I'd be happy to see Pienaar staying rooted to the bench for the whole 80. Marshall is playing well anyway.

Glasgow 6-10 Ulster after 36 mins

bilston

awec wrote: »

We have a huge wind advantage in the first half, still can't see us winning.

Yep the wind is a big factor.

bilston

Tommy Seymour has developed into a fine player. I was sorry to see him leave Ulster but it is hard to argue with his decision. It has worked out very well for him.

bilston

Elements or not I'd happily take a 10-6 lead at half time.

Paul Marshall and Chris Henry the Ulster standouts for me so far.

19543261

Paddy looks to have grown a lot more into his TV role.

bilston

Paul Marshall is playing very well...probably scudded him..,

bilston

A lot depends on when we get our yellow card (no doubt in my mind that the ref will want to even the score). I'd rather get it sooner than later to be honest.

awec

PJ coming on.