Ulster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumour Thread II

connemara man

Sure Ulster have Dave next season they're sorted for bulk at TH anyway

Utah_Saint

connemara man wrote: »

Sure Ulster have Dave next season they're sorted for bulk at TH anyway

Is he injured at the minute. Ideally i would have dave working hard now on his conditioning and technique in prep for next season. Herbst can be a great tight head if he gets back to his first season form.

MCCaul is another who needs a propper S&C routine over the summer.

irishbucsfan

https://twitter.com/ruaridh_jackson/status/734746817586466816

Adbrowne

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Is he injured at the minute. Ideally i would have dave working hard now on his conditioning and technique in prep for next season.

Ah you was yellow carded on Saturday for trying to decapitate Stuart hogg.

Adbrowne

Adbrowne wrote: »

Ah you was yellow carded on Saturday for trying to decapitate Stuart hogg.

In his only input to the game.

awec

Ulster held further talks on Friday with the IRFU with regards to a medical joker signing to cover Coetzee. Didn't go as well as hoped.

Billysays no

Adbrowne wrote: »

Ah you was yellow carded on Saturday for trying to decapitate Stuart hogg.

Even that he didn't do very well

b.gud

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Is he injured at the minute. Ideally i would have dave working hard now on his conditioning and technique in prep for next season. Herbst can be a great tight head if he gets back to his first season form.

Thanks for that it's always good to start the day off with a laugh

thomond2006

awec wrote: »

Ulster held further talks on Friday with the IRFU with regards to a medical joker signing to cover Coetzee. Didn't go as well as hoped.

Since Ulster have already exceeded the 3+1 (Herbst, VDM, Coetzee, Pienaar, Piutau, Ludik) it's a tough sell tbf. I know he's not a seven, but would Roger Wilson maybe sign on until Christmas?

Utah_Saint

thomond2006 wrote: »

awec wrote: »

Ulster held further talks on Friday with the IRFU with regards to a medical joker signing to cover Coetzee. Didn't go as well as hoped.

Since Ulster have already exceeded the 3+1 (Herbst, VDM, Coetzee, Pienaar, Piutau, Ludik) it's a tough sell tbf. I know he's not a seven, but would Roger Wilson maybe sign on until Christmas?

Why are Dow or Taggart not being utilised? Dow has looked pretty handy in the limited number of games I've seen him play.

bilston

Utah_Saint wrote: »

thomond2006 wrote: »

awec wrote: »

Ulster held further talks on Friday with the IRFU with regards to a medical joker signing to cover Coetzee. Didn't go as well as hoped.

Since Ulster have already exceeded the 3+1 (Herbst, VDM, Coetzee, Pienaar, Piutau, Ludik) it's a tough sell tbf. I know he's not a seven, but would Roger Wilson maybe sign on until Christmas?

Why are Dow or Taggart not being utilised? Dow has looked pretty handy in the limited number of games I've seen him play.

I imagine Dow didn't get more of a chance because every game from about February was a must win for Ulster and the opportunity for experimentation was non existent, plus Kiss was probably burned by the Oyonnax debacle.

Hopefully we aren't playing catch upnas much mext season and guys like Dow and Thompson etc will get a go.

bilston

thomond2006 wrote: »

awec wrote: »

Ulster held further talks on Friday with the IRFU with regards to a medical joker signing to cover Coetzee. Didn't go as well as hoped.

Since Ulster have already exceeded the 3+1 (Herbst, VDM, Coetzee, Pienaar, Piutau, Ludik) it's a tough sell tbf. I know he's not a seven, but would Roger Wilson maybe sign on until Christmas?

Roger still has a year to go on his contract so he will be about.

bilston

McCloskey signed up until 2019.

thomond2006

bilston wrote: »

McCloskey signed up until 2019.

That's a great bit of business. In a year or two McCloskey could be worth a lot more.

mfceiling

bilston wrote: »

McCloskey signed up until 2019.

Excellent. Makes you wonder how the hell they fcuked up on Scholes?

thomond2006

Offering a new contract to an under contract player is a new one. We may see more of this in Ireland to avoid a bidding war.

bilston

thomond2006 wrote: »

Offering a new contract to an under contract player is a new one. We may see more of this in Ireland to avoid a bidding war.

It's definitely the way to go. Get these contracts sorted early and not during the Autumn Internationals or Six Nations. It may redu e the numver of scare stories in the media like we saw with Zebo and Earls a few months ago.

Apart from anything else it means if a player does decide to leave then the province concerned has more time to find a replacement.

Utah_Saint

Still gutted about Scholes. Really could've seized his opportunity at Ulster and who knows Ireland after a good season or two.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Still gutted about Scholes. Really could've seized his opportunity at Ulster and who knows Ireland after a good season or two.

Still could. 2 good seasons with Edinburgh and when his contract is up for renewal the IRFU could get in there. Unless he's already eligible for Scotland he'd still have to do another year there to qualify for them internationally. 2 years time Trimble is 33, Bowe is 34. I'd hope Ireland, and Ulster, are not still relying on them in 2018.

thomond2006

thomond2006 wrote: »

Offering a new contract to an under contract player is a new one. We may see more of this in Ireland to avoid a bidding war.

Would not be at all surprised if he was only on a barely post-academy contract this season.

He's an internationally capped player now.

Makes loads of sense to recognise that, up his salary now in return for a longer commitment.

RobbieRuns

thomond2006 wrote: »

Offering a new contract to an under contract player is a new one. We may see more of this in Ireland to avoid a bidding war.

Was probably only on a development contract and low money. Not long out of academy. Right thing to do McCloskey is class and the type of player Ulster need. Might put him in the back row soon !

jacothelad

I see Calum Sheedy kicked Bristol into the Premiership. It's a pity that Ulster haven't attempted to sign him as he has - I think - declared for Ireland and is a talented player.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

jacothelad wrote: »

I see Calum Sheedy kicked Bristol into the Premiership. It's a pity that Ulster haven't attempted to sign him as he has - I think - declared for Ireland and is a talented player.

There's an article about him on one of the the Welsh siyes. He's represented both Wales and Ireland at underage level, was selected for the Welsh U21s last year but pulled out because he didn't want to commit to Wales. (Their U21s were their second team at the time and apparently would have tied him to Wales). He's also eligible for England through residency.

He's also got an IRA slogan on his twitter bio.

Bazzo

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

There's an article about him on one of the the Welsh siyes. He's represented both Wales and Ireland at underage level, was selected for the Welsh U21s last year but pulled out because he didn't want to commit to Wales. (Their U21s were their second team at the time and apparently would have tied him to Wales). He's also eligible for England through residency.

He's also got an IRA slogan on his twitter bio.

Maybe not the best fit for Ulster then :eek:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Bazzo wrote: »

Maybe not the best fit for Ulster then :eek:

He wants to declare for the Republic of Ireland and only sing Amhrán na bhFiann.

People can't have been paying that much attention to him for him to have that on twitter. If you just take the literal meaning of the phrase I suppose you could call it motivational or whatever, but it is basically the IRA's corporate catchphrase so....

bilston

Fair bit of Ulster interest in the Premiership final tomorrow.

Obviously Mark McCall is hoping to lead Saracens to a domestic and European double but for Exeter Gareth Steenson and Ian Whitten will be gunning for glory. Lewis Stevenson too is over at Exeter again although I'm not sure if he is involved at all.

Sorry Mark but I'm in the Chiefs camp!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

bilston wrote: »

Fair bit of Ulster interest in the Premiership final tomorrow.

Obviously Mark McCall is hoping to lead Saracens to a domestic and European double but for Exeter Gareth Steenson and Ian Whitten will be gunning for glory. Lewis Stevenson too is over at Exeter again although I'm not sure if he is involved at all.

Sorry Mark but I'm in the Chiefs camp!

I heard someone comparing Exeter's story to Connacht the other day, saying if both could win their respective leagues it would really shake up the establishment

I love a good establishment shakeup.

An Exeter & Connacht double would by terribly, terribly romantic stuff.

I would be very very happy if Exeter could do it tomorrow tbh. They're the poster boys of development in the AP, playing against the poster boys of cash.

torqtorq

I was having a look at the past winners of the Irish schools senior 100 m athletics championship.

In terms of rugby the only name that popped out was Ulster's head of strength and conditioning - Jonny Davis in 1997. He appears to have played at underage level up to Ulster and Ireland under 21's before being forced to retire with a neck injury. His time of 10.72 seconds would be extremely respectable even today bearing in mind that he was either 17 or 18 at the time.

Did his speed transfer to the rugby pitch?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Some stats, via twitter.

Billysays no

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Some stats, via twitter.

best looking, won x factor, missed out on gaelic football team?

bilston

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Some stats, via twitter.

Paddy Jackson made the three highest number of tackles. I guess teams targeted him. I imagine SA will target the hell out of him. They mightn't get as much out of him as they hope.

Pete Browne with the second highest number of turnovers. He was one of our most improved players during the season.

Finally Stuart Olding had the 3rd highest number of defenders beaten. Not bad considering he only returned in late January and didn't even start every game from then on either.

Billysays no

bilston wrote: »

Paddy Jackson made the three highest number of tackles. I guess teams targeted him. I imagine SA will target the hell out of him. They mightn't get as much out of him as they hope.

Pete Browne with the second highest number of turnovers. He was one of our most improved players during the season.

Finally Stuart Olding had the 3rd highest number of defenders beaten. Not bad considering he only returned in late January and didn't even start every game from then on either.

so tell me bilston you don't like what is possible with this team. Jackson is a start, way better than sexton, and now we get exciting back row players to play with him. Gilroy, healy, toh. Let it happen. please let it happen

MJohnston

Billysays no wrote: »

so tell me bilston you don't like what is possible with this team. Jackson is a start, way better than sexton, and now we get exciting back row players to play with him. Gilroy, healy, toh. Let it happen. please let it happen

I love PJ but he's not yet inarguably better than Sexton, let alone "way better". He's way better at 10 than Madigan, we could talk about. Most Ulster fans have been looking for PJ to get game time with Ireland, not at the expense of Sexton, but just to provide a better second option.

Similarly, I love what Gilroy does for Ulster, but equally I can very easily see why Joe might have some misgivings about him.

Stop trying to turn everything into a binary game of "Joes always wrong"/"Joes always right". Give a bit of subtlety to your viewpoints, plenty here will critique JS when it feels necessary, but equally will praise the things he does right. Being so extreme and one sided does nobody any good.

Billysays no

MJohnston wrote: »

I love PJ but he's not yet inarguably better than Sexton, let alone "way better". He's way better at 10 than Madigan, we could talk about. Most Ulster fans have been looking for PJ to get game time with Ireland, not at the expense of Sexton, but just to provide a better second option.

Similarly, I love what Gilroy does for Ulster, but equally I can very easily see why Joe might have some misgivings about him.

Stop trying to turn everything into a binary game of "Joes always wrong"/"Joes always right". Give a bit of subtlety to your viewpoints, plenty here will critique JS when it feels necessary, but equally will praise the things he does right. Being so extreme and one sided does nobody any good.

Take the point. Think Paddy has huge potential but has been sitting outside a largely misfiring Pienaar this year. Think he will show his ability even more with a Marmion/Murray option inside him. Just my view

mfceiling

Billysays no wrote: »

Take the point. Think Paddy has huge potential but has been sitting outside a largely misfiring Pienaar this year. Think he will show his ability even more with a Marmion/Murray option inside him. Just my view

No harm to you Billy but a misfiring Pienaar is a better 9 than Marmion.

Digifriendly

mfceiling wrote: »

No harm to you Billy but a misfiring Pienaar is a better 9 than Marmion.

Marmion has been outstanding this season while Pienaar has not been as consistently good as previous seasons.

mfceiling

Digifriendly wrote: »

Marmion has been outstanding this season while Pienaar has not been as consistently good as previous seasons.

May be true but Pienaar has a level that Marmion hasn't reached yet. He has singlehandedly won games for Ulster in the past.

bilston

Pienaar doesn't have the same responsibilities in the Ulster team now so it is harder for him to be the dominant force he has been. However for an out half I dare say playing outside Pienaar would be a dream. Have you seen his pass! Neither Murray or Marmion at their best can match that.

WarZ

Billysays no wrote: »

so tell me bilston you don't like what is possible with this team. Jackson is a start, way better than sexton, and now we get exciting back row players to play with him. Gilroy, healy, toh. Let it happen. please let it happen

I have a feeling that you holding this opinion has nothing to do with the actual rugby abilities of both players

Billysays no

mfceiling wrote: »

No harm to you Billy but a misfiring Pienaar is a better 9 than Marmion.

agree to disagree

mfceiling

Billysays no wrote: »

agree to disagree

You believe the 5 cap Marmion is a better scrum half than the 88 capped springbok Pienaar?

Seriously?

Scythica

I'm impressed with Henry and Reidys stats there, I didn't think either of them were going to have great seasons and although Reidy became more eye catching I didn't expect him to be up there.

Shoutout to Herring too for the tackles made in comparable gametime!

Really excited for next season, a proper pre-season under Kiss. Charlie boy, Zeeeeee and Dave all make an impression I hope.

Think Treadwell could be a very dark horse signing too.

bilston

Scythica wrote: »

I'm impressed with Henry and Reidys stats there, I didn't think either of them were going to have great seasons and although Reidy became more eye catching I didn't expect him to be up there.

Shoutout to Herring too for the tackles made in comparable gametime!

Really excited for next season, a proper pre-season under Kiss. Charlie boy, Zeeeeee and Dave all make an impression I hope.

Think Treadwell could be a very dark horse signing too.

I'm also hoping we see a bit more of Dow and hopefully this kid Thompson makes an impression next season.

Number 137

First team squad for 2016/2017 announced.

Besides signings and departures already made public, these are the ones we weren't aware of:

In:
Mark Best
John Donnan (Academy)
Lorcan Dow (Academy)
Angus Lloyd
Stephen Mulholland
Matthew Rea
David Shanahan (Academy)
Johnny Simpson
Jacob Stockdale (Academy)

Outs:
Willie Faloon
Paul Jackson
Ruaidhri Murphy
Bronson Ross
Paul Rowley
Frankie Taggart

awec

Is Paul Jackson PJs brother?

FACECUTTR

Number 137 wrote: »

First team squad for 2016/2017 announced.

Besides signings and departures already made public, these are the ones we weren't aware of:

In:
Mark Best
John Donnan (Academy)
Lorcan Dow (Academy)
Angus Lloyd
Stephen Mulholland
Matthew Rea
David Shanahan (Academy)
Johnny Simpson
Jacob Stockdale (Academy)

Outs:
Willie Faloon
Paul Jackson
Ruaidhri Murphy
Bronson Ross
Paul Rowley
Frankie Taggart

Faloon is a fine player hopefully he finds a good club.

Buer

awec wrote: »

Is Paul Jackson PJs brother?

Yup.

thomond2006

FACECUTTR wrote: »

Faloon is a fine player hopefully he finds a good club.

Munster need a backup 7. Faloon has had a lot of injuries though right?

FACECUTTR

thomond2006 wrote: »

Munster need a backup 7. Faloon has had a lot of injuries though right?

He has. He was out a good bit with Connacht but he was fantastic when fit. Would be worth a punt as back up 7.