Ulster v Leicester HC Pool 4. Friday 13th Jan ko 8.00pm

First topic message reminder :

The provisional Ulster squad to face Leicester Tigers in Friday's crucial Heineken Cup match with Leicester at Ravenhill has been named...

Pedrie Wannenburg (foot) and Ian Humphreys (hamstring) were forced off the field in the win over Edinburgh at the weekend but have both been named in the 33 man panel and are in contention to play in the Pool 4 clash. Young backline trio Luke Marshall, Paddy Jackson and Nevin Spence (all ankle) have returned to training this week and are available for selection if required. Mike McComish is also available after shaking off a shoulder injury.
Meanwhile prop Declan Fitzpatrick’s neck injury was reviewed last week and he is likely to be out of action for 4-6 weeks. Paddy McAllister and Peter Nelson also miss out.

Leicester have been hit by injuries to England internationals Toby Flood, Manu Tuilagi and Louis Deacon who are all ruled out, although Flood’s replacement at flyhalf - Billy Twelvetrees - scored all of his side’s points in the 29-11 win over Wasps on Saturday.

Leicester have a formidable record in the Heineken Cup and have qualified for the knock-out stages ten times. They have contested five finals, winning back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002, but losing the showpiece matches in 1997, 2007 and 2009.

Ulster are currently top of Pool 4 on 14 points, with the Tigers trailing by two going into this crunch match. Defeat for either side would almost certainly end their dreams of reaching the last eight this season. Clermont Auvergne are just one point behind Leicester in the pool standings and will travel to Aironi this weekend before hosting Ulster the following week.

Ulster Team to play Leicester, Fri 13th January, Ravenhill (kick-off 8.00pm):

ULSTER (15-9) S Terblanche; A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace, C Gilroy; I Humphreys, R Pienaar (1-8) T Court, R Best, J Afoa, J Muller (Captain), D Tuohy, S Ferris, C Henry, P Wannenburg

Replacements (16-23): N Brady, C Black, A Macklin, L Stevenson, W Faloon, P Marshall, I Whitten, A D'Arcy

Leicester Tigers (v Ulster Rugby, Ravenhill, Friday 8pm)
15 Geordan Murphy (c)
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Matt Smith
12 Anthony Allen
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Billy Twelvetrees
9 Ben Youngs
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Rob Hawkins
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Steve Mafi
5 Geoff Parling
6 Tom Croft
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements
16 George Chuter
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Dan Cole
19 Ed Slater
20 Ben Woods
21 Sam Harrison
22 Jeremy Staunton
23 Scott Hamilton

Mickado wrote:Ha! Fingers crossed Cari!

Hope you're well, long time no chat.

Just PM'd you there Mickado (saves clogging up the thread)

It was night before last Stand.

2 sleeps.

But I can fully understand how you might be confused as you might have only had one sleep.

I saw this article last week and meant to post it before the game....Apologies if its already been posted....

http://www.examiner.ie/sport/rugby/ibanez-backs-ulster-to-join-euro-big-guns-179036.html

Lets hope he's right!!!

Does anyone know which injuries he's refering too? Is it the front row ?

Also - here's another one from the Neil Francis......he never fails to cause a stir but very unusually hes talking up Ulster

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/heineken-cup/ulster-must-make-a-point-in-clermont-2989341.html

I cant believe he got away with the "silent P"

loved marshalls try aswell lads. brilliant piece of play. saw that leicester were all over the shop and took off. nobody getting near him. between him and murray the future is not that bleak at scrum half after all.

Ulster were absolutely ruthless as Munster have been for years and Leinster also when on top. Really rammed their advantage home.

Should be a serious game next week. Cracked me up someone posting about Aironi watching the mighty ducks to inspire them to a heroic victory v Clermont tongue in cheek. End result 82-0 defeat

bluemuff- agreed on the Heiniken Cup absolutely brilliant sport. Best rugby tournament in the world comfortably. Would love to see the 6 nations format changed around a bit. Its a bit stale and does not provide half of the excitement. Some of my favourite sporting memories ever have been watching all irish provinces in HC

dublin_dave wrote:Should be a serious game next week. Cracked me up someone posting about Aironi watching the mighty ducks to inspire them to a heroic victory v Clermont tongue in cheek. End result 82-0 defeat

That's your fault- everyone knows Friday Night Lights is the go to show

Clear heads, full hearts, can't lose!

Okay!!!!!

Am I getting excited in error or did we just just get closer to qualifying for a quarter final!!!!

We are guaranteed amlin rugby but that is all. The best placed runners up is probably going to come from Toulouse/quins/cardiff/Edinburgh.

Amazing to think that Toulouse could potentially go out next week.

I know Stand. Got myself all excited because I forgot how many teams dropped to the Amlin. (I blame the temp)

Unless one of Cardiff, Edinburgh or Quins lose, one point will not be enough.

We will probably finish as 3rd best runner up unless we beat Clermont.

Lets hope Connacht can do something special, otherwise are best chance is the very erratic London Irish having one of their better games against Edinburgh but cant see it.

Gloucester could beat Toulouse I suppose, but Muller and co will be in no doubt about what has to happen.

I think if toulouse were to get an LBP but not score more than three tries they would be out as well.

A draw or better means we win the group and should we do so you are looking at a home QF. Lets just do it.

Can't see Ulster beating Clermont in that Parc Michelin place. I want them to. But I just don't think they have much chance. Hopefully other results will go their way.

This is our best chance i feel at winning a match in France (even if it is Clermont at home). Firstly we have beaten them allready so thats a plus, mentally we know we can beat them. secondly we are in great form, our key players are all putting in top performances on a regular basis. Thirdly we have to at least get a draw to secure qualification this will help push us on in the match. Fourth we have just produced one of our greatest team performances against Leicester and confidence is going to be sky high. Fithly we actually have players on the bench who can come on and make an impact or change the way we are playing. Hopefully the boys stay focused this week and no silly injuries are picked up during training, it is going to be an EPIC game!!!!

Believe its a huge huge ask but impossible is nothing, Clermont have to win this game too

I think if we lose by less than 5 and dont concede 4 trys we win the pool. We really have to fight and scrap for everything out there.

I have no doubt in my mind that Ulster can beat Clermont in France. We have the players, and we have the passion to win. Ulster will not let this one go without a fight, I guarantee. Every man, from 1-15 will put their bodies on the line to get a win. They won't settle for anything less, nor should they. We can do this!

SUFTU!!!

Standulstermen wrote:I think if we lose by less than 5 and dont concede 4 trys we win the pool. We really have to fight and scrap for everything out there.

Yeah whats the deal with that? We would both finish on 20 points and head to head would be equal if we get the losing bonus?

The failure to get a point at Leicester and deny Clermont the bonus at Ravenhill could prove very costly. We are still learning at this level and comparisons with the likes of Munster are a bit optimistic yet.

However regardless of what happens at Clermont I think we have shown progress from last season and proved that last year was not a flash in the pan. We are building something very positive and if we can keep our current form going until the end of the season I'll be very happy even if we miss out on a HEC QF and RABO play off spot.

If we play like we did against the Tigers in Clermont then anything is possible though.

I think when the pool was drawn people looked at us as the 3rd best team in the group. The fact that we have made top two is definitely progress and McLaughlin deserves credit and myself (and some others) have to eat some humble pie as regards him and in fairness Doak although I remain unconvinced on the latter.

I think the Rabo is back in our sights again and we have Aironi, Edinburgh and ospreys At home coming up with Cardiff away. Such are the quality of our NIQs we need to be targeting a good run to get above Scarlets/Glasgow/ospreys etc. I do think we need to really kick on and if we do end up in the amlin we need to go all out and win it. Same with the Rabo. let's get a home semi final and destroy the opposition at raven hill.

Standulstermen wrote:I think when the pool was drawn people looked at us as the 3rd best team in the group. The fact that we have made top two is definitely progress and McLaughlin deserves credit and myself (and some others) have to eat some humble pie as regards him and in fairness Doak although I remain unconvinced on the latter.

Yup...pass some humble pie this direction. To be fair things weren't going well for a while there and given the false dawns in the past its easy to be sceptical.

We've turned a corner for sure but we need to keep it going now.

I won't give up on a HEC QF until we're dead and buried but I'm proud of the team regardless of what happens in Clermont. 9 points against Aironi and remaining unbeaten at home would have been the minimum I would have been happy with and we've exceeded that. The failure to come away with something from Welford is massively disappointing but we are on an upwards curve and thats all you can ask for really. The margins for error are so small at this level and we'll need to improve further but we are getting there.

SUFTUM!

Belated congratulations to the Ulster boys. Completely slaughtered us in the second half. Just the start of a miserable rugby weekend as I lasted 25 mins before getting concussion on the Saturday. On the upside that did help me forget the Friday night game!

Thanks Sam. Hope you have recovered from your bang on the head.
I suspect it will take Leicester much longer to recover from their hammering

Cheers Rava I'll let you know when the headache passes.

Don't think Tigers will take long to get over the thumping (though Cockerill will be getting worried about his job security) it's the same issues we've had all season. Flood is the only player we have to kicks to a decent standard. Staunton and Murphy are accurate but have short range and Billy has a massive range but is inaccurate.

The forwards lack grunt up front when missing Deacon and Crane with Crane being out for the season this has created a serious problem Ed Slater is doing okay at filling though he is raw. No defence coach is still an achillies heel with no line speed making it easy for teams to make yardage against us.

Just watched it for the first time. Class.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Just watched it for the first time. Class.

it's been deleted of my sky box already. never to be seen again! lol

This is what rugby is all about at the end of the day.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10087.php

Tigers fans, don't worry about opening it.

Just kinda sums up pretty much every Ulster fans opinion of your travelling support.

Top fans!

MrsP wrote: This is what rugby is all about at the end of the day.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10087.php

Tigers fans, don't worry about opening it.

Just kinda sums up pretty much every Ulster fans opinion of your travelling support.

Top fans!

Magic ...the Tigers fans near us were great craic, missed half the game yapping to them! Hope they had a better time at Carrick-a-rede the next day than at the game!

Blimey walking over some ropey old bridge after a night on the beer

They were away to the bushmills distillary 1st!

On a tangental matter I have done the maths - we will be a 2nd seed next year