Ulster v Leicester team news

First topic message reminder :

Reading between the lines my guess is the team will be

Court
Best
Fitzpatrick
Tuohy
Muller
HendersonWilliams
Wilson
Henry
Marshall
Jackson
Trimble
Marshall
Cave
Bowe
Payne

Bench:
Black
Herring
Afoa (doubt)Lutton
Diack/Stevenson
WilliamsHenderson
Pienaer
Olding
Allen

Biarritz are washed up.

Their benefactor has pulled the plug and they are, by some distance, the worse team in the Top-14.

Relegation beckons and they wont be coming back to the top teir anytime some.
One of the reasons their is talk of a Basque team.

Having been there this summer and been to Bayonne as well I think Bayonne are likely to say 'up yours you didn't give any thought about us when we were in the 2nd tier why should we consider you now you are 2nd tier' or words to that effect.
The rivalry is a fierce one.

Incidently bumped in to Rory and Simon Best in Biarritz - taking a boys weekend after the Lions tour. Fair play to them flew with us on Ryan Air and didn't seek any special treatment just queued with us plebs - good man.

Back on topic Gilroy is reported as being out as expected.

Afoa, at best, will be the bench

geoff998rugby wrote:Fair play to them flew with us on Ryan Air and didn't seek any special treatment just queued with us plebs - good man.

I thought special treatment on Ryanair was them not crashing the plane or losing your luggage....

rodders wrote:

geoff998rugby wrote:Fair play to them flew with us on Ryan Air and didn't seek any special treatment just queued with us plebs - good man.

I thought special treatment on Ryanair was them not crashing the plane or losing your luggage....

Aye but you pay extra for that

 

Rory visiting Biarritz eh?
Was he going over to see what he could have had or are they offering him even more money....not that they have any to offer anymore

Gilroy out should mean Payne will be at 15 with Trimbs and Bowe on the wings or will Allen retain his place?

What time is the team announcement?

Anyone?

Eh?

You are allright Biarritz have no money and will be in L2 next year  

Lunchtime today should be the team announcement

Ulster XV and replacements to face Leicester Tigers, Heineken Cup, Ravenhill, Friday 11th October (kick off 20:00);

(15-9): J Payne, A Trimble, D Cave, L Marshall, T Bowe, P Jackson, P Marshall; (1-8): T Court, R Best, D Fitzpatrick, J Muller (Captain), D Tuohy, R Wilson, C Henry, N Williams; Replacements (16-23): R Herring, C Black, R Lutton, I Henderson, R Diack, R Pienaar, S Olding, M Allen

Noa Afoa.

As expected really and what great impact off the bench. I am feeling a bit more confident now. Only a bit mind.

Henderson unlucky and Williams fortunate on form although the latter does give our scrum serious ballast from the base.

I'd have gone with Diack at 6 but hey ho...strong looking bench.

#SUFTCAB

not bad only 1 out - williams starting henderson on the bench.

lutton on the bench is a big relief

A relief to see Lutton there. Thought Pienaar might have started, along with Diack, with Williams on the bench.

Tigers Team:

15 Niall Morris
14 Miles Benjamin
13 Vereniki Goneva
12 Dan Bowden
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Toby Flood (c)
9 Ben Youngs
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Louis Deacon
5 Geoff Parling
6 Ed Slater
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Neil Briggs
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Fraser Balmain
19 Graham Kitchener
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 David Mele
22 Owen Williams
23 Terrence Hepetema

Couldn't really think of a tougher place/time for Benjamin to make his first start, same for Hepetema on the bench. But with injuries to Allen (a huge loss, he is the glue in the midfield with Goneva and Bowden together the defence will be interesting!), Smith, Manu, Tait, Hamilton, Camacho and Scully Cockers didn't really have much choice. Can't see anything but an Ulster win myself, if we scrape an LBP I'd be delighted but even that is relying on a massive performance from the pack. Too many injuries (Croft, Mafi + those mentioned) / unavailabilities (Ayerza, Matera)  to hope for a win really!

What a bench...

Wilson's workrate at the breakdown will be most welcome. Hopefully it will mean snappier ball from Marshall.

If ulster can gain parity up front I can see us winning With a decent margin. That's a big 'if' though.

Agreed but we do have a very solid front row on the bench.

The rest of the bench has impact written all over it

I'd say the roar when Pienaar takes the pitch will be something else.

That is one moment I will be recording for posterity Don. Welcome back our loyal Bokke

Big game for Niall Morris too who must be eyeing up a place on the Ireland team.

Looking forward to seeing 15 Niall Morris, I wonder if it is decided that Payne's future is at 13 will Ulster be making a move for him in the summer?

Just saying as he is a quality IQ fullback, and don't know how long he is on a tigers contract for?

Kingshu wrote:Looking forward to seeing 15 Niall Morris, I wonder if it is decided that Payne's future is at 13 will Ulster be making a move for him in the summer?

Just saying as he is a quality IQ fullback, and don't know how long he is on a tigers contract for?

Until 2015, signed up last year despite interest from Leinster, another unnamed Irish province and various French sides.

Getting excited!!!!

The weather here is gorgeous! Cold and sunny. Great for running rugby!

I'd be surprised if Niall opted to leave as he turned down Leinster last summer and he is a Leinster lad. Tomorrow night will be a big chance for him to make a statement as he has played for the Wolfhounds and will want to step up. If he can go toe to toe with Payne and come out on top then the Irish management will be definitely taking notice.

geoff998rugby wrote: 

Metal Tiger wrote:

Taffineastbourne wrote:I am looking forward to this game as it is going to be a close call.Ulster to edge it by 3 points.

To be honest I can't see past an Ulster win. I think a tonking is on the cards as we are just missing too many players out injured. Justfor once I wish we could start the HEC with a fully fit team. its no less than Ulster deserve.

Well Pienaer will not start, Afoa will (almost certaintly) be missing, as will Wallace, as will Gilroy, as will McAllister, as will Lutton and of course Ferris.
We are particularly short in the Prop department.
Same as last year - Leicester do not have a monopoly on players missing.

Getting your excuses in early eh

Not really... more a case of disappointment. We have a very good tight 5, a good but somewhat slow back row, international half backs and the rest are academy or out of position.

We will be competitive in the pack but there is a distinct lack of cutting edge in the backs.

formerly known as Sam wrote:I'd be surprised if Niall opted to leave as he turned down Leinster last summer and he is a Leinster lad. Tomorrow night will be a big chance for him to make a statement as he has played for the Wolfhounds and will want to step up. If he can go toe to toe with Payne and come out on top then the Irish management will be definitely taking notice.

Yeah He could have Geordie's Ireland shirt to add to his Leicester one.

I think Murphy is one of the reasons he has decided to stay. He's clearly been mentored by Geordie and has been shown you can be an Ireland international playing outside of Ireland. Morris is tall, strong and solid which seems to be what Ireland look for in a 15. The fact he can kick well and has a good turn of pace should help his cause. Sadly he isn't magical unlike Murphy.

Slightly concerned that i'm finding it so hard to see how Tigers can win this. A LBP would be a good result but I can't really see past a bit of a thrashing.

Then again I felt the same last week but the team showed plenty of bottle in the last 10 to nick a draw when Saints should have won comfortably.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote:Slightly concerned that i'm finding it so hard to see how Tigers can win this. A LBP would be a good result but I can't really see past a bit of a thrashing.

Then again I felt the same last week but the team showed plenty of bottle in the last 10 to nick a draw when Saints should have won comfortably.

Ulster have not performed well this season in terms of the backline firing. The win over the Ospreys was a grinding win. Also remember that Northampton beat them last season in Ravenhill. In sport anything can happen. Paddy Jackson has a low kicking percentage this season.


Having said that I expect them to be a bit more clinical and I think having Bowe back, their bench and being at home will see them home. I've backed them in a double with Munster (which comes to about 4/5) but in sport anything can happen.

What time is kick off?

profitius wrote:Paddy Jackson has a low kicking percentage this season.

Whilst being far from having complete faith in him, can I point out that last weekend jackson kicked 6 out of 6 from all over the park...

Rodders, i think KO is at 8pm

I believe it is 8pm ko.

Looking forward to a good game. Is the decent weather still holding?

Good job lads. Jeebus wish I was going.

#suftcab

Yep, sunny and pretty blue skies.

Wouldn't mind getting some driving rain into the faces of the visitors tonight though. We'll just have to make it as hostile as possible for them in every other way. And wind up Ben Youngs!

Roger Wilson knows all about the Tigers from his time with the Saints, I think he'll be our key man in the back row. They'll surely double mark Nick Williams when we move him into midfield but that'll open up space for our flankers to carry around the ruck and I'd like to see Wilson making some half-breaks in tight quarters.

Notch wrote:
Roger Wilson knows all about the Tigers from his time with the Saints, I think he'll be our key man in the back row. .  

Well according to Crozier he knows them so well because he spent 4 years at Welford Road. 
This on top of his article saying Pienaer have definitely gone to Toulon a couple of days back means he is having a really bad week.

Reminds me of a couple of years ago when he expressed concern at Paddy Wallace returning for a big HC game after a 12 week layoff
Trouble was Paddy had played the previous week and had won MOTM  

The man is a complete and utter useless tube and is openly mocked in the Ulster camp - they think he is a joke

He's openly mocked outside the Ulster camp too  

I saw that touching piece about Roger Wilson and Ed Slater being potential team mates had Wilson stayed with Leicester... so much factually wrong with it I don't know where to start. Not only is he clueless about rugby he seemingly can't use wikipedia or google either  

Still, would be pretty nice if the Belfast Telegraph could use that sorry excuse of an article for their excuse to actually go out and hire a sports journalist who knows the first thing about rugby. Or that has the wit to look up basic facts before publishing.

Has anyone ever seen Niall Crozier, Conor George, and George Hook in the same room?

Hmmmmm..... Thought not.

If Niall Crozier is who I think he is you could make three of him from George Hook and still have bits left over!!!

Don't think anyone would mix them up. He's the height of non-sense in more ways than one!

C'mon Ulster - give them a thrashing from the Rabo !

Mon Ulster. SUFTUM

Great score. Perfect kick, great catch - got way up there to make the catch.

Updates please!

Tommy Bowe does it again. Where's Cari?

7 Ulster - 10 Leicester. 20 minutes in.
Flood just kicked a penalty - Ravenhill was quiet as a desert at night for the kick - as it should be.

Ben Youngs's kicking game isn't too hot right now.

Cheers doc!

Ravenhill looks great on tv tonight. They are doing a fantastic job with it.
Can't wait to see it finished.

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:C'mon Ulster - give them a thrashing from the Rabo !

Don't jump on Ulsters coattails.

At least the rivalry between us is based on respect.

Great try by Bowe.

As I suspected Tigers are competing in the forwards well but despite a great start I still think we look rocky in the backs.

Flood is not kicking well and I expect Ulster to keep the pressure up here.

I still think this will be Ulsters day but at least we are making a fight of it.

Tiiiiiiigggggggggeeeeeerrrrrrssssss!!!!