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

Locke_Lamora · 22-10-2023 8:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121272024#Comment_121272024

The rest of us gave up months ago, but better late than never. Glad to have you with us.

ulsteru20s · 22-10-2023 8:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121272047#Comment_121272047

I’ve been living in denial mostly.

Paul Smeenus · 23-10-2023 8:44am

The real shame of it is, if we looked like we had ourselves together, it'd be a great season to take a proper tilt at the title with RWC disruption and hangover affecting the URC teams that provide the majority of international teams (Leinster, Bennetton, Glasgow etc).

Instead, we surrendered six tries to Zebre.

Paul Smeenus · 27-10-2023 12:25pm

Team against the Bulls:

(1-8) Andy Warwick, Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole, Alan O’Connor (C), Kieran Treadwell, Dave Ewers, Dave McCann, Nick Timoney;

(15-9) Will Addison, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Jude Postlethwaite, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak.

Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Reid, Greg McGrath, Cormac Izuchukwu, Marcus Rea, Dave Shanahan, Stewart Moore, Mike Lowry.

Thank god we've got TOT available.

Pretty unbalanced back row with Marcus on the bench. Plenty of good support lines, though.

Happy to see Reid, Izzy and Moore on the bench.

bilston · 27-10-2023 1:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121290012#Comment_121290012

Some good things some s**** things

The good...

TOT back, I wonder if he was really meant to be back so soon or is this a case of desperation, either way he way will help

Al back in the row

Postlethwaite at 12, this kid is good

Baloucoune back

The bad...

Keep McCann at 8. He went pretty well last week, he should be the future, pick him at 8 amd keep him there, play Timoney at 7.

Where's Flannery? Fine they want to start Billy, but leaving Flannery out completely seems a waste given (I thought anyway) he went well with ball in hand last week. A it more consistency would be a good thing in selection IMO.

The Vanilla...

Addison at 15, he was rusty as hell last week, but I'm not going to be top down on him for obvious reasons. Buy let's hope he has shaken of some of that rust against a very good Bulls side.

Locke_Lamora · 27-10-2023 1:57pm

Yea I must be missing something with the backrow, McCann was introduced to the team at 7 and was poor, only started coming along when he's played 8. I'm glad both are starting over the Rea brothers but Timoney has played 7 for Ireland so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Postlethwaite and Hume is a fairly slow centre pairing, I could see defence being an issue there but I'm excited nonetheless.

Scythica · 29-10-2023 6:15pm

Better start that I thought we'd have

Shehal · 29-10-2023 6:17pm

Ulster saying to themselves can they knock the ball on more than Munster did today.

Shehal · 29-10-2023 6:29pm

I always wonder do Ulster want to lose? It's the only logic for selecting Addison who must be a double agent at this point.

ScissorPaperRock · 29-10-2023 6:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121299035#Comment_121299035

Addison had a good start to the game. Was a great player before his injury. Had a poor game last week, but the guy was out for 2 years... some rustiness is to be expected.

Locke_Lamora · 29-10-2023 6:35pm

Whisper it, but Stockdale looks sharp and physical.

OldRio · 29-10-2023 6:36pm

What a great game of Rugby this is. Ulster are unrecognisable from last week. Good defence and some sweet attack.

OldRio · 29-10-2023 7:12pm

Stockdale on fire.

Shehal · 29-10-2023 7:13pm

Bulls are very cute when they concede penalties and get away with or get away with getting a yellow.

Shehal · 29-10-2023 7:16pm

Oh sweet baby Jesus get Addison the f**k off the field. He had a bet on Zebre last week and must have a bet on the Bulls this week.

*They listened!

Locke_Lamora · 29-10-2023 7:20pm

Is Doak having a laugh?

Locke_Lamora · 29-10-2023 7:25pm

I wouldn't be against bringing Doak off tbh

Shehal · 29-10-2023 7:46pm

The Bulls really are so cute at the breakdown. What they doing is totally illegal but they know the ref wont penalise them without a warning meaning they've at the very least slowed down the Ulster ball or put them under enough pressure that they might make mistakes. Ulster at the other hand are so blatant when they try to do likewise and as a result will always get penalised.

OldRio · 29-10-2023 7:51pm

Well that was good. Excellent game of Rugby. Very entertaining.

O'Toole man of the match.

bilston · 29-10-2023 8:55pm

Good match, much better performance than last week, but still a lot of handling errors.

Great defence at the end. I don't want to jinx him but Jacob looks on it this season. McCann and Timoney very good. O'Toole is becoming a huge player for us.

Two wins, one fortuitous and then a decent win tonight. The next two weeks are huge tests and will tell us a lot more about where Ulster are. I'm not too confident still, but at least they are playing some decent rugby.

Need to tidy the breakdown up though and tighten up the lineout.

Paul Smeenus · 31-10-2023 11:55am

So, on our youngsters -

McCann looks to have bulked up and I think his general play has more of an edge to it. Alert and a bit more bullish. Good start to the season from him. Influential (in a positive way) with a number of his interventions - last turnover was crucial.

Stewart excellent, as with O'Toole, but neither are breaking through this season - their next hurdle is to become starters. So not really what we're taking about here.

Doak showed his skillset, but was ponderous against the Bulls especially. Maybe we need our back row to be cuter, but he's quite capable of spinning the ball away in a very quick and assured way, and there was some frustratingly slow ball over the last couple of weeks.

Izzy was powerful and effective.

Postlethwaite showed some of those nice flourishes that make people excited for him, as well as being pretty combative.

Sheridan looked unfazed when he came on; very comfortable.

Reid was fine. Scrum looked weaker but don't know if that was him or Andrew or possibly TOT tiring. Ned to watch on TV.

After the Bulls' second try, it was noticeable that it was Stockdale that gathered everyone in and talked for about a minute before O'Connor added some thoughts. Jacob seems to be becoming a real leader in the squad. Would love to see a Stocknaissance.

bilston · 31-10-2023 2:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121304703#Comment_121304703

Sheridan needs to be further up the pecking order than he is, we certainly can't be having Matty Rea picked ahead of him in the second row again.

The next two weeks will be a step up because of the nature of those games. Two wins and we might go better than I was expecting, lose both and I'll be worried. Win one and lose one and we will be none the wiser.

Agree on Stockdale being a leader, just in general he was showing positive signs at the back end of last season which earned him a shot at the WC squad, but it was still a bit patchy, but on Sunday he genuinely looked like the Stockdale of 2017-2019. He seems to be in a good place. Missing out on the WC might be the best thing that ever happened to him (think D'Arcy in 2003 anf Tommy Bowe in 2007 and how they responded) but let's see how he goes over the next couple of weeks.

awec · 31-10-2023 2:59pm

I thought it was a decent performance, but we still lacked grunt in the periods when we couldn't fling the ball around at will. Our one out phases was the same old story of static players going nowhere or getting smashed backwards.

launish116 · 31-10-2023 4:06pm

Medical report is dire reading! We’ve basically lost the pack.

Ewers & Izuchukwu return to play protocols

Treadwell hip injury

O’Toole going for surgery

Glad we’re well stocked at props….

Paul Smeenus · 31-10-2023 7:04pm

O'Toole out is the biggest problem. Neither McGrath nor French looks able to even hold their own in the scrum.

Worryingly, the two scrum penalties were soundly on Reid. I mean, its the Bulls, they can put on real pressure, but he didn't look like he had any control at all

bilston · 31-10-2023 7:25pm

Losing O'Toole is a massive blow. Maybe Moore will be back soon. I think we're in big trouble without TOT. One of our best performers on Sunday was Nick Timoney, he made some great carries off the back of the scrum. He can't do that if we've no TH of distinction. I'd be worried about this injury.

The rest we can cope with.

awec · 01-11-2023 5:49pm

McGrath and French against Buckley.

😂

Going to be a tough game this.

Paul Smeenus · 01-11-2023 5:58pm

A losing bonus point would be a great result.

I wonder if Scott Wilson is too junior to get a crack?

bilston · 01-11-2023 7:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121311422#Comment_121311422

It's a great question. Given the amount of AIL/fringe provincial props we've signed we seem desperate not to play him!

launish116 · 01-11-2023 9:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121311422#Comment_121311422

Looking at what players we have available I'd be happy at staying within 15 points of them!

It really is depressing look at our forwards depth, not even Henderson being allowed to play is gonna rescue us with that potential pack injury list.

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

Comments