Ulster Bank League 2018-2019 Talk/Gossip/Rumours

The Lost Sheep · 15-10-2018 01:24PM

Chico Flores wrote: »

Week off for the Division 2 teams this week.

Yeah back in two weeks. Needed after 3 consecutive games with 3 games in a row again

The Lost Sheep · 19-10-2018 11:54AM

Galwegians have come to an agreement on a new ground. Will be voting on it in next few weeks.
Site is out by Bushypark. So theyre moving the other side of the city.

realhorrorshow · 19-10-2018 12:48PM

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Galwegians have come to an agreement on a new ground. Will be voting on it in next few weeks.
Site is out by Bushypark. So theyre moving the other side of the city.

The Oranswell option is the one the club has recommended however there is an alternate site in Carnmore and a vote will be taken to decide between the two.

The Lost Sheep · 19-10-2018 12:51PM

realhorrorshow wrote: »

The Oranswell option is the one the club has recommended however there is an alternate site in Carnmore and a vote will be taken to decide between the two.

Sorry. Yeah theyre the options. Club has recommended oranswell. Will be interesting to see which they take.
If they went to oranswell theyd really affect NUIGs youth academy set up.

D14Rugby · 19-10-2018 11:22PM

The club scene podcast was good again this week, improving week on week.

It did highlight one issue with the league in general though, the reports of matches in the league in general is very poor (this is in no way a go at the pod lads just to be clear, more at the irfu if anyone) when it comes to finer details, for example in the Terenure game the lads were saying that they thought Coughlan-Murray might have come on and been a spark for Terenure as that's what the report read like, but really Matt Byrne didn't play so Coughlan-Murray started the game with Sam Dardis moving to full back. Things like the podcast are really improving the coverage of the league but the bread and butter of match reports, team sheets, should really be a lot better.

As for the Terenure Tarf game, it was a decent game, Tarf on top first half, Terenure came into it in the second. The weather had a huge impact and allowed Tarfs size advantage to show, in fairness Terenure locked out the scrum all game but in open play Tarfs packs carrying was immense particularly from soroka and noone.
The ref had a bit of a stinker being honest, a tackle in the air by a Tarf player was just a penalty and a close line tackle from matt D'Arcy on his own line resulted in a 3rd team warning for Tarf and Terenure (I don't know what for and neither did the Terenure captain) and nothing more which infuriated Terenures captain. Safe to say he won't be being treated to any pints in Terenure any time soon.
Overall Tarf adapted and were probably better suited to the conditions but it was a fairly good game.

The Lost Sheep · 20-10-2018 06:18PM

D14Rugby wrote: »

The club scene podcast was good again this week, improving week on week.

It did highlight one issue with the league in general though, the reports of matches in the league in general is very poor (this is in no way a go at the pod lads just to be clear, more at the irfu if anyone) when it comes to finer details, for example in the Terenure game the lads were saying that they thought Coughlan-Murray might have come on and been a spark for Terenure as that's what the report read like, but really Matt Byrne didn't play so Coughlan-Murray started the game with Sam Dardis moving to full back. Things like the podcast are really improving the coverage of the league but the bread and butter of match reports, team sheets, should really be a lot better.

As for the Terenure Tarf game, it was a decent game, Tarf on top first half, Terenure came into it in the second. The weather had a huge impact and allowed Tarfs size advantage to show, in fairness Terenure locked out the scrum all game but in open play Tarfs packs carrying was immense particularly from soroka and noone.
The ref had a bit of a stinker being honest, a tackle in the air by a Tarf player was just a penalty and a close line tackle from matt D'Arcy on his own line resulted in a 3rd team warning for Tarf and Terenure (I don't know what for and neither did the Terenure captain) and nothing more which infuriated Terenures captain. Safe to say he won't be being treated to any pints in Terenure any time soon.
Overall Tarf adapted and were probably better suited to the conditions but it was a fairly good game.

On reports of the league and you saying IRFU being poor? How can that change? 25 games a week. 10 in top 2 divisions. IRFU cant get people to all so what needs to change?

1A
UCD 6 Lansdowne 20
Young Munster 23 UCC 17
Clontarf 28 Garryowen 10
Cork Con 24 Dublin University 13
Terenure 14 Shannon 41
1B
Ballymena 40 St Marys 22
Buccaneers 41 Old Wesley 14
Armagh 32 Malone 3
Naas 16 Banbridge 20
Old Belvedere 17 Ballynahinch 32

stellenbosch · 20-10-2018 09:56PM

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

On reports of the league and you saying IRFU being poor? How can that change? 25 games a week. 10 in top 2 divisions. IRFU cant get people to all so what needs to change?

1A
UCD 6 Lansdowne 20
Young Munster 23 UCC 17
Clontarf 28 Garryowen 10
Cork Con 24 Dublin University 13
Terenure 14 Shannon 41
1B
Ballymena 40 St Marys 22
Buccaneers 41 Old Wesley 14
Armagh 32 Malone 3
Naas 16 Banbridge 20
Old Belvedere 17 Ballynahinch 32

Was at Tarf/GO-Tarf well deserved victory-made a lot of errors in first half but very strong 2nd H performance. Tony Ryan Michael Courtney and Angus Lloyd very prominent throughout. Latter 2 settling in very well it appears.

D14Rugby · 20-10-2018 11:54PM

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

On reports of the league and you saying IRFU being poor? How can that change? 25 games a week. 10 in top 2 divisions. IRFU cant get people to all so what needs to change?

1A
UCD 6 Lansdowne 20
Young Munster 23 UCC 17
Clontarf 28 Garryowen 10
Cork Con 24 Dublin University 13
Terenure 14 Shannon 41
1B
Ballymena 40 St Marys 22
Buccaneers 41 Old Wesley 14
Armagh 32 Malone 3
Naas 16 Banbridge 20
Old Belvedere 17 Ballynahinch 32

Are you physically unable to reply to criticism of anyone without asking a question back? It's possible to see a problem without knowing a solution. Either way they manage to write reports as it is somehow they should at least get basic information correct.

The Lost Sheep · 20-10-2018 11:59PM

D14Rugby wrote: »

Are you physically unable to reply to criticism of anyone without asking a question back? It's possible to see a problem without knowing a solution. Either way they manage to write reports as it is somehow they should at least get basic information correct.

Yet there is plenty here criticising the league re promotion yet no suggestions. I gave an opinion and asked a question back about it. Nothing wrong with that and that isnt anything about a solution. People make mistakes. Not a big deal.

Mc Love · 22-10-2018 09:13AM

Really good win for Shannon on the road! Tough fixture next week though with Tarf at home!

Limerick 37.5 · 22-10-2018 10:08AM

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Yet there is plenty here criticising the league re promotion yet no suggestions. I gave an opinion and asked a question back about it. Nothing wrong with that and that isnt anything about a solution. People make mistakes. Not a big deal.

Would love to see some discussion on the restructuring of the league. In my opinion everything below 1B should go back to provincial rugby, with end of season promotion / relegation to & from a premier 1 & 2. Clubs will not vote for change, because the uncertainty they see in that. The status quo suits them, so long as the get their international ticket allocation sure life is great.

Chico Flores · 22-10-2018 10:13AM

Limerick 37.5 wrote: »

Would love to see some discussion on the restructuring of the league. In my opinion everything below 1B should go back to provincial rugby, with end of season promotion / relegation to & from a premier 1 & 2. Clubs will not vote for change, because the uncertainty they see in that. The status quo suits them, so long as the get their international ticket allocation sure life is great.

Clubs won't vote for that as the rich stay rich and the poor get poorer....

What benefit does the above have to say a decent junior side when 2A sides are now pouring down against them.

Do you honestly think clubs stay senior and all the cost that brings for tickets?

Limerick 37.5 · 22-10-2018 10:28AM

Senior clubs below 1b would retain senior status in a north / south or provincial conference setup. I am not saying that they will go back to junior rugby. What alternative would you suggest, because it makes no sense to have teams from the lower leagues to be travelling the length of the country to fulfil fixtures when the cost involved would be better served in developing their own internal structures.

Chico Flores · 22-10-2018 10:38AM

Limerick 37.5 wrote: »

Senior clubs below 1b would retain senior status in a north / south or provincial conference setup. I am not saying that they will go back to junior rugby. What alternative would you suggest, because it makes no sense to have teams from the lower leagues to be travelling the length of the country to fulfil fixtures when the cost involved would be better served in developing their own internal structures.

Junior status or not - you would still have junior teams coming up against the 2As - and teams would have no chance of ever coming up.

There is merit discussing it, but splitting under 1B isn't right.

It is simply, by and large, rewarding the old money clubs

Limerick 37.5 · 22-10-2018 10:51AM

Chico Flores wrote: »

Junior status or not - you would still have junior teams coming up against the 2As - and teams would have no chance of ever coming up.

There is merit discussing it, but splitting under 1B isn't right.

It is simply, by and large, rewarding the old money clubs

How will a junior club come up against a senior club if it is still junior. The strong junior teams become senior teams, as is, and then compete against senior teams without the current financial burden. If they are good enough they will rise through the provincial senior ranks and then get promoted to the top tier.
What is meant by rewarding the old money clubs, what clubs are these, or are you advocating penalising successful clubs,

Chico Flores · 22-10-2018 11:46AM

Limerick 37.5 wrote: »

How will a junior club come up against a senior club if it is still junior. The strong junior teams become senior teams, as is, and then compete against senior teams without the current financial burden. If they are good enough they will rise through the provincial senior ranks and then get promoted to the top tier.
What is meant by rewarding the old money clubs, what clubs are these, or are you advocating penalising successful clubs,

If you make it just two leagues then the existing teams within these will naturally attract the higher level of players.

Where are you proposing the teams in 2A play next season (or whenever)?

Cookiemunster · 22-10-2018 11:56AM

Chico Flores wrote: »

If you make it just two leagues then the existing teams within these will naturally attract the higher level of players.

Where are you proposing the teams in 2A play next season (or whenever)?

Isn't that what already happens? The better players will play in the higher leagues. That's normal across all sports and levels. I don't see how regionalising below the top two divisions would make this any worse.

Limerick 37.5 · 22-10-2018 12:04PM

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Isn't that what already happens? The better players will play in the higher leagues. That's normal across all sports and levels. I don't see how regionalising below the top two divisions would make this any worse.

I think there are 10 Munster teams in 2A and below. Surely a 10 team Munster league with winners going in to a round robin to get in to Top Tier is more beneficial on many fronts than the current situation.

The Lost Sheep · 22-10-2018 12:25PM

Limerick 37.5 wrote: »

Would love to see some discussion on the restructuring of the league. In my opinion everything below 1B should go back to provincial rugby, with end of season promotion / relegation to & from a premier 1 & 2. Clubs will not vote for change, because the uncertainty they see in that. The status quo suits them, so long as the get their international ticket allocation sure life is great.

Clubs dont want regionalised leagues and it isnt about ticket allocation which wouldnt change...

Limerick 37.5 wrote: »

Senior clubs below 1b would retain senior status in a north / south or provincial conference setup. I am not saying that they will go back to junior rugby. What alternative would you suggest, because it makes no sense to have teams from the lower leagues to be travelling the length of the country to fulfil fixtures when the cost involved would be better served in developing their own internal structures.

Clubs dont want to have regional leagues by and large. It doesnt make sense to have regional leagues where we have sides competing for promotion to 1B challenging against sides who're bottom/near bottom of 2C. It would reduce playing standards in the league.

Limerick 37.5 wrote: »

How will a junior club come up against a senior club if it is still junior. The strong junior teams become senior teams, as is, and then compete against senior teams without the current financial burden. If they are good enough they will rise through the provincial senior ranks and then get promoted to the top tier.
What is meant by rewarding the old money clubs, what clubs are these, or are you advocating penalising successful clubs,

This change would reduce overall playing standards so why would it be better. You might see more people attend games for a while with more local games but standards of play would drop.

Limerick 37.5 wrote: »

I think there are 10 Munster teams in 2A and below. Surely a 10 team Munster league with winners going in to a round robin to get in to Top Tier is more beneficial on many fronts than the current situation.

Why would reducing playing standards be better than what exists? Will attendances get much better for games and for what other reasons other than small reduction of costs be for clubs?

young munsters man · 22-10-2018 12:32PM

here some suggestions to improve promotion of league - probably rubbish but worth suggesting
use tv ads, radio ad, billboards social media engage a marketing company ,
pay for clubs to give flyers/fixture lists to schools and local businesses
insist against the head shows more club rugby -
maybe a youtube highlight package - (think scotland does this for its club game)
pay for the cameras if they have to, most 1a clubs records games anyway ,
help clubs improve the facilities (if irfu can afford it) e.g. not all grounds have covered terracing (dont prevent me going to games but might deter others)

lot of clubs to pre match lunches which seem to be good fundraisers,

young munsters man · 22-10-2018 12:39PM

Decent start to season for munsters 8 valuable points
played very well v nure, pack were very good, derek corcoran belied his years with a majestic performance, out half clayton kicked everything, good addition this lad, oisin walsh had fine game on AIL debut,dan walsh outstanding, good performance all round, first opening day win in 5 years, crowd boosted im sure by player underage game at half time which was great to see.
Then the first superclasico of the season, Shannon were a lot better than us and should have got bonus point, we couldnt get the ball off them in 2^nd half and fair dues to them they belted out brilliant rendition of the isle lead by club legend Noel Healy,
Then friday night, another fine crowd (which i suppose is on us) , beat ucc , they ran everything in first half got two good tries bower (cian bohane – ex munsters) and john poland were brilliant, they went 10-3 up, we got 2 tries via pack who again played well to go 15-10 up at ht. Evan ogorman got a try after great work from pack, leade 23-10 and then ucc threw everything at us, scored in injury time but we held on, relief all round. Will have some academy lads back from now on,
Trinity up next – our bogey team lost all 4 games to them in previous 2 season, both away ones with last play of match. Gonna be very difficult

young munsters man · 22-10-2018 12:41PM

Thing we have done this season is play an underage match at half time, and its boosted the attendances no doubt , as parents are going to games (to see their own lads) who wouldnt normally go to a game, shannon did same, best crowd i saw at away game in last few seasons was away to tarf in 2017 where they had load of kids games on at half time as part of a family fun day.
Might be a way to go

The Lost Sheep · 22-10-2018 12:46PM

young munsters man wrote: »

here some suggestions to improve promotion of league - probably rubbish but worth suggesting
use tv ads, radio ad, billboards social media engage a marketing company ,
pay for clubs to give flyers/fixture lists to schools and local businesses
insist against the head shows more club rugby -
maybe a youtube highlight package - (think scotland does this for its club game)
pay for the cameras if they have to, most 1a clubs records games anyway ,
help clubs improve the facilities (if irfu can afford it) e.g. not all grounds have covered terracing (dont prevent me going to games but might deter others)

lot of clubs to pre match lunches which seem to be good fundraisers,

Clubs dont need to be paid to give flyers/fixture lists to schools/local businesses.
Against the Head isnt on enough. And IRFU cant just insist more club rugby is shown on it.
All club games are recorded and IRFU get coverage for ref training and other purposes.
Sometimes they wont release footage because of that.
When you say improve facilities? What exactly do you want? IRFU cant exactly afford to help 50+ clubs considering you wouldnt be able to limit it to senior clubs.

young munsters man · 22-10-2018 12:58PM

[font=Open Sans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The IRFU could insist that more club rugby as part of the contract for international games [/font]
[font=Open Sans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- am i correct that under 20s,womens, and the 2 club finals are part of the autumn internationals deal, [/font]
-if all club games are recorded they could use that footage.
[font=Open Sans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]-[/font][font=Open Sans, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]as for improving facilities, maybe put in some covered terracing , nothing fancy but enough to keep the rain off, in limerick lot of gaa clubs have covered terraces e,g. NCW hospital kilteely, cappamore, bruff, caherconlish, maybe look at 1a clubs first and go from there[/font]
maybe you have some better suggestions for us about improving promotion coverage of the league

The Lost Sheep · 22-10-2018 01:15PM

young munsters man wrote: »

The IRFU could insist that more club rugby as part of the contract for international games
- am i correct that under 20s,womens, and the 2 club finals are part of the autumn internationals deal,
-if all club games are recorded they could use that footage.
as for improving facilities, maybe put in some covered terracing , nothing fancy but enough to keep the rain off, in limerick lot of gaa clubs have covered terraces e,g. NCW hospital kilteely, cappamore, bruff, caherconlish, maybe look at 1a clubs first and go from there
maybe you have some better suggestions for us about improving promotion coverage of the league

IRFU can try but what more can they do.
Who pays for covered terracing? How many grounds do you want it added to? Plenty of clubs in 1A/B have covered facilities and IRFU shouldnt be doing it starting with 1A clubs as theyre generally the clubs with best resources already. Clubs have be beginning and primary area to help promote the league. Coverage in the local papers, local media as well as postering in locality needs to be better. Clubs should be running deals to get more members attending games using minis playing at half time or before to keep parents at game. Improve food on offer at a game to try keep people at a game

D14Rugby · 22-10-2018 09:25PM

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

All club games are recorded and IRFU get coverage for ref training and other purposes.
Sometimes they wont release footage because of that.

Is that supposed to be a legitimate reason not to release footage.

At the end of the day facilities would help a bit but not enough (see old Wesley) for it to be worthwhile, especially for some clubs that it's logistically hard or expensive to do for one reason or another.

It's no coincidence that the big crowds are at clubs that are either A. Going well, or B. Have a big community involvement.
Fliers and the likes would help a bit but they'd largely preach to the choir especially in this modern society where fliers are increasingly irrelevant. Clubs just need to get the kids in their club and in local schools down with their mates and parents.
What would really help is putting matches online because a big problem is people lose the routine by going on holidays or moving away but if they could watch highlights or even full matches after the fact while they're away they're far more likely to keep interest and keep going.

The Lost Sheep · 22-10-2018 10:00PM

D14Rugby wrote: »

Is that supposed to be a legitimate reason not to release footage.

At the end of the day facilities would help a bit but not enough (see old Wesley) for it to be worthwhile, especially for some clubs that it's logistically hard or expensive to do for one reason or another.

It's no coincidence that the big crowds are at clubs that are either A. Going well, or B. Have a big community involvement.
Fliers and the likes would help a bit but they'd largely preach to the choir especially in this modern society where fliers are increasingly irrelevant. Clubs just need to get the kids in their club and in local schools down with their mates and parents.
What would really help is putting matches online because a big problem is people lose the routine by going on holidays or moving away but if they could watch highlights or even full matches after the fact while they're away they're far more likely to keep interest and keep going.

It may be for IRFU. Clubs will still have the footage they will have recorded so could release it on youtube themselves could they not?
Like Shannon have highlights on most of their leagues up on their youtube page.
Yes clubs need to get kids in their club/schools down with parents&mates and play mini/youths games at half time/prior to AIL games and get parents in for free and then deals for food etc.
I said flyering but ive mentioned here before digital marketing.

Stainalert · 23-10-2018 09:08AM

The club Scene Podcast asking the question this week "Who is the best player you have played against/seen playing in the AIL?"

Chico Flores · 23-10-2018 10:08AM

Stainalert wrote: »

The club Scene Podcast asking the question this week "Who is the best player you have played against/seen playing in the AIL?"

Before my time but my father saw him play.

Ger Earls was always one he thought was incredible.

Leo Auva'a had a season where he was a pure wrecking ball, no more than Joey Carberry I suppose.

Probably Matt Darcy, although he has stagnated a little bit.

Squidgy Black · 23-10-2018 10:19AM

Chico Flores wrote: »

Before my time but my father saw him play.

Ger Earls was always one he thought was incredible.

Leo Auva'a had a season where he was a pure wrecking ball, no more than Joey Carberry I suppose.

Probably Matt Darcy, although he has stagnated a little bit.

Are we excluding Academy/Contracted players?

The Clontarf team that won the league in 2016 were an outstanding squad and probably the best year Darcy had in red and blue. Mick McGrath in his prime, Soroka, Sam Cronin, Tony Ryan.

Scott Deasy would be up there as well for me.

Ulster Bank League 2018-2019 Talk/Gossip/Rumours

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