Ulster Team Talk Thread III: Les Miserables SEE MOD WARNING POST #1924 + #2755

Just updated the table of players from the latest squad announcement and have added some new information on injuries etc.

S = Start, B = Bench, U = Unavailable, (a) = Academy player.
Bold = Home, Red = Loss, Green = Draw.

Player|Pos|01/09|09/09|15/09|22/09|30/09|06/10|13/10|22/10|28/10|04/11|24/11|01/12|10/12|15/12|23/12|01/01|06/01
Opp||Che|Ben|Sca|Dra|Zeb|Con|Was|LaR|Lei|Kin|Ben|Dra|Har|Har|Con|Mun|Lei
Ah You|P|B|B|B|S|S|B|B|B|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|S|S
Andrew|H|B|B|B|B|S|B|B|||S|S|S|B|B|S|U|
Best|H|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|B|S|U|U|B|U|U|S|U|S
Black|P|B|S|||S||B|S|S|B|S|B|S|S||B|S
Bowe|W|S|S|B|S||S|B|S|S|B|S|S|S|U|U|U|B
Browne|L||B|||S|||U|||||||||S
Busby|W|||||||||||||||||
Cairns|SH|||||||||S||||||||
Cave|C|B|||S|S|||S||S|B||||S|S|S
Coetzee|No. 8|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Cooney|SH|S|S|S||S|S|S|B|U|S|S|B|S|S|S|S|B
Dalton (a)|L|||||||||||B|B|U|U|U|U|U
Deysel|F|S|S|U|U|S|S|S|U|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|S|S
Diack|L|S|S|B|S||B|S|B|B|B|U|U|U|U|S|B|U
Gilroy|W|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|U
Hall (a)|F|||||||||||S||||||
Henderson|L||||B|S|S|S|S|S|U|U||S|S|S|U|S
Henry|F|S|B|S|S||S||S|S|S|U|B|B|S|U|U|U
Herbst|P|S|S|S|B|B|S|S|S|U|S|U|U|S|S|S|B|B
Herring|H|S|S|S|S||S|S|S|B||B||S|S|U|S|B
Herron|OH||||B|||||||||||||U
Jackson|OH|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Jones (a)|F|||||||||||B|S|||S|S|
Kane|P|||||||||B|B|S|S|B|B|B||
Leali'fano|OH|S|S|S||S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S||S|S
Ludik|W|S|S|S||S|B|S||B|S|S|S|B|S|S|U|U
Lyttle|C||||B|B||||||||||B|S|U
Luke Marshall|C||B|S||S|S|S|B|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Paul Marshall|SH|||B|S||B|B|S|U||B|S|B|B|B|B|U
McBurney|H|||||B|||||B|||||S|B|U
McCall|P|S||S|S||S|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|S|B
McCloskey|C|S|S|S|S||S|S|S|S|U|U|S|S|S||S|S
McPhillips|OH|||||||||||||||B|B|B
Nelson|W|B|B|B|S|B|B|B||B|B|S|B|B|B|S||
O'Connor|L|S||S|S||S||S|S|S|S|S|S|S||S|B
O'Hagan|P|||||||||||||||||
Olding|C|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Owens|W|||||||||U||||||||
Patterson|C|||||||||||||||||
Payne|FB|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Piutau|FB|S|||S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S||S|S
Rea|L|B|S|S|B|S||B|B||S|||B|B|B|B|S
Reidy|F|B|S|S||S|B|S|S|S|S||S|S|B|S|U|S
Ross|F|||B|S|||B|||B|S||||S||
Shanahan|SH|B|B||B|B||||U||||||||
Simpson|P|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Stewart (a)|SH|||||||||B|B|||||||S
Stockdale|W||S|S|S||S|S|B|S|U|U||S|S|S|U|S
Timoney (a)|No. 8||||S|B||||U||S|S|S|S||S|B
Treadwell|L||S|S||B|S|S|S|B|S|S|S|S|S||S|U
Trimble|W|S|S|S||S|||S||S|B|B||B|S|B|S
Van der Merwe|P|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|B|S|||B||
Warwick|P||B|B|B|B|B||B|B|S|B|B|B|B|S||

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Whether or not our defence woes are attributable to him, its hard to argue his selection hasn't been all over the shop.

Well if you cared to look at my table... ahem... you'd see that he's got no choice. Treadwell, Dalton and Diack are all unavailable leaving just the three that were selected.

bilston wrote: »

Didn't realise Treadwell was unavailable.

Why couldn't O'Connor play though? Why can't Herbst start? Why did he not start Stewart against Connacht and keep Cooney back for this game? To be fair Herbst may not be ready for 50 mins yet so I can accept he is better from the bench at the moment. But I don't get Browne getting the nod over AOC at all.

O'Connor is on the bench?

I suspect same reasoning as an injury return. If Browne stinks up the place, he can be subbed off. If he comes on from the bench and stinks up the place...

awec wrote: »

I hear McPhillips has been added to the euro squad.

If that's the case, it casts some doubt on getting a short term signing for the rest of the season.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/pro14/trailblazer-john-cooney-points-the-way-north-for-former-peers-1.3346170

Decent read, didn't really think about players commutting to their teams a such before

prawnsambo wrote: »

Just updated the table of players from the latest squad announcement and have added some new information on injuries etc.

S = Start, B = Bench, U = Unavailable, (a) = Academy player.
Bold = Home, Red = Loss, Green = Draw.

Player|Pos|01/09|09/09|15/09|22/09|30/09|06/10|13/10|22/10|28/10|04/11|24/11|01/12|10/12|15/12|23/12|01/01|06/01
Opp||Che|Ben|Sca|Dra|Zeb|Con|Was|LaR|Lei|Kin|Ben|Dra|Har|Har|Con|Mun|Lei
Ah You|P|B|B|B|S|S|B|B|B|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|S|S
Andrew|H|B|B|B|B|S|B|B|||S|S|S|B|B|S|U|
Best|H|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|B|S|U|U|B|U|U|S|U|S
Black|P|B|S|||S||B|S|S|B|S|B|S|S||B|S
Bowe|W|S|S|B|S||S|B|S|S|B|S|S|S|U|U|U|B
Browne|L||B|||S|||U|||||||||S
Busby|W|||||||||||||||||
Cairns|SH|||||||||S||||||||
Cave|C|B|||S|S|||S||S|B||||S|S|S
Coetzee|No. 8|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Cooney|SH|S|S|S||S|S|S|B|U|S|S|B|S|S|S|S|B
Dalton (a)|L|||||||||||B|B|U|U|U|U|U
Deysel|F|S|S|U|U|S|S|S|U|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|S|S
Diack|L|S|S|B|S||B|S|B|B|B|U|U|U|U|S|B|U
Gilroy|W|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|U
Hall (a)|F|||||||||||S||||||
Henderson|L||||B|S|S|S|S|S|U|U||S|S|S|U|S
Henry|F|S|B|S|S||S||S|S|S|U|B|B|S|U|U|U
Herbst|P|S|S|S|B|B|S|S|S|U|S|U|U|S|S|S|B|B
Herring|H|S|S|S|S||S|S|S|B||B||S|S|U|S|B
Herron|OH||||B|||||||||||||U
Jackson|OH|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Jones (a)|F|||||||||||B|S|||S|S|
Kane|P|||||||||B|B|S|S|B|B|B||
Leali'fano|OH|S|S|S||S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S||S|S
Ludik|W|S|S|S||S|B|S||B|S|S|S|B|S|S|U|U
Lyttle|C||||B|B||||||||||B|S|U
Luke Marshall|C||B|S||S|S|S|B|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Paul Marshall|SH|||B|S||B|B|S|U||B|S|B|B|B|B|U
McBurney|H|||||B|||||B|||||S|B|U
McCall|P|S||S|S||S|S|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|S|B
McCloskey|C|S|S|S|S||S|S|S|S|U|U|S|S|S||S|S
McPhillips|OH|||||||||||||||B|B|B
Nelson|W|B|B|B|S|B|B|B||B|B|S|B|B|B|S||
O'Connor|L|S||S|S||S||S|S|S|S|S|S|S||S|B
O'Hagan|P|||||||||||||||||
Olding|C|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Owens|W|||||||||U||||||||
Patterson|C|||||||||||||||||
Payne|FB|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Piutau|FB|S|||S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S|S||S|S
Rea|L|B|S|S|B|S||B|B||S|||B|B|B|B|S
Reidy|F|B|S|S||S|B|S|S|S|S||S|S|B|S|U|S
Ross|F|||B|S|||B|||B|S||||S||
Shanahan|SH|B|B||B|B||||U||||||||
Simpson|P|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U
Stewart (a)|SH|||||||||B|B|||||||S
Stockdale|W||S|S|S||S|S|B|S|U|U||S|S|S|U|S
Timoney (a)|No. 8||||S|B||||U||S|S|S|S||S|B
Treadwell|L||S|S||B|S|S|S|B|S|S|S|S|S||S|U
Trimble|W|S|S|S||S|||S||S|B|B||B|S|B|S
Van der Merwe|P|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|U|B|S|||B||
Warwick|P||B|B|B|B|B||B|B|S|B|B|B|B|S||

Lyttle should be a W not a C

stephen_n wrote: »

Yes but if this was going to be the case, why not give any of the other options meaningful game time, rather than flog CL in every game possible. That’s Kiss’s Responsibility, I’d defend him a lot but his selections are not defensible.

Because they've paid big bucks for CL to come in as emergency cover, why wouldn't they use him as much as possible to salvage their season?

If they were admitting defeat and taking this season as a write off then yeah, but they're still in a competitive spot for both Europe and the league

I wouldn't just be asking questions of Kiss. I'd be looking at all the coaches. Even Gibbes and Peel. Tonight was totally unacceptable from all aspects of Ulster rugby.

Scythica wrote: »

I'll try to be positive.
Would like to see more of Stewart and McPhilips for the rest of the season. Reidy seemed keen.
And now that that's over.
FOLK (and this is more of a general insult to Ulster management than LK himself)

Stewart needs to speed things up, but he is worth persevering with, but he isn't ready to be starting a game like that, but now that it's over it will probably stand to him.

The only positive was McPhillips cameo. Tommy did well too but then wrecked himself.

The big players didn't step up at all.

Was Henderson even playing? What does Deysel do? Piutau had a nightmare defensively and Stockdale had his worst game ever for Ulster.

Imagine how Ulster's better players would have performed if they were part of the Leinster set up.
A set up with genuine competition for places.
A set up in which each player can be trusted to do the right thing 99% of the time because the work has been put in beforehand.
A set up in which the players are therefore fully invested.
A set up which doesn't as a rule hire the halt, the lame and the talent free.
A set up where the head guy was a great, uncompromising and intelligent captain who served under Schmidt and Cheika and has learned his part and earned the ultimate respect of his troops.
A set up which has recruited senior support coaching staff with real experience of the sharp end.
A set up in which the Chief Exec. isn't a spoofer.
A set up that makes young local rugby players want - no, desire - to perform and put in the work in order to get an academy place.
A set up in which the players work their socks off to attack or defend but don't check their brains into the cloakroom before the game.

None of the above really applies at Ravenhill. Lip service only.

I can't find a post I made a few years ago on UAFC (it has crashed) in which I detailed my fears for the future of U.R. as it was clear to see the moribund nature of the organisation. The crazily ineffectual structures, jobs for the boys etc.

The lack of interest shown by many young rugby players in staying in N.I. after school years was something that was and is bound to have a huge deleterious effect. (There are many reasons for this not least of which is a major societal change and this isn't the place to air it).

It seems, I have been informed by my main contact, that there is often little actual rugby coaching and drills and daily activity with the ball during training. Schmidt arrived at Leinster with a plan to make them the best handling side in Europe. He did and his legacy is still paying it's dues. It doesn't seem far fetched to me that while all the gym grunt has it's place and the Ulster guys do lots and lots in their lovely, shiny state of the art exercise palace, they might also benefit from being thrown the ball now and again. Some of them seem to have the ball control of Abu Hamza.

In April 2016 I suffered a cerebral haemorrhage stroke but I didn't lose the will to live despite what it initially did to my guitar playing. (No. it didn't make me better Thomond, I know what you're thinking ).

In April 2017 I needed major surgery for the removal of a tumour but despite the appalling memories in the I.C. unit and the awful cocktail of drugs that caused shocking hallucinations - some involving rugby - I still didn't lose the will to live.

In January 2018 I watched Ulster play Leinster. Will to live is in the post to Les .:D:D:D:D It's worse than the other stuff.

I think Kiss is more than probably an ineffective coach. We know that this is not the case with Gibbes. Peel has no experience but was a fine player.

Too many of the players are not capable of playing at a high performance plane at all or for any sustained periods of time. They seem like a bunch of fit guys but play like a bit of a rabble. The young guys we have seen look a likely bunch. Good for them to have hung in there and risen through the shyt to the surface. It can't have been easy.

The management structure is antiquated and a bunch of alickadoos have far, far, far too much input and exert a malign influence.

Feck it. It's not worth it. I'll be 69 this year, I've just started gigging again and enjoying life again. I have a room full of great guitars and enough gear to start a music shop. Life is too short for the angst caused by Ulster.

I'm off to the local pub for as many pints of craft I.P.A. that I can guzzle before my legs become as weak as Ulster's defence.