HEC: Ulster v Treviso. Sat 6pm

First topic message reminder :

Seeing as everyone else has a match thread........

So for Ulster we should be hoping we can BP this team though any win will do. Paddy Wallace back in the mix though not likely to feature given our backs look ok. Bowe, Muller and Pienaar to return with Payne still a bloody doubt. 

Word on Uafc is Paddy Mac has done his hammy and will be gone for 4-6 weeks as well although he wasn't going to feature anyway


Treviso (I assume. Cant read Italian) 

I just wish Ferris could get an injury free run. It's all he wants to do, play rugby, and his hopes are dashed so often. It's gutting for him.

Just rewatched the game there. On the face of it 48-0 is a superb result at this level but in terms of the performance I think we are flattered a bit by it. The pass for the final try was clearly forward and although our outside backs played some excellent stuff there were also far too many handling errors and forced passes. We won't get away with that against the better teams. Trimbs and Marshall being the main culprits of lacking composure with the ball.

That said the scrum dominance was very pleasing against a big Treviso pack. Touhy, Cave, and Marshall really made a point to the Irish selectors and pushed Herring for the MOTM. Jackson looked good too and Doyle showed his value as a natural 7.

All round a lot of positives, especially given we are missing Best, Bowe, Williams, Henry, Ferris etc. but plenty to work on too with much tougher games coming up.

Quite a bit of rustiness to get out of the system to be fair.

I would say Gilroy, Pienaer, Muller, Afoa call came into the game undercooked and needed the run out
+ Payne is still not 100%

We are fortunate we have Treviso away, Zebre home, Leinster away for our next 3 fixtures.
We can get these guys up to speed in that time and re introduce Henry

Come Munster at home we can then get Hendo, Stevenson and Williams back into the set up before the 2 HC games.

Basically the fixture list allows us to improve the team , maintain the results and get players back from injury in a controlled fashion. No need to rush anyone back

I do agree with Rodders though. We were a bit sloppy and Treviso were very poor.

We watched the Leinster game afterwards and they were a class above what we produced even with our scoreline.

Still, job done points wise.

Standulstermen wrote:If henshaw plays that well then we have the discussion...

Well then...  

Plenty of players put their hand up for that 13 jersey this weekend, it's great to see, perhaps Cave's outburst inspired some of those performances?

theslosty wrote:

Standulstermen wrote:If henshaw plays that well then we have the discussion...

Well then...  

Plenty of players put their hand up for that 13 jersey this weekend, it's great to see, perhaps Cave's outburst inspired some of those performances?

I think a lot of people put their hands up for every jersey this weekend! ...except poor Johnny Sexton maybe .....

theslosty wrote:

Standulstermen wrote:If henshaw plays that well then we have the discussion...

Well then...  

Plenty of players put their hand up for that 13 jersey this weekend, it's great to see, perhaps Cave's outburst inspired some of those performances?

Really good from Henshaw today. Very, very impressed. Was he not playing 15 though? He is an exceptional talent. That said Cave has been my motm for ulsters last three games so I still think he deserves a show. Plenty of time yet though

Ye he played 15 which i think is his best position myself.

If Payne is seen as a 13 then i think Henshaw should stay at 15 and vice versa.

I honestly don't know his best position. I think his best games have been at 15. Realistically Griffin is going next year so there is a spot there for him

Is Griffin definitly off? To munster is it?

He has asked to go I believe.

OK after all the positivity about the general state of the provinces and Irish rugby....

What's the thoughts on this group now? Leicester look in a pretty good position in terms of bonus points.

I have a feeling the tigers may win next week and if so, do we need 10 from our next 2 plus a win at Welford Rd to ensure qualification?

I think this pool will go right down to the wire and it could be the Tigers will go in to the new year in the driving seat because of the bonus point at Ravenhill and 5 pointer this week.

I think the best they will do is 4 from Montpellier. If we get  5 that's us 3 clear. If Leicester can BP monty on a Sunday afternoon I would back us to BP on a freezing Friday night in January. Treviso will be a different animal by then for good or ill. I think we can take 23 points and a healthy 3/4 point lead into welford road. Looking a LBP I back us to get it. Especially if we get our guys back with a game or two together under their belt. How many games has our actual first team played together this season? 

I take our first team to be

Court
Best
Afoa
Tuohy
Muller
Diack
Henry
Williams
Pienaar
Jackson
Bowe
Marshall 
Cave
Trimble
Payne

It must be two at most I would think.

If Leicester win next week my money is on 2 teams getting out of this group.

23 points will get us through for sure but if we lose in Welford Road we may well be away.

No that's fair enough stand, the point is heading into the Christmas period with only a 3 point lead puts Tigers in control because we have the tougher fixtures in the new year.

I'm not saying we aren't capable of it but really I would prefer not having to win at Welford rd to qualify - here's hoping Montpellier do us a favour next week.

geoff998rugby wrote:If Leicester win next week my money is on 2 teams getting out of this group.

23 points will get us through for sure but if we lose in Welford Road we may well be away.

Yeah I think this is a very likely scenario Geoff, but hopefully we can top the group.

I disagree. Despite the tigers result yesterday have they actually done something they weren't really half expected to do? As I see it the only result of significance so far in the group was ours in Montpellier. I'm not giving Leicester any credit just yet. That's harsh but I'm determined not to talk them up too much yet. We can do that the week of the game. We could end next week 7 points ahead of them.

Well yeah stand I think the key thing is that Tigers got a bonus at Ravenhill and all 5 against Montpellier which cuts a potential 5 or 4 point lead for Ulster to only 3 points.

That is massively significant because it means unless the Tigers lose next week (touch wood), Ulster would likely have to win at Welford rather than come away with a point to top the group.

if the Tigers win next week I think the group is in more in their hands than ours.

Any way of watching the whole game. I know a lot of full Ulster games go up on youtube but haven't seen one yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pete, the Youtube User I subscribe to has every game bar the Ulster one. I may be wrong, but I think it was on like a red button option maybe? I remember it being pretty hard going even finding a stream for it at the time.

Perhaps these guys could all only record the leinster game or the ulster game and understandably chose Leinster v northampton.

I'll PM the Youtube users channel to you anyway. Its always useful to have!

legend!