Connacht v Ulster. Sat 14th April, Sportsground (kick off 5.15pm)

First topic message reminder :

Ulster Team to play Connacht, Sat 14th April, Sportsground (kick off 5.15pm):

(15-9): S Terblanche; I Whitten, N Spence, P Jackson, A D'Arcy; I Humphreys, P Marshall;
(1-8): P McAllister,N Brady (capt), T Court, L Stevenson, N McComb, M McComish, W Faloon, R Diack;
Replacements (16-23): A Kyriacou, C Black, A Macklin, I Henderson, A Birch, R Pienaar, C Gilroy, M Allen

Unavailable due to injury:
Jared Payne (Achilles), Chris Cochrane (foot), Tim Barker (back), Simon Danielli (hamstring)

A great chance for some of the fringe players to put their hands up for possible squad places in the HC Semi Final.

Connacht XV to face Ulster

15 Gavin Duffy (C)
14 Tiernan O’Halloran
13 Kyle Tonetti
12 Henry Fa’afili
11 Fetu’u Vainikolo
10 Miah Nikora
09 Frank Murphy

01 Brett Wilkinson
02 Ethienne Reynecke
03 Ronan Loughney
04 Michael Swift
05 Mike McCarthy
06 John Muldoon
07 Ray Ofisa
08 George Naoupu

Replacements
16 Adrian Flavin
17 Denis Buckley
18 Rodney Ah You
19 Mick Kearney
20 Johnny O’Connor
21 Paul O’Donohoe
22 Matthew Jarvis
23 Eoin Griffin

No Niall O'Connor or Mark McCrea.

I agree wholeheartedly!

Enjoy the sun whilst it shines clive!...

Good news!

Paul Marshall's elbow is not broken!!!



He talks about seeing how it mends over the coming days.

Am I being very optimistic in my reading of that?

are you putting this on every ulster related thread MrsP?

Fiec that put it on every thread! The sun is shining clive!

Geoff - I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment.

I actually was happy with the team that was selected to play in Galway. Undoubtedly, most of the 15 who played the full 80 in Limerick needed the rest. Our squad should be strong enough to be able to play a second XV against the poorer teams and get a result. And indeed, with 20mins to go on Saturday evening, we had the chance to win the game - but unfortunately, due to a number of factors, they weren't able to finish the job. That was disappointing but on the positive side, a few of the younger players got exposure to a fairly competitive environment against a typically hungry & physical Connacht side.

We have a very good first XV - with the exception of our flyhalf, who is poorer-than-average. To be honest, I'd rather have Pienaar playing there, with Marshall inside him - or failing that, Pienaar at 9 and Jackson at 10. Not only does Humphries lack basic tackling skills, but worse than that, he appears to lack the bravery required to play the game properly. It's a case of "can't tackle, won't tackle". Compare that to O'Gara, who was always a poor tackler, but at least was brave enough to put himself in the way. Humphries actually doesn't even make the effort, nevermind having the skill to make a tackle. He simply has to go.... I wonder what Anscombe will think of him when he gets here? Are we tied to him because of the position held by his older brother? Any idea how long is remaining on his contract?

Geoff - do you expect that Anscombe will be specifically tasked with being more proactive in bringing through home-grown talent (given his ABs U20 background) - especially our forwards?

Finally, just a few thoughts on Saturday's performance:

Faloon was poor - fell off a few tackles and simply wasn't physical enough at the breakdown to have an impact on the game. Personally, I'm not sad to see him go.

McComb - for a big guy, with all the physical attributes, he simply does not do enough to warrant a place on the squad next year. Not aggressive enough in using his size to win collisions.

Jackson - very very promising. Almost ready to take the next step and become our starting outhalf next season. Small, but physical and a cool customer.

Spence - as was also mentioned on this thread, he tends to look for contact rather than space. Hopefully that will change with more exposure at this level.

Glad to see Macklin get an extended run-out. Hoping that Anscombe's arrival will result in a significant upward movement in his development (and also that of Henderson & Birch).

Good first post UlsterinKildare - especially the bit about agreeing with me

I do think Anscombes' appointment was very much in mind with bringing the youth through. What ever modifications are made with respect to the new NIE rules all Provinces will be expected to rely more on home grown talent. We are particularly exposed in this regard due to the fact that southerners are reluctant to come north.

Agree with all your player assessments

UlsterinKildare, welcome and good to have you on board. You will probably note that Geoff and I are the elder (Ulster Fans) statesmen and try to curtail the sometimes over-enthusiasm of our youthful colleagues
It will be interesting to read more of your assessments as we go forward and I would also agree with what you have put above.

By the way it would be helpful if you didn't always agree with Geoff. Just for the sake of discussion if you see what I mean

As a general rule you should slightly disagree with people, and then allow your pride to prevent you from backing down and just get more and more enthused about an argument you know in your heart to be wrong...

Welcome UIK . Unlike the grumpy old (Ulster)men () there I agree with about 80% of what you've put.

I don't agree that Humph is below average or that we would be better with Pienaar at 10 and I think you are being harsh on Spence.

Other than that I concur.

roddersm wrote:Unlike the grumpy old (Ulster)men ()

Hey ! I resemble that remark

Thanks, guys!!

Have often read the threads on this board with interest. Regardless of whether or not I agreed with the posts, I was always interested in the views of other better-informed Ulster supporters.

Rodders - up to the end of last season I had continued to hold out hope that iHumph was the answer for us at outhalf. But unfortunately this season he simply hasn't progressed to the same extent as many (most?) of the other 'key position' players. If anything, he's regressed.... which is disappointing when you consider the talent that he has around him now.

Indeed, I'd argue that it's not inconceivable that we could've won the game on Saturday if he hadn't played (i.e. Jackson at 10, Marshall at 12?) - and that's the most damning assessment of a player's performance that I can make. Would we have been better off without him against Connacht?

I can't see a fairly blunt hard-nosed kiwi like Anscombe having him anywhere near the first XV unless iHumph has a complete change in personality during the off-season.

Having said all that, he'll probably go out and singlehandedly win the semi-final Saturday week.

clivemcl wrote:As a general rule you should slightly disagree with people, and then allow your pride to prevent you from backing down and just get more and more enthused about an argument you know in your heart to be wrong...

This!

Good post UIK. Welcome to the madhouse