Ulster 2013/2014

First topic message reminder :

It had to come eventually.

Squad

HOOKER
Rory Best, Rob Herring, Niall Annett
PROP
Tom Court, Callum Black, Paddy McAllister, Declan Fitzpatrick, John Afoa, Bronson Ross, Adam Macklin, Ricky Lutton
LOCK
Johann Muller (c), Dan Tuohy, Neil McComb, Lewis Stevenson
BACKROW
Iain Henderson, Stephen Ferris, Mike McComish, Sean Doyle, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack, Roger Wilson, Nick Williams
SCRUM-HALF
Ruan Pienaar, Michael Heaney, Paul Marshall
OUTHALF
Paddy Jackson, James McKinney
CENTRES
Stuart Olding, Luke Marshall, Paddy Wallace, Darren Cave, Michael Allen
WING
Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Craig Gilroy, Chris Cochrane
FULL BACK
Jared Payne, Peter Nelson, David McIlwaine

Confirmed Pre-Season Games
Ulster Rugby vs Leinster Rugby, 23rd August
Leicester Tigers vs Ulster Rugby, 31st August

Heineken Cup Pool 5
Ulster Rugby, Leicester Tigers, Montpellier, Treviso

Ulster Rugby vs Leicester Tigers, 11th October
Montpellier vs Ulster Rugby, 19th October
Ulster Rugby vs Treviso, 7th December
Treviso vs Ulster Rugby, 14th December
Ulster Rugby vs Montpellier, 10th-12th January
Leicester Tigers vs Ulster Rugby, 17th-19th January

RaboDirectPro12

First five games starting on the 6th September;

Newport Gwent Dragons vs Ulster Rugby    
Ulster Rugby vs Glasgow Warriors            
Connacht Rugby vs Ulster Rugby
Ulster Rugby vs Benetton Treviso
Ospreys vs Ulster Rugby

Full fixtures at http://www.ulsterrugby.com/rugby/results_1stxv.php

Bookies still have Montpellier as slight favourites for tomorrow, don't write it off as a 5 pointer for the Tigers just yet.

geoff999rugby wrote:Done the maths 2- 2 points is guaranteed QF's, 21 almost certainly unless their are some truly bizarre results.

I am convinced  Leicester win this weekend and 2 teams will qualify from our group.
If Leicester do win though we will have to go there and get a result to have a home tie.

I agree Geoff. But here's hoping Montpellier do us a favour.

Must have been getting tired when I posted that.

I have Leicester as strong favourites but do not think it is beyond the bounds of possibility that Montpelier can win

Also we are good enough to win at Welford I believe but obviously the less we need from that game the better. If it comes to it I'd back us to get the job done but the Tigers at home is be one of the toughest challenges in Europe I think. Still some way down the line that one though.

Severe fog in Treviso. Hope it clears up as the day goes on...

A decision on whether the game goes ahead will be made closer to kick-off.

Notch wrote:A decision on whether the game goes ahead will be made closer to kick-off.

If it goes ahead it wont be the most expansive game

I see the Ravens had Paddy Jackson playing at Hooker!

MrsP wrote:I see the Ravens had Paddy Jackson playing at Hooker!

Nope, Paul Jackson. Brother of Paddy. Hooker for Dungannon RFC.

Game is on unless the weather gets worse. Can we score four in the fog? Well, both sides will probably have to keep it in hand if they can't see where they are kicking it- er, don't rightly know how the conditions will affect the game.

Notch wrote:Game is on unless the weather gets worse. Can we score four in the fog?

Not sure but it can't be harder than nailing place kicks and drop goals![/quote]

Trevisos gorillas in the mist will love this leveling the playing field.

Treviso have strong carriers in their pack, Ulster could be in trouble.

Ulster will take care of business. No tbp though.

Well picking motm won't be easy! Everyone looks the same in this fog!

Feckless Rogue wrote:Ulster will take care of business. No tbp though.

We need 5 points, 4 won't be enough I think.

rodders wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:Ulster will take care of business. No tbp though.

We need 5 points, 4 won't be enough I think.

Nobody will get 5 points there.

Ridiculous.

BP looks like a distant and forlorn hope. Treviso making it very sticky.

Lets just get the win.

Nightmare.

Yes!

We might need Pienaar to kick after HT

Missed the first half.  Sounds pretty poor?  What went wrong?

The fog.

Nothings went wring so much as Treviso have turned up and got stuck into our set piece, defended much better and are doing a good job of disrupting our play and stopping us getting into a rhythm.

We had two clean linebreaks we engineered in the first quarter where if we had found the offload it would have been a different game but Treviso are making it hard for us to play and we just need to be patient and make sure we win the game.

Ah feck had Ulster -11. Didnt even think of the weather. Must be really hard to field high balls

Wow that fog really is shocking.

I can't even offer any analysis as its so difficult to determine whats going on.

That penalty was taken quickly and I have no idea what happened, cannot see a thing.

That wasn't intentionnal wasn't it?

That yellow seemed very harsh

Yea, yellow was unfair. No slap down. Palm was up. A genuine attemt to intetcept IMO.

Just like the first- no idea whats going on, fog fog fog, oh good! We've scored!

I didn't see anything on that try lol, was like watching ice-hockey!

And suddenly we have 12 minutes to score our 4th. Have to say that was a dodgy looking try!

They all count... this has been a weird game where I've been surprised by every try because I've not been able to make out the where the ball is in any of them.

clive I thought it looked good, only initial thought was if the whistle went before he got it down but Diack did well

Nah good try, Afoa has hit the ruck through the gate and Diack has gone straight through it.

1 more of those will do nicely!

I thought though the TMO had to clarify at what point Diack git the ball. To make sure he didnt fish for it on the ground. But hey ho, not complaining!

Ahhh, field position. We need it.

Fog has definitely got worse.

Scrum resets will kill us here. I can see it coming.

I mean, was Doyle mot the initial ball carrier?

3 minutes.

Oh TMO!! Please, please please us.

clivemcl wrote:I mean, was Doyle mot the initial ball carrier?

Yeah and Diack has picked the ball up from the ruck and gone through the middle.

IT'S THERE!!!

Boom!!

Woohoo! Feet from Trinble!

Didn't see us getting a bonus point today but that fog was bad