dire watch
Match thread here
Fair enough, I've never noticed the pool matches being on before, but I've never been on the lookout for them.
It was a joke.
Given our fortunes over the last 26 years it seems to me that we did a deal with the Devil to win the European Cup in 1999 in return for 26 years (at least) of disappointment.
Can you explain the last part of your final sentence as I can't quite grasp what you mean?
good Ulster side. Getting Henderson and Izzy to last most of the match will be paramount. Both can tire in the 2nd half and neither have much rugby under their belt.
Challenge cup matches are absolutely televised, and Premiere TV do a good job of giving them pretty much equal billing and flagging them up while watching Challenge cup coverage.
There is bound to less TV money for a start, I dont think Challenge Cup pool matches are even televised, and Ulster pretty much always sell out (or very close) their two home European games, will they do that in the Challenge Cup?
On a separate point, has it ever occurred to the powers that be that there isn't enough club/provincial rugby? Ulster have played 11 home games this season. Fair enough the top sides will get another 2 or 3 home games through play offs in the two competitions, but surely 11 home games a season isn't sustainable. That's less than 1 match a month in a calendar year (obviously...).
Time for an additional competition to lock in some more games. Some sort of Cup between the British and Irish countries maybe, just to add a couple extra home games to the calendar. TV money and crowd attendance would more than cover overheads so it would bring more cash to the table for everyone, and keep the momentum going for match attending spectators. Sometimes the gaps during the season are painful, you can easily go from the start of January to mid March without a home match which is a nonsense IMO.
To go back to the original point, yes maybe if we secure a couple of home play off matches in the Challenge Cup that would actually offset the financial loss, so maybe you have a point. But sure it's Ulster, you know we'll draw the best French team and probably someone like Northampton in the pool stage and end up away to the Bulls in the last 16....it's all part of the deal we did with the Devil in return for 1999 you see..
Will it? What's the actual financial shortfall if we're in the challenge cup rather than the champions cup? What if we got home knockout games?
Does anyone have any actual numbers/facts to hand? Surely a sold-out home semi-final in the challenge cup would see us bring in more over the season than out in the pools stages or an away last-of-16 round in the champions cup?
I was thinking that. Not being in the Champions Cup will hurt our ability to pay decent size contracts. Then again we're letting 13 players go from the senior squad and Academy and as things stand have only signed Augustus, although he is probably on a reasonable wedge.
Allegedly he has also stated no new 9s coming in apart from academy so rules out Devine.
I wonder if its subjective to which European competition we get into
Yes it would be very concerning if we lose all the experience we have lost and replace them with unproven potentially decent players.
I saw that, he also said we lack experience in certain positions, but the players that I've seen rumoured...Rory McGuire and Matthew Devine are hardly experienced maybe there is a more high profile signing as well to come.
He misses too many games for us, that said he will probably have a very reduced Irish role moving forward, and if there is one thing about him it's that he can hit the ground running after being out for a while, so I'd have no worries if he is deemed fit enough to start this weekend.
According to Murphy, "two or three" signings still to be announced.
I hope Henderson gets a good break this summer and comes back next year fully fit to lead Ulster.
Positive news, would be some boost to get Hendy back for this weekend.
If all those boys were available we might actually have some legitimate selection debates at centre, wing and full back!
Lowry and Moore available for Friday. Hendo, Baloucoune, Hume all training.
Let's hope he doesn't turn out to be our best player and we leave him on the bench for fifty minutes in a crucial knock-out game and subsequently lose. That would be an astonishing piece of mismanagement.
I’m looking forward to Ulster totally misusing him as per usual with most of their players!
I’m happy to discuss Lowe - tremendous strengths but his relative lack of pace is a vulnerability in a wing at his level.
yeah, big powerful man. Just what Ulster need.
Augustus looks like a good signing.
hmm, I hope you didn’t watch James Lowe yesterday!!!
and not a winger who often tops the stats for metres gained, defenders beaten and offload!!
Oh I thought posting a video called "Workrate" without any explanation was to make a point about workrate.
No worries either way.
I dont think u do get it. I prefer wingers who can score and defend. if they cant perform the latter to a high enough standard I wouldn't pick them for Ireland.
He's unfashionable.
Initially looked like a worldbeater, had a bad collapse in form, became synonymous with the waning of Schmidt's team, was ravaged by Irish "fans" on social media, had a kid, developed a different perspective, played himself back into fantastic form, some fans aren't interested when so many shiny new talents have since come through.
Some folk are absolutely fixated on his flaws and other player's strengths, and I fully expect in five years idiots will claim he was always over-rated as a finisher.
I don't really understand the negativity around Stockdale. Irish backs - and especially wingers - with the amount of game-breaking ability he has have been as rare as hen's teeth. O'Driscoll had it. Bowe had it. Lowe has it. Aki to a certain extent has it.
Others like Larmour, Conway and Earls could come up with unstoppable moments at provincial level, but to have the capability to be unplayable at Test level is very rare.
We get it like. You like busy, involved wingers, so you'd rather have… Baloucoune.
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