Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

durkadurka

TOL would have something to say about that

shuffol

Thought Macklin impressed when he was on. Porters passing was very erratic to say the least.

thomond2006

Ulster vs Treviso on right now, on BBC2NI.

Ulster:
15 Jared Payne, 14 Craig Gilroy, 13 Darren Cave, 12 Nevin Spence, 11 Ian Whitten, 10 Ian Humphreys, 9 Paul Marshall, 8 Chris Henry, 7 Mike
McComish, 6 Pedrie Wannenburg, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Tim Barker , 3 Jerry Cronin, 2 Andi Kyriacou, 1 Declan Fitzpatrick.

Replacements: 16 Nigel Brady, 17 Kyle McCall, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Robbie Diack, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Adam D'Arcy.

Treviso:
15 Ludovico Nitoglia, 14 Tommaso Iannone, 13 Ezio Galon, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Brendan Williams, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Tobias Botes, 8 Marco Filippucci, 7 Benjamin Vermaak, 6 Francesco Minto, 5 Valerio Bernabò, 4 Antonio Pavanello (c), 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Enrico Ceccato, 1 Michele Rizzo.

Replacements: 16 Diego Vidal, 17 Matteo Muccignat, 18 Carlo Fazzari, 19 Gonzalo Padrò, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Willem De Waal, 22 Alberto Sgarbi, 23 Simon Picone.

SomeFool

Payne gone off injured,(ankle) didn't look too good.

thomond2006

Williams inches away from scoring one of the best individual tries you'll ever see. 4/5 Ulster defenders couldn't touch him

3-0 with 30 minutes gone, 5m scrum to Treviso

SomeFool

Good covering from Cave to stop him. Penalty try on here for Treviso I'd say.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Fitzpatrick binned for not binding in the scrum. He really isn't worth much playing LH.

Brady on at LH usually a hooker but Ulster doesn't trust their bench props

Penalty try here

phog

Why wasnt that a penalty try?

phog

P Try now

thomond2006

Treviso penalty try from the scrum, Declan Fitzpatrick in the bin.

SomeFool

phog wrote: »

Why wasnt that a penalty try?

Tis now, took him long enough!

thomond2006

Is Paddy McAllister injured?

CIARAN_BOYLE

thomond2006 wrote: »

Is Paddy McAllister injured?

yep he was injured a few weeks back

thomond2006

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

yep he was injured a few weeks back

They really need him, Fitzpatrick is cack.

SomeFool

Penalty Ulster, completely fluffed by Humph, 10-0 at half time, Ulster are lucky it's not a lot more.

SomeFool

thomond2006 wrote: »

They really need him, Fitzpatrick is cack.

Isn't he normally a tighthead though?

ambid

Was the penalty try the correct decision?

phog

SomeFool wrote: »

Tis now, took him long enough!

Most unusual to see a ref caution a team about binding in a 5m scrum, then at next offence YC a player without awarding a penalty try as well.

CIARAN_BOYLE

thomond2006 wrote: »

They really need him, Fitzpatrick is cack.

He is a good TH (level enough or slightly better than Jerry Cronin) but LH is not his position. Never really played there before this season. No one is asking John Hayes to go to LH tomorrow for Munster.

thomond2006

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

He is a good TH (level enough or slightly better than Jerry Cronin) but LH is not his position. Never really played there before this season. No one is asking John Hayes to go to LH tomorrow for Munster.

Fair enough, I didn't know that.

.ak

Clever line-out.. That was some hit.

Missed the first half. Any use?

SomeFool

Here we go again

.ak

Very bad day at the office for Ulster.

SomeFool

Glad I'm not an Ulster fan, they should be better than this. 20 - 0

ambid

.ak wrote: »

Very bad day at the office for Ulster.

Two bad performances in two weeks. Disappointing.

It's good for the league to see small teams challenge the big four, especially away from home, but still it's very disappointing.

EDIT: ...and now they've woken up a little!

SomeFool

Could be a good finish here! 12 - 20 now

ambid

Great play Treviso in fairness. Look like quite a good team.

SomeFool

ambid wrote: »

Great play Treviso in fairness. Look like quite a good team.

Have to give them credit, would have lost more players to the WC than Ulster too. Great away win.

thomond2006

Great win for Treviso, I hope they do well this year.

the_doctor199

Really bad news for Payne and Ulster.

RT @thepain15: Not good news, Achilles not in one piece anymore. Season over.

Edit: Tweet has been quickly removed, I guess we'll see over the next few days how bad the damage is.

wow that's absolutely horrible for both.

thomond2006

Awful news.

.ak

That's gotta be painful, ow!! (Honestly no pun intended)

I think Treviso deserved the win, it wasn't one of these 'Ulster didn't turn up' wins. Treviso were very physical and very FAST into contact, they really blitz'd the breakdown and I think they controlled the tempo of the game because of it.

Ulster started to slip back in because the midfield guys started playing in the same way - run straight, and hard, and it paid off.

Pity they didn't keep it going, I think the score could've been a lot closer and if Humphries nailed that second conversion they might've been hungry to win.

nice_guy80

I think it's fair to say Humphreys is not up the standard required

pajunior

nice_guy80 wrote: »

I think it's fair to say Humphreys is not up the standard required

Bit harsh I think. Any part of his game you don't think is up to scratch.

Obviously not an International, but the best Ulster have.

Digifriendly

Was at this match last night and Treviso fully deserved to win. Their pack bossed Ulster who never really got going until it was too late. The contingent from RWC can't come home soon enough IMHO. Court/Best/Muller/Ferris all badly missed up front. Add Pienaar/Wallace/Trimble/Danielli to backline and it's a much better looking team.

SomeFool

I can see Gilroy keeping Danelli out of the team, thought he and Cave were good last night

RuggieBear

payne is out for season with ruptured achilles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15227951.stm

Hagz

Was David McIlwaine from Ulster or was he a signing? Because he is having a stormer of a season with Doncaster. Every time I check their match feeds to see how Michael Keating is playing, McIlwaine is scoring tries for fun.

ambid

jacothelad wrote: »

...Like most Ulster fans we have little faith in our coaching team to do - well, - anything really...

- from the "Future of Ireland" thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=74844892&postcount=217

@jacothelad - what is the frustration with the Ulster coaching team? I'm just curious as I thought you'd have been happy with the progress made last year? What things frustrate you guys? Cheers.

CIARAN_BOYLE

ambid wrote: »

- from the "Future of Ireland" thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=74844892&postcount=217

@jacothelad - what is the frustration with the Ulster coaching team? I'm just curious as I thought you'd have been happy with the progress made last year? What things frustrate you guys? Cheers.

They got rid of their forwards coach with no replacement and the team hasn't been firing on all cylinders this season.

jacothelad

Found the thread on page 7.

The one most stupid coaching decision ever by a professional in Ireland has to be Mclaughlin sending on Brady at loose-head prop when Fitzpatrick was binned. Speaks volumes for the brains trust at Ravenhill I'm afraid. Poor, bad or absent coaching is ruining a decent set of players. This is to the detriment not only of Ulster but also for Ireland. We need all 4 provinces being able to develop young players right through from merely being promising to becoming the real deal.

The Ulster coaching set-up is a load of jobs for the boys. Here are some - and not the only examples.

No scrum coach - Botha did job this and it showed..

No forwards coach - Jeremy Davidson left to coach in France and we got a pretty useless replacement in Allen Clarke who allegedly does both of these jobs. He was here before and Ulster's forwards were crap under his regime. They looked clueless most of the time. What a load of tosh. Ex - player gets cozy job.

Our defence coach was let go and replaced by Johnny Bell. Ex- player gets cozy job..... Amateurish madness.

When the RWC players return no doubt they will change the losses into scrambled wins on the backs of Pienaar, Muller, Afoa etc. I don't think we should blind ourselves to the reality of the situation here at the moment. I don't think the Ulster under age teams have won a single game this season.... Guess who coaches them.....None other than an ex-player. One Niall Malone.

Now I have no beef with using ex-players if they have the track record to show that they can do it. None of these guys have it. They were not a really great players to begin with although they were decent. Can you imagine Toulouse or Leicester taking a punt on a bunch of untried players as coaches simply because they were old mates of Guy Noves or Cockerel. Obviously ex-players become coaches.

They should become coaches after serving some sort of 'apprenticeship' where they can develop the talents and skills needed and prove that they can do it. Ulster have Clarke, Leinster have Greg Feek.....FFS. Parachuting them into what is supposed to be a top tier professional outfit is cretinous beyond belief. The IRFU rightly has a final say in the signing of some players. Surely to God they should have a veto over coaching appointments - or actually make them in conjunction with the management. It's a bit like a major company giving the financial governance to the whole shebang to the guy who does the bank run on a Friday. You know the sort of thing, " He knows where the cheques go so I'm sure he'll know how to make the dosh in the first place."

profitius

Its the same here in Munster. Jason Holland (backs), Paul McCarthy (scrum) are 2 questionable decisions. Likewise there seems to be plenty of politics involved in underage rugby.

I thought Ulster were a more professional outfit these days with Humphreys running the show?

CIARAN_BOYLE

profitius wrote: »

Its the same here in Munster. Jason Holland (backs), Paul McCarthy (scrum) are 2 questionable decisions. Likewise there seems to be plenty of politics involved in underage rugby.

I thought Ulster were a more professional outfit these days with Humphreys running the show?

A lot of the downhill movement was over the summer just gone afaik

shuffol

I think I heard somewhere Toulouse have a policy of only appointing ex players to coaching positions, I'm sure its done more to preserve the ethos of the club rather than being a jobs for boys agenda.

That forwards coach Allen Clarke, wasnt he the coach of the Irish u-20s two seasons ago?

jacothelad

shuffol wrote: »

I think I heard somewhere Toulouse have a policy of only appointing ex players to coaching positions, I'm sure its done more to preserve the ethos of the club rather than being a jobs for boys agenda.

That forwards coach Allen Clarke, wasnt he the coach of the Irish u-20s two seasons ago?

That was he. He was a very good player for a small man. He 'coached' at Ulster before and not very successfully, before moving on to one of those 'nothing' jobs that the IRFU created when the dosh was flowing like water. elite performance director or some such. Humphreys and Logan have really improved things as far as it being a well run business but the cracks are beginning to reappear now that the paper covering a few of them is shrinking. Too many inexperienced guys in important positions with no hope of improving as all they do is repeat the same mistakes endlessly.

When Syd Millar said we needed a root and branch clear out he was correct. It didn't happen as it should. Some good things have been done but appointing McLaughlin was a poor decision. It was done under the last regime and was because he was (a) available at a knock down rate and (b) amenable to the old guard. It didn't matter a damn that he was not the right man for the job as long as the 'Committee' could see he was going to do right by them. At least they have been booted into touch to a large deggree. He would be the right man for the Academy though. Ulster, if we are to climb back to competitiveness, need new blood in the coaching staff. New ideas and a new ethos among the players, not jobs for the boys.

anonymous_joe

jacothelad wrote: »

That was he. He was a very good player for a small man. He 'coached' at Ulster before and not very successfully, before moving on to one of those 'nothing' jobs that the IRFU created when the dosh was flowing like water. elite performance director or some such. Humphreys and Logan have really improved things as far as it being a well run business but the cracks are beginning to reappear now that the paper covering a few of them is shrinking. Too many inexperienced guys in important positions with no hope of improving as all they do is repeat the same mistakes endlessly.

When Syd Millar said we needed a root and branch clear out he was correct. It didn't happen as it should. Some good things have been done but appointing McLaughlin was a poor decision. It was done under the last regime and was because he was (a) available at a knock down rate and (b) amenable to the old guard. It didn't matter a damn that he was not the right man for the job as long as the 'Committee' could see he was going to do right by them. At least they have been booted into touch to a large deggree. He would be the right man for the Academy though. Ulster, if we are to climb back to competitiveness, need new blood in the coaching staff. New ideas and a new ethos among the players, not jobs for the boys.

Where's Davidson these days?

McCall's presumably out of the question? Would he leave Sarries?

jacothelad

anonymous_joe wrote: »

Where's Davidson these days?

McCall's presumably out of the question? Would he leave Sarries?

Davidson is now head coach at Aurillac in France.

McCall wouldn't be out of the question at all. He was 'given' or promoted into the job before on the recommendation of Alan Solomons as Solly was leaving. It was perhaps far too early for a young, pleasant, unassuming ex-player to take over the reins when there were a few of his colleagues still playing and one or two were very obnoxious scrotes at the time. Neil Best in particular is alleged to have caused - let's call it - disharmony. McCall did win the ML as coach but the wheels soon fell off and he with them. I'm sure his time in France and at Saracens under the Mad One will have stiffened his resolve and made him a better coach / man-manager. I have my doubts if he would want to come back. It must have been a very difficult experience for him. Still who says 'Nice guys come last'? Mclaughlin has only signed for this year. Perhaps Eddie O'Sullivan might be interested with McL as his no. 2 again.

pajunior

jacothelad wrote: »

Davidson is now head coach at Aurillac in France.

McCall wouldn't be out of the question at all. He was 'given' or promoted into the job before on the recommendation of Alan Solomons as Solly was leaving. It was perhaps far too early for a young, pleasant, unassuming ex-player to take over the reins when there were a few of his colleagues still playing and one or two were very obnoxious scrotes at the time. Neil Best in particular is alleged to have caused - let's call it - disharmony. McCall did win the ML as coach but the wheels soon fell off and he with them. I'm sure his time in France and at Saracens under the Mad One will have stiffened his resolve and made him a better coach / man-manager. I have my doubts if he would want to come back. It must have been a very difficult experience for him. Still who says 'Nice guys come last'? Mclaughlin has only signed for this year. Perhaps Eddie O'Sullivan might be interested with McL as his no. 2 again.

Would be very interesting to have EOS coaching those young backs.

jacothelad

pajunior wrote: »

Would be very interesting to have EOS coaching those young backs.

Yes. It would be the making of them. Despite all the flak Eddie got he has been the best coach Ireland have ever had although having POC, BOD, ROG, Darcy, Shaggy etc in their prime may have made it easier. His problem was that he stayed too long.