Ulster 2015/2016 Part 2

First topic message reminder :

Continue your discussion of all things Ulster here.

greygoose wrote:

geoff999rugby wrote:With respect to our disallowed try - the referee can only go back two phases to determine an infringement.

Correct me if I am wrong but the knock on was definitely more than two phases and such Owens should have allowed the try.

The other biggy for me was Owens forgot the offside rule last night and as Dragons were well organized that stifled our backs

Questioning the referee? Thats disgraceful stuff. An embarrassment to Ulster, Geoff, thats what you are.

Hateful, selective nonsense.

He's questioned the decision. You've not bothered to read the thread, if you had you'd have seen he was at the game and assumes it was Owen's decision. It was the TMO's. You also don't bother to discuss the decision, which by the letter of the law was incorrect. Try this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06zykn8/ulster-rugby-live-201516-ulster-v-dragons

They discuss it at 2 hours and 5 mins in the studio. They agree it's a knock on and show it's at least 2, if not 3 rucks beyond the knock on.

Owens can be heard discussing it with the TMO at 1 hour 38 mins and 20 seconds where he specifically asks if it's within the protocol.

Also it's poor you pick one reasonable comment and twist it, rather than run with the general vibe of the thread where a lot of Ulster fans here have said they couldn't argue if Dragon's had of won and how impressive the visitors were.

Yes, I did think it a bit hateful, but Geoff was happy to dish it out, so assumed it was a standard debating technique on this forum.

If you have a grudge with Geoff, do it via PM. Please do not start derailing other threads with this childish nonsense.

I don't know, but think greygoose may have made the original comment with tongue in cheek?

No its not.

I had a dig at him on the International folders so he has decided to come here and make a fool of himself here as well.

Now as you know I left 606v2 due to being feedup with some moronic post by a small minority of Welsh posters.
For that reason I have, almost exclusively, confined myself to this folder with respect to the Club section due to the fact whilst we do not all agree the standard of discourse is rational, reasonable and enjoyable.

I see there is a new Englishmen talking drivel on those International boards as well - maybe the 6N brings them out.

If it sadly becomes sullied by one of more moronic contribution I'll stop posting - it is not worth the effort.
Make me think I will be better off only posting on this Ulster board in the hope it remains an enjoyable place to post

GreyGoose I see you asked elsewhere if I speak for Ulster rugby.
Well I can't claim that but if you have been here any length of time you will know I do have contacts with some of those that do

Be nice and you may actually find out things you would otherwise be unaware of

Put the waster on ignore Geoff. Some WUMs are at least entertaining, GG is just puerile, humourless, dim.

Good point Pete - I have edited my post and asked him to desist and suggested it would be in his best interest.
If not I'll do as you suggest

geoff999rugby wrote:No its not.

I had a dig at him on the International folders so he has decided to come here and make a fool of himself here as well.

Now as you know I left 606v2 due to being feedup with some moronic post by a small minority of Welsh posters.
For that reason I have, almost exclusively, confined myself to this folder with respect to the Club section due to the fact whilst we do not all agree the standard of discourse is rational, reasonable and enjoyable.

I see there is a new Englishmen talking drivel on those International boards as well - maybe the 6N brings them out.

If it sadly becomes sullied by one of more moronic contribution I'll stop posting - it is not worth the effort.
Make me think I will be better off only posting on this Ulster board in the hope it remains an enjoyable place to post

GreyGoose I see you asked elsewhere if I speak for Ulster rugby.
Well I can't claim that but if you have been here any length of time you will know I do have contacts with some of those that do  

Be nice and you may actually find out things you would otherwise be  unaware of  

So he followed you here. I thought it might be a wind up because I didn't think it could be a serious comment. Best ignored then.

Back to Friday night and can anyone confirm that Ian Humphreys was vomiting a number of times on the pitch? Would this explain why he was so brilliantly terrible?

Was thinking about biting back here, but won't bother. Happy to accept I got it wrong; sorry, Geoff.

Back to your rugby folks.

Humphreys took a knock to the head as did Olding, Diack and Browne

geoff999rugby wrote:Humphreys took a knock to the head as did Olding, Diack and Browne

Caught up on the game last night, we did get quite a few head injuries, some nasty shots from the Dragons. Oldings was particularly nasty.

I thought he would be cited:

NEWPORT Gwent Dragons full-back Carl Meyer has been cited for an alleged dangerous tackle in the narrow Guinness Pro12 loss to Ulster.

The South African came together with Stuart Olding in the 67th minute of the clash in Belfast as the centre attempted to claim a high ball.

Referee Nigel Owens deemed that there was no case to answer after seeing the footage of the incident on the big screen but the independent citing commissioner has called Meyer to a disciplinary hearing this week.

     
Law 10.4 (g) states that: “A player must not charge or knock down an opponent carrying the ball without trying to grasp that player.”

The Dragons face Connacht at Rodney Parade on Thursday (kick-off 7.30pm)

Credit to the Dragons, but we did make too much hard work of the game didn't we? We have suffered (criminally) less than most other Pro12 clubs during the six nations so far. We even got McCloskey and Jackson back for it (thank goodness). But we need to be doing much better with the players in the next few weeks. We can't assume McCloskey and Jackson will be available. If any players miss games due to these head injuries, it could really hurt our chances.

Could really do with Henry coming back!

Think Henry will be back this week. Bloody hope so.

Remember only AOC would make the starting pack of those on Friday.

That was a reserve pack and it showed.

Add that to no acceptable cover at 10 and we are always going to be exposed.

I don't think Henry is the key returner - Reidy has been a decent substitute
The ones we must start with are McCall, de Merwe and Williams
I would add Herbst as well but we know he will not be back for a while.

Reidy has been great for us, but I would say we need Henry back for his leadership. Not that I expect him to start, but certainly a reassuring presence on the bench. Assuming he's fit to play.

As much as we want our guys to feature for Ireland, we could really, really do with getting Jackson and McCloskey back for Glasgow. It'll be a very tough game if we have to carry Humphreys.

I feel like we probably will get Jackson back as long as there is no injuries because it seems to be his lack of versatility will stop him being on the bench for Ireland and Sexton isn't likely to get dethroned in the starting team however they may feel the need to bring McCloskey in so we can't rely on that for sure. I agree with Geoff that we do need those players he mentioned to play for our forwards to function properly.
Humphreys is a real issue at 10 as quite frankly he's awful the majority of the time but we don't have a great deal of choice really.

Am I to assume that Pienaar dug his heals in a few seasons ago and said 'no, seriously guys, if you want me to stay.... NO MORE 10'

And if so.... does that annoy anybody at times like this??

He never said that - he did say he would never play at 15.

IRFU also did not want him playing at 10 - it became an emergency only situation.

Next year will not be a problem - if their is no one else he will play on Friday.

Also special thanks to Sky for preventing me from watching Against the head tonight.

neilthom7 wrote:Also special thanks to Sky for preventing me from watching Against the head tonight.  

Was that Sky or ITV?

Well there's one of my Saffer in Japan options that can be checked off the list!

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/former-bok-flanker-joins-worcester/


So BBC says it's not Kankowski. It's not Potgieter, and it's not Daniels.

That leaves Heinrich Brüssow or Marchel Coetzee. That's assuming the info about Saffer and Japan is trustworthy. Which it may not be!

Apparently Ludik and Scholes likely to be out against Glasgow. Number of players undergoing HIAs, Humphreys the most likely to be ruled out.

Hopefully we do get Jackson back, and at least Luke Marshall back. If Olding is passed fit to play he'll be needed to fill in at fullback, with Gilroy and Stockdale on the wings and thats pretty much all we have in terms of back three players. If Olding isn't fit I'm not sure what we'll do. Could be Pienaar and Jackson or Marshall and Pienaar at halfback.

If no Jackson and Olding is fit Olding will be 10 and Gilroy 15.

At worst we could be looking at something like Marshall, Pienaer, Stockdale, Marshall, Cave, Owens, Gilroy

Thats a pretty bad back three... carrying one inexperienced player is do-able, two will be exploited badly. A few of Stockdales mistakes were exploited on Friday. I don't think we can afford to move Olding from 15 in terms of depth. He and Gilroy could be the only players with experience of playing back three at this level left in the squad.

Chris Henry likely to be back though

http://www.rugbydump.com/2016/02/4891/chris-ashton-reflects-on-his-controversial-10-week-ban-for-gouging?

Sorry - this made me laugh. Dallaglio - "just being careless, not reckless". Okaaaaaaaay.

Henry will play v Glasgow. At least that's one positive, and a big one.

It's feel horrible to say, but I'm really hoping Jackson and Marshall are released. Think we are really going to need them both.

Don Alfonso wrote:http://www.rugbydump.com/2016/02/4891/chris-ashton-reflects-on-his-controversial-10-week-ban-for-gouging?

Sorry - this made me laugh. Dallaglio - "just being careless, not reckless". Okaaaaaaaay.

Hes does realise they are essentially the same?

The Great Aukster wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Also special thanks to Sky for preventing me from watching Against the head tonight.  

Was that Sky or ITV?

Good point Aukster it was probably ITV because I could watch the saturday matches on RTE but not the one match that ITV had

Not sure who's left standing & available but Owens is out with an ACL.

So Liam Gill is heading to Toulon and Pocock is apparently taking a year out to study at Oxford or Cambridge, maybe Queens will suffice...

What about Busby or Ross Adair?

neilthom7 wrote:

The Great Aukster wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Also special thanks to Sky for preventing me from watching Against the head tonight.  

Was that Sky or ITV?

Good point Aukster it was probably ITV because I could watch the saturday matches on RTE but not the one match that ITV had

What I don't understand is why?

The Great Aukster wrote:What about Busby or Ross Adair?

Has Ross Adair not left Ulster? I thought he had a few good cameos at the end of last season, scored a few tries then announced he was going.

So KOTH on other forum today said

Tick tock ........

Could tomorrow shed some light on signing.

Resignings bound to be week off during 6nations.

Tick tock........

As you probably all know, he's in the know. Something will happen tomorrow. But what?

Ulster close to signing Coetzee, according to Belfast News Letter:

Coetzee

Makes sense to me. Coetzee would fit in with all the rumours.


It's a three year deal according to the Indo: Coetzee to Ulster



Coetzee certainly has something of the Nick Williams about him

Coetzee floors Heaslip

Coetzee would certainly deliver on the promise of a world class signing. Won't believe it until I see him in an Ulster shirt though.

Munchkin wrote:Coetzee certainly has something of the Nick Williams about him

Coetzee floors Heaslip

I like it, I like it a lot

OK if George Smith has bailed on us then he'll do ...

Belfast Telegraph reporting Coetzee is a done deal- I hope their source is more reliable than the one who told the BBC Kankowski was a done deal...

My concern about the papers telling us its that player and this player is the names they come up with are those previously discussed on the other site - smacks of lazy journalist who don't have a clue.

On the positive side Mulligan is one of the better ones, Kiss did say two major signings and KOTH is pretty reliable.

Coetzee looks strong favourite now and would be brilliant.
I have heard it is a saffer - which fits.

johnnymonaghan wrote:Not sure who's left standing & available but Owens is out with an ACL.

Good point forgot about that - so probably Busby if all who could be missing are.
Having said been told Arnold might make it - so at least he play centre with Cave

Coetzee certainly fully fits the profile that's been described to date on both forums. He'd be a fantastic signing if confirmed.

Signing on a 3 year deal but has 18 months left on his current deal with the Sharks, Ulster buying out his contract?

If its him he would finish the coming season and join us late - so we would buy out 1 year of his contract.

Lets Sharks don't make the play offs so he gets here early

If it is him he'll likely be in the Springboks squad on a regular basis, so hopefully theres a decent IQ backrow in there too

Supposedly one from Leinster (remember Kiss said 2 excellent signings) -
In order of likelihood Ryan, Murphy, Conan

Forget SOB, Heaslip and I would also say Ruddock and de Flier - no chance.

There's a page on facebook called Rugby Vids which says Ulster have announced the signing of Marcell Coetzee. Anybody know anything?