Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

awec

Lovely tackle by Trimble. Stopped dead in his tracks.

thomond2006

some scoreline for Ulster, blimey they are flying it at the moment

duckysauce

how long is left on the clock ?

irishbucsfan

duckysauce wrote: »

how long is left on the clock ?

15 minutes

Pienaar's actually had a pretty poor game!

awec

Trimble is having a stormer

irishbucsfan

Dexter Enough Sweeper wrote: »

Pienaar's actually had a pretty poor game!

ah that should've been a clear penalty to Ulster and a sin binning. but it's Fitzgibbons

GerM

Tonight, Luke Marshall looks eerily like Orville the Duck:

What a side. Look like they're having a great time!

Taco Corp

and there folks is the out half that was left out of the Irish squad. sigh

eyeball kid

Payne with a try for Ulster. Pienaar converts. Great win for Ulster. Played some nice stuff in the second half. They are really motoring along nicely.

awec

Missed that try, who got it?

eyeball kid

awec wrote: »

Missed that try, who got it?

Payne.

Taco Corp

and the more I see Jackson play this season the more I'm convinced that throwing him in the deep end towards the end of last season is exactly what is need for the younger players. get them in early and let them learn how to deal with the pressure

awec

We are good

If we had cut out the handling errors that would have been a true annihilation.

clsmooth

Looked very good tonight. Pity Deccie is no doubt watching Munster

Sinbad_NI

To win so easily in Wales after playing reasonably at best and lots of errors... can't wait to see what happens when they all click.
Everyone putting their hands up, especially Henderson again. Superb.

thomond2006

How did Tommy go at fullback?

bilston

I'm watching in delay and am only at half time (I know the result obviously). Sounds like I'm in for a treat in the second half! Anyway based on the first half I think Stevenson and Tuohy were both excellent which is encouraging with Muller out for a wee while

CIARAN_BOYLE

thomond2006 wrote: »

How did Tommy go at fullback?

He did a job, he did seem to do better in the second half

durkadurka

Ulster looking like a serious bloody team at this stage.

Fishooks12

durkadurka wrote: »

Ulster looking like a serious bloody team at this stage.

25/1 for the HC was some value

Scioch

thomond2006 wrote: »

How did Tommy go at fullback?

Mostly just took the long balls and passed it off to Trimble or Pinearr and went into contact a couple times, wasnt bad but seemed a bit out of place. Didnt really ever look like a threat I dont think. Payne seemed much more lively when he came on.

mfceiling

How did big nick go? Any head nodding runs where he took half the opposition with him...

bilston

Scioch wrote: »

Mostly just took the long balls and passed it off to Trimble or Pinearr and went into contact a couple times, wasnt bad but seemed a bit out of place. Didnt really ever look like a threat I dont think. Payne seemed much more lively when he came on.

Pretty sure Payne cane on at 13.

Bowe hit a couple of great lines but like a not of his teammates made a few handling errors.

If Ulster had cut out the errors they'd have hit 70 points tonight...easily...the Dragons are poor. It doesn't help they are missing their best player in Lydiate and Felatau went off early but still they are in bad shape.

Nice wee cameos by Luke Marshall and not for the first time tgis season Callum Black, great to see Wilson back too and I loved that pass from Jackson to Payne at the end!

mfceiling

mfceiling wrote: »

How did big nick go? Any head nodding runs where he took half the opposition with him...

he was excellent with ball in hand. Took a few tackles where he didnt need to hit the deck, stayed on his feet and made an offload.

Took his try really well too. Not a cute player by any means, but a wrecking ball when he's in possession!

Sinbad_NI

Jackson's reverse pass at the end was real class. He's looking more and more like the real deal even if it was only for a quick cameo against a beaten opponent.

irishbucsfan

bilston wrote: »

Pretty sure Payne cane on at 13.

Bowe hit a couple of great lines but like a not of his teammates made a few handling errors.

If Ulster had cut out the errors they'd have hit 70 points tonight...easily...the Dragons are poor. It doesn't help they are missing their best player in Lydiate and Felatau went off early but still they are in bad shape.

Nice wee cameos by Luke Marshall and not for the first time tgis season Callum Black, great to see Wilson back too and I loved that pass from Jackson to Payne at the end!

Most of Ulsters errors were alsolutely awful calls by Fitzgibbon who doesn't seem to realise that once a ruck is formed there are no hands. The amount of times Dragons players arrived after Ulster support and managed to win penalties for "holding on" was truly frustrating. He was only really reffing one team at the breakdown for some reason.

Then he missed a very obvious knock on for the Court try, as well as plainly obvious blocking for the Tuilagi try. Just a crap performance.

eyeball kid

Only saw the second half but Stevenson and Henderson seemed to play very well. Also, the Ulster scrum was completely dominant by the end.

Not sure if Tommy Bowes future is at full back! He did ok but didn't look completely comfortable there.

Ulster are really playing very confidently and very well at the moment and I suppose that reflected in the squad for the AI (Still would have liked Jackson to be called into it though. The Fiji game would have been the perfect opportunity to give him a go)

bilston

eyeball kid wrote: »

Only saw the second half but Stevenson and Henderson seemed to play very well. Also, the Ulster scrum was completely dominant by the end.

Not sure if Tommy Bowes future is at full back! He did ok but didn't look completely comfortable there.

Ulster are really playing very confidently and very well at the moment and I suppose that reflected in the squad for the AI (Still would have liked Jackson to be called into it though. The Fiji game would have been the perfect opportunity to give him a go)

Henderson played well, there were a couple of great moments for his highlights reel. One where he stole the opposition lineout and then from the subsequent ruck had a pick and go where he must have made 20 metres even with two defenders hanging of him and then there were some big tackles. In saying that he did give away two penalties that cost us six points. He wasn't alone though and you could argue one of them was a bit debatable, I can see why it was given but another ref might have let it go, so he was good but still not the finished article which personally I think is great....he'll get even better!

Digifriendly

Very impressive second half which Ulster dominated. If they can cut out handling errors they'll rack up a massive lot of points on the scoreboard. Thought the ref too was poor especially at the breakdown.

desertcircus

Nick Williams must be the first person I've ever seen who gets the ball and starts running laterally, not to avoid tackles, but specifically to wallop into players who were never going to get to him.

the_doctor199

Fishooks12 wrote: »

25/1 for the HC was some value

And they were 50/1 before the season started! Serious odds for the losing finalists. Haven't seen the latest odds but I imagine they're dropping fast.

Solid second half performance last night, first had a few too many errors but great to get an away BP.

awec

And Ferris to return to the team too!

bilston

awec wrote: »

And Ferris to return to the team too!

I tend to think of Ferris as more of a bonus these days. If he's fit then happy days, but if he isn't then we just get on with it. That of course is fine at this stage of the season but I suppose when we come up against the likes of Leinster, Clermont, Toulouse, Toulon, Saints, Quins etc a player like Fez can make all the difference.

awec

Can't wait to see the big man back to be honest. :pac:

GerM

bilston wrote: »

I tend to think of Ferris as more of a bonus these days. If he's fit then happy days, but if he isn't then we just get on with it. That of course is fine at this stage of the season but I suppose when we come up against the likes of Leinster, Clermont, Toulouse, Toulon, Saints, Quins etc a player like Fez can make all the difference.

I think it's prudent that Henderson is starting all of these games and Ulster start preparing for life after Ferris. He has only managed 30 starts since the start of the 2010 for Ulster and a good number of those were definitely played through injury such as the HEC semi and final last year. He's started 17 for Ireland in that same period so I think it's clear that Ulster aren't the priority for the IRFU. They need to develop Henderson and hope that he's available to them as often as possible.

Monty Burnz

GerM wrote: »

I think it's prudent that Henderson is starting all of these games and Ulster start preparing for life after Ferris. He has only managed 30 starts since the start of the 2010 for Ulster and a good number of those were definitely played through injury such as the HEC semi and final last year. He's started 17 for Ireland in that same period so I think it's clear that Ulster aren't the priority for the IRFU. They need to develop Henderson and hope that he's available to them as often as possible.

The good news is that Henderson looks like shaping into just as good a player as Ferris.

thomond2006

Rory Best is going to miss the double header with Northampton because of a neck injury, it sounds quite serious.

Big blow for Ulster, firstly because of Rory's ability and leadership and secondly because IMO hooker is one position where Ulster lack depth.

irishbucsfan

You'd think he would've captained the side in Mullers absence as well. So especially bad news.

I think Brady and Herring are decent enough though.

Is Hartley injured as well?

bilston

I think Herring is actually a pretty decent player and Brady rarely lets Ulster down but we'll miss Rory's leadership, scrummaging and work at the breakdown.

goreyguy

hey guys, just wondering who is the most talented player in your academy? Obviously some players like Jackson and Henderson have graduated so it might be harder to pick a standout guy.

CIARAN_BOYLE

goreyguy wrote: »

hey guys, just wondering who is the most talented player in your academy? Obviously some players like Jackson and Henderson have graduated so it might be harder to pick a standout guy.

As an outsider my top two choices are below

Olding
Nelson

bilston

goreyguy wrote: »

hey guys, just wondering who is the most talented player in your academy? Obviously some players like Jackson and Henderson have graduated so it might be harder to pick a standout guy.

I don't know about most talented but our U20s seem pretty strong this year given they won the Inter Pros.

Kyle McCall (LHP), Chris Taylor (THP), Jake Caulfield (THP), Conor Joyce (Flanker and skipper of the Ireland U19s last year), Ben Alexander (No.8), John Creighton (Scrum Half), Stuart Olding (Out Half but can play across the backs), Chris Farrell (centre), Peter Nelson (FB but I like him at 13) and Rory Scholes (FB) seem to be the ones to look out for in the future to varying degrees.

I suppose Farrell and Nelson are the standout players of that lot as they've had the most exposure for the senior squad but I've only seen few of them play so can't really comment. Apart from Nelson and McCall they're all eligible for the Irish U20s this year so we should see a few of them in that although obviously Farrell is out for a few months.

leonard7

Ferris, Gilroy & Marshall available for Edinburgh tie

[HTML] http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10919.php [/HTML]

leonard7

interesting to see paddy jackson is kept by Kidney as well as Henderson

Sinbad_NI

Good to see Allen in the squad, he was having a cracking start to the season before that knock.

Would love to see what Olding can do, please no NOC.

irishbucsfan

I really hope Marshall and Pienaar start at 9 and 10. Not Pienaar and NOC!

If we're lucky we'll see Olding on the bench.

thomond2006

Kidney forcing Ulster to pick NOC by retaining Jackson, what a troll!

Digifriendly

thomond2006 wrote: »

Kidney forcing Ulster to pick NOC by retaining Jackson, what a troll!

Not necessarily as Pienaar is available for Edinburgh game along with Marshall. Not sure of what will happen after that.