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

gutting- more at the pathetic performance from Ulster, than at the inept performances from the ref team.

Ulster aren’t going to win the URC this season, but a couple of home knockout matches would certainly help the £££ to improve development pathways and build the squad.

I thought the Lowry, Kok and Dalton were shockingly poor, as was the scrum.

No scrum coach....what does one expect

Farrell has decided to release Cormac Izuchukwu, Jude Postlethwaite, and Bryn Ward back to Ulster ahead of their province’s rescheduled URC game against Edinburgh on Friday.

Ulster will have a strong team available for Edinburgh.

That must be very frustrating for McNabney but it tends to happen coming back from an ACL. I suppose the speed at which Dan Sheehan returned from his gave me hope McNabney might have been back some time in February. Ulster will have an incredible backrow next season if they can get everyone available, difficult as that is to do.

Tom McAlistair making his debut at TH. I don't know too much about him.

Ward at 7 and McCann on the bench.

Shanahan starting at 9 with McKee on the bench which I'm not totally on board with, but Richie seems a decent man manager and this may be an indication of that.

Disastrous start by ulster.

Who missed that tackle in midfield

We need to be a bit more direct in midfield.

Augustus and Izzy going great guns. McKee has been very good since coming on. Overall though we're lucky enough to be only 5 down at the break.

Only turned in a while into the second half and I'm left wondering how we were behind? Lot's of players replaced but we're still gaining yards with every carry and hitting soft shoulders really well.

Bryn ward with an absolutely incredible carry a few minutes ago, he is impressively strong.

As a Leinster and Ireland supporter, delighted to see Ulster play so well. Looked concerning when they were behind and got a 20 minute card. Both Wards, Itszy and Augustus impressive.

Ireland needs all 4 provinces contributing, Ulster are stepping up to the plate and playing a good brand of rugby

I wouldn’t read anything really into that Ireland A side performance. It was a scratch side who’d barely trained together. There’s no way I’d be writing off Zac Ward’s ability to play at a higher level based on that.

Alright folks.

So we beat Edinburgh 19 - 40 away.

Using the traditional (albeit arbitrary) definition of "young" as "25 or less", what might the future hold?

Tom McAllister - TH - 21 years old - first cap

Charlie Irvine - SR - 23

Harry Sheridan - SR - 24

Bryn Ward - BR - 21

Dave McCann - BR - 25

Conor McKee - SH - 24

Jack Murphy - OH - 21

Jude Postlethwaite - IC - 23

Sam Crean - LH - 25

James McCormick - HK - 24

Scott Wilson - TH - 23

Joe Hopes - SR - 21

Ben Carson - IC - 24

So 13 of a 23 man squad are 25 or less. That's good, for an away victory in Edinburgh, especially given the impact a lot of those young players made off the bench. It was 19-19 at 60 minutes.

When we started pulling away, we had a lot of youngsters on the field.

Players that deserve a specfic mention are McAllister, Irvine, McKee, Wilson and Carson.

Ward and Jude have obviously been called into the Irish squads already but I hope Murphy is whispering in their ear that caps are there for the taking. For Jude, there's no need to wait until Aki and Henshaw are eased out after the world cup, plenty of rugby left to show that he belongs. As for Ward his strength and his ability to play 8 and 7 are real selling points - Farrell doesn't seem to rate the 'next up' opensides (Hodnett, Kendellan, Penny), but prefers to shuffle established players (Prendergast, Doris, O'Mahoney).

Other players I think that can make a push in the next couple years are Wilson and Irvine. We are approaching a TH crisis post world cup with Bealham and Furlong already showing their age, Clarkson is good but no world beater and although I'm aware there a couple of top prospects coming through at Leinster (as per usual), Wilson is starting to put together a really solid body of work. Irvine will find it difficult to break through as Ryan and McCarthy are a good age profile and when on form and not sitting in the sin bin, are fantastic players. The younger prospects coming through all seem to have a real selling point - Izzy's carrying, Edogbo's size and strength, Ahern's lineout work - but I've been very impressed with Irvine around the park so far. Think he needs to slowly build his size over the next few years, he certainly has the frame for it.

McCann and Sheridan look destined to be those 'club men' that are essential for success and every fan moans about their exclusion every time a national squad is announced. They've really stepped up.

As Bilston said, we could really do with a couple outside backs coming through, as I think we maybe have one player in the back three between The ireland u20, u19 and u18 squads. Was hoping to see what Graham and Kenny could do but rugby in unforgiving and injuries happen

He's a centre by trade and has been filling in at wing for Ulster A due to injuries. No idea if they want to keep him there

Now that 6Ns is over its Ulster Ulster Ulster all the way to the end of the season now.

3rd in the URC with 6 games to play

20/3 Connacht (h)

28/3 Zebre (a)

17/4 Leinster (h)

25/4 Munster (a)

8/5 Stormers (h)

15/5 Glasgow (h)

4 home games, 2 away games. We should always aim to win all our home games, but 4 wins from 6 probably gets us into the top 4 from here and a home Quarter Final. Obviously three of those matches at hone are against the other top 4 sides, but if we are at full strength at home we should fear no one. But it won't be easy.

Ospreys at home in the Challenge Cup won't be easy either, but I'd back us to do it, which would then mean a home quarter final against either Newcastle or La Rochelle.

To follow on from Loch Lamora's point, this time last season I couldn't wait for the season to end, this season I'm buzzing for it. It should be a great few months ahead.

We seemed to ship a few knocks on Friday so hopefully we'll get Stewart and Doak back this weekend.