Treviso v Ulster

Early indications are that the following are not available for differing reasons:

Wannenberg, McCormish, Fitzpatrick, Payne - injury
Trimble, Best, Ferris, Court - Ireland rests

Cave and Muller good to go so I speculate -

McAllister, Kyriacou, Afoa, Muller, Tuohy, Henry, Diack, Faloon, Pienaer, Humphreys, Gilroy, Wallace, Cave, Spence, Terblanche

Bench: Black, Brady,Macklin, Stevenson, Joyce or McComb, Marshall, Marshall, D'Arcy

Down to bare bones in the backrow

I would personally start Darcy and play Terblanche on the wing.

Without being disrespectful to the italians, a bonus point win is an absolute must from the next two games.

Hopefully we dont suffer from whatever Munster suffered from recently.

Bonus pont win against Treviso in Treviso is incredibly hard to come by Clive. Depends on whether or not their Italy contingent is back I suppose.

Considering we have a very similar run in to the Blues, I would suggest that the bonus points in the games against Aironi and Treviso could be the decider. Every game is vital from here in. Hopefully Leinster field a weak team on April 20th with the number one spot in the bag.

Lets not forget theres a chance Ospreys could slip below both of us... So hope BOD has a good return for Leinster this weekend!

I would settle for a 1 point away to Treviso - I think expecting a bonus point win is completely unrealistic.

They will be at full strength - except Botes who is injured

How many teams have gotten the BP in Treviso this season Clive? Not many. Plenty of teams have gone over there expecting an easy ride and walked into an ambush.

In all seriousness, I would love us to get 5 points in every game between now and the end of the league stage but the game is greatly complicated by the presence of the opposition.

Any kind of win at all against Treviso would be a good result- against Aironi we simply must get the full five points however.

Sorry, I didnt realise we were hoping for mediocracy....

I'm not saying Treviso are easy, I'm saying I want us to be good enough to get a bonus point.

If you hope for a 1 point Geoff, does that mean you hope Cardiff lose to them? We need to create the difference somewhere.

Don't be an ass man, there's such a thing as being realistic about your teams prospects. I'm hoping we get a bonus point win every time we go on the field. I'm not going to throw away my season ticket if we don't because it's not always that easy.

Saying your team is going to get a BP every time is just arrogant. We got tripped up at Cardiff because we got a bit cocky.

And yep. it's very possible that Cardiff will indeed lose to them No-one would be surprised by that result. No-one would be surprised if we lost to them for that matter but I don't think we will.

Notch wrote:Don't be an ass man, there's such a thing as being realistic about your teams prospects. I'm hoping we get a bonus point win every time we go on the field. I'm not going to throw away my season ticket if we don't because it's not always that easy.

Saying your team is going to get a BP every time is just arrogant. We got tripped up at Cardiff because we got a bit cocky.

And yep. it's very possible that Cardiff will indeed lose to them No-one would be surprised by that result. No-one would be surprised if we lost to them for that matter but I don't think we will.

Who said that?

A Bonus point win away to Treviso isnt very realistic. Didnt they win the reverse fixture? I think youll win but it should be close enough and they should be favourites

Well this is one of the tougher away fixtures in the league when Treviso have their full strength team out.

If we want to be a team who is in the top 4, and with aspirations of winning the league, you have to target some games as 5 pointers. To go out and hope for the best is hardly a winning attitude.

Again, for those hard of hearing, I don'tt think Treviso are easy, I just believe (and want) us to be THAT good.

I think we should be capable of 5points there. I won't throw my toys out of the pram if they dont manage it. But it certainly should be something our players should be able to achieve.

'tougher'? Ok so that implies they are in the majority side of the teams which areharder to beat away than those who are easier. 11 sides apart from us. So my maths tells me you think there are 5 teams in the league who are easier opposition away from home.

Who do you think they are?

Look, I understand, we prefer to come across meek and humble and are afraid of appearing cocky, but that is no reason to undersell your ambitions and targets.

Yeah, great, I want us to be that good too.

i'm just saying if we get early shots at goal, we take them. We win the game first before we even start thinking about the bonus point. Because if they give you chances to take the points and you miss them, they are well capable of beating us.

clivemcl wrote:'tougher'? Ok so that implies they are in the majority side of the teams which areharder to beat away than those who are easier. 11 sides apart from us. So my maths tells me you think there are 5 teams in the league who are easier opposition away from home.

When they have their strongest team out, yes. Ask Biarritz and Ospreys about that. They have their strongest team out. We do not.

Notch wrote:Well this is one of the tougher away fixtures in the league when Treviso have their full strength team out.

clivemcl wrote:'tougher'? Ok so that implies they are in the majority side of the teams which areharder to beat away than those who are easier. 11 sides apart from us. So my maths tells me you think there are 5 teams in the league who are easier opposition away from home.

If we were playing them in the international window, yes, BP is realistic. They don't have much depth. When they have their strongest team out, no. Ask Biarritz and Ospreys about that. They have their strongest team out. We do not.

I'm not saying we go out and hope for the best, I'm saying we go all out and win the game then worry about the BP if it's there. They give away a lot of penalties, you kick them and build a score, win the game then see what happens regarding the bonus point.

clivemcl wrote:If you hope for a 1 point Geoff, does that mean you hope Cardiff lose to them? We need to create the difference somewhere.

No we have to maintain the difference as we are already ahead of them.

Yes you do target games for 5 points - away to Treviso isn't one of them.
If we get 4 points in Treviso we will be in the top 4.

The Welsh will beat each other a fair bit in the run in e.g.

Blues have to play Scarlets twice, Ospreys, Warriors and Edinburgh
Scarlets play Cardiff twice, Aironi, Edinburgh, Munster

clivemcl wrote:'tougher'? Ok so that implies they are in the majority side of the teams which areharder to beat away than those who are easier. 11 sides apart from us. So my maths tells me you think there are 5 teams in the league who are easier opposition away from home.

Who do you think they are?

Outside the International window - Dragons, Aironi, Edinburgh, Connacht are easier
I would put Treviso on a par wityh Scarlets, Warriors and Cardiff and we lost all of those.

Treviso have suffered in the International windows but at full strength are nobodies fools - this is tough

Ospreys play Leinster Treviso Blues Dragons Aironi

So they could slip up and give us and the Blues the playoff spots. After two weeks we will know better who to cheer for between Ospreys and Blues when they play each other.

Sorry about getting a bit excited up there guys...

I disagree. I think going out to Italy and picking up a bonus point is on the cards. We have a good team and their is a reason why we are pushing for play-offs while they are sitting a fair bit behind.

I think a win is the least we can expect. But to say a bonus point is not realistic, catch yourself on.

It's realistic yet unlikely, but it's not something we should be talking about unless the game goes that way. Away from home, you make sure the game is won then you go for the kill.

I hope we're staying with the Marshall-Pienaar partnership. I think we've got more of a chance of scoring trys with this pair.

First 20 mins is big, if they're in with a shout after this then it could be a very tough game. If we get off to a flyer I think we could get the bonus point.

Will their internationals be back?

Geoff, Wannenberg is named in the provisional squad on the Ulster site.

And Wallace isn't - these initial squads are often less than reliable.

My guess is Wannenberg has yet to be ruled out, but they wont risk him unless absolutely sure.
Wallace missing is,I supect, a simple typo.

Lads. Yiz couldn't beat them up in Ravers ffs. What makes you think you will get a BP over there? With no internationals?

Fair focks to you if you do.

Very different team though. We had 9 players at the World Cup and no Terblanche or Payne.

Only 7 of the players who started that game will start this weekend.
But you are right this ain't easy.

clivemcl wrote:Sorry, I didnt realise we were hoping for mediocracy....

I'm not saying Treviso are easy, I'm saying I want us to be good enough to get a bonus point.

If you hope for a 1 point Geoff, does that mean you hope Cardiff lose to them? We need to create the difference somewhere.

To be honest it doesn't matter if the Blues lose or win (from Ulsters point of view) as the Blues are playing against the Scarlets who are on the same points as them.

4 points would be an excellent return from treviso. I'm not sure how our run in is similar to the blues in that they have to play scarlets twice and we don't have any games against our 4th spot competitors. Leinster are off in the distance and munster will be too.

We will have muller, paddy Wallace, terblanche and afoa so I think we need to target a win certainly but let's just focus on that and see where we are at around 60-70 mins.

geoff998rugby wrote:Very different team though. We had 9 players at the World Cup and no Terblanche or Payne.

Only 7 of the players who started that game will start this weekend.
But you are right this ain't easy.

Or you just read it wrong

FORWARDS:
Callum Black, Tom Court, Adam Macklin, John Afoa, Jerry Cronin, Paddy McAllister, Andi Kyriacou, Nigel Brady, Lewis Stevenson, Dan Tuohy, Johann Muller (captain), Iain Henderson, Tim Barker, Neil McComb, Willie Faloon, Pedrie Wannenburg, Ali Birch, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack

BACKS:
Paul Marshall, Ruan Pienaar, Ian Porter, Ian Humphreys, Luke Marshall, Paddy Wallace, Ian Whitten, Nevin Spence, Darren Cave, Stefan Terblanche, Craig Gilroy, Conor Gaston, Adam D’Arcy

UNAVAILABLE DUE TO INJURY:
Declan Fitzpatrick, Jared Payne, Simon Danielli, Mike McComish

Grandiose predictions of bonus points in tight hard to call games, pedantry over squad anouncements- we need to be careful or we'll turn into the UAFC

I've just read that Treviso haven't won a game in 2012. I'm surprised at that actually. Nevertheless this will be a big test and I will take any sort of a win at this stage. Away bonus points are never easy to come by.
Hope to see Muller and Cave feature in the game at some stage, if they don't start. Good to see Tom Court there. He will be busting to get back into his normal LH position.

I'll throw in this selection for discussion

15. Terblanche
14. Spence
13. Cave
12. Wallace
11. Gilroy
10. Pienaar
9. Marshall
8. Wannenberg (If fit)
7. Faloon
6. Henry
5. Tuohy
4. Muller
3. Afoa
2. Kyriacou
1. Court

If Wannenberg isn't fit then Diack to start at 8.

16. McAllister
17. Macklin
18. Brady
19. Stevenson
20. Diack (or Birch)
21. Humphreys
22. Whitten
23. D'Arcy

Is Henry fit? Achilles injury kept him off the bench against Scotland remember.

Don't know. Assumed he was from the squad announced. Though that's never the best reason to select anyone.

We shall wait and see. All will be revealed.

I've got to say, I hope at least one of them is and hopefully both because I'm not at all keen on going over there and taking on their big pack with a backrow of Birch, Faloon and Diack. That's for sure.

I agree although if that was the case, personally speaking, I would consider starting McComb at 6.

Or even Henderson at 8!

I'm not sure that spence on the wing is better than Terblanche on the wing and darcy at full back. But I wouldn't mind either way. The backline is near enough full strength (I dont think Trimbles absence will hurt us too much).

Forwards will benefit from Mullers return. Big games needed from him, Afoa and Tuohy. Wannenbergs fitness could make a huge difference, but we still have enough class regardless.

We would not play Birch and Faloon in the same back row.
McComb or Tuohy would play 6.

As expected the club have corrected the omission of Wallace from the original list.

Luke Marshall over whitten for me in your squad rava. Forward thinking has to start now and it isnt key in terms of a starting player. Whitten is gone so shouldn't feature as much IMO.

I agree Stand for the Pro12 but I'd have Whitten over Marshall for the Heineken.

I don't think either will make the heineken squad in fairness. I dont think Marshall is even registered.

Have all the Ulster Supporters gone on holiday?

Crisis? What Crisis?

Anyone watching this? It is live on BBC NI, red button. Looking forward to seeing Cave back in action!

I don't have that!
Was already to just pop on BBC! Any kind Ulstermen (or trevison's) with a link?

The internet feed is "experiencing technical difficulties"
Is it the same for red button?

Well you aren't missing much.. BBC seem to be experiencing technical difficulties so the match isn't actually on. GREAT WORK BBC!

Going well so far............
Treviso 7 Ulster 0

So it says - but the match still hasn't actually been shown yet! The BBC are a bunch of plonkers. Technical difficulties STILL.

It isnt actually on the red button. Geoff i think mentioned this yesterday but the beeb did advertise it.

No it is on the red button Stand - they are experiencing technical difficulties though.

Not on my telly it isnt rory. I've been to 303 and 105 and checked the listings on the guide but the only thing i see is final score on 301.

7-3 now

Well I am on the red button now "watching" it. The problem is, all I see is a big screen with the team emblems, the score and a message saying "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties. We hope to bring you match coverage ASAP." They aren't doing a very good job like.