Ulster 2014/2015, Part 2

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Part 1; https://www.606v2.com/t53882p950-ulster-2014-2015

We've been rocked with the seismic revelation David Humphreys is leaving the province- indeed has already left- for Gloucester. Anscombe was slated to be seeing out the last year of his contract before being quietly let go but the Humphreys bombshell left him as the odd man out, and he's been pushed out the door. The decision was partly because he was hired to work under a Director of Rugby and Ulster are looking for someone with more experience in the market to take on Humphreys role in addition to the coaching responsibilities. As usual, the rumour mill is on overdrive and opinions are polarised- but this is Ulster Rugby after all. Les Kiss is our interim Director of Rugby and it seems Allen Clarke is filling the role of forwards coach in the short term. More changes or appointments could be forthcoming.

If all that wasn't enough we've been dealt a real group of death in the new Champions Cup- double-winners Toulon will brave the Ravenhill roar along with old friends Leicester Tigers and old foes the Scarlets. All in all, this team should be capable of securing a Top 4 finish at the very least in the Pro12 and we need to target the top two, our prospects in Europe look more occluded- it might come down to best runners-up and our pool promises to be tight and competitive.

Our pre-season concludes when we take on Exeter Chiefs at Ravenhill on Friday the 22nd August and then travel to Donnybrook to face Leinster on Friday the 29th August. It'll be a big relief to see the action at Ravenhill moving from the headlines to the pitch

Players Out
Johann Muller (retired), Paddy Wallace (retired), Stephen Ferris (retired), Chris Cochrane (retired), Chris Farrell (Grenoble), Niall Annett (Worcester), John Afoa (Gloucester), Tom Court (London Irish), James McKinney (Rotherham), David McIlwaine (Rotherham), Paddy McAllister (Aurillac), Sean Doyle (ACT Brumbies), Adam Macklin (Rotherham), Ian Porter (Connacht)

Players In
Franco van der Merwe (Golden Lions), Louis Ludik (Agen), Wiehahn Herbst (Natal Sharks), Ruaidhrí Murphy (ACT Brumbies), Dave Ryan (Zebre), Ian Humphreys (London Irish), Charlie Butterworth (Lansdowne), Sean Reidy (Counties Manukau)

Hookers
Rory Best, Rob Herring (Jonny Murphy, John Andrew*)
Props
Callum Black, Ruaidhrí Murphy, Andrew Warwick, Declan Fitzpatrick, Wiehahn Herbst, Dave Ryan, Ricky Lutton, Bronson Ross, Kyle McCall(?)
Locks
Iain Henderson, Dan Tuohy, Franco van der Merwe, Lewis Stevenson, Neil McComb
Backrow
Robbie Diack, Conor Joyce, Chris Henry, Mike McComish, Sean Reidy, Charlie Butterworth, Nick Williams, Roger Wilson (Clive Ross**)
Scrum-half
Ruan Pienaar, Paul Marshall, Michael Heaney
Outhalf
Paddy Jackson, Ian Humphreys
Centres
Luke Marshall, Stuart Olding, Darren Cave, Stuart McCloskey
Wings
Michael Allen, Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe, Craig Gilroy
Fullback
Louis Ludik, Ricky Andrew, Jared Payne, Peter Nelson

*Academy hookers training with first team squad
**Clive Ross, cousin of Mike, is on trial

Opening fixtures

F; Exeter Chiefs (H)
F; Leinster (A)

Pro12; Scarlets (A)
Pro12; Zebre (H)
Pro12; Cardiff Blues (A)
Pro12; Zebre (A)
Pro12; Edinburgh (H)

ECC; Leicester Tigers (A)
ECC; RC Toulon (H)

Ulster fans won't ever forget Nevin Spence, a great talent taken way too soon.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard about the accident, and signing the book of condolences at Ravenhill. I can't even imagine how hard today is for the Spence family.

Re: Neil Doak

I recall that some time ago, a number of posters on this forum - particularly Geoff, if memory serves (by the way, where is he these days?) - had serious concerns about Doak's personality and temperment, even for the role as an assistant coach. Or am I mistaken?

Just seems that I remember someone providing an anecdote about Doak giving a talk/lecture to some local club and everyone there being very unimpressed with his performance , particularly his manner.

Not that it really matters, I suppose. Maybe he's matured, or maybe Ulster need someone to crack the whip - a drill sergeant type - to get the best out of some of our guys. But wasn't that supposedly the problem with Anscombe?

I always thought it was better to have a level-headed, even-keeled head coach who delivered a consistent message and who didn't have favourites but at the same time was fairly loyal to his players. A bit of a Declan Kidney type. And then to support that head coach with assistants who were technicians of the game but who also possessed certain character traits - i.e. the 'drill sergeant' type, the 'arm around the shoulder' type, etc.

In summary, I'm not convinced that Doak is the right man for the Ulster job at the present time.

What about Mark McCall? Any chance that he'd come back if asked? Or Conor O'Shea?

"I always thought it was better to have a level-headed, even-keeled head coach who delivered a consistent message and who didn't have favourites but at the same time was fairly loyal to his players. A bit of a Declan Kidney type."

Your paragraph began promisingly but then came the highlighted part

4-6 weeks?

Could have been worse.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/spences-sense-of-grief-and-loss-balanced-with-gratitude-1.1929768#.VBkuTMdG3oQ.twitter

Ulster starting XV & replacements to play Cardiff Blues, Guinness PRO12, BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park, Friday 19th September, 7.35pm:

(15-9): L Ludik, A Trimble, D Cave, S Olding, T Bowe; P Jackson, P Marshall; (1-8): A Warwick, R Best (c), W Herbst, D Tuohy, F van der Merwe, R Diack, C Henry, N Williams;

Replacements (16-23): R Herring, C Black, B Ross, N McComb, R Wilson, M Heaney, I Humphreys, C Gilroy.

Strong team for a hard game.

Yeah, strong team. Could easliy be our best 11-14. Going after a win.

Anybody any idea about the Cardiff side?

15 Rhys Patchell, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Adam Thomas, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Richard Smith, 10 Gareth Davies, 9 Lewis Jones; 1 Sam Hobbs, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 3 Adam Jones, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 5 Filo Paulo, 6 Josh Turnbull, 7 Josh Navidi, 8 Manoa Vosawai

Replacements: 16 Rhys Williams, 17 Taufa'ao Filise, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Lloyd Williams, 22 Cory Allen, 23 Geraint Walsh

We can beat them, but it's always hard over there on their artificial pitch.

Last season I think our away game against Cardiff Blues was the single worst game of our campaign. Hope the lads are pretty keen on putting that right!

It looks a little mismatched, to me. I'd call that as a 10-15 point Ulster win.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/rugby-world-cup-2015-predicting-ireland-s-starting-xv-1.1931217?page=3

It seems the boys at the Irish Times dont overly rate Trimble

Strong team, but would have liked Heaney and Wilson to start, with Marshall and Williams coming off the bench for impact. Blues crumbled in the last 20 v Glasgow.

marty2086 wrote:http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/rugby-world-cup-2015-predicting-ireland-s-starting-xv-1.1931217?page=3

It seems the boys at the Irish Times dont overly rate Trimble

Thornley seems to rate him, although O’Sullivan has Gilroy starting ahead of him

Munchkin wrote:

marty2086 wrote:http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/rugby-world-cup-2015-predicting-ireland-s-starting-xv-1.1931217?page=3

It seems the boys at the Irish Times dont overly rate Trimble

Thornley seems to rate him, although O’Sullivan has Gilroy starting ahead of him  

Should have been 'some of...'

But not only the form player in Ireland but the stand out winger, Bowe, Gilroy and Zebo haven't been in great form and Kearney Jr has been in better form than Zebo and Gilroy too

Munchkin wrote:

marty2086 wrote:http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/rugby-world-cup-2015-predicting-ireland-s-starting-xv-1.1931217?page=3

It seems the boys at the Irish Times dont overly rate Trimble

Thornley seems to rate him, although O’Sullivan has Gilroy starting ahead of him  

That would be the same O'Sullivan who picked Brian Carney ahead of Tommy Bowe in his RWC squad...

The Great Aukster wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

marty2086 wrote:http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/rugby-world-cup-2015-predicting-ireland-s-starting-xv-1.1931217?page=3

It seems the boys at the Irish Times dont overly rate Trimble

Thornley seems to rate him, although O’Sullivan has Gilroy starting ahead of him  

That would be the same O'Sullivan who picked Brian Carney ahead of Tommy Bowe in his RWC squad...

Ah, it makes sense now. O’Sullivan is obviously clueless.

marty2086 wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

marty2086 wrote:http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/rugby-world-cup-2015-predicting-ireland-s-starting-xv-1.1931217?page=3

It seems the boys at the Irish Times dont overly rate Trimble

Thornley seems to rate him, although O’Sullivan has Gilroy starting ahead of him  

Should have been 'some of...'

But not only the form player in Ireland but the stand out winger, Bowe, Gilroy and Zebo haven't been in great form and Kearney Jr has been in better form than Zebo and Gilroy too

Bowe hasn't been in form for some time now, but would put that down to injury, although age may be a factor. Hopefully he can remain injury free this season, and get close to the form of a couple of seasons ago. That was when the debate was on who should start between Gilroy, Trimble, and Bowe.

It says it all when Tommy Bowe is getting moved across to his less favoured left wing to accommodate Trimble on the right.

They can both excel at either side, but it's the sure sign Trimble is seen as the man in form. Bowe has to work his way ahead of him for province once more.

Gavin Evans

Seems strange to see no Correy Allen in the centre, Im assuming hes injured

He is benching I think

As someone who wrote him off previously, I think Trimble has transformed himself in the last few years. He looks more confident, his skills have improved and even physically he is still in peak condition. Could it be because of Joe Schmidt getting him to work on areas of his game?

profitius wrote:As someone who wrote him off previously, I think Trimble has transformed himself in the last few years. He looks more confident, his skills have improved and even physically he is still in peak condition. Could it be because of Joe Schmidt getting him to work on areas of his game?

He certainly is a Schmidt type of player.

He has been performing at a pretty consistent level for a few years. He was stellar leading into the last world cup and in Deccies last season I would argue he was better for ulster than he was last season. In fairness to the much-maligned Anscombe he recognised it and made Bowe switch wings to accommodate Trimble

Deccie the dunce always played Trimble on the left wing where he was always less effective giving the haters far too much ammunation to fire at him. This transformed him into Angry Andy, making him the player he is today. From adversity did Ireland's finest winger emerge

Add St Ruan to that Ulster side and it would perhaps be our strongest starting XV. Ludik has made himself a star player already and if Cave can perform this weekend it may very well make it difficult for Payne to get back on the starting side. I'm looking forward to this one, practically drooling for goodness sake.

My only concern is Neil (I have a Northern Irish accent so better go hard on the Ulster boys in case anyone thinks I'm biased towards them) Paterson

Anyone been on the RWC ticketing site?

I'm unfamiliar with what approach I should take to this.

So most big games will go to a ballot. Does that mean you apply for a few in the hope of getting some. The gamble doesn't really allow you to come up with an itinerary though.

I assume you put in for a few unpopular games so you know you will at least get to a few.

Has anyone got any advice.

If I 'bid' for too many and get them all - I might be a little broke!

https://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com/

It's gone terribly quiet in here this week. Is there anybody out there with any gossip? Any news? Any idea who will make the trip to Italy this weekend? Anything?

Well, Michael Heaney and Neil McComb were both interviewed in the press this week so that probably means there is a good chance they will be involved.

I'd like to see Heaney given a start Notch, bring weeP on when the game opens up a bit.....at least you'd hope we could open it up a bit but who knows. Is Lewis Stevenson injured at the moment?

No, Stevenson, McComb and Franco are our frontline second row options right now.

Hope to god no more of them go down injured...

Feel like McComb is better than Stevenson for the way we are trying to play right now. He's got good hands and is mobile.

Every time a new coach comes in they're impressed with McComb's skillset, and he tries for a bit and leap-frogs Stevenson, and then normal service is resumed. Happened when Anscombe started as well. I remember thinking McComb was much better than I gave him credit for, and then he slipped off the pace again.

Agree with that Don, McComb is an enigma. He's 6'8" has the speed of a backrow but the aggression of an Andrex puppy - so frustrating.

He is just too nice on the pitch. But Stevenson really slows play down with his upright carrying for me. He is the opposite of dynamic. McComb at least has good hands and pace.

I'm not crazy about seeing either of them in the starting team but if McComb only has a few good games in a season we might as well get them out of him. I only say that because right now we are trying to play a game with loads of offloading/continuity play.

Relatively big news; short term injury replacement at lock

http://ulsterrugby.com/News/LatestNews/TabId/149/ArtMID/793/ArticleID/1865/Ulster-Rugby-sign-lock-Ronald-Raaymakers-on-a-short-term-contract-.aspx

Looks like he'll be over the week before our game against Leicester Tigers

Watched a few clips of Raaymaker on YouTube, and he seems a decent player. Pity he couldn't come over a bit earlier, but a real positive until Tuohy and Henderson return.

Here's hoping he's the kind of player we'll be sad to see go.

Well this is just turning into a great month for us isn't it. Our new temporary signing to provide injury cover, yeah he has just went off injured, looks like an arm injury not sure how bad yet

neilthom7 wrote:Well this is just turning into a great month for us isn't it.  Our new temporary signing to provide injury cover, yeah he has just went off injured, looks like an arm injury not sure how bad yet

He looked to be in considerable pain. We are jinxed I tell ya!!!!!

Yeah tbh Pete it looked pretty much the same as the way Dan went off so could be a broken arm

neilthom7 wrote:Well this is just turning into a great month for us isn't it.  Our new temporary signing to provide injury cover, yeah he has just went off injured, looks like an arm injury not sure how bad yet

Pah!

Well, game day today. Ulster Rugby got a new match day live service. Very slick

http://www.ulsterrugbylive.com/zebre-v-ulster/

Er. Notch, what happened over there in Italy?

Combination of an idiotic red card right at the start of the game, a terribly complacent performance and a hometown TMO.

Some of the TMO decisions would genuinely make you sick, if you look at them, and they were decisive in the game but I said before kick off with the referee and the officials being who they were we couldn't afford for the game to be close. We knew there could be disastrously poor calls that changed the course of the game and we had to play well enough to take those calls out of the equation. We didn't.

You really shouldn't have to factor in idiotic refereeing to the cost of doing business.

Pro 12 really needs to look at using impartial referees and TMOs in every game. I would be very, very angry if that cost my teams points at the end of the season. Kind of thing that makes the difference between a home semi and having to go somewhere like the RDS.

Whats really annoying is with the red card, which was in the 10th minute, there was a hint of a gouge. The ref asks the TMO if the punch was retaliation. TV shows the hooker moving his hand towards Fitzpatricks face, there is a body in the way so we can't see what happens, but Fitzpatrick suddenly gets angry and throws a punch. When he comes out of the ruck there is a lot of blood around his eye socket. TMOs wording- 'Punch is completely unprovoked'. Red card for us, no words had with the home team.

Zebres try. Two on one overlap, man on the inside gets man and ball at the same time and flicks the ball on. He bats it forward with his hands. His hands are very clearly travelling forwards but its borderline if the ball travels forwards. A close call, so the TMO says 'Its not clear and obvious, so you may award the try.'

Ulsters (disallowed) try which would have out us in the lead with 5 minutes to go. A beautiful move with Tommy Bowe running a decoy line. The Zebre defender buys it and takes the wrong man. Nobody sees Gilroy who runs into the gap created and he puts Cave under the posts. Decision- obstruction because the Zebre defender tackled the wrong player. An outrageous decision.

Unfortunately this happens to most teams when they go over to Italy. I was disgusted, but not at all surprised.

Indeed. I don't think DaMasco should officiate again. In fairness he was the main culprit above Fitzgibbon. We have had it before in Italy when Adam D'arcy was denied a BP try because the TMO said he didn't ground the ball when all the evidence pointed to the contrary.

Standulstermen wrote:Indeed. I don't think DaMasco should officiate again. In fairness he was the main culprit above Fitzgibbon. We have had it before in Italy when Adam D'arcy was denied a BP try because the TMO said he didn't ground the ball when all the evidence pointed to the contrary.

That was incredibly frustrating. Couldn't have been more clear cut. Unfortunately, after that and what happened to Cardiff Blues in Italy last season, none of this was a surprise.

Why can't we get a higher standard of referees? Surely there must be enough English refs out there who can do the job? Or do we really have to clone Nigel Owens?