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

My concern is also that McCloskey, Postlethwaite and Moore all seem to naturally be 12s. Having an inexperienced Jude at 13 would make me very nervous. Moore can play 13, but his breakthrough season, he was inside centre with Hume outside him (and it worked very well).

Carson got one cap already this season, but I wasn't hugely impressed with him at U20s, never mind senior.

Moxham was apparently a centre before being played at wing for the seniors.

I'm sad Addison is going. He's such a classy player. I'd like to take the chance on one healthy year.

Ulster:

• 15. Ethan McIlroy
• 14. Mike Lowry
• 13. Will Addison
• 12. Stuart McCloskey
• 11. Jacob Stockdale
• 10. Billy Burns
• 9 John Cooney
• 1. Eric O’Sullivan
• 2. Rob Herring
• 3. Tom O’Toole
• 4. Kieran Treadwell
• 5. Alan O’Connor (capt)
• 6. Cormac Izuchukwu
• 7. David McCann
• 8. Nick Timoney

Replacements:

• 16. Tom Stewart
• 17. Andy Warwick
• 18. Scott Wilson
• 19. Harry Sheridan
• 20. Matty Rea
• 21. Nathan Doak
• 22. Stewart Moore
• 23. Jude Postlethwaite

Izzy continues at blindside. Glad to see McIlroy back at FB, which I consider his best position. Disheartening to see Matty Rea on the bench. Hopefully Moore can come on when the game breaks up and cuase soem havoc.

I'd be keeping Cooney and Burns on for the full eighty if there's any sniff of a win / 2 bonus points.

Why would Lowry want to move? He gets regular game time, has been our best player in several European games and has played for Ireland. Even if he never plays for Ireland again he can still go on to have an excellent career and make himself a lot of money doing exactly what he's doing. Asking him to move could potentially kill his pro career - he'd be making a risky move with little reward as his game time is unlikely to increase anyway.

Didn't Leinster try something like this with Hugh O'Sullivan - he was a highly rated schools fullback but played 9 for age-grade interpros in the summer. Wasn't long before he was let go at a time when Leinster were crying out for a 3rd string scrumhalf. It's not an easy position no matter how small and nippy you are. Michael McDonald was captain of one of Australia's best u20 sides of recent years but came here as he couldn't make the step up and couldn't get any game time down south. It's not a simple position.

Sexton was playing last night against the New England Free Jacks academy.

Not sure what you mean by leave him at out-half when he only ever plays there in emergencies. I see no problem leaving Lowry where he is - he may have huge flaws in his game but he adds great depth and versatility to the backline.

...

Well, that was a good evening. Unorganised, floating observations -

Best home atmosphere in I don't know how long. Everyone completely up for it, lots of folk had been drinking in Belfast during the day,and had nicely loosened vocal chords. Brilliant buzz about the place. Weirdly, there were a load of French folk, and quite a few over from across the water. Also met some people who didn't know much about rugby, or were at their first game - they seemed won over. Let's see if they stick around for a Dragons game in mid-January.

Cooney and Addison butchering tries let Leinster off the hook big time. What the hell were they thinking - particularly Cooney, who changed his angle to run into the Leinster nine?

Poor Mikey Lowry. Two non-tries in five minutes. But I loved seeing him dump out Deegan. Never stopped for one minute. In fact, our defence -which could generously be described as "porous" since Bell came back - looked commited and resolute last night.

Cannot believe they didn't look at Moloney's head contact on McCann.

Is Harry Byrne just coasting on his underage reputation? If we had been getting rid of Burns because he was coming North, I think I'd have been very frustrated next season. Hopefully Morgan comes.

Ryan is a not a great captain. I've said it before. Turning down the three points ta that would have necessitated us scoring a try seemed foolish, and so it proved.

Mentally, we look like a different team. Still rough, still not world-beaters, but players are playing much closer to their levels of ability.

Didn’t catch the game but great to hear about the atmosphere. It was always something to be proud of but the last few times I made a game it felt a little dead, almost reflective of our results and attitude on the pitch.

I've thought since the U20s that Sheridan punches well above his weight. He's not big for a second row, but I noticed that he was a tough customer at underage level, and didn't seem phased by being a bit shorter. He's the same now. He'd be much more of an enforcer than Izzy, say, who's a couple of inches taller. To be honest, I think it's just important that we plan around getting them both on the pitch at the same time.

It amazes me how many years Will Addison was wasted at fullback when he should have been playing 13 alongside McCloskey at 12

So who would we like to see / who do we think has earned a call-up to the Emerging Ireland tour?

A few names that come to mind (not the full squad obviously)…

lh: Paddy McCarthy, Temi Lasisi

h: Lee Barron

th: Ronan Foxe

sr: Conor O'Tighearnaigh

br: Lorcan O'Loughlin, James McNabney, Liam Molony

sh: Matthew Devine, Fintan Gunne

oh: Sam Prendergast

ic: Jude Postlethwaite, Ben Brownlee

oc: Hugh Cooney

w: Aaron Sexton, Chay Mullins

fb: Jack Kelly

Wouldn't mind seeing Kelly brought in from the 7s to play in this.

You get the sense Munster aren't really on board with the whole team Ireland thing. So do you let them off to do their own thing? Or do you try to force them to see the light, that the route to success is buying into their players making it as Ireland internationals? Whatever the approach, I think Foxe would be a good pick. He's got a lot of pedigree as an underage player, and he probably wouldn't be playing URC anyway.

Edit: thought I was reading the Ireland thread here

I was thinking Wilson would be too important for Ulster to not have in the URC. I think he should be close to actually touring with the main squad against the Springboks.

Sexton, yeah. His pace though… it's worth giving him every opportunity. And Ulster probably wouldn't be playing him much anyway. So he's one of those ones whose absence wouldn't hamper the province, but who has enough potential upside to make having a closer look at him for Ireland worthwhile.

I don't think they'd make us give up that many back rows at one time. The last time there did seem to be some bargaining to not leave teams light. I also think we might really need wilson.