Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Swiwi

QwertyIII wrote: »

IMO i think he is good enough to maybe get a few AB caps, but he'll be 28 by the time his ulster contract is finshed, so age could be a problem for him, plus less ££££! Stating the obvious but theres a much better chance for him to get plenty of caps for ireland.

I think a big thing is the fact that he is here, on a 3 year contract & not for 1/2 seasons, if he wanted to go for caps AB, would he have left? Paddy Payne all the way. Love watching him, just seems so effortless for him.

Depends what he wants and if SBW decides to come back to NZ. I'm sure Payne, like every player, would like a crack at RWC 2015, so maybe he will decide whether to stick with Ulster +/- Ireland or return to NZ. If he does want to go for the ABs he'll need to play S15 in 2014, leaving it to 2015 will be too late.

QwertyIII

QwertyIII wrote: »

Does anyone know how the ravens are getting/got on, cant seem to find anything on them.

Found the result, Ulster 40 -Cardiff 14, D'Arcy, Cochrane (2) & Birch with the tries, & Olding 3 pens, glad he got 10 over NOC.

backawaygo onahead

Tox56 wrote: »

I should also probably say I'm totally opposed to him (and project players in general) playing for Ireland.

You are well entitled to your opinion but that boat sailed long ago, its the way of the rugby playing world now, like it or not.

QwertyIII

Have I just missed it, or how come there is no team out yet?

Hope there isn't too many changes from last week, (no more broken bones/injuries please please please) other than Henderson/McComb/Big Nick lock/6 debate. IMO would like to see McComb in for Muller, I know he started against the 2 italian sides, and an international deprived Edinburgh and Scarlets, but just think it a good chance to see how he get on in a HC game.

Would be hard to justify many changes after last weeks preformance, but MA does seem to like a bit of rotation, well in the rabo anyway. Or maybe he has decided on his best starting 15 now.

Think it might be a bit closer this staurday. Can see ulster being just as good, but cant see the Saints as wasteful, e.g. Courtney Laws just droping the ball out of play etc.

& of course no Hartley, brings a smile to my face. only 2 weeks 2, with his record, a disgrace!

totallegend

Teams will be announced by noon today at the latest

bilston

Henderson to the row and Williams to 6, other than that same as...

irishbucsfan

bilston wrote: »

Henderson to the row and Williams to 6, other than that same as...

I think it'll have to be this. Is McComb fully fit?

A real shame it can't be Stevenson with Muller out.

bilston

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I think it'll have to be this. Is McComb fully fit?

A real shame it can't be Stevenson with Muller out.

As far as I know McComb is fully fit so he could start with Hendo at 6 which gives us more lineout options but means we'd be less effective around the park.

backawaygo onahead

The team will be as many expect, same again with Henderson replacing Muller & Fat Nick to 6.

There is simply no good reason to do anything else, Williams took longer than expected to shake off the rib injury which saw him less than effective in Italy but he is now ready to go & I suspect a few Saints will feel the effects tomorrow.

Concerns about Henderson are misguided, he is & will be a special one.

That said there is always a calm air when Johann is there and there are few if any more secure lineout operators about.

Frankly can see absolutely no good reason to think Saints are capable of turning this around, much as I hope Ulster will approach it as simply another home HC game to be won & not feel there is any real expectancy of a rout. It they do all the usual things right then it could develop into bloodbath but first things first, get the game started as normal & take it from there.

Think I'd like Diack to start at 6 with Nick on the bench as an impact sub.

Hype710

Good for Henderson to get time at lock. Will improve his chances of 6N selection as a lock/blindside replacement.

awec

For some reason I thought this game was tonight.

I am quietly confident. Glad to see Williams back, I have missed the sight of tacklers bouncing off him! :pac:

leonard7

Ulster XV & replacements to face Northampton Saints, Heineken Cup, Saturday 15th December, Ravenhill (6.00pm):
(15-9): J Payne; T Bowe, D Cave, P Wallace, A Trimble; P Jackson, R Pienaar;
(1-8): T Court, R Best, J Afoa, I Henderson, D Tuohy, N Williams, C Henry (capt), R Wilson;
Replacements (16-23): N Brady, C Black, R Lutton, N McComb, R Diack, P Marshall, L Marshall, C Gilroy.

awec

Strong team. Get a bit of a lead then introduce Gilroy to get at them more.

bilston

Deleted User wrote: »

Think I'd like Diack to start at 6 with Nick on the bench as an impact sub.

That's probably what I would have done but I'm not going to question Anscombe at this stage.

backawaygo onahead

Cowboy knows best gents, and Fat Nick is an Anscombe favourite. Fat boy will be rampant after a wee rest.

Can't wait to see it, happy to have Robbie on the bench and really ready to see our top guys out there after quite a few weeks on the road. I reckon teh place will be jumping.

bilston

backawaygo onahead wrote: »

Cowboy knows best gents, and Fat Nick is an Anscombe favourite. Fat boy will be rampant after a wee rest.

Can't wait to see it, happy to have Robbie on the bench and really ready to see our top guys out there after quite a few weeks on the road. I reckon teh place will be jumping.

Yeah the place will be bouncing. Not there this week but there will bells on next week, where I hope we'll be going for 15/15.

Podge_irl

I would have liked to see one of Marshall or Gilroy starting (similar to how Schmidt approaches home and away games differently), but that's a very strong team.

ScissorPaperRock

awec wrote: »

For some reason I thought this game was tonight.

Ah crap.. so did I. I've been looking forward to it all day. Thought there was going to be a nice spread of rugby over the weekend!

CatFromHue

ScissorPaperRoc wrote: »

Ah crap.. so did I. I've been looking forward to it all day. Thought there was going to be a nice spread of rugby over the weekend!

It's not too bad I think.

Connacht tonight, Leinster followed by Ulster tomorrow, and then Munster on Sunday. For me anyway there's no overlap of games that I want to watch except maybe Ospreys Toulouse and Treviso Leicester.

bilston

Podge_irl wrote: »

I would have liked to see one of Marshall or Gilroy starting (similar to how Schmidt approaches home and away games differently), but that's a very strong team.

I don't think there was any way Trimble was going to be left out after last week and Wallace was pretty good too although I thought Marshall had an excellent 15 minute cameo.

totallegend

bilston wrote: »

I don't think there was any way Trimble was going to be left out after last week and Wallace was pretty good too although I thought Marshall had an excellent 15 minute cameo.

In fairness, dropping Trimble would have been an awful slap in the face, considering how well he played. If anyone was to be dropped for Gilroy, it should be Bowe (and that wasn't going to happen).

But I would like to see Gilroy and Marshall get more gametime this week than last. Hopefully at least 20-30 minutes each.

bilston

totallegend wrote: »

In fairness, dropping Trimble would have been an awful slap in the face, considering how well he played. If anyone was to be dropped for Gilroy, it should be Bowe (and that wasn't going to happen).

But I would like to see Gilroy and Marshall get more gametime this week than last. Hopefully at least 20-30 minutes each.

It would be nice but I guess we'll see how the game goes. I hope and would expect both Gilroy and Marshall to start next week against Leinster.

ScissorPaperRock

CatFromHue wrote: »

It's not too bad I think.

Connacht tonight, Leinster followed by Ulster tomorrow, and then Munster on Sunday. For me anyway there's no overlap of games that I want to watch except maybe Ospreys Toulouse and Treviso Leicester.

Forgot the Connacht game was on tv. Nice one!!!!

jacothelad

• Ulster back rower Chris Henry has completed all 39 tackles he has attempted this season, only Jamie Heaslip (40) has made more.
• Ulster have completed 94% of their attempted tackles this season, the best success rate in the competition.
• Ulster have won the most turnovers (37) this season, conversely Northampton have turned over the most ball (58).

the_doctor199

Bad news on the injury front for Tommy from last night, full update here http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/11033.php


Tommy Bowe suffered a knee injury in the closing stages of Ulster's 9 points to 10 Heineken Cup defeat to Northampton Saints at Ravenhill last night. An initial scan this morning revealed that he has sustained significant lateral ligament damage to his right knee. He will undergo surgery later this week to repair the damage. At this stage it is not possible to put a timescale on how long his recovery period will be. A further update on this will be issued following the surgery, when the full extent of the injury will be known.

bilston

the_doctor199 wrote: »

Bad news on the injury front for Tommy from last night, full update here http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/11033.php


Tommy Bowe suffered a knee injury in the closing stages of Ulster's 9 points to 10 Heineken Cup defeat to Northampton Saints at Ravenhill last night. An initial scan this morning revealed that he has sustained significant lateral ligament damage to his right knee. He will undergo surgery later this week to repair the damage. At this stage it is not possible to put a timescale on how long his recovery period will be. A further update on this will be issued following the surgery, when the full extent of the injury will be known.

Sounds season ending but I guess we'll know more after the surgery takes place. Ulster will cope though with Gilroy coming in as will Ireland but Bowe is a classy operator and its a real shame. Muller, Ferris an Bowe with minor injuries to Tuohy and Jackson shows a lengthening and worrying injury list.

Banbridgeman2

I'm getting less and less confident as injuries take their toll

thomond2006

Thornley seems to think "up to 12 weeks" for Bowe.

bilston

thomond2006 wrote: »

Thornley seems to think "up to 12 weeks" for Bowe.

Time will tell but given the nature of the injury that probably wouldn't be the worst outcome. It would have him back for the last run of games in the league and for any knockout matches Ulster may have. In fact looking at my calender 12 weeks might even put him in contention for the last couple of rounds of the 6Ns.

It's bad timing for Tommy though given the upcoming 6Ns and Lions tour, not to mention the form of Craig Gilroy at Ulster and both Gilroy and Simon Zebo at Ireland level.

ulster_Beef

First loss of the season... It was going to happen people, lets face it.

Its not nice losing, nor is it nice losing at home after a long run (a record for Ulster). We didnt play well on Saturday but neither did we in Italy and the Munster game was a close one too. We were lucky to carry on without losing up until Sat...

Some Ulster fans are claiming that injuries are starting to take their toll but I dont believe it for a second. Our "biggest loss" Stephen Ferris cant string 3 games together and Henderson has been an excellent stand in. Our pack is a match for any out there with or without him, Muller or Stevenson. We have played without them for most of the season and managed our winning streak... Games are won with the forwards as we all know, so this bunch are doing something right. Yes, the injuries have forced players to change positions (I dont like Williams at 6) but as I said above, they must be doing something right.

Bowes injury will open the door for Gilroy too.

We could have won on Saturday if Hartley hadn't of greased the ball up. Time to relax Ulster, dont worry about keeping the record going and keep playing the way we were. I think the record talk started to get to them, its bound to.

The highlight of the night however, was greeting the Northampton team as they were getting off the bus with SUFTUM wearing our santa suits and waving flags... Big Lawes face was a picture. The travelling fans thought it was funny too....

We ARE still top of the league and group.... would anyone have predicted that at the start of the season? I think not. Leinster will be hurting too so this weekends game will be good for the neutral and hopefully Ulster can pull it off

CIARAN_BOYLE

ulster_Beef wrote: »

Some Ulster fans are claiming that injuries are starting to take their toll but I dont believe it for a second. Our "biggest loss" Stephen Ferris cant string 3 games together and Henderson has been an excellent stand in. Our pack is a match for any out there with or without him, Muller or Stevenson. We have played without them for most of the season and managed our winning streak... Games are won with the forwards as we all know, so this bunch are doing something right. Yes, the injuries have forced players to change positions (I dont like Williams at 6) but as I said above, they must be doing something right.

Ferris being missing is a case of well what else did you expect and there is excellent cover for Bowe. However Ulster have only played three games this season without one of Muller and Stevenson.

Those were against Aironi, Treviso and Northampton.

Ulster are a lot better with one of them in the row and with Henderson at 6 at the moment, partially because I don't rate Williams at 6 or over 80 minutes and partially because I think Henderson isn't as good in the row as he is at 6.

I think Ulster need two of their top three locks available. At the moment Muller and Stevenson is injured and Tuohy is doubtful (he picked up a calf strain at the weekend, no update yet).

They may be going into the weekend with none of their top 3 locks available.

ulster_Beef

Just seen the news about Tuohy there Ciaran. I spoke too soon... doh.... looks like Ulster will just have to beat Leinster with no locks haha. Heres hoping... keep the faith

bilston

I'm hoping Stevenson is fit this weekend but he'll probablt come back via the bench. I expect the row will be McComb and Henderson, although I'd be tempted to start Alan O'Connor or James Simpson and play Henderson at 6. That's probably a long shot though.

I'm not sure what to expect from Ulster this weekend team wise.

Maybe something like this...

15 Payne
14 Trimble
13 Cave
12 Marshall
11 Gilroy
10 O'Connor
9 Marshall
1 Black
2 Best
3 Afoa
4 Henderson
5 McComb
6 Diack
7 Henry
8 Williams

Maybe rest Pienaar, Wallace and Wilson. Jackson and Tuohy are injury doubts.

irishbucsfan

It'd be a bit mad if Alan O'Connor played!

overshoot

bilston wrote: »

Maybe rest Pienaar, Wallace and Wilson. Jackson and Tuohy are injury doubts.

I don't think id rest them, we kinda need to bounce back and a win against leinstwr would be long overdue. Pienaar at 10 definately, id prefer Wallace and Wilson to start but would be happy with their cover.
Stevenson has to play some part too... Just a matter of how much he is fit for

bilston

overshoot wrote: »

I don't think id rest them, we kinda need to bounce back and a win against leinstwr would be long overdue. Pienaar at 10 definately, id prefer Wallace and Wilson to start but would be happy with their cover.
Stevenson has to play some part too... Just a matter of how much he is fit for

We do need to win but Pienaar in particular needs a break, I'd give him 2 or 3 weeks old. People will say he's getting x amount of money but he's no use to us if he is knackered. He hasn't had a break for two years now. Marshall deserves a start at 12 anyway and I think he offers as much as Paddy anyway. I prefer Wilson at 8 to Williams but there's not much in it and I'd prefer Williams at 8 than at 6. Stevenson shouldn't play any part if he isn't fit. Listen this isn't a crisis, we lost one game, we're still doing fine!

bilston

irishbucsfan wrote: »

It'd be a bit mad if Alan O'Connor played!

Yeah but we're literally down to the bare bones. I'd say McComb and Henderson will start in the second row and Diack would start there before O'Connor or Simpson anyway. It was really just me thinking out loud.

overshoot

bilston wrote: »

We do need to win but Pienaar in particular needs a break, I'd give him 2 or 3 weeks old. People will say he's getting x amount of money but he's no use to us if he is knackered. He hasn't had a break for two years now. Marshall deserves a start at 12 anyway and I think he offers as much as Paddy anyway. I prefer Wilson at 8 to Williams but there's not much in it and I'd prefer Williams at 8 than at 6. Stevenson shouldn't play any part if he isn't fit. Listen this isn't a crisis, we lost one game, we're still doing fine!

may have jumbled my words a bit, pienaar is the only one of the 3 id be disappointed at not seeing (mostly for my fear of NOC), and on stevenson in, i wasnt saying bring an unfit man on for the game, more i meant we do need him on the pitch for a while as we are light in the second row definitely (and id rather henderson at 6) but outside of that im not seeing it as a injury crisis, plenty of depth now in the squad...
just taken some beatings of leinster in the last while and want to get one over them, although you are right in that pienaar is due a rest

macslash

Just wondering where Adam D'arcy is? Dont think I've seen him play for ye in a while..is he injured?

bilston

macslash wrote: »

Just wondering where Adam D'arcy is? Dont think I've seen him play for ye in a while..is he injured?

He has been injured but has been playing for the Ravens over the last two weeks, he should feature on Friday from the bench though.

[Jackass]

I'm surprised Ulster aren't marketing the Leinster game as "The Real Last Stand" as the world is due to end that day.

backawaygo onahead

I expect the team to be more or less as Bilston posted with teh possible exception of one or both half backs.

If fit I expect Red Paddy beside Ruan, otherwise Ruan outside Small p.

I understand the chances of Mr D'Arcy appearing on the bench is short odds. Not everyone's cup of cocoa but I like him as a potential impact sub, the boy has pace.

Swan Curry

How long is Muller out for?

awec

Swan Curry wrote: »

How long is Muller out for?

Broken arm so 8 weeks or so I guess?

Swan Curry

awec wrote: »

Broken arm so 8 weeks or so I guess?

His arm is broken?I thought it was just the thumb again.

awec

Aye it's his arm.

ulster_Beef

Yea, broken arm. However, its a fracture so not a full break

sweetthing

Yea, broken arm. However, its a fracture so not a full break

A fractured bone is a broken bone. What matters is the extent of the fracture (or break). In Muller's case it is an undisplaced fracture which means the bone is aligned pretty well and usually requires less treatment than a displaced fracture where movement at either side of the fracture is common

bilston

Ulster team

15 Jared Payne
14 Andrew Trimble
13 Darren Cave
12 Luke Marshall
11 Craig Gilroy
10 Paddy Jackson
9 Ruan Pienaar
1 Tom Court
2 Rory Best
3 John Afoa
4 Iain Henderson
5 Neil McComb
6 Robbie Diack
7 Chris Henry
8 Nick Williams

Bench
Rob Herring
Callum Black
Adam Macklin
Alan O'Connor
Roger Wilson
Paul Marshall
Paddy Wallace
Adam D'Arcy