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

I’m unsure how that works. Surely they would allow other provinces to match that offer just to keep him in ireland if leinster don’t?

Well yea generally you can’t do that for that very reason. But if a foreign club is already involved, i don’t see why we can’t also put in a competitive bid.

They don’t lose guys like that generally because of your first paragraph. The irfu doesn’t want provinces out bidding each other. So, its very hard to motivate the best guys to move.

Playing time alone isn’t a compelling enough reason in the current environment .

Agreed on that. This is an agent making sure Leinster put him on a senior deal right now at decent money.

I feel your frustration, but the achievement of finishing 2nd in the league is surely something that McFarland can point to in his defence.

The knockout games can be a toss of a coin, Ulster were so close to scoring at the end except for a penalty turnover at the breakdown on the tryline.

My main question for McFarland would be how did Ulster concede so many penalties at the rucks, is there a deficiency there in the personnel, or were there messages sent on to the pitch or was the referee changing his interpretation from previous matches? etc.

We're back were are squad is without forwards and lacking depth across the board. Said this before we don't need marque players we need the bench mark across the board raised to a squad of steady eddies all equally as abrasive.

2nd in the league says more about the league than it does us.

Sometimes I look at other teams and just wonder if they had our fans, stadium, resources how much more they would get out of their squads.

**Edit

Uafc mentioning that Ben Griffin who played in the AIL final for Clontarf is joining for preseason with hope of gaining a contract. Have a lot of time for people with some want and fighting for contracts!

I think we majorly regressed this year. We have a great maul and that’s really it. Our pack is nowhere near powerful enough or nasty enough to play this off nine bully ball that we want to play. Our best players are almost all backs and we somehow went from an environment where they flourished to one where they were stifled.

I’d like to see some coaching changes.

edit: i think having a great maul will just get you tons of tries and wins in a league format, but it isn’t enough on its own in a knockout format.

Beirne?

It makes zero sense except maybe it raises the floor. However, it also lowers the ceiling quite a bit.

The problem for Ulster seems to be there forwards aren’t big enough to bash teams up or skillful enough to play expansive rugby. Which is a pity as it waists so much talent in the backs. When the Ulster backs had the ball last Friday. They always looked threatening. They also made some good meters with ball in hand. Playing a more Leinster style, with forwards offering themselves more and acting as pivots, could really make space for the backs to exploit. I haven’t really seen that kind of handling from the forwards yet.

That's the thing with Ulster. Physically the forwards are decent sized but, they play below that size. There's areas of strenght amongst the forwards and there are quality players. In my mind the players are not coached well.

Telegraph stating we’ve signed James French.

Really is criminal Toomaga-Allen wasnt resigned.

Sums up Ulster’s ambitions!

JTA wasn’t allowed to re sign by the IRFU. Ulster and him wanted to stay.

Is that confirmed or fan chatter? It makes absolutely no sense for the IRFU to block it.