Ulster Team Talk Thread IV... Go On My Henderson...

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123104612#Comment_123104612

I agree with the general sentiment but Corrie Barrett has actually done alright as a 3rd choice THP all things considered.

I'd be tempted to just play the young players for the rest of the season but the fact is we need to be in the Champions Cup for financial reasons and because of that I don't see us reverting to the kids only.

McCloskey, Hume and Stockdale should in theory transform our backline and seemingly will all be back for Benetton so I still think there are better days ahead this season.

We desperately need a Loosehead prop, a 10 and IMO a 15 (given McIlroy is out for a long time), but I don't know where we get them from. I see Michael Milne going to Munster for example, I really hope we at least had a conversation with him.

We also need a gnarly fecker in the pack, they don't have to be the most talented, but just someone who don't take a step back. Sheridan might be that man. We might have better second rows in Henderson and Izzy, but to be honest I'd probably have Sheridan in the team for this reason.

On a positive note from last night Lorcan McLoughlin looks to have something about him. He has good footwork before contact and even a turn of pace. I'd like to see more of him.

ljsulster

Richie Murphy confirming that James Hume Stu McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale all fit and will play vs Queensland Reds. Huge boost for our team coming into the crunch part of the season

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123106080#Comment_123106080

If anyone gets injured in this game whoever organised it should be dragged over hot coals.

I would not be risking any of those lads in such a meaningless fixture.

launish116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123105595#Comment_123105595

Two of Zebres tries were a result of Cooney inability to tackle. The one in the corner he didn't even attempt and the look Ward gave him said it all.

That a side wouldn't mind seeing Ward's metres gained again.

Deramore

Ward beat 9 defenders according to URC, the most of any player at the weekend. Thought he looked dangerous and played well

Pete_Cavan

Henderson should be left out of Irish squads at this stage. It would be better for all of Irish rugby if he focused all his energy (both on and off the pitch) on Ulster. He doesn't add much at international level at this stage and Ireland have a new breed of lock in Izzy and Ahern (potentially Edogbo) who they should be developing.

He should be involved every week for Ulster and getting a rest during international windows. Seems like he needs some recovery time anyway and not being involved in the 6N could set him up for a big finish to the season. Instead, he'll probably be holding tackle bags for Ireland, get injured doing so and not be match fit for the rest of the season despite being expected to carry Ulster.

big-al

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123106171#Comment_123106171

Hume needs the minutes. The other two, not as much.

jacothelad

Baloucoune? Where is he in terms of recovery from whatever ails him?

Deramore

Ulster can confirm that long-serving lock, Kieran Treadwell, will re-join Gallagher Premiership side, Harlequins, after the conclusion of the current season.

Treadwell hasn’t been great for a while but very light in the 2nd row now

launish116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115745#Comment_123115745

Just saw that, so we have Henderson, O'Connor neither who play a full 80 minutes any longer and are on the wind down. Sheridan who is abrasive but arguably not big enough for 2nd row. Izzy who is arguably a better blindside. Rea also a blindside. If Ulster don't have a decent 2nd row lined up I give up…and makes Augustus signing pointless.

Two academy rows need fast tracked both in experience and size/weight.

bigmac86

So for next season we have Henderson, Sheridan, AOC? (rumoured to be leaving/retiring), Izzy, Irvine and Hopes.

Izzys best position seems to be 6 but there's the beginnings of a logjam there with emergence of McNabney and McCann likely shifting to flank to accommodate Augustus, so they may keep Izzy at lock to have best players on the pitch.

IF there is money to spend, a proper TH lock would go a long way to strengthening the pack alongside our lighter more mobile locks and would also bolster scrum 🤞

awec

I said it a few days ago but we really do need a signing in the second row.

launish116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115888#Comment_123115888

I'm hoping this wasn't why Dalton was resigned.

Keep saying it Josh McNally at Cardiff would be perfect stop gap if even to give the pups a year.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123115895#Comment_123115895

If Dalton was resigned because of this we are screwed.

The Augustus signing is looking more and more bizarre. Back row is the strongest area of our pack!

launish116

We keep hearing Ulster's young squad - give us some bloody seasoned players/leadership to throw in the mix and we'll not squander another batch of players with defeat after defeat.

jacothelad

My late father started taking me to Ravenhill as a 7 year old boy in the 1950s. I have had a life long love affair with the game ever since. There have been ups and downs over the 7 decades since and I have always looked on positively when things were poor and knew there would be an upturn. Now, I don't think there is actually a future for the team as a competitive entity. There is still too much of the old boys club, a view that things will work themselves out and the difference that exists between Ulster and the other 3 Provinces with regard to how players are recruited and remunerated, their pathways to the game and the decline of schools rugby as it sits in the educational establishment. The ethos of rugby was once viewed as a positive characteristic and life enhancing. Personally, last Sunday was the watershed moment for me. I now don't care…something which I had never contemplated. There is no cavalry coming over the horizon. It would be beneficial for example, if high quality and 'underused' players from elsewhere found a future at Ravenhill. However, take for example Deegan. A great player but why would he give up success, even of a partial vicarious nature, at Leinster and lose that winning feeling and then hundreds of thousands of Euro in tax rebate at the end of his career to move North. Rugby has been shrinking in schools in N.I. as more and more no longer have the numbers to field teams. Fewer school players = fewer choives of academy players. More higher educational opportunities in GB = fewer players joing AIL clubs here. Guys looking at the perception that UR isn't an equal partner any more will be less likely to be enamoured of the game. There are very talented yoing rugby players here and always have been. I suspect that dozens have either been ignored by the pernicious old bloy's club or ruined by it at Ravenhill.

Utah_Saint

Michael Cheika available at the end of the season. Might be the old school wake up call most of our squad need.

jacothelad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123117477#Comment_123117477

It needs something out of the left field to turn apparent base metal into gold…. I can't blame Murphy as he is the man who has to clean the stable. He is a well regarded coach and will move heaven and Earth to succeed. I look at the squad and recognise on the evidence of performances that about 20% who are not up to it. BUT….you can't just boot them out. Who would replace them? Ulster Rugby has a responsibility to look after the welfare of their employees. You can't bring young men in to the academy and then screw with them. I firmly believe that the coaching is hugely to blame over the last few years. Imagine a combination of Cheika, Murphy and Lancaster and what they might achieve. The trouble is that coaching here is a bit of a poisoned chalice and the poor finances would prohibit any such effort to attract guys like that. Maybe I am being overly pessimistic but when you see guys playing well one week and then running about like headless chickens the next it is worrying. Some of them have the handing skills of Abu Hamza in a straitjacket. How many times have we seen Ulster enter the last 20 minutes of a game in the lead and then watch as they contrive to kick themselves in the balls and lose the game? Far too many. Are they not fit enough? Are the subs just useless? Who knows.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123116150#Comment_123116150

I think it's the case that rugby has just progressed in its move to professionalism and so now money is really starting to seriously rule the roost. It is becoming more and more like football.

I honestly believe the days of Ulster competing at the business end of the top competitions is over. We just cannot compete with the big money teams like Toulouse, Leinster, La Rochelle etc.

I don't think this is unique to Ulster either, it is the same for many clubs. Rugby is a niche sport, if you're not one of the top few then you are in trouble. The only way to get a seat at the top table now is with a huge injection of cash, and that is just never going to happen for us.

Some will call it hyperbolic but I do think it's inevitable that Irish rugby will eventually cease fielding 4 elite teams.

What is eventually going to happen, be it in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, whatever, is the wealth will continue to concentrate in the select few and the sport will get to a stage where those elite clubs form new competitions among themselves, with everyone else left behind. Because of the nature of the sport, anyone left behind is pretty much finished, rugby doesn't have the appeal to really sustain clubs outside of the top levels.

We have seen this movie before in football.

Which I guess is to say, we may as well try make the most of what we have while we can.

Pete_Cavan

Maybe this will be seen as controversial but I think Ulster Rugby mirrors Northern Ireland as an entity. Both have been the subject of terrible management (due to several factors, not all under their control) for a very long time but those fundamental issues have not been tackled (again due to several factors, but this time more of the limiting factors have been under their control).

If anything, poor management structures have been kept in place and artificially sustained. Reluctance to change, poor investment and an expectation that problems will be resolved, or at least reduced, for them seem to hold both back.

Utah_Saint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123119027#Comment_123119027

Yeah - there is certainly parallels.

ionadnapóca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123117477#Comment_123117477

He would sort out the messers and dossers alright! Lets face it, It cant always be just the coaches fault as Ulster.

No chance Chieka would sign up.

Utah_Saint

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123120160#Comment_123120160

I see Lancaster is now available.

ionadnapóca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123120284#Comment_123120284

Munster or Leicester would be more to his liking.

Hope the IRFU pull out all the stops to get him back in Ireland somehow, someway.

Somehow, someway, someday things have to change in Ulster!

ShineyShiney

I think ye have a gem in Murphy, just give him a season.

awec

Murphy is absolutely not part of the problem IMO.

Pete_Cavan

Lancaster is a great coach but seems to be a poor Head Coach. Him working under Murphy would be ideal but he is unlikely to accept that.

big-al

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123120927#Comment_123120927

is he part of the solution?

launish116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123128190#Comment_123128190

Happy to wait and judge him when he has his own team in place. If he had Ulster even playing 75% as good as the u20s were I'd be happy.

bilston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123128190#Comment_123128190

This was always going to be an up and down season given the profile of the squad. Patience was always required. Each to their own, but I'm not going to judge Murphy until the middle of next season.

Admittedly Zebre was really fecking bad though.