Ulster 2015/2016 Part 2

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Continue your discussion of all things Ulster here.

Against a better team we'd have been slaughtered, the amount of times especially early on guys were getting isolated was shocking only Zebre were slow and ineffective pouncing on it we escaped, its been an area thats needed addressed most of the season

Even then we had a real problem with clearing the rucks and letting them slow the ball right down, and it wasn't like they went out a played a blinder in that area. As you say they were slow themselves. We don't just need an injury replacement for Coetzee, we really need two players- a 6 and an 8- to sign on before the start of next season, both to be first choice. We have no decent ball carriers in our back row with Coetzee out and we have no-one who is even slightly effective at clearing the rucks, although I suspect a broader failure of coaching there.

There were some moments of genuine class from the backs, especially Jackson in the first half. Some good lines being run and guys being put into space! Imagine that back line with a serious pack of forwards in front of themForwards were seriously disappointing bar some good scrummaging in the first half. Lineout was poor and the total lack of impact at the breakdown and in general play has become expected at this stage.

Happy to get a BP and a comfortable win- one down, two to go.

I agree with the above sentiments. I think we are seeing players getting isolated a lot due to poor coaching. Sometimes its as though Ulster players are doing exactly what they are doing in training, particularly off first phase ball. When we start to rumble in attack we are seeing plenty of initiative and creativity particularly from the backs. But the moment things become in anyway static, Pienaar gives the ball to a stationary player or a player with nothing in front of him and things break down. I think you have to point the finger at coaching as far as that is concerned.

I've noticed when Connacht players get isolated they buy themselves time by moving on the ground, whether its falling the wrong way to allow them to roll and present it to oncoming players or by stretching back to present the ball, when defenders set themselves it means they are over stretching or having to reset to get a better balance. Its all subtle but effective and something Ulster desperately need to do, as you say Dodger its coaching, seeing how repetitive it is with Connacht its second nature now, thats from doing it on the training ground

The more and more I see of Finlay Bealham for Connacht, the more and more frustrated I get that he wasn't retained in the Ulster Academy.

How much of our ongoing failure to produce forwards is down to previous Academy coaches being a bunch of chancers?

We beat a team with more holes in its defence than in a sieve nothing to get excited about.
You can only beat what is in front of you and all that but nothing to get excited about - Zebre were absolutely awful
Great to see Tommy back - he may have lost a yard in pace but he still runs the best lines of any Irish back.

On Notchs comment re Bealham I think you will find the fact he is wearing a Connacht shirt and not an Ulster one it has everything to do with who is our forwards coach and very little to do with who was the Academy coach at the time.

Worked out our European qualification prospects - all of the following would have to happen for us not to be in the senior competition:
Munster win both games, Scarlets beat Dragons and lose to Munster, Cardiff win both games, we lose both games
So not certain but I think we are safe

On the top 4 situation provided Scarlets don't win both games 1 win out of 2 will be enough for us to make the top 4.

Nice performance.

Good stuff by Payne in attack but particularly impressed by Bowe - looks a bit off match fitness but 2 trademark tries and created 2 others - he's due a run of luck so hopefully he can have an indian summer to a great career now.

Random Monday morning thoughts:

Saw on another forum that we'll likely end the season with the highest attendances. We really have one of the most solid fanbases in the league.

Reidy, for me, has progressed beyond "promising" and "has potential" to an unequivocally talented, driven player. Currently, he's out-performing Jordi Murphy, for all the hope that he comes north. The back row has been poor in the last few games because Wilson is seventy and Hendo is sleepwalking through games. Need him to pull the finger out. Think Leinster at home will do it; shake him out of his coma. Want to see him on the rampage, in his best position.

We have a great backline. We genuinely do.

geoff999rugby wrote:
On Notchs comment re Bealham I think you will find the fact he is wearing a Connacht shirt and not an Ulster one it has everything to do with who is our forwards coach and very little to do with who was the Academy coach at the time.

Forgive me if I'm wrong- do you mean Bealhams move to Connacht was the work of Allen Clarke in his IRFU role before he returned to Ulster in 2012? I believe Bealham moved to Connacht in 2010.

Notch wrote:

geoff999rugby wrote:
On Notchs comment re Bealham I think you will find the fact he is wearing a Connacht shirt and not an Ulster one it has everything to do with who is our forwards coach and very little to do with who was the Academy coach at the time.

Forgive me if I'm wrong- do you mean Bealhams move to Connacht was the work of Allen Clarke in his IRFU role before he returned to Ulster in 2012? I believe Bealham moved to Connacht in 2010.

In his own words
"I ended up getting a trial with the Ireland U-20s through my Irish heritage and then I was up at Ulster for a bit.

"But the move to Connacht came about after the U-20 World Cup in Italy when I got contacted by Nigel Carolan."

The JWC was in Italy in 2011, he signed an academy contract with Connacht in 2012 when he was a loosehead. So he was going out as Clarke came in

Agreed Don. Reidy was one of our best players against Zebre, really impressing me, and could be our regular starter.

The fcat he might be outplaying Jordi Murphy by no means implies we don't need Jordi Murphy. We need a fantastic first choice backrow and a very solid second choice backrow.

We barely have either one of those right now.

Henderson has been disappointing, and we are just about getting to the point where we should no longer be patient with his performances, and rather expectant. He needs to step up ASAP.

TRUFAX.

But I'd rather have Conan.

Clarke has his finger in the Ulster pie even when working in Dublin.
My understanding is he didn't rate Bealham which rather forced the player hand, knowing Clarke was coming in.

Yowza. Just on the attendances point I was making earlier, pinched from another thread -

http://rugby.statbunker.com/competitions/HomeAttendance?comp_id=504

Don Alfonso wrote:Yowza. Just on the attendances point I was making earlier, pinched from another thread -

http://rugby.statbunker.com/competitions/HomeAttendance?comp_id=504

Only 5 other teams have recorded an attendance higher than Ulsters lowest for the season. But our attendances look exceptional only because some other teams are exceptionally bad.

Don not sure how the guys at Statbunker get their figures but Ulster are sitting at 151075 so far this season with an average of 15107.

That's according to the official attendances and our biggest game for attendances is still to come and was a sell out last week

It's time for this thread to come back to life what with the little match at the weekend etc.

Before all that, some comments from Stevie Fez:

Stephen Ferris has urged the IRFU to allow Ulster to sign a short-term replacement for the injured Marcell Coetzee.

The South African back-row was due to arrive in Ireland this summer on a three-year deal but he is facing up to nine months out with a knee injury that he picked up while playing for the Sharks earlier this month.

Ulster are understood to be seeking permission from the IRFU to sign another player on a short-term contract but any such move would have to be approved by the union’s performance director David Nucifora, who may not be open to the idea.

Ferris believes that Ulster are in desperate need of a powerful ball carrying back-row if they are to end their 10-year wait for a trophy.

“I’ve heard through the grapevine that Ulster are in talks with the IRFU at the minute to see if they could bring somebody in for cover,” said Ferris. “I think they have to because there isn’t really anyone coming through in the young guys in the back-row who’s of the same kind of standard as Marcel Coetzee. It’s as simple as that. For me, you have to get your chequebook out and sign somebody for a year.”

Ferris, who was speaking at the launch of Heineken's 'Rugby Club' where rugby meets the world, added: "Coetzee is going to be out for at least six months. He's going to miss the pool stages of the European Cup, which are vital as we all know.

"Would I be happy with Chris Henry, Robbie Diack and Roger Wilson playing in the back-row for Ulster next season going into the first European Cup game? Definitely not.

"I would be a lot happier if Iain Henderson and Coetzee were playing in the back-row with Chris Henry or whatever.

"It's something that has to be sorted out and hopefully the IRFU can sort something out with Ulster and we can sign somebody for six months or a year."

A re-occurring ankle injury forced Ferris into retirement two years ago and Ulster have lacked someone of his power since.

The 30-year old believes that his former side are far too reliant on Henderson and with Nick Williams joining Cardiff Blues next season, Ulster will lose another ball carrier.

"I think one thing that really concerns me is that in our pack, we just don't have many ball carriers at all," Ferris said.

"Roger Wilson had his best for a couple of years at Northampton and Chris Henry isn't really a ball carrying seven. You've just Iain Henderson and that's really it.

"If I was a Leinster player, I would really think that we can take them up front. It's a massive concern that we don't have the carriers that Leinster do.

"I'm a fan now so for me it's concerning to read an Ulster teamsheet with hardly any ball carriers. "

Ulster must win against Leinster on Saturday if they are to have any hope of sealing a home semi-final but Ferris isn't confident of them ending their long trophy drought.

"Ulster have been the biggest under-achievers since 2006 when we won the Celtic League away to the Ospreys," he said.

"Do I think we have it this year? I don't think so. I think if we have our best side out on the bench, we'll be there or thereabouts but I just don't feel that we have enough ball carriers in our pack to give us the front foot ball."

Beat me to it Pete, might be tough getting someone of sufficient quality in with the AIs, Super Rugby season finishing, Japanese league starting most will be tied up unless the big man can go all Steve Austin on his ankle

Now wouldn't that be a thing Marty, big Fez back from the dead

Imagine if he was very elaborately setting himself up for one of the most dramatic comebacks in rugby history! Somebody slap me back to reality please!

I'm sure there's days where he wakes up and wonders if his ankle could take it again...

Backs (15-9): J Payne, A Trimble, L Marshall, S McCloskey, C Gilroy, P Jackson, R Pienaar
Forwards (1-8): C Black, R Best (captain), R Lutton, P Browne, F van der Merwe, I Henderson, C Henry, S Reidy

Replacements (16-23): R Herring, K McCall, A Warwick, R Diack, R Wilson, P Marshall, S Olding, D Cave

Jared at 15, strange place for a centre ????

I like the cut of that selection's jib. Can we get a performance please....

Leinster team to play Ulster:
15. Rob KEARNEY, 14. Isa NACEWA (capt.), 13. Garry RINGROSE, 12. Ben TE'O, 11. Dave KEARNEY, 10. Johnny SEXTON, 9. Luke McGRATH; 1. Jack McGRATH, 2. Richardt STRAUSS, 3. Tadhg FURLONG, 4. Devin TONER, 5. Hayden TRIGGS, 6. Rhys RUDDOCK, 7. Josh VAN DER FLIER, 8. Jamie HEASLIP.

16. Sean CRONIN, 17. Peter DOOLEY, 18. Mike ROSS, 19. Mick KEARNEY, 20. Jordi MURPHY, 21. Eoin REDDAN, 22. Ian MADIGAN, 23. Luke FITZGERALD.

Probably as good a backrow as we've put out all season. Its going to be tough but I think its doable.

Diack and Wilson dropped to the bench- pretty damning indictment on them. Henderson and Reidy out of position to accommodate that. That probably is our best available back row, but it just goes to show how weak we are there! We should tell the IRFU that if they have any aspirations to see Henderson at lock again next season they need to let us sign an injury replacement for Coetzee

Reidy deserves recognition, but I'm not sure he's physical enough to be an 8. I like Reidy. He can play bit if he gets into space and he runs good support lines but we're really relying on Henderson to step it up several gears in terms of his own performance. The next best carrier after him in that pack is Peter Browne and then there's clear daylight. Huge amount of pressure on his shoulders and he's had a few quiet games.

It's a relief to see Furlong start ahead of Ross but McGrath is well capable of tormenting Lutton.

Difficult with injuries affecting Ulster right now but that is as solid a pack as they could put out, certainly a competitive one. The backline is excellent, full of quality. I can see Ulster winning this and getting a TBP.

Notch wrote:Diack and Wilson dropped to the bench- pretty damning indictment on them. Henderson and Reidy out of position to accommodate that. That probably is our best available back row, but it just goes to show how weak we are there! We should tell the IRFU that if they have any aspirations to see Henderson at lock again next season they need to let us sign an injury replacement for Coetzee

Reidy deserves recognition, but I'm not sure he's physical enough to be an 8. I like Reidy. He can play bit if he gets into space and he runs good support lines but we're really relying on Henderson to step it up several gears in terms of his own performance. The next best carrier after him in that pack is Peter Browne and then there's clear daylight. Huge amount of pressure on his shoulders and he's had a few quiet games.

It's a relief to see Furlong start ahead of Ross but McGrath is well capable of tormenting Lutton.

According to Ferris, Ulster Rugby are in talks with the IRFU about getting an injury replacement for Coetzee. Hopefully Nucifora allows it, but not very optimistic.

eirebilly wrote:Difficult with injuries affecting Ulster right now but that is as solid a pack as they could put out, certainly a competitive one. The backline is excellent, full of quality. I can see Ulster winning this and getting a TBP.

A TBP might be stretching it, but I am quietly confident of a win. Much will depend on how the backrow fuctions, and if Henderson can hit top form. I think he will.

At home and with that backline, should be aiming for a TBP. The forwards may struggle but they are not that bad to allow Leinster to dominate there.

Should be a cracking game either way

It should be a great game. Really looking forward to it. I don't think we need the TBP. A win would see us in top 6, and give us a chance of top 4. A Cardiff loss v Ospreys will also give us a top 6 place.

Just watching the game here - I absolutely love watching our backline when they are on song. Marshall coming in at first receiver and providing some excellent dummy lines, McCloskey with some subtle handling alongside his robust carrying, Jackson just providing the usual playmaking genius and Payne providing a real threat from the back. This is all without Gilroy and with Olding on the bench.

The more I see scholes the more I want the little ginger to stay. Can we make sure his contract says he has to come back to us in a couple of years

Ulster in the lead, but Leinster looked like they had the momentum towards the end of the half. Definitely in the balance.

I must have a gap in my rugby rules knowledge because I can't see much difference from what Fitz just did and Marshall tackling Nacewa early in the first half when he was on track to collect a pass and canter through a large gap. Can anyone educate me?

Paddy is just brilliant

Did we bring in a new backs coach for this game. Brilliant stuff from our backline. Jackson is completely outplaying Sexton.

Paddy flipping Jackson. Unbelievable skill.

I want to see the day when the ireland match daybsquad contains Jackson McCloskey Olding and Marshall. We could decimate teams with those boys

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Paddy flipping Jackson. Unbelievable skill.

Then why kick after such a great phase of play? I watch a lot of super rugby and they never do that when entering the opposition 22!

VinceWLB wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Paddy flipping Jackson. Unbelievable skill.

Then why kick after such a great phase of play? I watch a lot of super rugby and they never do that when entering the opposition 22!

At a guess it's because he doesn't play super rugby and has grown up playing in the NH. Although I do agree I doing like to see a ten kicking the ball in the opponent's 22 unless they have a penalty advantage.

Engine#4 wrote:I must have a gap in my rugby rules knowledge because I can't see much difference from what Fitz just did and Marshall tackling Nacewa early in the first half when he was on track to collect a pass and canter through a large gap.  Can anyone educate me?

Nacewa ran into Marshall so was a collision not a tackle

Haha what a statement by Jackson!

Paddy Jackson really showing the overrated Madigan who is the boss!

Get in jackson

Drop goal the conversion and go for the BP try.

Well Joe? What do you think?

Faaaaaaaaaack. So close

That should have been a TBP, about the only mistake Scholes made all game

Great stuff from Ulster, some overrated Leinster players badly shown up here.

Good win by Ulster and the best result for Glasgow as well!