Ulster squad additions

First topic message reminder :

You did not imagine that - it was said. A few weeks ago too.

geoff999rugby wrote:We appear to have signed an SA hooker called Herring 21 years old.

Now the big question is is he IQ. He played for London Irish for 2 years so hopefully he is.
If so it might suggest Brady is retiring after all seeing as we appeared to have blocked Annetts departure (or have we ?).
No way we will have 3 hookers on the squad so either Brady or Annett will not be here.

If he is NIQ it begs the question why was Kyriacou allowed to go.
He would be a Project anyway, if NIQ, but would mean no backrower.

Will try and find out.
A strange one

Are you sure he's South African Geoff? Google is throwing up a Motocross Rider of the same name from SA living in England.

also, heres the rugby playing Rob Herring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdoZQjbVHco

Disclaimer: This video is not interesting.

Found this on the young guy.

http://sacsrugby.com/2012/03/old-boy-rob-herring-shines-for-maties/

He certainly has not been playing top flight rugby this season. Still, our suits are pretty good at unearthing gems so.....

He's from Fish Hoek! Just round the corner from Simon's Town where the penguin colony is. He's welcome here in my book. SA is awesome. I love the idea that South Africans can appreciate my country like I appreciate theirs.

But yea, if he's NIQ, its a puzzler. Although, when the internationals were away, where did we feel the weakness most? Kyriacou, whist his name is memorable, his performances werent. Is this guy significantly better than Annett? Who knows.

He is playing in SA at the moment should have made that clear.
I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion re beign a Saffer.

Not sure of his nationality but the white smoke is indicating he is Irish qualified.
2 years at London Irish would support that view.
If IQ then not a big deal - although I really cant see the point of having 4 hookers.

One strange one is some sites saying he is a Hooker/Flanker

The people over at Front Row Union are assuming he is indeeed NIQ and believe the hunt for a backrower has been halted. They could be wrong though.

They often are - they said we would sign Nick Williams.

They are not a reliable source imv

Back row is fine(ish), Henderson and Birch will step up to the plate. Ferris and Henry will be available for the HEC and Wilson should be available all season. Diack can cover 6 and 8.

We're threadbare all over the place, bar the 3/4's, so I wouldn't be losing sleep over the backrow in particular.

If this lad can cover backrow and hooker sounds like a good shout.

MrsP wrote:Found this on the young guy.

http://sacsrugby.com/2012/03/old-boy-rob-herring-shines-for-maties/

He certainly has not been playing top flight rugby this season. Still, our suits are pretty good at unearthing gems so.....

Are they? I would say they are good at identifying established interntionals who can bring the team on further. Pienaar, Muller, Afoa, Terblanche, Wannenburg.

P.S. did anyone else see that according to Wannenburgs wikipedia page it says he became a Christian due to his Ulster team mates influence. Are religion and rugby linked in Ravenhill?

Heres a question, whats our back three if trimble bowe AND gilroy get selected for 6N squad?

Payne Darcy and Spence? Spence will be 13 is Cave gets Ireland duty. What young wingers have we? Have I forgotten someone?

Rodders is correct, our squad is paper thin to the point that another lucky year injury wise could mean great success, but a few injuries could see a seriously disappointing season.

A little dig seems to indicate he is a mobile, lightweight, running hooker that can slot onto the backrow in an emergency (think Ward for Cornish Pirates). Joined the LI academy 2009, by 2010 was playing at Blackheath and has played a bit for London Welsh before going back to his native SA. I should point out that despite him being in the LI academy there is not necessarily a link to Ireland. The players that joined the academy with him included JJ Joseph (England squad for SA Tour), Tom Homer (England under 20s international) and Jamie Gibson (England Saxon).

Clive what about Gaston and Concannon (spelling?)

red_stag wrote:
P.S. did anyone else see that according to Wannenburgs wikipedia page it says he became a Christian due to his Ulster team mates influence. Are religion and rugby linked in Ravenhill?

Not sure stag but I certainly started believing in Karma after we thrashed Munster in Thomond...

rodders wrote:

red_stag wrote:
P.S. did anyone else see that according to Wannenburgs wikipedia page it says he became a Christian due to his Ulster team mates influence. Are religion and rugby linked in Ravenhill?

Not sure stag but I certainly started believing in Karma after we thrashed Munster in Thomond...

Don't sell yourself short. Hard work and clever tactical play won you the match.

red_stag wrote:

MrsP wrote:Found this on the young guy.

http://sacsrugby.com/2012/03/old-boy-rob-herring-shines-for-maties/

He certainly has not been playing top flight rugby this season. Still, our suits are pretty good at unearthing gems so.....

Are they? I would say they are good at identifying established interntionals who can bring the team on further. Pienaar, Muller, Afoa, Terblanche, Wannenburg.

P.S. did anyone else see that according to Wannenburgs wikipedia page it says he became a Christian due to his Ulster team mates influence. Are religion and rugby linked in Ravenhill?

Wiki is wrong, as usual.
He conversion to Christianity pre dated his arrival at Ravenhill

red_stag wrote:Clive what about Gaston and Concannon (spelling?)

Cochrane you mean? Yea I forgot about them. Havnt heard much from Gaston this season at all. Anyone got any update on his prospects?

Rob Herring from Fish Hoek - is his hair red?

Perhaps he is in the Hooker/backrow mould of Strauss and Brits - basically a guy who couldn't make it in the backrow and became a hooker?

Alternatively maybe Humphreys had a poor Skype link and he's actually a HoEker who plays backrow?

clivemcl wrote:Heres a question, whats our back three if trimble bowe AND gilroy get selected for 6N squad?

Payne Darcy and Spence? Spence will be 13 is Cave gets Ireland duty. What young wingers have we? Have I forgotten someone?

Rodders is correct, our squad is paper thin to the point that another lucky year injury wise could mean great success, but a few injuries could see a seriously disappointing season.

If Ulster lost , say Cave, Trimble, Wallace, Bowe and Gilroy to the Ireland squad I suggest our backs would be

Cochrane, Marshall, Payne, Spence, D'Arcy - still not too shabby

If Herring is NIQ then it may well be we are planning on converting him to a flanker.

I would also point out something I mentioned a few weeks back.
That negotiations are on going re the new rules for 2013-14 and that the one thing the Provinces want changed is to be able to retain key players (in our case Muller and Pienaer). Maybe, just maybe, taking on a Project type player as a backrower is our compromise for being allowed to retain Muller next year.

I think some hard nosed bargaining is taking place between the provinces and the IRFU.
With Afoa not being repalced that means we would have only 2 NIQ players, lined up, for 2014-15. That would be very attractive to the IRFU.

Specualtion I know

Can't see Paddy Wallace being involved in the Ireland squad again, he's lost his central contract hasn't he?

Just found out Herring was born in Cape Town so definitely a Saffer - as to whether he has an Irish granny or not I dont know but a usually reliable source says he is IQ.

red_stag wrote:

rodders wrote:

red_stag wrote:
P.S. did anyone else see that according to Wannenburgs wikipedia page it says he became a Christian due to his Ulster team mates influence. Are religion and rugby linked in Ravenhill?

Not sure stag but I certainly started believing in Karma after we thrashed Munster in Thomond...

Don't sell yourself short. Hard work and clever tactical play won you the match.

Oh it wasn't the goat I sacrificed on the morning of the game then..... .....

The Great Aukster wrote:Can't see Paddy Wallace being involved in the Ireland squad again, he's lost his central contract hasn't he?

Nope he has a Central Contract for 2012-13. Almost certaintly his last year though.
Having said that I agree I would not be surprised if he is not selected at all next year.

Buddy of mine just texted me and says he spotted David Humphreys in Sydney airport, out in the hunt for Rocky???

Humph is on holiday in Portugal

I might have been wrong the other day. I was quoting another source.

Humps is in Sydney, I can reliably confirm that, as my mate was talking to him

Chat is this Herring guy is IQ then? Good catch if so. Bit fishy if he isn't- was hoping we'd cast our net in the Southern Hemisphere for an NIQ backrow, not a hooker.

So Rave you are in on the deception to throw throw others off the scent as to Humphs movements ...good man

In Sydney eh.. maybe he is taking my advice about grabbing one of the immensely talented aussie 7s..

Notch we think so but yet to be confirmed.

One thing is certain though he is a Saffer born and bred so if he is qualified it is a granny type of qualification ala Court, Boss, D'Arcy

If he is not IQ would we be allowed to sign him?

I thought the whole "Project Player" thing was being phased out and we already have Payne.

I know it would still not put us over our limit just wasn't sure about the status of "Project" in the near future.

Project are being droped from 2013 onwards but there is nothing stopping us having 3+2 as opposed to 4+1

In fact when the rule was 5+1 Leinster had 2, maybe even 3 Projects, but in total did not go over the 6 in total for NIE

red_stag wrote:

MrsP wrote:Found this on the young guy.

http://sacsrugby.com/2012/03/old-boy-rob-herring-shines-for-maties/

He certainly has not been playing top flight rugby this season. Still, our suits are pretty good at unearthing gems so.....

Are they? I would say they are good at identifying established interntionals who can bring the team on further. Pienaar, Muller, Afoa, Terblanche, Wannenburg.

What undiscovered gems have actually been uncovered by provincial teams?

Adam D’Arcy isn’t bad for a panicked last-minute search for a cheap fullback. Better than Steven Sykes or Borlase. And in fairness, Court was something similar and is now on the national team.

dHumph has yet to serve us up an equivalent of Horua. Yet. There may be a "Humph's Folly" signing next season...

Steven Sykes is playing very welll in the Super 15 and looks a decent palyer.

I think it may have just been a good old fashion case of home sickness

Yeah. That's not much use to Leinster.

True but the fact is they recognised a decent player - it just didn't work out.

I suppose I could have phrased that better.

I meant the standard of our signings has been exceptionally good IMHO.

The only "Pig in a poke" I can think of recently was that charmer Emerick.

I was always puzzled by the Emerick thing. Surely (at the time) he would have been better than our young chaps. But he never got game time? Was this to do with his attitude in training? Or was it that we decided to show faith in our youngsters at some point after we had already signed him. We can't really say he was poor for us, we never gave him a chance to find out.

I think the combination of some of our players recovering more quickly than we had feared, the fact that he wasn't up to much and that horrible tackle in Galway pretty much sealed his fate.

At least that was the way I felt about him.

We though some of the kids weren't ready and he would be a safer bet.

He played badly and was no better than what we had so we got rid early.
That plus the fact the Trimble injury was not as bad as first feared

I've read online that Herring is IQ and that it's a six month trial.

This is conjecture, but -

Brady wants to retire, then Kyriacou blots his copy book in the back of an Italian taxi. Brady is persuaded to stay for an extra year and Kyriacou is waved goodbye. Brady is not a long-term answer, Annett is, but is very green. Herring is being given the chance next season to prove he can be Brady's replacement. It doesn't hurt that he is a "hooker/flanker".

Forward planning.

If that is the case Don, then I think fair play! As long as there is still a backrower being hunted. He seems pretty mobile. From the wee video i feel he is an improvement on Kyriacou and will help steady the ship (a little) during six nations).

Out of interest, if there is a granny or something, how does this knowledge come about. I'd love to know.
Heres some options:

a) Humphries spends all his time on www.ancestry.com
b) The granny still lives here and wrote to Ulster Rugby saying "I have a lovely south african grandson and he's just the bees knees at throwing in at the lineout"
c) The player themselves know they are IQ and make themselves known to the Irish provinces. (or their agents do).

You have to say c) seems most likely, but if the case, it doesnt really fit with our idea that Humph is some sort of super st. bernard sniffing these people out with a barrel of rum round his neck.

Pestered a few people yesterday and this is what I have found out.
Don's conjecture is pretty close to the mark.
The only thing that isn't correct is Kyriacou was going before the taxi incident.
Brady will be with us for one more year as a backup.
Herring is IQ and will be kept on permanently if he impresses - bit like D'Arcy being taken on trial.
Essentially Annett has replaced Kyriacou
and the plan is Herring is to replace Brady.

Brady will be like Justin Fitzpatrick in his last year.
Sign up but will only be used in an emergency.

If the two youngsters do well we may have seen the last of him. Hope he gets some sort of run out so we can say goodbye to a fine servant of Ulster rugby

On other, big news, we have a NIQ Backrower in the bag and I think we are talking a decent player (it ain't Nick Williams) - no name yet.

I may find out in a week or so as a certain player is having his stag night this weekend and if he knows tongues may wag. Remembering what he said may be a problem, for my source though

rodders wrote:

red_stag wrote:

rodders wrote:

red_stag wrote:
P.S. did anyone else see that according to Wannenburgs wikipedia page it says he became a Christian due to his Ulster team mates influence. Are religion and rugby linked in Ravenhill?

Not sure stag but I certainly started believing in Karma after we thrashed Munster in Thomond...

Don't sell yourself short. Hard work and clever tactical play won you the match.

Oh it wasn't the goat I sacrificed on the morning of the game then..... .....

Nah thats just how most Thursday go in Derry?

We do the same in Limerick

geoff998rugby wrote:Pestered a few people yesterday and this is what I have found out.
Don's conjecture is pretty close to the mark.
The only thing that isn't correct is Kyriacou was going before the taxi incident.
Brady will be with us for one more year as a backup.
Herring is IQ and will be kept on permanently if he impresses - bit like D'Arcy being taken on trial.
Essentially Annett has replaced Kyriacou
and the plan is Herring is to replace Brady.

Brady will be like Justin Fitzpatrick in his last year.
Sign up but will only be used in an emergency.

If the two youngsters do well we may have seen the last of him. Hope he gets some sort of run out so we can say goodbye to a fine servant of Ulster rugby

On other, big news, we have a NIQ Backrower in the bag and I think we are talking a decent player (it ain't Nick Williams) - no name yet.

I may find out in a week or so as a certain player is having his stag night this weekend and if he knows tongues may wag. Remembering what he said may be a problem, for my source though

This is all great!

So is it an aussie? Since Humph was spotted out there? Whose the likely aussie options? Michael Hooper would be awesome, but unlikely as I'm sure he is in contention for International selection soon.

Good work Geoff

Interesting article about the amount of backrowers at the Warratahs. Suggesting that Elsom and Mumm may leave...


http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/super-rugby/backlog-of-back-rowers-at-nsw-waratahs-fuels-speculation-rocky-elsom-will-depart-at-end-of-season/story-e6frf4qu-1226334961995


Did everyone see Mumms handoff a while back? The slow-mo is lethal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqlQQEh0g5M

Grand, clive, he's on his way to Exe after all!

Clive,

Mumm is already on his way to the Exeter Chiefs.

Apparently DHumphs has been contacting both Matt Williams and Alan Gaffney whom he knew as coaches for assistance in identifying talent.

Elsom is the big target for Ulster as I understand it though it does seem strange when Ferris is at #6 for Ulster. Maybe one of them could move position.