Ulster squad additions

First topic message reminder :

Trimble has started following Jacques Botes on Twitter if that means anything...?
#Geoffisbetterthantwitter

Got any pics of the new kit or what you saw of it Kingy?

Yeah, think my Dad got one. Nice promotional trick.

There's going to be an event at Ravenhill to promote the new kit at the end of the month if anyone is interested. Thats the official unveiling. It's also a sort of meet the players thing with Tommy Bowe, Niall O'Connor, Roger Wilson, Rob Herring, John Afoa, Ruan Pienaar, Jared Payne and Robbie Diack.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10644.php

Flip just realised the Ulster boys are training up here today! Pity I was working or I would have sneaked in with the school kids and got a Rory Best lineout throwing master class!

I think the whole of Ireland has been waiting for one of them Rodders.

I think Rory is still on his holidays after the NZ tour... you'd have had to settle for Nigel Brady

Ha you're a bad man Thom!

Nigel Brady! ah well beats a taxi ride with Kyriacou I suppose!....

rodders wrote:Ha you're a bad man Thom!

Nigel Brady! ah well beats a taxi ride with Kyriacou I suppose!....

Bit unfair on Kyriacou Rodders. I've been in a taxi driven at speed by a mad Italian. I might just have wee'd myself as well

Some nice noises coming out of Ravenhill.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10645.php

As Ulster enter the fifth week of pre-season, new coach Mark Anscombe says the players are training hard as he looks to develop the fundamentals...

The majority of the squad have already completed four weeks of pre-season, while the International stars at senior and U20 level will be integrated into sessions this week. Anscombe admits it hasn’t been ideal preparation: “It’s a little bit frustrating in that it is a jagged start for so many players but it will be nice having close to our full contingent of the squad together this week. With injuries and operations we’ve still got a few players not here.”
The former New Zealand U20s coach is happy with how the players are reacting in training: “We are getting our patterns in place, working on the fundamentals and developing things that I think we need to do more effectively. We are trying to develop the players bit by bit without making it a total overload of information. We’re getting there, the players have been working hard for the past four weeks and I’ve been pleased with their progress. The players seem to be picking it up easily enough at the minute, we’re looking at keeping it simple to start with and build as a group.”

He continued: “Guys like Callum Black, Paddy McAllister, Adam Macklin, John Burns and Niall Annett are all training well, Ali Birch and Robbie Diack have too. These guys are here every day and enjoying the work at the moment. They’ve shown a good attitude; how they transfer that into playing will be the important thing. The U20s are back this week so it will give us a chance to look at Iain Henderson, Peter Nelson, Chris Farrell, Stuart Olding and see what we’ve got. The likes of Paddy (Wallace), Stephen (Ferris) and Tom (Court) have all had operations so we’ve got to be careful with how we ease them back into training.”

With Allen Clarke, Brian McLaughlin and Gary Longwell now all working alongside each other in the Phoenix Academy, Anscombe believes the senior side will see the benefits. “The Academy programme is going to be vital for the future and that’s something we’ve got to get right. We’ve got four or five young players who went away with Ireland U20s and did well and so they’ll be coming back and training with us and progressing. Each year if we can produce a good number of players for the U20s and they do well, we’re going to end up with a good nucleus of local players playing first team football.”

“We’ve got to give opportunities and keep developing youth, because as players get older we’ve got to keep bringing players through to replace them. We’ve got to be in a position where in a difficult time of the year when we have injuries and are without the Internationals, we will be able to field a reasonably competitive team,” he concluded.

I really like the cut of Mark Anscombes jib to be fair. He'll be judged on results and the success McLaughlin had in Europe last season will mean there's more pressure on everyone I suppose, not just him, but so far my impression of him is very good indeed.

No pressure at all Notch, win the Heino and he'll get the thumbs up. The double can wait until 2014

Seems like things are going well. Starting to get a wee bit excited about next season now.....

Anscombe admits it hasn’t been ideal preparation

Wonder what he'll say when hes told to rest all the Internationals for the big christmas Derbies?

Kingshu wrote:Anscombe admits it hasn’t been ideal preparation

Wonder what he'll say when hes told to rest all the Internationals for the big christmas Derbies?

It's a mess isn't it? The BIGGEST advantage the SH has over us by far is their calendar. Ours is ridiculous.

With Sarcens getting £8 million, for shirt and stadium sponsorship,

Does anyone know who much we get from Bank of Ireland and BT (for BT Park boo).

Does it get up to near the same amount in total, after all Ulster must be a bigger brand name than Sarcens, Stadium when done will be 18.000 capacity compared to their 10,000, only advandage they have is the Prem games are on sky while ours are on BBC NI

Kingshu wrote:With Sarcens getting £8 million, for shirt and stadium sponsorship,

Does anyone know who much we get from Bank of Ireland and BT (for BT Park boo).

Does it get up to near the same amount in total, after all Ulster must be a bigger brand name than Sarcens, Stadium when done will be 18.000 capacity compared to their 10,000, only advandage they have is the Prem games are on sky while ours are on BBC NI

And sadly, that's what counts for most

Kingshu wrote:With Sarcens getting £8 million, for shirt and stadium sponsorship,

Does anyone know who much we get from Bank of Ireland and BT (for BT Park boo).

Does it get up to near the same amount in total, after all Ulster must be a bigger brand name than Sarcens, Stadium when done will be 18.000 capacity compared to their 10,000, only advandage they have is the Prem games are on sky while ours are on BBC NI

No naming rights deal done yet. Still negotiating afaik

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

Kingshu wrote:With Sarcens getting £8 million, for shirt and stadium sponsorship,

Does anyone know who much we get from Bank of Ireland and BT (for BT Park boo).

Does it get up to near the same amount in total, after all Ulster must be a bigger brand name than Sarcens, Stadium when done will be 18.000 capacity compared to their 10,000, only advandage they have is the Prem games are on sky while ours are on BBC NI

And sadly, that's what counts for most

I'd say so, shows the brand to a wider group, therefore they can get more, I'd hate to think that the Pro 12 will eventually lose out, and be a poor relative of the Prem as it can't attact the same money as the top 14 and jeff.

We both have different revenue streams, ie IRFU put in more, and for Prem Sky put in more, so that currently we are even, but I'd hate if Prem pulled away in revenue terms, as with Sky you can opn up more higher streams in terms of sponsorship etc etc, with IRFU funds you can't really open up more.

They won't blow the Pro12 clubs out of the water unless the richer English clubs can re-negotiate the salary cap. There's bound to be a big power struggle over that in English Rugby at some point.

Which isn't great for the English game as it may encourage the smaller clubs to live beyond their means to keep up... I wonder about the future of our game.

Where do you guys reckon Doyle will go in the pecking order? Do you think he's just squad filler, or is he worth keeping an eye on? Only 23 years old.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10659.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4PhAlsAQlE

Impossible to say at this stage. I like Birch, and wouldn't take it as a given that Doyle will be ahead of him during the season. How many Ireland call-ups will Henry get? (Although I'd say we have quite a good idea about that...) Did Nick Williams come to experience Ulster rugby or Ulster fries? So many variables...

Geoff - if you can read this, come back, or PM me with the lowdown!

I would say Henry will get quite a few call ups to the squads and then maybe released back to us.

It looks like he's just behind POM and McLaughlin in the pecking order. He's probably in the position Jennings was in for the last few years.

Not ideal but that should present opportunities to others.

I see Doyle left his job as an electrician to come here.

Could be the "spark" we are looking for ............

This will be the first time I officially report anyone on an interweb forum, but I think Rava deserves it.

Hey Don

Happy Birthday mate (for tomorrow)

Maybe we'll finally get to have a real pint this season

Rava wrote:I see Doyle left his job as an electrician to come here.

Could be the "spark" we are looking for ............

Happy B'day Don!

Cheers chaps.

Yeah, I've never managed to get involved in any of the drinkies - this season it will happen (he pedicted, confidently).

This lack of rugby is killing ne, by the way.

Interesting articles on Demented Mole about Chris Henry and now Roger Wilson. Critical not simply of Kidney but about some of the general assumptions about the difference between HEC and international quality, the use of bench players and the provincial attitude to NIQs. Definitely worth a read.

Don, I could have done nothing better in my last few hours of the working week! Cheers for the tip. Great read!

Has work started on RaversV2 yet? Is it gonna look like a building site all year like Rodney parade did the other year?

Not yet toml, think work is due to begin at the two ends in November. My understanding is that there is still going to be space at the ends for people to stand despite the work going on, so hopefully that will stop them worksites feeling like 'dead space'

Proper look at new kits here. I quite like the away top despite it not being very Ulster in its colour. Not sure about the new home shirt. I had though about getting an upgrade this season, but its very white, not sure I like that.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10670.php

Go for it Clive. I'm sure you look smart in white mate

For your espective other halves, was a banner advert on the jersey page : http://www.ulsterrugby.com/fans/female_fans.php


Like the jersey, away is also lovely. Munster only released an away this year but it is pretty nice.

I see Ferris is still battling to be fit for the start of the new season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/19070050

Stephen Ferris doubtful for season opener against Glasgow

Stephen Ferris rates himself as a major doubt for Ulster's opening Pro12 game against Glasgow on Friday 31 August.
The flanker is recovering from a torn calf muscle sustained in the Heineken Cup final defeat by Leinster in May.
"I'm not sure if I'll make the first game but I should be available for the second or third matches of the new season," said Ferris.
Tommy Bowe is set to be fit to make his return for Ulster after making a good recovery from a haematoma problem.
"The addition of the likes of Tommy (Bowe) and Roger Wilson has added a bit of extra excitement to the pre-season," commented Ferris, whose first impressions of new coach Mark Anscombe are favourable.
"Mark has his own coaching ways and everyone has bought into what he is trying to do.
"He hasn't changed an awful lot, just added his knowledge with the aim of making us better and helping us improve."
Hooker Rory Best added that he senses "exciting times ahead" for Ulster.
"We want to build on our performances of last season and, on paper, we look like a stronger team than last season.
"A lot of the players coming in are familiar with the Ulster set-up from previous spells with the province, so it won't require a major integration process.
"Friday nights at Ravenhill may bring a smile to their faces, but it won't come as a major shock to them."
"We must make sure we make progress in every game and every training session," said the Ireland hooker.

I am pleased that Rory thinks on paper we are stronger than last season. There were a few people who thought the loss of Wannenberg, Terblanche and Humphries would leave us weaker.

Rava wrote:
I am pleased that Rory thinks on paper we are stronger than last season. There were a few people who thought the loss of Wannenberg, Terblanche and Humphries would leave us weaker.

Sounds very positive. On paper we do look stronger I think.

Initially the losses of some players did weaken us in places but we've recruited well and the performances of the likes of Fitzpatrick and Henderson over the summer were a further boost.

I'm pretty excited at what we could achieve this year. A lot depends on Paddy Jackson though, and Stephen Ferris staying fit.

For some reason I am very optimistic this year. I think Jackson is going to shine this season and show everyone he is a challenger for the 10 shirt in the future against Madigan and Hanrahan. After all, Hanrahan wouldn't have started at 10 had Jackson been available for the U20s.

For the games Ferris isn't fit, who is likely to start in the back row?

Rory, the answer might just have come from Ferris himself: -

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10672.php

“Actually, Robbie Diack has been the player of pre-season at the minute, he’s knuckled down. There has been a lot of contact in training and he is putting his head were other people wouldn’t. I can’t wait to see him in the pre-season games when he gets out on the pitch because he didn’t get a lot of game time last season.”

I think Wannenberg coming to Ulster affected Diack's form at the time. Maybe his departure will be the opposite.

Well that is a HUGE boost for both Diack himself and for Ulster. Diack was really starting to look good at the end of last season. I hope he can carry that attitude into next season and show everyone just how talented he really is.

To answer your question then it could be

6. Diack
7. Henry
8. Wilson

Diack is a good lineout option as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/19076084

Artful_Dodger wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/

Is that meant to be the link to the Tommy Bowe article Dodger? It just goes to the main RU page.

Aw shucks we're glad to have you back too Tommy

https://twitter.com/KukriSports/status/230358845610921985/photo/1/large

Why are they posing with a referree?

Oh its John Afoa!

Oh dear thats the new away kit! haha

Not the best but not the worst!

rodders wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/

Is that meant to be the link to the Tommy Bowe article Dodger? It just goes to the main RU page.

Aw shucks we're glad to have you back too Tommy

Meh.

So went for my monthly lurk on UAFC (which is a terrible forum now btw) to see if anything interesting came from the players meet and greet last night. Apparently Nick Williams is having issues getting his visa processed which has held up his arrival, can anyone confirm this?

I suppose this is a particularly bad time to be applying for a visa in the UK...

Haven't heard anything Notch. Just assumed he was here, given how little sun was getting through.

I hope it gets sorted soon anyway. It would be very late to be running around the shops looking for a turkey.

Williams this year Treblanche last year, maybe they need to add to someones role to make sure Visa's are sorted before the start of the season.

According to sky sports Ferris is aiming to be fit for the Munster game on the 14th September.

D'Arcys Diary

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/10677.php

I even saw a woman pushing an empty pram circling Tommy like a shark.