Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread II

bilston

Just on my point about 12 the logic for picking McCloskey is fairly obvious, he is effectively our second best ball carrier, because we only have Henderson of really quality in the pack. Plus I'm going on about the 12 position when we clearly lost that match up front. Anyway with a couple more carriers up front maybe we will be able to pick our best 12 in Olding.

rsh118

Right lads, lights off, we can switch the thread back on in August when we've enough amnesia to think we can win it all in 2017.

On the plus side... Inspector Browne seems to want to become a bosh merchant!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

What's Best's contract situation?

bilston

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

What's Best's contract situation?

I think he signed a 2 year central contract earlier in the season.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

bilston wrote: »

I think he signed a 2 year central contract earlier in the season.

So the talk of his retirement has been greatly exaggerated.

bilston

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

bilston wrote: »

I think he signed a 2 year central contract earlier in the season.

So the talk of his retirement has been greatly exaggerated.

Haven't read the match thread so no idea what you're talking about!

He looked disappointed at the end, but that's hardly surprising.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

bilston wrote: »

Haven't read the match thread so no idea what you're talking about!

He looked disappointed at the end, but that's hardly surprising.

Some people thought the tone of his interview and something he said hinted at him either not being captain next season or retiring completely.
I didn't see it myself but on TG4 they showed him with his wife and kids on the sideline and they both looked quite emotional, but it's equally likely it was just the disappointment of losing.

bilston

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

bilston wrote: »

Haven't read the match thread so no idea what you're talking about!

He looked disappointed at the end, but that's hardly surprising.

Some people thought the tone of his interview and something he said hinted at him either not being captain next season or retiring completely.
I didn't see it myself but on TG4 they showed him with his wife and kids on the sideline and they both looked quite emotional, but it's equally likely it was just the disappointment of losing.

Was watching on Sky, he sounded disappointed but I think he said they would back to the drawing board and start again. There was no suggestion that he wouldn't be part of it.

Boy do we need a TH prop. I just hope Herbst returns to his first season form next campaign.

On BBC NI he was close to tears, mentioned that he might not be back playing at the RDS and that it was likely his last time as captain in any case.

Said he was fed up falling at this hurdle every year. Seemed seriously rocked and gutted.

Will put it behind him and lead yee into battle many times again I imagine!

Billysays no

Was looking forward to a Connacht ulster final

bilston

Deleted User wrote: »

On BBC NI he was close to tears, mentioned that he might not be back playing at the RDS and that it was likely his last time as captain in any case.

Said he was fed up falling at this hurdle every year. Seemed seriously rocked and gutted.

Will put it behind him and lead yee into battle many times again I imagine!

Well he mightn't be back at the RDS. Leinster might play the league match at the Aviva next year! I'd say he was just gutted. Sure I've even managed to have a barney with the missus since the final whistle I'm that pissed off.

bilston

We have one world class forward (Hendy), one good international (Rory) and one fringe international who is probably past his best anyway (Henry), the rest are just solid middling or average players. That's our problem. Coetzee will make a difference I suppose.

Leinster may only have a couple of world class forwards themselves but they have internationals in abundance. That's why they are better than us, it's why Munster were better than Leinster until 2009.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

bilston wrote: »

We have one world class forward (Hendy), one good international (Rory) and one fringe international who is probably past his best anyway (Henry), the rest are just solid middling or average players. That's our problem. Coetzee will make a difference I suppose.

Season could be over before Coetzee gets a chance to make a difference.

Billysays no

bilston wrote: »

We have one world class forward (Hendy), one good international (Rory) and one fringe international who is probably past his best anyway (Henry), the rest are just solid middling or average players. That's our problem. Coetzee will make a difference I suppose.

Leinster may only have a couple of world class forwards themselves but they have internationals in abundance. That's why they are better than us, it's why Munster were better than Leinster until 2009.

All my bitching was to nothing. You got beaten by money. Connacht up next

bilston

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

bilston wrote: »

We have one world class forward (Hendy), one good international (Rory) and one fringe international who is probably past his best anyway (Henry), the rest are just solid middling or average players. That's our problem. Coetzee will make a difference I suppose.

Season could be over before Coetzee gets a chance to make a difference.

Europe could be alright. Hopefully he is a quick healer.

Hagz

Billysays no wrote: »

All my bitching was to nothing. You got beaten by money. Connacht up next

Oh, well in that case Coetzee and Piutau will REALLY sort out Ulster's issues.....

baaba maal

As a Leinster supporter I couldn't agree more about the choice at 12- McCloskey was wrapped up fairly effectively but I thought Olding brought a real danger across the midfield when he came on.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

It's certainly going to be interesting to see what happenes next season with the centre options. Olding was probably happy enough this season to play wherever and whenever he was asked to. Assuming he gets through the summer in one piece it may be a different story next season.

The ideal situation is everyone is happy to do what is asked of them in a sort of horses for courses setup but I'm not sure Olding/McCloskey/Marshall/Cave/Payne/Piutau/Gilroy/etc would be happy with not playing all the time.

I suppose it isn't really up to them. They'll do as they're told.

Billysays no

Seems I was wrong. Weight over talent. Hope its not replicated in sports ground. Maybe it can be proven for once and for all that finally Connacht can beat teams for fun

MJohnston

Billysays no wrote: »

Seems I was wrong. Weight over talent. Hope its not replicated in sports ground. Maybe it can be proven for once and for all that finally Connacht can beat teams for fun

Stop making me want to not support Connacht.

Anyway, I think it's hard to tell whether down to a difference in skill or simply because of the timing of substitution, but I've thought Olding has looked way more impressive at 12 than McCloskey recently. Maybe Olding gets less targeted by opposition or something, but he seems to be able to generate much more space.

Adbrowne

Billysays no wrote: »

All my bitching was to nothing. You got beaten by money. Connacht up next

Did you even watch the game?

Adbrowne

MJohnston wrote: »

Stop making me want to not support Connacht.

Anyway, I think it's hard to tell whether down to a difference in skill or simply because of the timing of substitution, but I've thought Olding has looked way more impressive at 12 than McCloskey recently. Maybe Olding gets less targeted by opposition or something, but he seems to be able to generate much more space.

I think Olding is more a playmaker who brings more threats then McCloskey who for me just looked a bit one dimensional, it was a bit too predictable at times which played into leinsters hands and allowed them reset in defence.

Biggest disappointment for me was Gilroys defence. Skinned by a 33 year old out of retirement in a yard of space. I would love to see him in an ireland shirt but its not difficult to see why he was overlooked.

Adbrowne

Billysays no wrote: »

Seems I was wrong. Weight over talent. Hope its not replicated in sports ground. Maybe it can be proven for once and for all that finally Connacht can beat teams for fun

Thats rich coming from a connacht supporter. Have you seen rodney ah you at all lately

Buer

MJohnston wrote: »

Stop making me want to not support Connacht.

Anyway, I think it's hard to tell whether down to a difference in skill or simply because of the timing of substitution, but I've thought Olding has looked way more impressive at 12 than McCloskey recently. Maybe Olding gets less targeted by opposition or something, but he seems to be able to generate much more space.

I'm a fan of McCloskey but his style is much easier to defend than Olding's if you do your homework. He's a power runner all be it with deft hands. Against the likes of Sexton, Te'o and the Leinster back row, he can be contained.

McCloskey will now go through what every top player does as he's a known quantity and teams will develop their game plan to shut him down. We'll now see if he can adapt and continue to deliver to the same level which will really show his class.

kuang1

MJohnston wrote: »

Stop making me want to not support Connacht.

My thoughts exactly.

bilston

Adbrowne wrote: »

MJohnston wrote: »

Stop making me want to not support Connacht.

Anyway, I think it's hard to tell whether down to a difference in skill or simply because of the timing of substitution, but I've thought Olding has looked way more impressive at 12 than McCloskey recently. Maybe Olding gets less targeted by opposition or something, but he seems to be able to generate much more space.

I think Olding is more a playmaker who brings more threats then McCloskey who for me just looked a bit one dimensional, it was a bit too predictable at times which played into leinsters hands and allowed them reset in defence.

Biggest disappointment for me was Gilroys defence. Skinned by a 33 year old out of retirement in a yard of space. I would love to see him in an ireland shirt but its not difficult to see why he was overlooked.

Gilroy's positioning for that try was dreadful. He was far too tight while Nacewa had the freedom of the RDS on the touchline. To be fair it may have been a problem inside that was causing him to be so tight, but on the face of it it hust looked so dull.

I like Gilroy, he is great to watch and is always a threat as he proved last night, but I'd be very close to rating Scholes ahead of him already in terms of being a more complete winger and this is just another reason why I'm raging to see him leave.

kuang1

bilston wrote: »

Gilroy's positioning for that try was dreadful. He was far too tight while Nacewa had the freedom of the RDS on the touchline. To be fair it may have been a problem inside that was causing him to be so tight, but on the face of it it hust looked so dull.

I like Gilroy, he is great to watch and is always a threat as he proved last night, but I'd be very close to rating Scholes ahead of him already in terms of being a more complete winger and this is just another reason why I'm raging to see him leave.

Pardon my blatant ignorance...but Scholes is leaving? Where to?

bilston

kuang1 wrote: »

bilston wrote: »

Gilroy's positioning for that try was dreadful. He was far too tight while Nacewa had the freedom of the RDS on the touchline. To be fair it may have been a problem inside that was causing him to be so tight, but on the face of it it hust looked so dull.

I like Gilroy, he is great to watch and is always a threat as he proved last night, but I'd be very close to rating Scholes ahead of him already in terms of being a more complete winger and this is just another reason why I'm raging to see him leave.

Pardon my blatant ignorance...but Scholes is leaving? Where to?

Edinburgh. Two year contract.

kuang1

bilston wrote: »

Edinburgh. Two year contract.

Ah nuts. Missed that one.
Good for him I guess but shame for Ulster imo.

Buer

Billysays no wrote: »

Seems I was wrong. Weight over talent. Hope its not replicated in sports ground. Maybe it can be proven for once and for all that finally Connacht can beat teams for fun

Average weight of Ulster starting team last night: 104.3kg.
Average weight of Leinster starting team last night: 104.5kg.

They sure made that extra 200 grams tell.

I doubt you even watched the game given how accurate and slick Leinster were with two of their tries being scored due to top class passing.

You best hope the heavier team does win tonight in Galway because that would be Connacht.

Olding is like a less chaotic Madigan for me. Lot of the best bits of his game, without a lot of the worst bits.

McCloskey is not 'just a bosher' but if teams close down his space early that's what he becomes.
He will have days were he wreaks havoc, and days were he just seems to be slowing possession down. I have every faith in him that he'll learn to change his game when the defence has parity with his strength and/or are flooding his space quickly.

He's actually a damn skilful footballer, just doesn't get to use it too much as he's carrying hard and direct so often.

bilston

Buer wrote: »

Billysays no wrote: »

Seems I was wrong. Weight over talent. Hope its not replicated in sports ground. Maybe it can be proven for once and for all that finally Connacht can beat teams for fun

Average weight of Ulster starting team last night: 104.3kg.
Average weight of Leinster starting team last night: 104.5kg.

They sure made that extra 200 grams tell.

I doubt you even watched the game given how accurate and slick Leinster were with two of their tries being scored due to top class passing.

You best hope the heavier team does win tonight in Galway because that would be Connacht.

I think the Leinster pack was a fair bit bigger though. Pienaar, Trimble and McCloskey probably make up the difference in the backs.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The scoreline doesn't reflect it but Ulster were one or two sloppy passes away from making it a much closer game at the end. They won't be happy with that. Chris Henry have away a couple of penalties in the first half too that gifted Leinster 6-9 points.

Other than Henderson the forwards didn't seem to know what they were doing. I lost track of how many times they were almost literally standing still desperately searching for a back to blindly throw it at.

Leinster played better than I've seen them play all season but Ulster should have done better. It's been mentioned already but they've got possibly they best backs of the Irish teams but they can't do it alone.

MJohnston

Oh, more than 1 or 2 sloppy passes I would say, after about 50 minutes our handling (or maybe it was the distribution) just turned to absolute muck. Threw a couple of easy intercepts too. And yeah, extremely static passing from the pack, which was depressing. We broke their line thanks to Henderson at one point, and then literally spent about 20 seconds passing it within the same small cluster of players near the breakdown. Chance wasted.

bilston

MJohnston wrote: »

Oh, more than 1 or 2 sloppy passes I would say, after about 50 minutes our handling (or maybe it was the distribution) just turned to absolute muck. Threw a couple of easy intercepts too. And yeah, extremely static passing from the pack, which was depressing. We broke their line thanks to Henderson at one point, and then literally spent about 20 seconds passing it within the same small cluster of players near the breakdown. Chance wasted.

It was because we were shat upon at the breakdown. That meant we just weren't getting front foot ball which made it harder to be accurate. That's where Coetzee will make a huge difference. He won't carry like Nick but he will dominate the breakdown. Just a shame we won't see him until December!

MJohnston

bilston wrote: »

It was because we shat upon at the breakdown. That's where Coetzee will make a huge difference. He won't carry like Nick but he will dominate the breakdown. Just a shame we won't see him until December!

Except at that breakdown it was just scramble defense from Leinster and we had fairly clean ball. But yeah, generally what you say was too true last night.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

MJohnston wrote: »

Oh, more than 1 or 2 sloppy passes I would say, after about 50 minutes our handling (or maybe it was the distribution) just turned to absolute muck. Threw a couple of easy intercepts too. .

There were loads of sloppy passes and bad handling, I just meant there were 1 or 2 specific moments where they might actually have led to a score if they'd gone to hand.

rsh118

We've nothing to boo now for a while, makes me worry about the off season. I actively search for tickets to dramatic performances with very poor reviews, but everyone is too damn polite these days.

DGRulz

So lads, any word on who Rory's going to buy for you with his winnings?

He's donated it all away already!

bilston

Deleted User wrote: »

He's donated it all away already!

Does he not put up the prize money himself anyway?

Buer

bilston wrote: »

Does he not put up the prize money himself anyway?

I would imagine the sponsors cough up a large chunk of that. Can't see McIlroy offering a €4m prize fund to pay his rivals.

Utah_Saint

Buer wrote: »

bilston wrote: »

Does he not put up the prize money himself anyway?

I would imagine the sponsors cough up a large chunk of that. Can't see McIlroy offering a 4m prize fund to pay his rivals.

He won 666,000 euros. The 4M prize fund is split across the field of players.

edit: Yes, the sponsors and PGA Europe put up the money.

jacothelad

sadly Rory doesn't sell the coffers at Ravenspan except by buying his ticket - if he even has to pay. Maybe he has a box????

What Ulster desperately need are props who can scrummage. Since we can't recruit any we have to make the ones we have better. Little Lord Farqhuar is feck all squared useless as a modern forwards coach. We need a scrum guru and we need guys like Trenier and Simpson to get some game exposure with the main squad and that clown Clarke needs the boot.....on behalf of Chris Taylor alone.

awec

Paddy McAllister should have a blank cheque thrown at him.

Utah_Saint

awec wrote: »

Paddy McAllister should have a blank cheque thrown at him.

Do you know how he is getting on?

Is he better than McCall and Black?

blackdog1

awec wrote:

Paddy McAllister should have a blank cheque thrown at him.

Tom court for a year wouldn't be a bad idea if mcalister isn't available. Need some bulk in that pack

Buer

blackdog1 wrote: »

Tom court for a year wouldn't be a bad idea if mcalister isn't available. Need some bulk in that pack

Oh yes it would!

Court was a great servant but Ulster let him go at the right time. He's going to turn 36 early next season. I think you'd be far better off giving game time to those you already have than bringing back an ageing prop who had a mediocre season with the worst team in the AP.

thomond2006

blackdog1 wrote: »

Tom court for a year wouldn't be a bad idea if mcalister isn't available. Need some bulk in that pack

Tom Court is 35 going on 36 though.

irishbucsfan

I've gone along to LI a couple of times this season as they're local and Court played each time and didn't seem nearly as potent a force as he used to be