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

bilston

There's a few question marks around the starting XV?

Who starts at LH? McGrath or O'Sullivan

Herring and O'Toole presumably make up the rest of the front row.

O'Connor and Carter should be the second row

Does Vermuelen play? Who is 6? Rea or Reidy? Might McCann move to 6 to accommodate Vermuelen or does he drop to the bench. There's a load of different combinations possible. The only constant being Nick Timoney.

9, 10, 12 and 13 and 14 are locked in, but who is left wing? Gilroy, McIlroy or Lyttle

Who is full back? Lowry or McIlroy

My own view

1 O'Sullivan 2 Herring 3 O'Toole

4 O'Connor 5 Carter

6 Rea 7 Timoney 8 McCann

9 Cooney 10 Burns

11 Gilroy 12 McCloskey 13 Hume 14 Baloucoune

15 McIlroy

16 Andrew, 17 McGrath, 18 Kane, 19 Kearney, 20 Vermuelen, 21 Doak, 22 Lowry, 23 Lyttle

McGrath doesn't have enough miles in the legs and Vermuelen hasn't trained with the squad, Reidy v Rea at 6 is a toss of the coin. Rea gets the edge because of the line-out.

I've just gone for experience on the left wing with Gilroy, it could easily be Lyttle, and as big a fan of Lowry as I am I think McIlroy just offers a bit more solidity at the back.

That said it might be a case of throwing the kitchen sink at Clermont to try and nab a BP or two so all out attack might be the order of the day which would call for Lowry and Lyttle in the back three over McIlroy and Gilroy!

It will be an interesting selection anyway.

launish116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118291817#Comment_118291817

A lot of selection questions, personally think we will try to repeat the Leinster game plan:

Loosehead

• McGrath is couple of games away from the required fitness sadly, could really do with him firing on all cylinders.
• Warwick has been rested and just does the basics when needed

Hooker

• Herring is locked in, issue being bench - John Andrew hasn't played since May?

Second Row

• Carter (purely for scrumaging) & O'Connor
• coin toss at this stage between Kearney & Treadwell (his clearouts are a red card waiting).

Backrow - so many issues & questions

• Timoney & McCann are our best backrowers currently
• Rea Snr is the natural six though hasn't played since Oct. Never thought I'd say it, is Jones the best option, mobility/lineout/handling at the expense of ball carrying. Leaves our back row very light.
• Picking on form Rea Jnr? open side with Timoney back to 8? Rea really has put a marker down and needs to maintain and push on now
• Vermuelen should be left to rest and bring him on next week at home

Burkie1203

Clermont dealing with covid cluster apparently

bilston

28-0 "win" away to Clermont would do rightly!

launish116

(15-9) Mike Lowry, Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Ethan McIlroy, Billy Burns, John Cooney;

(1-8) Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor (Capt.), Kieran Treadwell, Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen;

Replacements: John Andrew, Jack McGrath, Ross Kane, Sam Carter, Greg Jones, Sean Reidy, Nathan Doak, Stewart Moore

6-2 split my eyes deceive me!

Marcus Rea in on form!

Carter dropped to bench, really needs to up his game!

arsebiscuits1

Meeting your number 8 for the first time in person on match day is just pure junior rugby lol. I love it.

Safe to say Ulster will be running a 5 or 6 man lineout all day anyway.

Will be huge to have him involved though

Happyhouse22

What’s the story with McCann? Injured? Presume he hasn’t fallen behind Jones and Reidy for a bench spot

UAEguy2020

Must be injured, he’s played very well this season, he’s hardly gone from starting nearly every game to not even making the bench when Ulster have 5 BRs in the squad.

Paul Smeenus

Just being tested I think.

launish116

Was wondering also, only conclusion I can think is he needs some rest! He has played a lot of rugby in his first senior year and he’s still very young!

Hope Rea has a good game, just worried about his turnover technique. 50/50 if he’s off his feet/not supporting weight half the time.

bilston

It might just be squad balance. Timoney covers 8 and Reidy and Marcus Rea cover 7 and Jones covers 6. While I think McCann can play anywhere in the back row I think he has only played 8 this season so maybe it made more sense to have the others ahead of him for this match.

But agree he has been going well, very well, so its probably a bit harsh, but the reality is Vermuelen is going to play all the big games at No.8.

awec

I am very happy.

Great performance, beat Clermont away and to top it off made Jonno Gibbes' day miserable. Jonno can stick that one up his jam roll.

Hume was unbelievable, if he stays on this trajectory it's going to be impossible to ignore him in green. The catch and the line break for the Timoney try, if Garry Ringrose had done that there'd be a good weeks worth of headlines on the Indo / the IT / balls.ie / joe.ie about the next coming of BOD.

Cooney showing he's not ready to give his spot up just yet. Vermuelen putting in a good shift despite hardly training. Herring tough as nails. Timoney rock solid. Lowry a little maestro.

Just please back it up next week.

Clegg

Hume would make a good deputy for Ringrose in blue. Must get Noose on that.

Good suggestion Awec.

Dave_The_Sheep

I've seen a few comments about Gibbes from Ulster fans this evening in a few places. What's the beef there, out of curiousity?

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118307935#Comment_118307935

Left Ulster early to "go home". Was very adamant he wasn't leaving Ulster for another job.

"Home" turned out to be France. And another job.

I have other reasons that I won't go into but needless to say I hope Gibbes will enjoy reviewing his teams defeat over the weekend.

Dubinusa

Awesome! I believe you misunderstood Gibbs and his home. Isn't his home in the Kiwi riviera in France? Lol.

Dubinusa

Typo! AWEC

launish116

Great game thought I was about to witness a 2nd half implosion again.

Vermeulen very unlucky to not score in first half, could really see difference in yards made from static.

Scrummaging is a worry again, surprised Clermont didn't make more of it.

Carter really isn't adding anything, thought Treadwell was immense.

Rea ran himself into the ground.

Hopefully Baloucone isn't out for long, he looked in a lot pain.

Paul Smeenus

Delighted with that.

Someone in the know on another forum says that Addison's likely back after the Six Nations.

Also says that the Ulster camp is the happiest it's been in years - there are a load of young fellas coming through that have really bonded and are pretty tight.

launish116

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118311832#Comment_118311832

Really is a strong back bone of young home grown talent building!

launish116

The Ulster Rugby Medical Performance team has issued a squad update ahead of Friday’s Heineken Champions Cup fixture against Northampton Saints at Kingspan Stadium.

Rob Baloucoune, who sustained a shoulder injury in the win over Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel Michelin, is unavailable for selection this weekend.

Been some chat that Henderson is back training, would hope Marty Moore be fit once again.

Paul Smeenus

**ulster team to play northampton saints, heineken champions cup round 2, friday 17 december at kingspan stadium, kick-off 8pm, live on bt sport: **

(15-9) mike lowry, craig gilroy, james hume, stuart mccloskey, ethan mcilroy, billy burns, john cooney

(1-8) andrew warwick, rob herring, marty moore, alan o’connor, iain henderson (capt.), marcus rea, nick timoney, duane vermeulen

replacements: john andrew, jack mcgrath, tom o'toole, kieran treadwell, sam carter, greg jones, nathan doak, stewart moore.

Good team considering were missing our entire first choice back three. Going 6/2 on the bench again. Fair play to Marcus Rea - starting for the As a few weeks ago, now has started two European games.

awec

Happy enough with that. Probably need to target a TBP.

Clegg

Is eh, nobody watching?

Hume had a very good first half. Vermuelen look gassed after 20 minutes.

Locke_Lamora

This has a loss written all over it. We've let a few chances go and handed them penalty after penalty, now they're a try away without firing a shot. They are a decent attacking side when on form so I'm a little worried they'll hit their stride after re-grouping at halftime.

Lowry and Hume playing well. Rea doing ok as well around the rucks.

Poorside

Hume is a serious prospect, put him beside Henshaw and that's a very good partnership, Vermuelen is walking around the park.

OldRio

Well that last lineout call was..............

Ulster are struggling with the refs interpretation at the break down.

Northampton are growing into this without doing a lot.

Clegg

McIlroy looks very good as well. It's been a thing about Ulster that they have talented backs falling out their ears, but have found it very difficult to develop a hard nosed pack. They're slowly making their way in the right direction though.

Lowry and Hume would have multiple caps for Ireland by now, but for a few excellent players ahead of them.

Poorside

Huge difference in Hume since McCloskey went off, needs a target man next to him to get the best out of him, that could go against him when it comes to the crunch of international rugby

Interested Observer

Hopefully Henderson is alright, was having Dan Leavy flashbacks.