Muller Contract Extension!

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/sport/johann-muller-confirms-ulster-stay-for-another-season-1-4751485



That is all.

It's time he comes home.

Biltong, he is home.

Indeed!

Besides, his plan was always to finish his career in the NH. Once he's finished with Ulster he's heading back to South Africa to look after the family farm.

Don Alfonso wrote:Biltong, he is home.

Great news, fantastic player and best Ulster captain evvvvvverrrr.... legend .

I'd love him to stay and be a coach. One of the people I respect most in the world! If you look up the word 'decorum' in the dictionary, there is a picture of Johann

Afoa out v the Ospreys won't be good though. No THs left up there?

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Afoa out v the Ospreys won't be good though. No THs left up there?

Macklin?

Think I read that Afoa and Panye were given breaks to go home for a while, are they back now for the Ospreys game?

Afoa said he wants to go back and play in NZ next season, surprised no one has picked up on this yet?

rodders wrote:Afoa said he wants to go back and play in NZ next season, surprised no one has picked up on this yet?

Really? Is his contract up then or does he want to leave before contract ends?

red_stag wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Afoa out v the Ospreys won't be good though. No THs left up there?

Macklin?

Is he not injured?

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

red_stag wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Afoa out v the Ospreys won't be good though. No THs left up there?

Macklin?

Is he not injured?

Guess they'll have to play Tom Court at tighthead so. He has a bit of time on his hands anyway.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/21292819

Afoa's Ulster contract will run out at the end of the 2013/14 season.

he intends to return home to New Zealand next year so that he can chase a spot in the All Blacks World Cup squad in 2015.

To be honest I never mentioned it as didn't think there was much in it.

He entends to see outhis contract and then return home, I think we all expected this, will pay in the 2013/14 season for Ulster.

With Muller's and Pienaar's new contacts running out then as well, summer of 2014 will be an important time as we lose key players in our team.

I think this year and next year will be Ulsters peak years, then a transaction will take place, hopefully we can do it while remaining at the top.

Big question - will Declan Fitz and Macklin become the first and second choice props when Afoa leaves? Or will Ulster try and sign a tighthead?

Could Andress come back? Irish qualified experienced Ulster born prop.

On Muller whats to say - he's a class act and a main reason Ulster made such a big transition.

red_stag wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

red_stag wrote:

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:Afoa out v the Ospreys won't be good though. No THs left up there?

Macklin?

Is he not injured?

Guess they'll have to play Tom Court at tighthead so. He has a bit of time on his hands anyway.

If they get him back from Ireland Camp. I would put him in v England as the is the stronger scrumager. (At the moment) Killer better round the park.

Ireland may keep him anyway in case of injury. Ireland game on the Sunday so.......

red_stag wrote:Big question - will Declan Fitz and Macklin become the first and second choice props when Afoa leaves? Or will Ulster try and sign a tighthead?

Could Andress come back? Irish qualified experienced Ulster born prop.

On Muller whats to say - he's a class act and a main reason Ulster made such a big transition.

Ulster won't try and sign a tighthead- Ulster need to sign a tighthead. Declan Fitzpatrick can not be considered as first choice ever due to his injury record. I think he has something like 34 starts in 8 years and thats mainly due to injury. Okay, he's been considered behind Botha and Afoa but it's a chicken and egg situation. The reason we haven't ever said to the IRFU we can back Deccie Fitz as an Irish option is because I can't remember the last time he was fit for longer than 2 or 3 months. This season he started against the Ospreys in Round 2 of the Pro12, but hasn't been fit to start another game since.

Macklin is now injured for the rest of the season, which is frustrating because he needs gametime if he's going to be a contender to succeed Afoa. Right now, you'd say he simply isn't good enough to be first choice for a Pro12 side, never mind the Heineken Cup.

No Ulster need to sign a tighthead- previous deals with Andress have fallen through and he is not well regarded here for reasons to do with things outside of rugby. I think we need someone to come up from Leinster or Munster. We have no other options for an Irish Qualified tighthead and if we can't tempt a tighthead to come north we're going to have to sign another NIQ player. Therefore it's in the interests of the IRFU to try and help us bring someone up.

I feel if they stop us signing an NIQ player they should contribute towards the Irish replacements salary as we're likely to have to pay above the market rate to incentivize Hagan or Moore to come to Ulster.

But as for Friday, starting Court anywhere other than loosehead would be a ridiculous decision. And unfair on the player. We would go with maybe maybe Richard Lutton and/or Conor Carey and just hope that them taking their medicene doesn't cost us the game.

Hopefully we can put out a strong tight five around them to support them as much as possible.

Notch wrote:I feel if they stop us signing an NIQ player they should contribute towards the Irish replacements salary as we're likely to have to pay above the market rate to incentivize Hagan or Moore to come to Ulster.

This is a fair point. I don't feel that Ulster should be allowed to continue bouncing from foreign tighthead to foreign tighthead. BJ Botha was three seasons at Ulster, John Afoa will be three seasons at Ulster. Not a hope in hell should Ulster be allowed another foreign prop to come in and have almost a decade of living off foreign tightheads.

However if IRFU share my sentiment then they need to help Ulster financially in attracting an Irish qualified prop as they ain't cheap.

I know Ruaidhri Murphy says he wants to play for Aus, but could he be tempted back, think hes loosehead, but can play tighhead?

I think Ulster wil be looking for a Bent,

Any chance of signing Tony Buckley?

I agree for a national PoV we need Ulster to have an Irish tighthead prop after BBJ (Big Bad John) leaves at the end of the 2013/2014 season.

But there needs to be some succession planning both within Ulster Rugby and in the IRFU in general to make sure that we can place a decent Irish tighthead in Ulster when Afoa leaves. I think both are not really doing this and the situation is not looking good. We should be signing his replacement this year and rotating N.E.W. Prop and J. Afoa in the league next season.

Fitzpatrick would be the man if he could stay fit, it's a shame he can't. That leaves a void behind Afoa. It's been frustrating this year, as Anscombe has on a couple of occasions named Fitzpatrick ahead of Afoa for relatively important League matches only for Fitzpatrick to pull out injured on matchday and Afoa to play. Then, one week after he names Macklin for his first start of the season he picks up a season ending injury.

I hope to see a new Irish tighthead sign for Ulster in the summer, but its a small market and the fact that props know our hands are tied to the very small pool of Irish tightheads means they can demand salaries way above their meagre abilities. When you take account of this alongside the reluctance of some players from the south to make the move to N. Ireland and the fact our homegrown options aren't ready means, incredibly, I wouldn't rule out an NIQ replacement!!

rodders wrote:Any chance of signing Tony Buckley?

No apparently he's moving to Wasps.

Kingshu wrote:I know Ruaidhri Murphy says he wants to play for Aus, but could he be tempted back, think hes loosehead, but can play tighhead?

No, come on. We want a tighthead who can play tighthead!

rodders wrote:Any chance of signing Tony Buckley?

Na, we will take Healy and Ross sure when they follow Sexton's example and jump from the sinking Leinster ship...

red_stag wrote:

rodders wrote:Any chance of signing Tony Buckley?

No apparently he's moving to Wasps.

Damn.

Notch is right we can't go for Declan Fitzpatrick hes 29 now been with Ulster since 2005 and only ever made 27 +24 appearances in the Pro 12.

Afoa, Pienaar and Muller are going to be tough to replace, hopefully Pienaar stays on for a year or two after 2014, Muller, Dan Tuohy and Stevenson will be fine replacement, but we will be losing a bit of class then.

Ferris will prob be retiring around then as well, (his body will give up). I really do think that Ulster this year and next are at our peak.

rodders wrote:

red_stag wrote:

rodders wrote:Any chance of signing Tony Buckley?

No apparently he's moving to Wasps.

Damn.

Only if Sale get relegated I presume?

red_stag wrote: I don't feel that Ulster should be allowed to continue bouncing from foreign tighthead to foreign tighthead. BJ Botha was three seasons at Ulster, John Afoa will be three seasons at Ulster. Not a hope in hell should Ulster be allowed another foreign prop to come in and have almost a decade of living off foreign tightheads.

However if IRFU share my sentiment then they need to help Ulster financially in attracting an Irish qualified prop as they ain't cheap.

I agree - more on your first point, in fact, than your second. We know BBJ is having difficulties with his family living back home – we have a season and a half to dig up an IQ alternative, be it an IQ foreigner a la D’Arcy or Herring, or someone from within the ranks. I did like the look of McCall, but he’s too far off to take the reins then.

It's official;

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/11154.php

Afoa, Williams, Pienaar and Muller all out of contract in 2014- going to be a big check on how well we are doing in developing homegrown talent that summer, although we'll try and resign Pienaar I'm sure plus fill the other slots.

In 18 months time I would hope that Paddy Jackson, Iain Henderson, Craig Gilroy and Luke Marshall are all young mainstays of the Ireland team and thats the generation that will see us beyond the summer when Afoa and Muller leave.

Notch wrote:It's official;

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/11154.php

Afoa, Williams, Pienaar and Muller all out of contract in 2014- going to be a big check on how well we are doing in developing homegrown talent that summer, although we'll try and resign Pienaar I'm sure plus fill the other slots.

In 18 months time I would hope that Paddy Jackson, Iain Henderson, Craig Gilroy and Luke Marshall are all young mainstays of the Ireland team and thats the generation that will see us beyond the summer when Afoa and Muller leave.

Payne too.

Clean sweep!

Payne is likely to stay and play test rugby for Ireland to boot.

Notch wrote:Payne is likely to stay and play test rugby for Ireland to boot.

Probably and possibly.

The other 4 can not be offered another contract, nor can Ulster sign another NIQ in their position.

No, I don't think that will be the case. I think the IRFU will not be as draconian as first intended. I expect Pienaar to be allowed to resign if Humphreys can find the money for instance. The proposals for limits on NIQ players were really poorly thought out and will be diluted in practice, once the IRFU realises that they need the provinces on side and they are as likely to shoot themselves in the foot.

What would the point be in them turning around in 2014 and saying "you can't sign a lock, scrum-half, eight or tighthead- but you can sign an outhalf, openside, blindside, loosehead, hooker, centre or winger".

After all we have Court, McAllister, Best, Henderson, Henry, Jackson, Marshall, Farrell, Cave, Bowe, Gilroy and Trimble- they'd essentially be incentivizing us to sign players in positions where we have current or future internationals hence limiting their gametime. Ultimately, if Munster and Leinster both have Irish scrum-halves in 2014 I would give excellent odds on Pienaar getting his contract extended and rightly so. It would be the height of stupidity to force him out only to have Munster or Leinster sign an NIQ 9. Why move a player who is a proven success at one province on, only to possibly deprive an Irish international of gametime at another province by bringing in an unproven NIQ player? The equation would change if Ulster had an exceptionally talented scrum-half prospect come through at 9 the way we have had guys come through at 6, 10, 12 and 14. If we had a Luke McGrath knocking on the door for instance. Same with other positions.

Of course, we can't just roll over on positions forever- Stags tighthead example being the best one. But if enforced to the letter the IRFUs guidelines would probably damage the national team as well as damaging the provinces.

I spoke to Johan Muller's cousin today, he says we shouldn't believe everything we read.

Which bits of "what we read" did the cousin say we should believe then?

Biltong wrote:I spoke to Johan Muller's cousin today, he says we shouldn't believe everything we read.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/11154.php

It's done mate.

“The contract extension has been in the pipeline for a while now and I’m delighted to get it signed. I’ve had a great time at Ulster so far, three years have flown by and I’m really looking forward to a fourth year."

Thats from Muller himself.

Notch wrote:

Biltong wrote:I spoke to Johan Muller's cousin today, he says we shouldn't believe everything we read.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/11154.php

It's done mate.

“The contract extension has been in the pipeline for a while now and I’m delighted to get it signed. I’ve had a great time at Ulster so far, three years have flown by and I’m really looking forward to a fourth year."

Thats from Muller himself.

Thought I'd create some panic.

Biltong wrote:I spoke to Johan Muller's cousin today, he says we shouldn't believe everything we read.

Don't suppose Johans cousin plays tight head ......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdRkI1mG5yE&feature=youtu.be

For the avoidance of all doubt... Biltong

Biltong wrote:I spoke to Johan Muller's cousin today, he says we shouldn't believe everything we read.

I think I have highlighted the important part of Biltong's post!

Clearly this cousin is a very wise man!

How do you get the font so big?

Please tell me.

Guys back to the tight head thing, I know he wasn't the best toward the end of his time with ulster but what about Bryan Young? He is Irish, he is a tight head. Also what about jerry Cronin, I was quite impressed by that fella when he played for us, he was strong in the set piece and decent in the loose.

Biltong wrote:How do you get the font so big?

Please tell me.

click on the font size button with the 2 "A"s or use the [/size][size]tags

Great news about Muller, but I do wonder what will happen with 1F? Isn’t his contract up this season?

He’s injured far too much to be anywhere near a new central contract. Can Ulster afford him? Would he be happy to go somewhere with less sympathy as regards his injury record? Would any team want him?

I think it’ll be a thorny question.

I don't think its an issue Don, if Ferris gets back playing he'll get a central contract extension I'm sure.

Is there any news on his recovery?

He's expected back imminently. This weekend is too soon but hopefully he'll be in the squad for the visit of Zebre, or failing that the trip to Glasgow.

Too late to push for a Lions spot?....

rodders wrote:Too late to push for a Lions spot?....

At backrow, yes. He has basically got one shot (the game against Sarries) to win a Lions place. Even if Ulster win the semi finals are too late.

If he was a scrumhalf/hooker/second row he could win a place on tour but backrow is too competive IMO.

Well he'll have a chance if he plays well against Zebre, no injuries, and then gets recalled for Ireland for the rest of the Six Nations. It's possible. O'Mahony and Henry are good but unspectacular; a fit Stephen Ferris would be a major asset for Ireland. The problem is he has to prove his match fitness first and by the time he does that the Six Nations is nearly over.

The guy I feel worst for is Tommy Bowe. He'll almost certainly miss the Lions now he's definite to miss the quarter-finals of the HC.