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

Burkie1203

Quin_Dub wrote: »

I thought Moore looked shockingly bad for a Professional player. I know he's never been the gym bunny type , but he looked in truly atrocious condition yesterday.

He obviously decided to choose a different path in bulking up through lockdown. He looks like he needs to shed about 15-20kg.

Squidgy Black

Marty's struggled pretty badly with conditioning ever since he left Leinster, mostly due to the fact he was riddled with injuries during his time at Wasps. It's a shame because he has the potential to be challenging for a spot in camp for the national squad if he can just get his match fitness up and stay injury free.

Buer

Obviously there are targets, fitness monitoring etc with professional S&C staff but Moore did visibly appear in horrendous shape. A professional prop should not have rolls of fat visible through his jersey.

Jack McGrath looks like he has put on a little bit more weight too around his midsection although not on the same level.

Paul Smeenus

Yeah - might see EOS and TOT start against Leinster and, if they hold their own, against Edinburgh.

Moore is a big pudding.

Thought Rea looked good as well.

Hume was disappointing. But ultimately most looked very off the pace

launish116

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Yeah - might see EOS and TOT start against Leinster and, if they hold their own, against Edinburgh.

Moore is a big pudding.

Thought Rea looked good as well.

Hume was disappointing. But ultimately most looked very off the pace

Agree EOS & TOT deserve a start, but i’d be flogging Moore/McGrath until their fit!

TOT scrummaging has definitely come along!

Paul Smeenus

Moore was in fine shape before the season was postponed. Eh just needs to get back to that.

Bazzo

Moore looked like he was blowing hard after less than 10 mins, I've genuinely never seen the like before.

sydthebeat

Bazzo wrote: »

Moore looked like he was blowing hard after less than 10 mins, I've genuinely never seen the like before.

i recall charlie faumuina blowing hard after the same amount of time in the RDS game v toulouse back on a warm day in april last year.... and he was off after 50 mins.

it was more down to the non-stop action than fitness, but poor charlie was knackered

Burkie1203

sydthebeat wrote: »

i recall charlie faumuina blowing hard after the same amount of time in the RDS game v toulouse back on a warm day in april last year.... and he was off after 50 mins.

it was more down to the non-stop action than fitness, but poor charlie was knackered

That was in Aviva too that game.

bilston

Haven't seen the match yet, but tell me this were there any injuries?

Paul Smeenus

O'Connor off early - dunno how significant. Herring pulled out of warm-up, but they've already said he can feature next week. Everything else tactical.

launish116

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

O'Connor off early - dunno how significant. Herring pulled out of warm-up, but they've already said he can feature next week. Everything else tactical.

Was O’Connor a HIA?

bilston

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

O'Connor off early - dunno how significant. Herring pulled out of warm-up, but they've already said he can feature next week. Everything else tactical.

That's the main thing now isn't it. No injuries, or just one.

In a weird way we came out of the weekend best out of the four provinces. Leinster had nothing to gain, Munster needed a win to have hopes of a home semi, but lost, but lost and lost key players for a significant period of time and Connacht had nothing to play for.

We qualified for the play offs and didn't suffer any injuries (hoping AOC was a precautionary HIA).

That might be called manipulating the data to suit your argument...but feck it...we had a great weekend!

Paul Smeenus

bilston wrote: »

That's the main thing now isn't it. No injuries, or just one.

In a weird way we came out of the weekend best out of the four provinces. Leinster had nothing to gain, Munster needed a win to have hopes of a home semi, but lost, but lost and lost key players for a significant period of time and Connacht had nothing to play for.

We qualified for the play offs and didn't suffer any injuries (hoping AOC was a precautionary HIA).

That might be called manipulating the data to suit your argument...but feck it...we had a great weekend!

I like your moxie, kid.

Very dispiriting performance, but the fact that it was more or less team-wide suggests that there was a preparation issue, or an attitude issue. Which is not good, but it is a hell of a lot easier and quicker to turn that around than problems with coaching or skill level.

I'd rather be in our boat than Munster's.

They have a bunch of front five injuries, including their marquee forward signing who I think we all were very excited about (and some of us were dreading playing.against.) Three second rows out.

They now have a Pro14 semi-final against Leinster. We have one against Edinburgh.

We have a European quarter-final (if it all goes ahead). They do not.

On a side issue, while our attitude was a bad joke and hoops need to be solidly kicked, Munster got as much grief about attitude as us for kicking the ball out at the end. I feel for O'Mahony - sometimes it seems like his role is 50% playing and 50% apologising for or defending his teammates and their decision making after games. I think some quarters have unrealistic expectations of Munster and he seems to get it in the neck from all sides, often undeservedly.

launish116

Injury update

O’Connor & Hume had HIAs and return to play protocols in affect.

Herring should he fit to play.

Any idea whats happening with Milasonvich?

Paul Smeenus

https://www.the42.ie/stockdale-fullback-moore-5186188-Aug2020/

Definitely seems to be a push for Stockdale to line out at FB. Also squirrelled away in there is the fact that Marshall's not fit? First I've seen that anywhere. Moore to potentially line out this weekend?

ionadnapokot

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

https://www.the42.ie/stockdale-fullback-moore-5186188-Aug2020/

Definitely seems to be a push for Stockdale to line out at FB. Also squirrelled away in there is the fact that Marshall's not fit? First I've seen that anywhere. Moore to potentially line out this weekend?

I wonder is this solely an Ulster decision?
Because Lowry already offers more from FB.

When Lowry came on for Hume - where did he go? 14 and Ludik to 13?

Paul Smeenus

ionadnapokot wrote: »

I wonder is this solely an Ulster decision?
Because Lowry already offers more from FB.

When Lowry came on for Hume - where did he go? 14 and Ludik to 13?

Dunno. I'd my head in my hands at that point.

Paul Smeenus

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/53913117


Never enamoured of hearing "we don't really know what went wrong". Think Dan had it right - knowing the semi-final was earned, they switched off.

Hands Like Flippers

Covid case at UR academy sadly..

https://www.ulsterrugby.com/2020/08/ulster-rugby-statement-5/

Paul Smeenus

Senior training also suspended. Just what we need.

Still there are more important things. Hope everyone recovers properly, and the others stay safe.

CatFromHue

Ulster can't be caught by Glasgow and they can't catch Leinster either.

If they need to take a weekend off they can spare this one.

Eod100

CatFromHue wrote: »

Ulster can't be caught by Glasgow and they can't catch Leinster either.

If they need to take a weekend off they can spare this one.

And not like Leinster need points either. But as it could take 14 days for symptoms to show could cause issues for semi.

Zzippy

Bazzo wrote: »

Moore looked like he was blowing hard after less than 10 mins, I've genuinely never seen the like before.

Rodney Ah You

Paul Smeenus

Is Milasinovich a tight head or a loose head?

The Lost Sheep

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Is Milasinovich a tight head or a loose head?

Covers both but not sure which he prefers

awec

please don’t speculate on who is self isolating. Post has been deleted.

Paul Smeenus

Fair enough.

bilston

Finally watched the game from the weekend.

The lineout was a big problem. Obviously taking Herring, Henderson and O'Connor out of the equation didn't help, but still a bad night.

There were some silly errors at critical moments, that you would think won't happen when the players have a couple more games in the tank.

Its a bit frustrating that Connacht finished the game stronger given we were within a point after 68 minutes.

On the plus side the Burns/McCloskey wrap with Stockdale hitting the line from 15 looks interesting. Stockdale played well at 15. He has a booming left peg, he got his hands on the ball a lot and was maybe our best player on the day.

The front row replacements had a big impact which was good to see.

Madigan was busy and with a bit more game time will build a good relationship with those outside him. It will be fascinating to see how the 10 battle goes at Ulster this season/next season. Matthewson added a bit of experience, but his exits weren't great, but there was more upside than downside. McCloskey was good.

Disappointing defeat, but in the grand scheme of things the result won't matter in the long run.

One thing that hasn't changed...the need for a big ball carrying No.6! There were a couple of times where we had front foot ball and then we were knocked back in the tackle.

Looking forward to today's team announcement. I'm hoping to see Stewart Moore involved and would be nice to see someone like Azur Allison get a shot...a rangy running back rower is something we need as an option. But then again we need momentum ahead of Edinburgh, so Dan may go stronger than he was originally anticipating a week or so ago.

Paul Smeenus

Personally, I expect another disappointing performance with a week of disrupted/abandoned training with the Covid issues.