Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread II

awec

Other thread was getting close to the max, so here's the new one.

Rules same as before, but positive discussion of Saracens and Glasgow must be kept to a minimum.

Continued from: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056143389&page=665

bilston

We've come of age. We have a second thread!

New day and all that...

awec

bilston wrote: »

We've come of age. We have a second thread!

New day and all that...

It's part of my attempt to move on from last night. Still not over it.

bilston

World Cup 23 for next season then.

15 Ludik
14 Trimble/Gilroy
13 Cave/McCloskey
12 McCloskey/Marshall
11 Gilroy/Scholes
10 Humphreys
9 Marshall
1 Black
2 Herring???
3 Herbst
4 Van Der Merwe
5 Tuohy/Stevenson
6 Diack
7 Faloon
8 Wilson

16 Andrew
17 Warwick
18 Lutton
19 Stevenson/O'Connor
20 Williams
21 Rowley
22 Windsor
23 Marshall/Scholes/Arnold

That's based on current info on next season's squad. Guys like Trimble, Cave and Tuohy are borderline WC squad members. I think Best, Henderson, Henry, Jackson, Payne and Bowe are nailed on though.

I'd worry about that team against the likes of Leinster, Munster, Glasgow and Ospreys, although they will all be weakened too. Crucial we hit the ground running next season.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Olding injury to last through the start of next season? Also what is windsor like at 10?

bilston

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Olding injury to last through the start of next season? Also what is windsor like at 10?

Olding is out until 2016.

I have no idea about Windsor except that I think he has been injured for a lot of this season.

Peter Browne could be an interesting signing.

Zzippy

awec wrote: »

It's part of my attempt to move on from last night. Still not over it.

Group hug?

Scythica

Zzippy wrote: »

Group hug?

If the FB group is anything to go by I think a group making Voodoo Doll session of Mata would be more appropriate. It's embarrassingly cringy there.

awec

Scythica wrote: »

If the FB group is anything to go by I think a group making Voodoo Doll session of Mata would be more appropriate. It's embarrassingly cringy there.

The supporters club facebook is always cringeworthy.

ulster_Beef

awec wrote: »

The supporters club facebook is always cringeworthy.

Is the game on tv? What channel... Sky. Sky? Since when have sky started showing Ulster games? That's so unfair.

2 minutes later... Is the game on tv?


Don't get me started about that page haha

mogwai81

With Paddy Jackson likely to be included in the World Cup squad i was wondering if anyone heard a more to the rumours of
Sean O'Hagan returning to England.

awec

Ulster are looking at Andrew Beerwinkel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Beerwinkel

Fantastic name to be fair.

CatFromHue

Charles Piutau has certainly made things interesting for Kirwan in NZ today!

irishbucsfan

CatFromHue wrote: »

Charles Piutau has certainly made things interesting for Kirwan in NZ today!

Ooh, that's absolutely brutal...

CatFromHue

The silence was deafening!

blackdog1

awec wrote: »

Ulster are looking at Andrew Beerwinkel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Beerwinkel

Fantastic name to be fair.

I'd be worried when it says he can play loosehead and Tighthead. ... so can Micheal bent and Dave Ryan. .

blackdog1

blackdog1 wrote: »

I'd be worried when it says he can play loosehead and Tighthead. ... so can Micheal bent and Dave Ryan. .

23 appearances this season on both sides of the scrum, including 4 starts in Europe.

He's one of the most useful players Leinster have ever signed!

Buer

blackdog1 wrote: »

I'd be worried when it says he can play loosehead and Tighthead. ... so can Micheal bent and Dave Ryan. .

Except that Michael Bent can. He started 4 games in the ECC this season, 2 at each position. There were no real scrum problems at all in the Leinster scrum aside from the two games that Bent didn't start against Quins.

Players that can play both sides are getting rarer but still exist. I'd be dubious about someone being able to do it that's so inexperienced, though. Memories of Jack McGrath being able to pack down on either side and getting completely pretzeled against the Ospreys.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Buer wrote: »

Players that can play both sides are getting rarer but still exist. I'd be dubious about someone being able to do it that's so inexperienced, though. Memories of Jack McGrath being able to pack down on either side and getting completely pretzeled against the Ospreys.

No one really considered Jack McGrath a TH (except for a couple of idiots in the media). Leinster had two injuries at TH and would have had to play a man short and go to uncontested if Jack didn't try. Depending on how the injuries healed they could have had to play a man short the following weak if McGrath wasn't deemed to have senior experience at TH to be able to go onto the bench. It was a young player being thrown in out of position in an emergency. Not someone able to play both sides.

total former

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

No one really considered Jack McGrath a TH (except for a couple of idiots in the media). Leinster had two injuries at TH and would have had to play a man short and go to uncontested if Jack didn't try. Depending on how the injuries healed they could have had to play a man short the following weak if McGrath wasn't deemed to have senior experience at TH to be able to go onto the bench. It was a young player being thrown in out of position in an emergency. Not someone able to play both sides.

Joe Schmidt played him at TH for ten minutes in Argentina, rather than risk Rodney Ah You disgracing himself again...

blackdog1

[Deleted User] wrote: »

23 appearances this season on both sides of the scrum, including 4 starts in Europe.

He's one of the most useful players Leinster have ever signed!

Bent is a very decent loosehead now and it took him a few seasons to get there. TH he's only average. He binds on the arm a lot to survive. People forget how bad bent was when he came here. Feek turned him into a decent prop but not a th. Ulster are looking for a Heineken cup standard prop like Herbst. No real international prop plays both sides for a reason.

Average TH props are worth having in reserve! Bent is a good LH and more than a passable TH. That's an incredibly useful squad player to have.

If Beerwinkel is similar, that's a very very good signing for Ulster!

I don't think you'll be able to sign another TH like Herbst. I doubt it's even in consideration tbh!

total former

Also; surely Ulster's quota of foreigners is full at this stage??

Herbst
van der Merwe
Williams
Pienaar
Ludik

There isn't room for him.

awec

total former wrote: »

Also; surely Ulster's quota of foreigners is full at this stage??

We'll need to sign someone because of the premature retirement of Deccie Fitz.

awec

awec wrote: »

We'll need to sign someone because of the premature retirement of Deccie Fitz.

It'll need to be an IQ player though, zero chance you get special dispensation for 2 NIQs above the limit!

Jamie Hagan?

awec

Deleted User wrote: »

It'll need to be an IQ player though, zero chance you get special dispensation for 2 NIQs above the limit!

Jamie Hagan?

Think it'll depend on who we can get more than anything. We need decent rather than squad filler, we already have enough useless props.

total former

Yeah, if the story about the reduced NIQ quota is to be believed and if Ulster have been given a dispensation to exceed it, then they definitely won't be allowed sign yet another one.

Jamie Hagan is useless, he's not remotely an option.

Utah_Saint

we need backrows also....!

without new players there, next season will be a repeat of this year.

Buer

Utah_Saint wrote: »

we need backrows also....!

without new players there, next season will be a repeat of this year.

Ulster always need back rows.

It's a bit of a baffling one, to be honest. The one area of the team where they've been screaming out for a top class signing for years and have never made one. They've signed front rows, second rows, scrum halves, all sorts of backs but Nick Williams is the only significant back row signing I can recall in recent years and, lets be honest, he's pretty low profile relative to the others.

One big mean back row player and it would be a massive boost to them. Josh Strauss would be Irish qualified now if Ulster had convinced him to join the Belfast Boks.

total former

There was Pedrie Wannenburg but he decided not to stick it out. Nick Williams looked like a man reborn when he arrived but wasn't able to sustain it. They would have hoped Wilson would have more of an impact too.

Buer

Forgot about PW who, in fairness, was pretty high profile if a bit of a rogue.

Roger Wilson was never much more than an adequate team player, to my mind, but never someone that was going to particularly improve the side. He's the sort of player they've been bringing in when they need someone much better who could sit alongside the likes of Henry and Ferris.

awec

I don't think we were allowed to keep Wannenburg.

Buer

awec wrote: »

I don't think we were allowed to keep Wannenburg.

I would have hoped you'd let him go anyway. He was alright but as a 20 cap Springbok he probably would have been on a decent salary and was over 30. Definitely far better guys out there you can get.

Utah_Saint

awec wrote: »

I don't think we were allowed to keep Wannenburg.

I believe this to be correct. We had to let him go...

A realistic target would be Pierre Spies. but obviously the IQ rules stop that.

Guys like Read or Vermeulen just aren't on our shopping list or shopping centre!

awec

And Nick Williams had a good first season before everyone figured him out. He's been a waste of money for a while now, giving him an extension was nuts.

thomond2006

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Guys like Read or Vermeulen just aren't on our shopping list or shopping centre!

What about those blank cheques left by Rory McIlroy behind the bins at Ravenspan?

Utah_Saint

thomond2006 wrote: »

What about those blank cheques left by Rory McIlroy behind the bins at Ravenspan?

we need them to pay for Raaymakers and Boys....

not one senior game played between them but signed contracts so that has to be honored...

Buer

Spies is already signed for Montpellier for next season. He certainly has the pedigree of someone Ulster should be looking at but I'd much rather that go for a hard nosed, versatile lump of a player like Vermeulen or Alberts.

I can't put my finger on it but I don't think Spies is going to go well in France.

mfceiling

thomond2006 wrote: »

What about those blank cheques left by Rory McIlroy behind the bins at Ravenspan?

I'd be happy if we went all Toulon on it with McIlroy's millions!!

What's that? You want Etzebeth and a few of his colleagues...where's my old trousers? Should be a few million in the arse pocket...

thomond2006

Buer wrote: »

Spies is already signed for Montpellier for next season. He certainly has the pedigree of someone Ulster should be looking at but I'd much rather that go for a hard nosed, versatile lump of a player like Vermeulen or Alberts.

I can't put my finger on it but I don't think Spies is going to go well in France.

Montpellier are the Saracens of 5 years ago. Jake White has brought in loads of South Africans.

Vermeulen is apparently off to Toulon and Alberts to Stade Francais.

Utah_Saint

any other young All Blacks or Boks out there who have their path to International rugby blocked by the incumbents???

also add a quality scrum half to the list. We really gotta start thinking about life after Ruan :eek:

bilston

Utah_Saint wrote: »

any other young All Blacks or Boks out there who have their path to International rugby blocked by the incumbents???

also add a quality scrum half to the list. We really gotta start thinking about life after Ruan :eek:

Pienaar has two years left, I wouldn't panic just yet.

Buer

bilston wrote: »

Pienaar has two years left, I wouldn't panic just yet.

At which point I'd nearly expect him to sign an extension of at least 1 year.

thomond2006

I reckon Pienaar is an Ulster lifer at this stage. If he was going to leave he would have done so when Toulon were offering him big bucks last season. Plus the strong pound puts Ulster in a really strong financial position to compete with offers from France.

Utah_Saint

bilston wrote: »

Pienaar has two years left, I wouldn't panic just yet.

Don't Panic, Don't Panic :eek:

sorry...i just keep thinking about Small Paul directing play for ulster in the next few years...!

No sign of Ulster producing a scrum half from the academy either. We are continuing our policy of only offering senior contracts to Centres:D. I Was thinking about a hand over period with Ruan if a junior Scrum half was brought in....

bilston

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Don't Panic, Don't Panic :eek:

sorry...i just keep thinking about Small Paul directing play for ulster in the next few years...!

No sign of Ulster producing a scrum half from the academy either. We are continuing our policy of only offering senior contracts to Centres:D. I Was thinking about a hand over period with Ruan if a junior Scrum half was brought in....

We are in a hole when he retires or leaves. I hope Thomond is right but I imagine he would like another spell at the Sharks, although they may not want him at the wrong end of his career. I suspect it would be either a case of stay on at Ulster until the end or go back to the Sharks, I don't think France or Emgland would be a factor now.

We can only hope we produce a homegrown 9 soon, either that or we look to someone like John Cooney (not in the same league as Pienaar but a decent Irish prospect who would be gettable) maybe. Marshall is the same age as Pienaar afaik so I don't see him being his long term replacement.

thomond2006

Dave Ryan has signed for promoted Agen. I'd love to know how he/his agent managed to get a two year deal in the Top14 after not playing at all for Ulster!

I'm desperately trying to get his agent to look after me!

awec

They don't even have a photo of him in an Ulster shirt.

total former

That is the strangest signing of the summer. An Irish guy who, let's face it, must be absolutely f**king useless, being signed by a Top 14 team who have JIFF quotas to meet. Surely there must be 50 better props in the lower French leagues?

jm08

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm desperately trying to get his agent to look after me!

I think its Frankie!