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

mfceiling

bilston wrote: »

I was listening to Baz and Andrew's House of Rugby yesterday and they were interviewing Jacob Stockdale.

Stockdale got some terrible stick on Twitter after the WC and it obviously affected him.

Also both Trimble and Stockdale were both singing the praises of Stewart Moore big time.

Was a good interview with Stockdale. I read it last week online. People actually messaging him telling him to kill himself!! Like seriously WTF!!

Scottmactom

Kieran Campbell

“Reuben Crothers is an out-and-out seven; an excellent tackler and superb at turning opposition ball over. He’s a hard-working seven who is extremely dedicated to his team and one thing that is very strong in his makeup is his leadership. He was captain at Wallace High School and he also skippered Ulster U18 Schools and U19s a year early. He brings a really high work ethic and will bring real leadership qualities too.

“Ben Carson is a big, physical centre. He is a very well-rounded player who carries the ball well, but has a good passing game and is an effective kicker with his left foot. He brings a physical profile but also a good skillset to his position and into our Academy.

“Nathan Doak’s acceleration speaks for itself. He has played a year already at Celtic Cup level as part of the Ulster A team, which reached the Celtic Cup final. Nathan is an exceptionally good reader of the game. His game understanding is excellent for such a young boy, and he comes with an excellent pass and his kicking game is strong. Another addition to Nathan’s game is that he’s such a strong goal-kicker as well."

“Ethan McIlroy is a different type of player. He’s a little bit of a maverick; I don’t know if anyone saw what he produced against England U20s in the Six Nations, throwing a ball out the back of his hand for Hayden Hyde to score. It’s one of those moments as a coach when your heart is in your mouth but he’s a highly talented rugby player. In his back three position, he’s strong aerially and carries the ball really well considering he isn’t at the physical potential he can be yet. He’s come out of a strong schools’ system in Methody with Nicky Wells, and the skills Ethan brings as a real game-breaking player are pretty exciting.”

“James McCormick has captained our Ulster U18 Schools and is a real credit to Dalriada, which is a good school and run an excellent programme; they have done an exceptional job with him. He is a good scrummaging hooker with the potential to be very good. His throwing is very accurate and for a young guy, he’s really tough and dynamic. We’re excited about James; he is another one who has a special leadership quality reflected in how he owns his own development and he always striving to get better. He is a quiet, unassuming guy but there is a real toughness to him.”

“Lewis Finlay, I can’t speak highly enough of. He is one of the players who invested in our sub-Academy for the last 18 months and his dedication is second-to-none. His acceleration in his own development and the ownership he has taken of it demonstrates that he is a real leader; he was in the leadership group in the Ireland U20s team. What Lewis brings is tempo, he has got an excellent pass, is extremely fit and quick between breakdowns. He also possesses the ability to break the line, but I think the real growth in him – and it has been totally down to him and his dedication to what he does – is his game understanding. He has been really good at delivering tactically for the team. We are fortunate with him and Nathan and Conor McKee in our sub-Academy, as we have three really good nines who are going to be battling hard. It’s great to see a home-grown set of nines waiting to get into that senior squad and hopefully nail down a permanent position.”

“Cormac Izuchukwu or “Izzy” as he likes to be called is coming in and we have had support from Operations Director, Bryn Cunningham, and our senior coaches with that recruitment. He has come in as part of our succession planning to compete with two local players in our sub-Academy, Matthew Sands and Cormac McMenamin. There will be a healthy competition now to push those guys on and Izzy will be a welcome addition with his athletic profile. It’s well documented now, but he’s 6’ 7” and extremely quick coming out of the Sevens programme.

“I’ve worked with Izzy in the Irish U20s and Sevens and there’s no doubt he is a gifted athlete. He is a really good person too. We need to hone that raw ability and there are areas he is working very hard on in lockdown at the moment, such as lineout calling which I commend him for. He is working exceptionally hard with our coaches, Michael Black and Jonny Graham, on that at the moment and he has taken ownership of that himself. Once we combine that athleticism with positional role delivery, he is going to be a really strong acquisition for us."

Paul Smeenus

Glad to hear that the Izzy signing is because Campbell is familiar with him, rather than just a complete punt. Have heard he was pretty eye-catching in sevens.

He was playing second row in Scotland last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7_syWcHlkk

bilston

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Glad to hear that the Izzy signing is because Campbell is familiar with him, rather than just a complete punt. Have heard he was pretty eye-catching in sevens.

He was playing second row in Scotland last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7_syWcHlkk

It's fairly low risk if there was no one else of sufficient quality. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

I see ST holders have been given two options by Ulster today...

UR have valued the remaining games at 20% of the Season Ticket.

Option 1 - Donate the money to Ulster
Option 2 - Get it credited towards 2021/22 season ticket

Paul Smeenus

Just hope this batch of backrowers - Allison, McCann, Crothers - fare better than Dunleavy, Hall and Agnew, and that Rea Jr breaks through properly.

bilston

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Just hope this batch of backrowers - Allison, McCann, Crothers - fare better than Dunleavy, Hall and Agnew, and that Rea Jr breaks through properly.

If he stays fit I'd be hopeful that McCann will have a really big career. He seems to be a leader as well. He might captain Ulster one day.

I haven't seen a huge amount of Allison, but from what I have seen of him he seems an athletic back rower, he seems quite a rangy runner. If you have someone prepared to do the donkey work in the back row he could flourish.

Interesting to hear Crothers is an out and out 7.

It could work out well with these 3.

Scottmactom

Would be very unlike Ulster if all 3 became regular starters at the province.

Paul Smeenus

It actually sounds like the three of them would be a reasonably well-balanced unit.

Guarantee we never see them line out together.

Purist98

McCann 6
Crothers 7
Allison 8
Quite a balanced trio full of potential. I'm not from Ulster but have heard great things about Crothers, captained both Wallace and Ulster 19s a year young

bilston

Scottmactom wrote: »

Would be very unlike Ulster if all 3 became regular starters at the province.

Probably too good to be true.

If you go way back to the early to mid noughties we brought through Neil Best, Neil McMillan and Roger Wilson all at once, but they all eventually moved to England.

A few years after that we brought through Pollock, Ferris and Henry, but injury did for Pollock at a very early stage and Ferris was cut short.

So we are capable of producing back rowers. But it's fair to say that Chris Henry was the last back row of international quality that we produced, and that is a bit of a joke really given he has been retired for over a year.

Locke_Lamora

I wasn't all that excited with Izzy being brought in tbh, but with a bit more thought it makes sense. We just don't really have the talent there at the moment so he's worth a punt until younger prospects are ready - great physical and athletic profile, and seems to be someone who's making steps to improve himself (ie playing in Scotland). Don't think I've ever seens Sands play, McMenamin has been ok but was well down the pecking order for the u20's this year.

Nice to see we have a plan for Crothers. Openside seems like his more natural position, but he seems like a player that'll really have to work on his strength and condition before he can be effective at pro-level. Suppose in that sense it's good that everyone seems to describe him as incredibly hard working.

Happy for Finlay, think he really played his way into an academy place for the u20's this year.

Paul Smeenus

Locke_Lamora wrote: »

I wasn't all that excited with Izzy being brought in tbh, but with a bit more thought it makes sense. We just don't really have the talent there at the moment so he's worth a punt until younger prospects are ready - great physical and athletic profile, and seems to be someone who's making steps to improve himself (ie playing in Scotland). Don't think I've ever seens Sands play, McMenamin has been ok but was well down the pecking order for the u20's this year.

Nice to see we have a plan for Crothers. Openside seems like his more natural position, but he seems like a player that'll really have to work on his strength and condition before he can be effective at pro-level. Suppose in that sense it's good that everyone seems to describe him as incredibly hard working.

Happy for Finlay, think he really played his way into an academy place for the u20's this year.

Yeah, nice to see how impressed Campbell was with Lewis' attitude. For a good long while, a lot of folk on the fringes of the set-up intimated that some Academy lads felt they had it made and didn't get the head down as much as they needed to. If Anderson changed nothing else, that seems to be beaten out of the culture these days.

And if you're willing to work, why wouldn't you come to Ulster? Cooney's earned his opportunity with the international team, McGrath is getting called up again, Murphy and Moore are European Cup starters, AOC is part of the backbone of the team and occasional captain.

I want 23 Ulstermen in a team, but that's not realistic. And I think taking in other players from elsewhere who are there because they refuse to stop working and fighting for their spot has got to have improved the club mentality.

Paul Smeenus

bilston wrote: »

Probably too good to be true.

If you go way back to the early to mid noughties we brought through Neil Best, Neil McMillan and Roger Wilson all at once, but they all eventually moved to England.

A few years after that we brought through Pollock, Ferris and Henry, but injury did for Pollock at a very early stage and Ferris was cut short.

So we are capable of producing back rowers. But it's fair to say that Chris Henry was the last back row of international quality that we produced, and that is a bit of a joke really given he has been retired for over a year.

The list of names we've produced in the interim... T.J. Anderson, Lorcan Dow, Conor Joyce, Stephen Mulholland, Mike "Terror of Toulon" McComish, Ali Birch.. oh sweet warm sea of mediocrity.

Paul Smeenus

On the other hand, for the 2012-2013 season, at centre we had Paddy Wallace, Luke Marshall, Nevin Spence, Jared Payne and Darren Cave, with the lads tipped to break through that season being Chris Farrell and Stuart Olding. Bloody hell...

bilston

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

On the other hand, for the 2012-2013 season, at centre we had Paddy Wallace, Luke Marshall, Nevin Spence, Jared Payne and Darren Cave, with the lads tipped to break through that season being Chris Farrell and Stuart Olding. Bloody hell...

We're pretty good at producing centres, although they never seem quite good enough for Ireland!

The wing the position we do best in. Even going back to Ringland and Crossan, then Bowe and Trimble and now Stockdale, hopefully Balacoune gets up there soon enough. Oh and the British and Irish Lion Tyrone Howe as well!

Paul Smeenus

Speaking of centres...

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/rugby/stewart-moore-ulster-rugby-212197

Have heard a great deal about how impressed everyone is with him.

ionadnapokot

This is exciting. A footballing centre.
Article said that he has been given a 3 year senior contract.
Has Stewart Moore made a Senior competitive appearance yet?

Locke_Lamora

ionadnapokot wrote: »

This is exciting. A footballing centre.
Article said that he has been given a 3 year senior contract.
Has Stewart Moore made a Senior competitive appearance yet?

He came off the bench against Leinster

Paul Smeenus

Locke_Lamora wrote: »

He came off the bench against Leinster

https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby/status/1208371269944647680

This did make me laugh.

Squidgy Black

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

https://twitter.com/UlsterRugby/status/1208371269944647680

This did make me laugh.

Love the line from Stockdale saying he'd heard Peel telling the lads all to keep it in the hands and no offloads and that was how he responded.

Paul Smeenus

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Love the line from Stockdale saying he'd heard Peel telling the lads all to keep it in the hands and no offloads and that was how he responded.

"Supposedly now," Stockdale begins. "I wasn’t there, but apparently before he was going on, Dwayne Peel and the message he sent down was, ‘Keep it in the hands. Safe. No offloads’. And his first touch, Stew pulls that out of his arse. Yeah, he’s a seriously talented wee man!"

typhoony

from the Irish Times....
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/cormac-izuchukwu-ready-to-take-a-giant-step-with-ulster-1.4282637?mode=amp

awec

How likely is he to succeed at transitioning into a second row at his age, given he was previously not even a forward?

Any resident second row posters on here?

Scottmactom

would be shocked if he made it as a pro 2nd row.

Squidgy Black

awec wrote: »

How likely is he to succeed at transitioning into a second row at his age, given he was previously not even a forward?

Any resident second row posters on here?

Even switching to say backrow from centre would be a massive task to achieve at professional level.

You throw in scrummaging as part of the tight five on top of that and likely having to play a part in every lineout, and it's a really tough job.

I can see him probably ending up in the 7s setup full time, similar to Harry McNulty in some ways.

Paul Smeenus

awec wrote: »

How likely is he to succeed at transitioning into a second row at his age, given he was previously not even a forward?

Any resident second row posters on here?

He'll still be very raw, but he played second row in Scotland. Posted his highlights reel a couple of weeks ago and he was playing second row in it.

Hands Like Flippers

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

He'll still be very raw, but he played second row in Scotland. Posted his highlights reel a couple of weeks ago and he was playing second row in it.

Supposed to have signed for Hinch.

bilston

Lockdown is being strongly relaxed through July now here in Northern Ireland.

Looking at it is there any reason why Ulster can't play Leinster at the Kingspan on 29th August? Is it set in stone that it has to be at the Aviva? Crowds will be allowed at matches on a limited basis from 22nd July with an increase from 31st July.

If it's safe enough for spectators, surely it is safe enough for players who I assume are being tested every now and then. Presumably Ulster will have procedures in place to make sure Kingspan is a Covid secure venue.

Scottmactom

you'd wonder why this guy isn't involved with Ulster

awec

Scottmactom wrote: »

you'd wonder why this guy isn't involved with Ulster

He was, but was let go, but not due to a lack of talent. All the talk was of ego problems and a falling out with Campbell.