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

Lowry is lethal. If he can kick on again this season he will be devastating.

Stockdale was impressive again, as was McCloskey. Timoney stood out too. Ulster played some very impressive rugby early on. Clearly far from perfect given they shipped 39 points.

It will be a big test next week against what will be presumably a full strength (or very close to) Leinster team.

Delighted to see Ulster off to a good start. Cooney was fantastic. Still a quality player. It was nice seeing Gilroy playing and Marshall is such a good player. Hopefully they tighten things up.

Silverware is tough to win! The inclusion of the bokke sides has made the URC a very good competition! That is beneficial for the provinces.

Ulster have a chance. I think they could win this year, it would be great to see.

David McCann called up to Emerging Ireland in the face of injuries to Kendellen and Soroka.

John Cooney finding form in time to make Scotland's world cup squad.

Isn't it 5 years to naturalise to a new country, but only 3 years to switch if already have the necessary right to represent another country.

If Cooney has a Scottish link (I see from Wikipedia his father is Scottish) then 3 years should be enough, but I wouldn't think he would be interested in a switch of allegiance.

Players can change allegiances if they were born in the country they want to represent or have a parent or grandparent born there; they can switch only once and there's a stand-down period of three years from international rugby

Sounds like we have indeed been in touch with Rory Sutherland again post Worcester meltdown.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/sport/other-sport/bath-rugby-join-castres-ulster-7632150

Only John Cooney knows, but I haven’t heard any reports on him mentioning a desire to move on from Ireland.

If Ulster have a good year he could find himself with a call up to Ireland.

If he gets opportunities in big matches to perform, it would surely improve his chances.

For a counter example, if Connacht or Munster fail to progress to playoffs, it makes it harder for their players to impress.

That’s all assuming the coaches will have an open mind up til the summer break before selecting the World Cup training squad.

He's never going to play for Ireland again, no matter how well he plays, unless about 8 other scrum halves all somehow get injured at once. He was the best 9 in Europe at one stage and still couldn't get a look in. It's not a case of him "moving on from Ireland". Scotland can select him as soon as he's eligible, which is mid 2023. Scotland don't have a policy on players based outside Scotland, so he could play for Scotland while still at Ulster, like Bradley Roberts played for Wales last season. Yes, the IRFU would want him moved on from Ulster if he was to play for Scotland, but he'll be 33 and I don't think he'd mind that for a shot at playing in a world cup.

I think he'd be all over it if he got a call up from Scotland. He'd walk into their team anyway. He's easily in the top 3 Irish scrum halves still, but there's clearly a personality clash with and and Sexton/Farrell.

I have a premonition about him kicking the goal that knocks Ireland out of the world cup next year.

I really doubt it for Ireland. He's 33 at end of this season. Hasnt been capped in nearly 3 years. What suggest he could skip any queue? Farrell doesnt look to be in any way interested.

Yeah he made a decent break last week before the Dragons 10 clattered him in the air. He seems to have moved ahead of Moxham anyway.

You have to be concerned about the bench. Other than Moore there are zero game changers, although at least Curtis can bring some different to the table if called upon. But that tour has hurt us here in terms of depth. I'd expect Stewart, McCann, Doak, Moore and obviously Baloucoune to be there.

Are Hume and Henderson injured? Lowe and Keenan are injured for a few weeks, good opportunity for Stockdale and Lowry before the autumn internationals.