Ulster Team Talk Thread IV... Go On My Henderson...

Clegg

Every rugby fan in Ireland wishes there were another Ferris coming through the ranks. He was just a destructive force. I'm not sure we've ever produced a backrow with the power and speed of Ferris at his peak. SOB comes closest, but he morphed into a different sort of backrow after his breakout season. Less impactful carrying, although still decent, but far greater impact at the ruck.

In general there's a dearth of Irish backrows who can be considered physically dominant to the point where they match up with the beasts of other test Nations. I thought Leavy could be one of those, but he's constantly injured like the former were. That's a depressingly similar story.

Buer

Deegan is athletic, skilled and quick. He is not what Ulster need at all though. Ulster need a few mean, physical, nasty f*ckers to set out the stall.

There's no point in having the chassis of a Porsche if there's a Fiat engine under the bonnet.

Hey boy

thomond2006 wrote: »

Are there any prospects in the front row coming through at Ulster? There's been a lack of talent there in recent years. Meanwhile Ulster have young outside backs galore.

Yes. Joe Mawhinney. 6'5, 20 stone.

Hey boy

bilston wrote: »

Callum Reid, Tom Stewart and Tom O'Toole.

Reid is brilliant in the loose, O'Toole is still developing in the scrum, Stewart is probably the best young hooker I've seen at U20 level for Ireland in a long time, and he was a year young.

So in theory those guys could do well in the future. But we need a Coombes type back rower, McCann has a big future, but he is a different sort of player to Coombes, we need a bruising ball carrying 6 or 8. I don't see anyone coming through like that.

McCormick is a very good ball carrier. Was bouncing boys in recent A game.

Hey boy

bilston wrote: »

I read somewhere that Egan is highly rated, but never seen him play, not that I could tell who a good scrummaging prop is anyway!

Harry Sheridan looked good in that A game against Leinster earlier in the year.

There's also Reuben Crothers who is a 7 and Jude Postelwaite who is a wing/centre, plus Ben Moxham and Ben Carson (both centres), all who would be U20, and of course Tom Stewart. I'm surprised those guys aren't in that group above, Stewart probably has a decent shout at captaining the Ireland 20s. I assume they injured or maybe training with Ulster as I'd thought anyone in a provincial academy was almost a shoe in for the Ireland 20s squad?

You always know Ulster are having a rough time when we start looking at who the next big thing is!!

Cruthers, Jude, Carson are all a year young for u20 this year.

Hey boy

Hey boy wrote: »

Cruthers, Jude, Carson are all a year young for u20 this year.

Also, Irvine 6'8" in the row.

McNabney, Lamont, in the BR. Lamont may move to hooker.

RuPi

launish116 wrote: »

Feels like we’re always looking for the next big thing, that always seems several years down the line.

Stewart has been appearing in a lot of the recent training videos. Also noticed Carothers in clips also.

John McKee is a name not being mentioned but was on media duty with the U20s months back. Has our academy head coach position been filled?

Conor McKee and Doak both Under 20’s this year but the third scrum half is the new head coaches son, will see how selection goes for that.

Interviews have been for both the academy roles, I would expect an announcement in the next few weeks.

Locke_Lamora

Hey boy wrote: »

Also, Irvine 6'8" in the row.

McNabney, Lamont, in the BR. Lamont may move to hooker.

Irvine was good when I last saw him. Looked like he needed lot of work in the strength and conditioning department, but he was very young and it's always a long game with players his build.

Couple of decent players coming from Ballymena in the last two years or so but there hasn't been much rugby for them so hard to know how everyone's progressed. Good halfbacks and a few forwards that should put their hands up for the academy.

Not really sure there's any forwards coming through that you can point and and say he's a standout talent other than maybe Tom Stewart.

Purist98

bilston wrote: »

I read somewhere that Egan is highly rated, but never seen him play, not that I could tell who a good scrummaging prop is anyway!

Harry Sheridan looked good in that A game against Leinster earlier in the year.

There's also Reuben Crothers who is a 7 and Jude Postelwaite who is a wing/centre, plus Ben Moxham and Ben Carson (both centres), all who would be U20, and of course Tom Stewart. I'm surprised those guys aren't in that group above, Stewart probably has a decent shout at captaining the Ireland 20s. I assume they injured or maybe training with Ulster as I'd thought anyone in a provincial academy was almost a shoe in for the Ireland 20s squad?

You always know Ulster are having a rough time when we start looking at who the next big thing is!!

I watched a couple of Trinity's games this year before the club season stopped and Sheridan looked very impressive

Hey boy

Hey boy wrote: »

Cruthers, Jude, Carson are all a year young for u20 this year.

Mccormick has another year as well.

Hey boy

RuPi wrote: »

Conor McKee and Doak both Under 20’s this year but the third scrum half is the new head coaches son, will see how selection goes for that.

Interviews have been for both the academy roles, I would expect an announcement in the next few weeks.

Neither Doak nor Murphy appear to have been at the u20 camp.

stephen_n

awec wrote: »

We have enough Leinster cast offs already. We will never improve by signing guys who cannot get into the Leinster team.

So what’s your answer? Sign 3 or 4 test level Boks? You can’t produce forwards. You don’t want capped forwards from Leinster who happen to be stuck behind two starting internationals. You seem to want Ulster to be the Man City of the Pro whatever.

molloyjh

stephen_n wrote: »

So what’s your answer? Sign 3 or 4 test level Boks? You can’t produce forwards. You don’t want capped forwards from Leinster who happen to be stuck behind two starting internationals. You seem to want Ulster to be the Man City of the Pro whatever.

I think this is a valid point. Ulster's pack is a big problem and I don't think they can afford at this stage to turn their noses up at any player that would make it better.

RuPi

Hey boy wrote: »

Neither Doak nor Murphy appear to have been at the u20 camp.

I don’t think any players training within senior squad bubbles have been involved yet. Once those players get integrated in, if they do, I would expect the ulster contingent to increase considerably with Stewart, Moxham, Carson, Crothers and Doak likely to be added, Rankin and Postlethwaite probably outside bets.

Lost Ormond

RuPi wrote: »

I don’t think any players training within senior squad bubbles have been involved yet. Once those players get integrated in, if they do, I would expect the ulster contingent to increase considerably with Stewart, Moxham, Carson, Crothers and Doak likely to be added, Rankin and Postlethwaite probably outside bets.

Depends on if any in senior set ups are getting game time or close to as with so little rugby played by so many the past 12 months they may give 20s game time to others to give more players a shot at academy spots or simply to play some games

Some Yoke

Quinn roux leaving Connacht for France, wouldve been such a great addition to ulster to power up the pack

launish116

Some Yoke wrote: »

Quinn roux leaving Connacht for France, wouldve been such a great addition to ulster to power up the pack

Indeed, always injured though?

Bazzo

The provinces can't outbid each other anyway, if he had been offered enough to stay it would have been at Connacht.

launish116

Will be very interesting who they manage to sign as replacement!

Wikidy

The Ulster pack is starting to look a little underwhelming again. The maul is excellent, but outside of that there is not much to scare the opposition. There is a lack of big powerful units. It looks that they have to play near their peak every game to be competitive, that is not sustainable long term and unfortunately that form looks to have dropped off a cliff atm.

Utah_Saint

Wikidy wrote: »

The Ulster pack is starting to look a little underwhelming again. The maul is excellent, but outside of that there is not much to scare the opposition. There is a lack of big powerful units. It looks that they have to play near their peak every game to be competitive, that is not sustainable long term and unfortunately that form looks to have dropped off a cliff atm.

pretty much sums up Ulster of last 5 years. They have to play at their absolute best to get close to the better teams but that (as you say) is not sustainable.

We need a Synman type signing. Does Bakkies Botha fancy a 12month contract???:o

awec

With the money around Leinster and this new money being pumped into Munster we really are at risk of being left behind. I think it's fairly delusional to think that all Ulster need is a little more time to develop, we need some new faces and that's the reality of the matter. Nakarawa is not going to be the answer to our problems.

Let's see what is done about it by the powers that be.

Scythica

I tend to look back at when we've done well (in reality 2006 or 2012) and compare our pack from then to now.

In 2012 our pack was:

T Court
R Best,l
J Afoa
J Muller (capt)
D Tuohy
S Ferris
C Henry
P Wannenburg.

Replacements: 
N Brady
P McAllister
D Fitzpatrick
L Stevenson
W Faloon

I know our game plan now is slightly different;
and I do feel like our depth now is better. However I cant help but feel beyond hendo I'm not sure if any of our incumbents get ahead of the starters?

Utah_Saint

awec wrote: »

With the money around Leinster and this new money being pumped into Munster we really are at risk of being left behind. I think it's fairly delusional to think that all Ulster need is a little more time to develop, we need some new faces and that's the reality of the matter. Nakarawa is not going to be the answer to our problems.

Let's see what is done about it by the powers that be.

Petrie seems to be pretty clued in so my hope is he's on the phone every day fighting the case

Utah_Saint

Scythica wrote: »

I tend to look back at when we've done well (in reality 2006 or 2012) and compare our pack from then to now.

In 2012 our pack was:

T Court
R Best,l
J Afoa
J Muller (capt)
D Tuohy
S Ferris
C Henry
P Wannenburg.

Replacements: 
N Brady
P McAllister
D Fitzpatrick
L Stevenson
W Faloon

I know our game plan now is slightly different;
and I do feel like our depth now is better. However I cant help but feel beyond hendo I'm not sure if any of our incumbents get ahead of the starters?

I agree our depth is a bit better now but Hendo is the only player making team

Jump_In_Jack

Could be way off, but I wonder if Jason Jenkins being a stopgap for Munster, could be a potential signing for Ulster for the season after next.
Bit like Jean Deysel.

awec

Jump_In_Jack wrote: »

Could be way off, but I wonder if Jason Jenkins being a stopgap for Munster, could be a potential signing for Ulster for the season after next.
Bit like Jean Deysel.

Please no.

awec

Scythica wrote: »

I tend to look back at when we've done well (in reality 2006 or 2012) and compare our pack from then to now.

In 2012 our pack was:

T Court
R Best,l
J Afoa
J Muller (capt)
D Tuohy
S Ferris
C Henry
P Wannenburg.

Replacements: 
N Brady
P McAllister
D Fitzpatrick
L Stevenson
W Faloon

I know our game plan now is slightly different;
and I do feel like our depth now is better. However I cant help but feel beyond hendo I'm not sure if any of our incumbents get ahead of the starters?

That starting pack would eat our current starting pack for breakfast.

launish116

Feck a marque pack signing, we need 2-3 pro14 standard forwards. Nothing spectacular, just steady & reliable, allowing decent squad rotation! And no flogging!

launish116

Injury update:

Marcus Rea suffered a concussion in the recent Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup game against Munster Rugby and will now follow the Graduated Return to Play Protocols.

John Cooney, who sustained a neck injury in the Challenge Cup semi-final fixture versus Leicester Tigers; and Kieran Treadwell, following an ankle injury in training, have joined the current injured list and are unavailable for selection

Irish 7s squad:
Aaron Sexton, Ben Moxham and Jude Postlethwaite