Ulster vs Glasgow Discussion

Teams have been named for this encounter at Ravenhill tomorrow night. Both sides are significantly depleted with the RWC and a few injuries in the mix as well.

ULSTER

15 Adam D'Arcy
14 Craig Gilroy
13 Darren Cave
12 Nevin Spence
11 Ian Whitten
10 Ian Humphreys
9 Paul Marshall

1 Paddy McAllister
2 Andy Kyriacou
3 Jerry Cronin
4 Lewis Stevenson
5 Dan Tuohy
6 Pedrie Wannenburg
7 Willie Faloon
8 Chris Henry (c)

16 Nigel Brady, 17 Conor Carey, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Neil McComb, 20 Robbie Diack, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Peter Nelson

GLASGOW

15 Stuart Hogg
14 Tommy Seymour
13 Rob Dewey
12 Troy Nathan
11 Colin Shaw
10 Duncan Weir
9 Colin Gregor

1 Jon Welsh
2 Pat MacArthur
3 Mike Cusack
4 Tom Ryder
5 Rob Harley (c)
6 James Eddie
7 Chris Fusaro
8 Ryan Wilson

16 Finlay Gillies, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Ed Kalman, 19 Nick Campbell, 20 Rory Pitman, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Federico Aramburu

Some pretty interesting decisions from McLaughlin on this one! He's certainly building his reputation as a coach who trusts in youth. Conor Carey, Adam Macklin and 18-year old Peter Nelson will all make their competitive debuts should they get off the bench. The Ulster Academy has been working overtime lately. Its a new position for another Ulster Academy graduate; Ian Whitten is on the left wing. He may well have to adapt to survive with the glut of talented centres in Ulster. Fairly unsurprised- McLaughs penchant for big, physical wingers is well known. Probably something to do with the number of times his back moves involve them coming off their wings and running hard lines into midfield. Lock Dan Tuohy returns from a hamstring injury to partner Lewis Stevenson in his Pro12 homecoming game for Ulster. The continuing absence of Declan Fitzpatrick and Tom Court plus the delayed arrival of John Afoa means Munster-born Jerry Cronin gets another chance to try and stake a claim for his adopted province.

For Glasgow the discarded Scot Johnnie Beattie is absent- Ryan Wilson is at Number Eight. There are three players in the side making their competitive debuts; Michael Cusack at tight head, and new signings Troy Nathan and Tommy Seymour in the three-quarters. Seymour will have a point to prove after failing to establish himself in an increasingly competitive Ulster back division over the past few seasons. It'll be bittersweet for me watching him at Ravenhill; I'm delighted to see him advance his career, but disappointed he's not in the home colours as he is a very talented player.

Kick off is at 7.05pm, broadcast on BBC NI and BBC Alba.

Nice looking backline there Notch. Are Gaston and Marshall injured? Not sure about Whitten on the wing.

Tempted to get down to watch this one but don't think I'll be able to make it

I don't think Marshall is injured, just behind the two centres in the pecking order and we already have centre cover in Whitten. Don't know about Gaston- or Callum Black and Declan Fitrzpatrick for that matter.

Come on Glasgow

Can't see us getting anything from this game and to be honest I can only see one win during the WC and that's against Treviso at home.

Damn it Notch, you got in 2 minutes before me.

Ian Whitten on the wing is a strange one, I would have thought that Spence would move out and Whitten would slot into his usual position at 12. Nevertheless, Ulster should be feeling confident going into this one.

Whitten on the wing? Gosh Brian I hope you know what you're doing. Surely Spence has more pace, and is better suited no? Or even Gaston.

Looks as though Whitten has been told he'll have to fill in whenever there's a vacancy irrespective of where it is in the 3/4s. He has a reasonable defensive kicking game so it might not be a bad call.

McL is also obviously trying to get Spence and Cave settled together to give them every opportunity to shine.

I'd really fear for our scrum if Carey and Macklin are on at the same time, let's hope Ulster are out of sight by that stage

Meh, Potato Potato* Whitten will run hard into midfield. It's his positioning and ability under the high ball I'm worried about. I'm sure they'll try and stick a few high balls on him now. But I'd be worried about that with Spence too. Spence has more pace but is the more dangerous player in midfield and this gives he and Cave more time to form a settled combination so I'm happy enough.

Not sure if Gaston has picked up a knock or this is just something they want to try in a home game.

*Doesn't work very well in the written form...

I'm worried about what may happen to Glasgow in this one. Big big job for Duncan Weir here to make sure Glasgow use the ball wisely and play in the right areas. There's enough in the backs to score points, but the pack will be outgunned.

I'm a bit discouraged by our wing selection to some extent, because playing a centre out there may just give Glasgow the outlet they need in terms of tactical kicking if he doesn't cover effectively. They'll surely look to make us play from deep and play a smart game with additional kicking from Nathan at 12. He's a big old boot on him.

If we're attacking in their 22 I think Whitten will be very effective however.

WillyGilly wrote:Whitten on the wing? Gosh Brian I hope you know what you're doing. Surely Spence has more pace, and is better suited no? Or even Gaston.

I'd like to see Spence and Cave continue together as I think it's a really balanced and exciting combination. I'm worried about Whitten too, he's not the fastest and hasn't got a great alround skill set to play out wide. I think Gaston would have been the better bet.

Clearly Gaston is preferred to him though, that much is obvious rodders. There are two options; either Gaston is injured, or they want to try this out as we need more cover.

Gaston must be injured no? If we were experimenting surely he would be at least on the bench?

I'd heard Gaston picked up a knock in training, don't know how serious.

I wouldn't be worried about Whitten though as he's a try-per-game Test player

Yeah, I think he is injured Willy.

I would have brought in Luke Marshall but I can see where McLaughs is coming from with this. Marshall/Cave would be a new centre combination, this is settled. Spence hasn't played wing in a while, this would be as disruptive for him as it is for Whitten.

Not having Gaston is a weakness; I'm sure Glasgow will look to put the ball in the air. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a tennis match; I'd be keen for us to play in their half however.

I can't understand Whitten on the wing either. Spence at 12 doesn't inspire me unless we are going to use him al la Downey! His passing will need to have improved immensely from last year.
The remailner of the team is good enough for this. Just hope they can get away to a good start.

Rava wrote:I can't understand Whitten on the wing either. Spence at 12 doesn't inspire me unless we are going to use him al la Downey! His passing will need to have improved immensely from last year.

Where you at the game last week? A lot of the time D'Arcy was in the line at second receiver and his passing/offloading is good. We moved the ball along the backline very well.

Raca's back! Quick someone trap him under a glass!

No Notch I didn't get to the game and fair point but if we use that ploy too much we will become very predictable.

We had a nice variety in our backline between running straight and going wide. A lot of variation- some good ideas. D'Arcy is very good in terms of the options he takes joining the line in attack, Payne will be much the same. The thing is we have enough strike runners in our backline to keep defences interested for creative players like D'Arcy, Payne, Cave and Wallace (when he gets back) to work their stuff.

Spence and Whitten will take some marking anyway. They are a handful if they get some momentum.

Come on Ulster!

i'm excited to see Gregor and Weir for Glasgow. Think there's massive potential there if they can get ball

I wonder if Whitten will not defend at 10 and let Humphreys fill in on the wing. It sorts out two potential weaknesses for McL. I wouldn't like to be trying to bash my way through Whitten-Spence-Cave midfield!

Conor Carey is my cousin, absolutely over the moon that he's probably gonna get his first Ulster cap tommorow night, its on tv as well.

Congrats to him AD. His relationship with you won't save him getting a pasting from us though, in the unlikely event he costs us a win.

WillyGilly wrote:Congrats to him AD. His relationship with you won't save him getting a pasting from us though, in the unlikely event he costs us a win.

Come on, he's just a young fella! In rugby terms. I thought he did well enough in the U20s, just spent lots of time being pushed around by gym monkey underage packs. Size differential was too much.

This isn't a bad pack to make your debut against (Glasgow themselves have a debutant at tighthead) and there are good players around him. But it will still be a big challenge.

WillyGilly wrote:Congrats to him AD. His relationship with you won't save him getting a pasting from us though, in the unlikely event he costs us a win.

I wouldnt worry hes bound to score a try, bound to I tell you. Im going to see what odds McLean will give me.

Not sure where the thinking is with leaving Marshall out. Unless McL is really looking at rotation and giving Spence a break next week. Best of luck to the young lads and good to see Tuohy back. Come on Ulster!

Probably carrying a knock. Wouldn't worry about it. Will start worrying if he doesn't get regular gametime as the season goes on. He is going to be an Ulster player for the next decade, but not if he has to move to get gametime

Thats the worry notch. We dont want these guys slipping through the cracks

Jeez Notch that would be too much to take. Mind you the jostle for places should prove healthy.
If D'Arcy continues to improve like you say he is then you could potentially throw Payne into the centre mix. OMG!

Nah, Payne will play in the back three- I'm sure of it. There's simply no room in the centres and we are very light in that area during the RWC. If we play Payne in the centres, the Irish provincial system really is broken. An area of weakness for the national side and we have five pretty good Irish centres on the books. Come on!

I would say our centre partnership for the Heineken Cup should be Paddy Wallace and whoever is playing best out of Spence and Cave. For Pro12, Marshall should be involved in a good number of Pro12 games. Almost worth having him on the bench just to give him the gametime even if we're light on back three cover. Spence can play on the wing if there's an injury.

If all goes well, by the end of the season Paddy Wallace won't be the automatic choice for big games anymore. Marshall has everything he needs to be a better inside centre except 158 Ulster caps worth of experience. He's not gonna get that in the stands.

I really wish Marshall was getting gametime this weekend, but rumours of a mild knock so not too worried. Not playing for his club anyway.

Really wet weather forecast for this evening. I wonder if that will favour Glasgow or Ulster?

Notch wrote:Nah, Payne will play in the back three- I'm sure of it. There's simply no room in the centres and we are very light in that area during the RWC. If we play Payne in the centres, the Irish provincial system really is broken. An area of weakness for the national side and we have five pretty good Irish centres on the books. Come on!

I would say our centre partnership for the Heineken Cup should be Paddy Wallace and whoever is playing best out of Spence and Cave. For Pro12, Marshall should be involved in a good number of Pro12 games. Almost worth having him on the bench just to give him the gametime even if we're light on back three cover. Spence can play on the wing if there's an injury.

If all goes well, by the end of the season Paddy Wallace won't be the automatic choice for big games anymore. Marshall has everything he needs to be a better inside centre except 158 Ulster caps worth of experience. He's not gonna get that in the stands.

I really wish Marshall was getting gametime this weekend, but rumours of a mild knock so not too worried. Not playing for his club anyway.

I agree with all of this. There would be no point in playing Payne in the centre it would just hamper an Irish player realistically and there are some very good young Irish centres in Ulster who are going to be wearing Irish green shortly i'd imagine.

Even as a Leinster fan with young talent like Ryan, Ruddock, hagan, Conway et al, I feel that Marshall is the most exciting young Irish player around at the moment.

Saw him in that first game at the Aviva and he wasso many leagues ahead of everyone else playing it was scary. Well Gilroy wasn't too far behind either I guess!!!!!

Feck just looked at the weather forecast for tonight. I would suggest bringing a brolley.

WillyGilly wrote:Feck just looked at the weather forecast for tonight. I would suggest bringing a brolley.

Preferably Joe Brolly from County Londonderry.

It's bucketing down here now so I'm sure Ravenhill will be a washout tonight. Glad I'll be watching it on bbc with a few

SUFTUM!!

No rain in here yet!

To say that Ulster are throwing the ball around would be an understatement.

Thrown so many passes that could of been intercepts, high risk high octane stuff.

I couldn't have been more wrong about Whitten, he's been excellent so far.

Can't believe I took Cave out of my dream team earlier

Another great take from Whitten there whose clearly being targetted with high balls but is taking them all.

Harum scarum indeed!

Great mini dart and try from Marshall, hes so nippy.

Dan Tuohy has been immense.

Woo Hoo!

Small parcel!

Wasn't Tuohy fantastic there!

Nice try by Marshall!

I agree some awesome carrying by Touhy showing Ireland what they are missing!

15-11 HT score.

Glasgow making the most out of their kicking opportunities.

poissonrouge wrote:No rain in here yet!

Ha ha it's coming......

Tuohy has been sensational in the loose! How much are Ireland missing a ball handling and carrying lock like him!

I reckon he would have been in with a great chance if it hadn't been for that injury.