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

The season is far from a write off, make the knock out games and currently ye'r still in a home QF and anything can happen.

Ye need a win but twice recently ye've got Try BPs without managing a win so ye can score tries.

Might be best for all concerned. The players are no longer playing for him. That much is clear.

Hi guys,heading to the ulster/Stormers game on the 27th.not been before and not familier with the place.can I drive and park right at the stadium?taking the wife so not wanting to walk longer than 10min if possible and don’t fancy buses.

I thought it was interesting that Henderson (who didn't play at all until the end of November) was removed after 49 minutes. I missed a lot of the first half but his last action I saw was forcing a knock on from their scrum half so I figured he was putting himself about.

But given his removal and a brief look at his stats (4 carries for 1m, 3 missed tackles), I wonder was he just ineffective and removed accordingly?

If you're captain is phoning it in and hauled off early, it's a bad look for him. And if McFarland and Henderson aren't seeing eye to eye, it's bad news for McFarland.

I wouldn't be surprised if McFarland is gone from Belfast in the next month. It's a quiet period in terms of games and would give an interim coach an opportunity to work with the squad. A big sticking point will be the 2 years remaining on his contract though. I'm not sure if Ulster/IRFU have the funds to settle that.

If Ulster want to replace him, they need to be recruiting now. Starting a process in a few months will be too late. Even starting now will mean reduced options.

So, does anyone expect anything other than a humping this weekend?

I would love to eat my words and see a revitalised Ulster pull out a great European win a-la the past. However part of me know is adamant we need change, and if the results need to go further south to initiate that.. then so be it.

The only problem I see with the shelf life thing is the abruptness of the turnaround. I mean you can identify almost to the minute, let alone the day. It all fell apart in the RDS, which to me suggests a far more fundamental issue than a coaches shelf life. It was like a switch being flicked really. Usually when a coach reaches to the end of their time things break down a bit more gradually. But Ulster had been going well up to the RDS game.

Yes. They had only lost 1 game until the one in the RDS. They went to Thomond with a bit of a mix and match side and got a win. The only real thing about their games prior to the RDS were that they were all fairly handy, that one in Thomond aside. So maybe that was masking things. But prior to that half time in the RDS they’d scored 37 tries, which is more than most teams have 3 1/2 rounds later, including Munster. That first half in the RDS alone was good and was far more than just a team with a maul.

A wild Ian Madigan has appeared. Cooney and McCloskey rested. It's a fairly weak selection

Well, the full strength team hasn't been setting the world on fire of late... might as well give a few other lads a go. Cooney in particular was poor in Treviso and that last penalty concession was absolutely criminal.

I've no idea why Ulster were not given a penalty try.

Loved the error so much he made it three times.

after the forward pass a while ago he might consider gloves, or spray or both.