Ulster Rugby 2018-19

First topic message reminder :

https://www.606v2.com/t68145-ulster-rugby-2017-2018-part-2


Last thread was at risk of self combusting, so started a new one for you. 


Bye.

Probably more to do with mccluskey and Marshall making Scannell look like a world beater.

Stringer probably wanted to show solidarity with the home-grown Munsterman. because they nearly fielded as many blow-ins as Ulster.

Two missed tackles from our two new down under contingent for Conway's try...

Any of you Ulster boys able to help me with a little query.

Ferris, playing for Ulster - one of his big moments - he picks up a guy and runs with him in his arms for about 15 metres.

I've been trying to remember the team or the player on another thread. Anybody here remember it?

I think you are looking for this Fly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry8PZINojgo

Scarlets and Kristian Phillips I think

That's the one, Womble. Thanks for that; the link and the team info.

clivemcl wrote:Two missed tackles from our two new down under contingent for Conway's try...

I think Faddes has been a dreadful signing from what I've seen of him so far.

I can't see what hole Faddes was brought in to fill. We have Stockdale, Ludik and Gilroy and some very good young wingers, and he has demonstrated over the last few weeks that he is not even at Pro14 standard in the centre.

Cunningham hasn't been massively impressive in the transfer market.

Maybe Faddes hasn't acclimatised but Jamie Lannister might have better hands.
Marty Moore is undoubtedly a good player but injured a tad too much - same for Addison.
Billy Burns, Jack McGrath and Sam Carter have been OK but not enhancing their reputations much.
Jordi Murphy has been the most solid signing.

Geoff used to defend Cunningham because supposedly his hands were tied, by Shane Lowry, Clarke/Doak, Kiss, Nucifora , the IRFU and probably Sparky as well. Were his hands really tied or is he just not up to the job?

For all the clear out of the 'dead wood' in the backroom staff last year, has anyone noticed an improvement in S&C or injury reduction?

Well in fairness on the injury front we have been signing players with poor injury records (Moore, Addison, Marcel etc.) anyway so its not as if we've made them much worse.

Maybe I'm being harsh on Faddes but for a guy brought in to give us a bit more experience in the outside backs he's made far too many basic handling errors and missed tackles.

If he were a bit better I could let it slide... but when you have Him and Carter to compare against say Lowe and Fardy, or perhaps soon... De Allende and Snyman at Munster.

Ok so we can't knock Coetzee - we have him and Jordi Murphy proving to be class signings. Cooney has been great too like.

But Faddes has been of a standard that you question why he should be taking gametime off our younger players.

clivemcl wrote:If he were a bit better I could let it slide... but when you have Him and Carter to compare against say Lowe and Fardy, or perhaps soon... De Allende and Snyman at Munster.

Ok so we can't knock Coetzee - we have him and Jordi Murphy proving to be class signings. Cooney has been great too like.

But Faddes has been of a standard that you question why he should be taking gametime off our younger players.

Totally agree, I mean Faddes has made so many errors you may as well throw one of the young guys in for experience. I suspect we thought we were getting another Jared Payne.

Cooney and Murphy have been great, hopefully McGrath will prove the same, but these players came to us via the IRFU, it's some of these overseas signings that are highly questionable, Coetzee being the exception.

Anyone guessing the team?

Addison, Gilroy, Marshall, McCloskey, Stockdale, Burns, Cooney

McGrath, Herring, Moore, Henderson, Carter, Reidy, Murphy, Coetzee

Bench, McBurney, O'Sullivan, O'Toole, Treadwell, Timoney, Shanahan, Johnston, Ludik

(15-9) Will Addison, Rob Lyttle, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney.

(1-8) Jack McGrath, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Iain Henderson (Capt.), Sam Carter, Matthew Rea, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee.

Replacements: Adam McBurney, Eric O'Sullivan, Tom O'Toole, Alan O'Connor, Sean Reidy, David Shanahan, Angus Curtis, Louis Ludik.

Appears johnston hasn't been able to get 2nd choice OH and may be 4th when Lowery returns. Fair play to Curtis though.
Faddes disappoinint a NIQ doesnt earn a start in the big game, needs to find form.

Lyttles form rewarded and Gilroy left out, hopefully we see good use of the squad over the next run of games.

Thought Reidy played well against Munster but happy to see another Ulsterman start. Hope Addison doesnt break.

On paper this is a teamsheet we would have been pretty over the moon to see at times last season. This team really ought to be performing at a high level.
But if they replicate their league form, we will unceremoniously be dumped out of Europe early on.
Really need guys like McCloskey, Cooney, Addison and Carter to refind their greatness, and need our returning Internationals to be super motivated to put in big performances after a poor world cup showing.

Matt Faddes must be having a long moment with himself in front of the mirror.

It's an old cliche but bonus points are going to be crucial in this pool.

A deserved Ulster win, but still too many handling errors from low percentage plays. Carter was better than last week and it will stretch Ulster if he's out for any length of time.

Yes we'll have to improve if we want to progress but great to start with an away win.

We almost threw it away at the end but sometimes you need to ride your luck a bit.

(15-9) Will Addison, Louis Ludik, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney.

(1-8) Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson (Capt.), Sean Reidy, Jordi Murphy, Marcell Coetzee.

Replacements: Adam McBurney, Kyle McCall, Tom O’Toole, Kieran Treadwell, Nick Timoney, David Shanahan, Bill Johnston, Craig Gilroy.

Great game Ulster. Congrats

To dominate Clermont for virtually the entire game is impressive. Phenomenal defence and lineout work really laid the foundation.

Need to sort out the attacking game plan because there is no way Clermont deserved to be within reach of a LBP or without the hindrance of a couple of JP clangers possibly more.

Well done Ulster. Penalty count higher than normal but great work. Team effort and self belief.

Looks at least 4 wins (depends on Quinn's efforts for the double header) so should finish second but might lose out on first with not enough TBPs. Ulster I think on current form over the last two years are comfortably Top 4 in the Pro14 and Top 8 in Europe.

Absolutely great result.

Hard to gauge where Ulster are though because Clermont were so poor and uninterested.

Great performance but good result.

Allowing Clermont a losing bonus could come back to bite us in the end but hope I'm wrong. Really they deserved nothing from the game but it is suppose a credit to their attacking quality that they could have won it despite us outplaying them from most of the game.

Coetzee was just awesome again but equally good again was Cooney, who must be the best no 9 in the country right now. Herring, Moore and Jordi Murphy all had great games as well.

In the back line Ludik was incredible and could have been MOTM, Addison was quality at the back again. I am delighted to say I was totally wrong about Billy Burns, he is starting to look like a real top class player and could force himself in the Irish frame this season, if he can stay fit.

Clermont lost the game at half-back. If Parra and Lopez had started, CA might have come away with +5 rather than -3 points so Azema only has himself to blame. Under floodlights on a cold wet night in front of a hostile crowd Clermont always struggle - it's because of their cultural DNA. They pride themselves on their Joué joué style (like Racing) but when something else is required they sulk because they aren't able to play with their favourite toy. Azema picked Laidlaw and McIntyre whom he thought had the skills to play 'proche proche' rugby, but instead they tried to Joué joué and fell completely between two stools.
Parra and Lopez at least would have had the outside backs on their wavelength and that might have been just enough even if it wasn't suited to the Belfast climate.

Damn, Addison banned for 4 weeks for a dangerous tackle.

Decent team;
Scarlets: S Evans, Baldwin, S Hughes (capt), Asquith, M Williams; D Jones, Hardy; P Price, Elias, Lee, Rawlins, Lousi, Cassiem, Macleod, Thomson.

Replacements: M Jones, D Evans, Kruger, Cummins, J Morgan, J Evans, Lamb, Conbeer.

They're also without Ratuva who receives a 3 week ban, but in comes Lousi who is probably a like-for-like.

I'd heard he was Lousi.

rodders wrote:Damn, Addison banned for 4 weeks for a dangerous tackle.

I was surprised at the time he didn't even concede a penalty for the challenge. 4 week ban is a bit harsh as it was more terrible technique than intended. Those are the rules these days, can't go anywhere near the head.

Not a bad start tonight

Scarlets 11 is having a mare, his opposite man playing very well though.

Excellent result Ulster and Matt Faddes makes an appearance for two tries. It’s all up from here.

Hopefully that will give Faddes some confidence as thus far he looks to be struggling with the speed of thought required, and doesn't seem very pitch aware. For example he never should have stepped in touch under no pressure, and he didn't just clip the line but was about a foot over it. Then there was the time when Gilroy made a break and was obviously drawing the defence to look for an offload, which when it came Matt wasn't ready and looked shocked as it bounced off his chest.

I really would like to see more of Angus Curtis. Can anybody arrange that for me? And I mean see him playing.

rodders wrote:

clivemcl wrote:Two missed tackles from our two new down under contingent for Conway's try...

I think Faddes has been a dreadful signing from what I've seen of him so far.  

Didn’t see the game. Improved?

Faddes had a better game at the Stoop, not great but improving. Henderson too is improving. Cooney the man yet again making far more good decisions than bad.

Cooney must be an early contender for European player of the season. The man has been playing his socks off. Great result for Ulster again.

Surprised that Eric O’Sullivan didn’t get a call-up from Farrell. But Tom O’Toole did. Congrats to him.

Surprised O'Toole got a call and not Moore who has been playing really well.

Just realised Moore is in there - makes it stranger that O'Toole is also in.

Can he play both sides?

Furlong, Moore, O’Toole/Porter
Healy, Porter/O’Toole, Kilcoyne
N Scannell, Herring, Heffernan, Kelleher
Ryan, Toner, Kleyn, Henderson, Roux, Dillane
O’Mahony, Ruddock
v d Flier, Connors
Stander, Doris, Deegan
Murray, McGrath, Blade, Cooney, Gibson-Park
Sexton, Carbery, R Byrne, Burns
Aki, McCloskey, R Scannell
Ringrose, Farrell, Henshaw
Stockdale, Earls, Conway, D Kearney
Larmour, Haley, Addison

I thought it would have been Eric O'Sullivan from what I seen earlier in the season.

O'Toole must be in for experience and because Furlong has a broken ankle (strange then that Tadhg is in). The call over John Ryan must be down to O'Toole's superiority carrying in the loose.
O'Sullivan is a tackling machine but not as effective going forward.
That theme runs through the side with strong carrying players like Heffernan, Kelleher, Doris, Deegan, McCloskey and Farrell all in the mix.

When did furlong break his ankle ?

The Great Aukster wrote:O'Toole must be in for experience and because Furlong has a broken ankle (strange then that Tadhg is in). The call over John Ryan must be down to O'Toole's superiority carrying in the loose.
O'Sullivan is a tackling machine but not as effective going forward.
That theme runs through the side with strong carrying players like Heffernan, Kelleher, Doris, Deegan, McCloskey and Farrell all in the mix.

Tadgh Furlong - Leinster TH Prop.
Tadgh Beirne - Munster Lock.

I know all these Tadhgs all look the same but still....

Pot Hale wrote:

The Great Aukster wrote:O'Toole must be in for experience and because Furlong has a broken ankle (strange then that Tadhg is in). The call over John Ryan must be down to O'Toole's superiority carrying in the loose.
O'Sullivan is a tackling machine but not as effective going forward.
That theme runs through the side with strong carrying players like Heffernan, Kelleher, Doris, Deegan, McCloskey and Farrell all in the mix.

Tadgh Furlong - Leinster TH Prop.
Tadgh Beirne - Munster Lock.

I know all these Tadhgs all look the same but still....

So it's.Beirne who broke his ankle? Makes more sense now

Ulster team to play Leinster, Guinness PRO14 Round 8, Friday 20 December at the RDS Arena (kick-off 7.35pm, live on Premier Sports / eir Sport):

(15-9) Rob Lyttle, Craig Gilroy, Matt Faddes, Angus Curtis, Angus Kernohan, Bill Johnston, David Shanahan.

(1-8) Andrew Warwick, Adam McBurney, Tom O’Toole, David O’Connor, Alan O’Connor (Capt.), Matthew Rea, Nick Timoney, Greg Jones.

Replacements: John Andrew, Kyle McCall, Ross Kane, Jack Regan, Azur Allison, Jonny Stewart, Stewart Moore, Ethan McIlroy.

Wow - McFarland targeting home game shocker! Putting this 'B&I Cup' team out could get ugly very quickly.
These guys need game time but will a thumping do them any good?

Looking forward to seeing Moore and McIlroy off the bench with zero pressure.

I have a strangely good feeling about tonight's match