Ulster 2014/2015, Part 2

First topic message reminder :

Part 1; https://www.606v2.com/t53882p950-ulster-2014-2015

We've been rocked with the seismic revelation David Humphreys is leaving the province- indeed has already left- for Gloucester. Anscombe was slated to be seeing out the last year of his contract before being quietly let go but the Humphreys bombshell left him as the odd man out, and he's been pushed out the door. The decision was partly because he was hired to work under a Director of Rugby and Ulster are looking for someone with more experience in the market to take on Humphreys role in addition to the coaching responsibilities. As usual, the rumour mill is on overdrive and opinions are polarised- but this is Ulster Rugby after all. Les Kiss is our interim Director of Rugby and it seems Allen Clarke is filling the role of forwards coach in the short term. More changes or appointments could be forthcoming.

If all that wasn't enough we've been dealt a real group of death in the new Champions Cup- double-winners Toulon will brave the Ravenhill roar along with old friends Leicester Tigers and old foes the Scarlets. All in all, this team should be capable of securing a Top 4 finish at the very least in the Pro12 and we need to target the top two, our prospects in Europe look more occluded- it might come down to best runners-up and our pool promises to be tight and competitive.

Our pre-season concludes when we take on Exeter Chiefs at Ravenhill on Friday the 22nd August and then travel to Donnybrook to face Leinster on Friday the 29th August. It'll be a big relief to see the action at Ravenhill moving from the headlines to the pitch

Players Out
Johann Muller (retired), Paddy Wallace (retired), Stephen Ferris (retired), Chris Cochrane (retired), Chris Farrell (Grenoble), Niall Annett (Worcester), John Afoa (Gloucester), Tom Court (London Irish), James McKinney (Rotherham), David McIlwaine (Rotherham), Paddy McAllister (Aurillac), Sean Doyle (ACT Brumbies), Adam Macklin (Rotherham), Ian Porter (Connacht)

Players In
Franco van der Merwe (Golden Lions), Louis Ludik (Agen), Wiehahn Herbst (Natal Sharks), Ruaidhrí Murphy (ACT Brumbies), Dave Ryan (Zebre), Ian Humphreys (London Irish), Charlie Butterworth (Lansdowne), Sean Reidy (Counties Manukau)

Hookers
Rory Best, Rob Herring (Jonny Murphy, John Andrew*)
Props
Callum Black, Ruaidhrí Murphy, Andrew Warwick, Declan Fitzpatrick, Wiehahn Herbst, Dave Ryan, Ricky Lutton, Bronson Ross, Kyle McCall(?)
Locks
Iain Henderson, Dan Tuohy, Franco van der Merwe, Lewis Stevenson, Neil McComb
Backrow
Robbie Diack, Conor Joyce, Chris Henry, Mike McComish, Sean Reidy, Charlie Butterworth, Nick Williams, Roger Wilson (Clive Ross**)
Scrum-half
Ruan Pienaar, Paul Marshall, Michael Heaney
Outhalf
Paddy Jackson, Ian Humphreys
Centres
Luke Marshall, Stuart Olding, Darren Cave, Stuart McCloskey
Wings
Michael Allen, Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe, Craig Gilroy
Fullback
Louis Ludik, Ricky Andrew, Jared Payne, Peter Nelson

*Academy hookers training with first team squad
**Clive Ross, cousin of Mike, is on trial

Opening fixtures

F; Exeter Chiefs (H)
F; Leinster (A)

Pro12; Scarlets (A)
Pro12; Zebre (H)
Pro12; Cardiff Blues (A)
Pro12; Zebre (A)
Pro12; Edinburgh (H)

ECC; Leicester Tigers (A)
ECC; RC Toulon (H)

The complainants about Payne at 13 don't accept that Cave isn't the answer at 13 either - it was just another example of why Ulster need a better option there. Cave is a Test class defender at 13 but lacks the power and pace to be a Test class attacker.

The Great Aukster wrote:Very impressed by Reidy in attack and defence, plays with his head up.
Ross is a lump and prepared to put himself about without giving away penalties - also has leapfrogged McComish.
Great to see Nelson now has power! He will be a serious play in time.

Paul Marshall probably had his best game in an Ulster shirt. Finally, finally he starts to use his breaking game, and take advantage of his pace.

Stuart Olding had a great game at 15, but is at his most dangerous running through traffic so I'd still like to see a McCloskey 12, Olding 13 midfield.

On the down side I thought Jackson had a mediocre game - he is still missing too many from the tee and too fond of grubbing kicks through when a drop at goal would be a far better option.
Cave too showed why Ulster need a different first-choice 13 than him. A Test class Outside Centre shouldn't be getting outpaced by a lock, especially when that try could have been the difference in getting a TBP.

Agree with most of that. I'm not worried about Jackson I just think he needs games and I trust him. It was good to see him on the TV coverage before the game; he was in the middle of the dressing room laying down the law. I'm pretty sure he'll be our Captain one day if he isn't tempted to France (hate that sentence), because he can do that while playing badly, well, whatever. Natural leader and reacts superbly to adversity.

Schmidt made the right call to leave him out. A run of games for Ulster is absolutely the best thing for him now.

I don't think Cave was ever odds on to make that try pace or no pace. I don't think BOD would have made it either and no-one was bothered. Pace is brilliant to have everywhere, but the reason people don't have Cave down as a write off is that they value his other attributes enough. I don't think he's a test player either but he's so reliable and effective at every level of the sport Ulster play in. I'm not expecting fireworks when he steps on the pitch although he's got great skills. I'm just totally happy and confident he's going to deliver. Jared Payne needs to earn that trust the hard way. He hasn't had to work hard enough to get international rugby in the position he plays.

Course Nagusa would have had it. Miss him! Also, don't know if it was because of the odd shape of the back three with basically three guys out of position but I was frustrated at how little our back three actually attacked the ball. Luckily the chasing from the Dragons was non-existent.

Notch wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Never mind all that Notch. What we really need your boys to do is stuff Ospreys and leave them pointless in your winter double header over the next month or so.

You view the Ospreys as the greater threat to your ambitions then? Not without reason in the short term but in the long term doing that may come back to bite you! There's obviously no love lost between Ulster and Glasgow since our last meeting and you get the sense that if Ulster get to our game at Scotstoun within touching distance of Glasgow or ahead of them they might be keen to make a few points about who the real pretenders to Leinsters throne are, just as they did the last time the two sides met. Careful what you wish for!  

To be honest, I'd probably be hoping all the teams around you take points off each other instead of any one team getting the whip hand over another. In previous seasons Glasgow have been focused entirely on the race for the playoffs whilst Ulster have had the problem of trying to balance both that and a European campaign. You might find that our roles are reversed this year. I congratulate Glasgow on their wonderful start to their European campaign- and was genuinely delighted to see you make Guscott look like a fool- but the two fronts thing... man, thats not something thats easy nor is it something that Glasgow have experience of. They've never had to deal with being in Europe after Christmas which seems to me to be traditionally when they start to really get motoring in the Pro12. Ulster have often struggled for consistency then and through the back end of the season, playing two cup finals in January and then having your entire season building towards the quarter-finals is very taxing. If our roles are reversed it might be misplaced to assume that that pattern will repeat itself and Glasgow won't give more ground in the league than they do in normal, non-qualifying years.

You'll be delighted to know I hope Glasgow go all the way in Europe. Hell I hope you win the whole thing! I would be sincerely delighted. For, eh, a variety of reasons. Some more selfish than others

No, not in the long term but I have never seen a team have a fixture list where for the first 7 games in a season they avoid playing any other top 5 team. But that's exactly where the Os are, which means that you boys need to stop that momentum.

I think that Glasgow fans are just realising how tough it's going to be to maintain a war on two fronts - but similarly, if anyone in the league has a squad to take some blows, then we do. Getting Jon Welsh, Ryan Grant (MoM in his first game back this weekend) and even the giant Michael Cusack (sidelined with illness for more than a year) back over the next 8 weeks is going to be enormous for us. We've 'got away with it' at scrum time to date, but that cannot continue - especially in the later rounds of European competition.

Aye George. All just mind games

We'll stop them. I know I say that about every team that comes to Ravenhill and I know we just lost a big game there, but I'm also certain that we are going to win the next big game. And if we lose that we move onto the next one.

It'll be really hard for Glasgow to do anything in Europe. The psychological burden of never having done it is so large. If there's anything that makes the hairs on my neck stand up it's remembering what I heard about Ulster at Aironi at half-time when we needed a try bonus point in the second half to get out of our pool. Johann Muller shouting 'We've been waiting 12 years for this moment!"

Yes, I really hope Glasgow make it. A Scottish team winning this would be the ultimate poke in the eye to the self-styled elite of the competition, including our Irish provinces. And Glasgow is basically Belfast with more people and a nightlife.

Notch wrote:Aye George. All just mind games

We'll stop them. I know I say that about every team that comes to Ravenhill and I know we just lost a big game there, but I'm also certain that we are going to win the next big game. And if we lose that we move onto the next one.

It'll be really hard for Glasgow to do anything in Europe. The psychological burden of never having done it is so large. If there's anything that makes the hairs on my neck stand up it's remembering what I heard about Ulster at Aironi at half-time when we needed a try bonus point in the second half to get out of our pool. Johann Muller shouting 'We've been waiting 12 years for this moment!"

Yes, I really hope Glasgow make it. A Scottish team winning this would be the ultimate poke in the eye to the self-styled elite of the competition, including our Irish provinces. And Glasgow is basically Belfast with more people and a nightlife.

Ah, but there's a first time for everything, old boy.

George Carlin wrote:

Notch wrote:Aye George. All just mind games

We'll stop them. I know I say that about every team that comes to Ravenhill and I know we just lost a big game there, but I'm also certain that we are going to win the next big game. And if we lose that we move onto the next one.

It'll be really hard for Glasgow to do anything in Europe. The psychological burden of never having done it is so large. If there's anything that makes the hairs on my neck stand up it's remembering what I heard about Ulster at Aironi at half-time when we needed a try bonus point in the second half to get out of our pool. Johann Muller shouting 'We've been waiting 12 years for this moment!"

Yes, I really hope Glasgow make it. A Scottish team winning this would be the ultimate poke in the eye to the self-styled elite of the competition, including our Irish provinces. And Glasgow is basically Belfast with more people and a nightlife.

Ah, but there's a first time for everything, old boy.

Exactly.

I'm re-watching the second half on iPlayer now. It's actually hilarious how biased McWhirter is, I love it. Jacksons kicking radar is off but his decision making is good so it'll come back. No worries. I laughed at this btw;



Unfair on Jared? Don't know but it's pretty honest stuff. I think BOD as a pundit is going to be a lot of fun.

I have a slightly less positive take on last night

I thought Paddy was abject in truth. The amount of ball he kicks is a serious worry, particularly in the opposition half and even the 22. These are things ROG was getting lambasted for towards the end.

Agree on Reidy, I thought he was the best player out there. Lovely linking of the play. Agree with Aukster on Cave, there were just certain situations when his weaknesses were ruthlessly apparent but he wasn't bad.

We should have had a cricket score but handling and ball presentation let us down. Marshall was excellent in the first half and very poor in the 2nd I thought. Hopefully the next time we play the name Pienaar might be on the team sheet

Standulstermen wrote:I have a slightly less positive take on last night

I thought Paddy was abject in truth. The amount of ball he kicks is a serious worry, particularly in the opposition half and even the 22. These are things ROG was getting lambasted for towards the end.

Agree on Reidy, I thought he was the best player out there. Lovely linking of the play. Agree with Aukster on Cave, there were just certain situations when his weaknesses were ruthlessly apparent but he wasn't bad.

We should have had a cricket score but handling and ball presentation let us down. Marshall was excellent in the first half and very poor in the 2nd I thought. Hopefully the next time we play the name Pienaar might be on the team sheet

I was thinking that too. I'm just not sure what the balance needs to be like. Anscombe was Mr. Negative. How much does Doak need to be Mr. Positive to counter that? Because he's got us trying to play positive rugby and seems to be ok with mistakes.

This is a very big difference from the old Neil Doak. He seems more chilled.

Notch wrote:

The Great Aukster wrote:Very impressed by Reidy in attack and defence, plays with his head up.
Ross is a lump and prepared to put himself about without giving away penalties - also has leapfrogged McComish.
Great to see Nelson now has power! He will be a serious play in time.

Paul Marshall probably had his best game in an Ulster shirt. Finally, finally he starts to use his breaking game, and take advantage of his pace.

Stuart Olding had a great game at 15, but is at his most dangerous running through traffic so I'd still like to see a McCloskey 12, Olding 13 midfield.

On the down side I thought Jackson had a mediocre game - he is still missing too many from the tee and too fond of grubbing kicks through when a drop at goal would be a far better option.
Cave too showed why Ulster need a different first-choice 13 than him. A Test class Outside Centre shouldn't be getting outpaced by a lock, especially when that try could have been the difference in getting a TBP.

Agree with most of that. I'm not worried about Jackson I just think he needs games and I trust him. It was good to see him on the TV coverage before the game; he was in the middle of the dressing room laying down the law. I'm pretty sure he'll be our Captain one day if he isn't tempted to France (hate that sentence), because he can do that while playing badly, well, whatever. Natural leader and reacts superbly to adversity.

Schmidt made the right call to leave him out. A run of games for Ulster is absolutely the best thing for him now.

I don't think Cave was ever odds on to make that try pace or no pace. I don't think BOD would have made it either and no-one was bothered. Pace is brilliant to have everywhere, but the reason people don't have Cave down as a write off is that they value his other attributes enough. I don't think he's a test player either but he's so reliable and effective at every level of the sport Ulster play in. I'm not expecting fireworks when he steps on the pitch although he's got great skills. I'm just totally happy and confident he's going to deliver. Jared Payne needs to earn that trust the hard way. He hasn't had to work hard enough to get international rugby in the position he plays.

Course Nagusa would have had it. Miss him! Also, don't know if it was because of the odd shape of the back three with basically three guys out of position but I was frustrated at how little our back three actually attacked the ball. Luckily the chasing from the Dragons was non-existent.

I agree Jackson needs games, because I know he has the ability and the leadership - what he lacks is gravitas due to his age and relative inexperience. He was having a worse game than McCloskey yet Doak hooked the latter for Humphreys to come on. It seemed strange at the time but on reflection Doak did it for two reasons: Jackson needed pitch time and there were precious few leaders left on the pitch.

With regard to the Cave chance, I disagree and think a 27-year-old BOD would have had the acceleration to win the race to the ball, but who knows? I prefer Payne at fullback for Ulster but if the national coach feels he can get the most from the team by playing him at 13 then so be it.

What I don't want is for Ulster to settle for Cave because he's fairly good and won't let anyone down. Ulster are producing enough Centres to find someone who is exceptionally good so need to have an outlet for them rather than a logjam. If Spence hadn't been so tragically taken he would have been ahead of Cave now. Farrell left to get gametime and is learning his trade at someone else's expense so has to be an option if the right offer is made. Marshall is having to play for the Ravens and Olding is having to play different positions to get in the side. Ludik did as well as anyone this season at 13, McCloskey has shown he has an X factor and Stockdale is increasingly regarded. I'd love for Cave to be a squad player but I don't think he would settle for that.

I would love to see us look toward Olding/McCloskey/Marshall as our centres but successive coaches don't seem willing to drop to move away from cave or Payne in there. Go for the young guys

Yeah I was always thinking

12. Olding
13. McCloskey

but actually what we had on Friday really worked. McCloskeys offloading game is a joy to watch and he can ride a tackle. Olding can cut a line and with more time on the ball he is incredibly dangerous- even if, unlike Jared Payne for me, he is equally good in traffic at times.

Did you see Neil Doak, when asked about his best position, said he was nearly covering 9 a few weeks ago because of injuries in Europe? Telling that he was the guy they'd trust to play out of position at 9. What a talent- it will be a challenge for the coaches getting him to excel in one position. I don't think he's a 10 or a 13. 12 or 15 maybe. Needs to seriously develop his positional and defensive game if he is to play 15.

I see St Ruan won't be playing for South Africa at the weekend as his rehab. is taking longer than expected. If he isn't fit for the following week he won't be considered for the remainder of the tour so he'll be well rested and ready to steer us to victories galore

I am away for a week or two and Ulster fold in on themselves. Can't even face unpacking the first half against Leicester, the Toulon game or the Dragons game.

However, I note Niall Annett is playing for the Barbarians. Well done, that young man. He and Chris Farrell seem to be making real goes of their moves away.

Pienaar out of the bok tour

Right, hand him over to GG and the crew and get him properly mended for the coming of the O's......or very soon after at least.

More Injury worry for Ulster

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/30083118

Get Well Soon Chris

Is that technically a stroke? terrible terrible news.

I came onto this topic to see if there was some news on our game this weekend, and to see what has been posted is very sad, puts everything into perspective.
Good Luck Chris and have a speedy recovery.

Terrible news for Ulster but more importantly we all hope Chris Recovers and gets better for his sake.

Yes indeed, I hope he's alright. Forget the rugby Chris and get yourself well again.

I've heard calls for another injury signing, would we even be allowed one now we have Raaymaker?

Well, there is a lot of horse trading that goes on with the IRFU at the best of times. I reckon we could see Raaymakers in the back row anyway.

It's devastating for Chris, he really was well placed to nail down a first choice spot, but it's just very lucky I suppose that it wasn't more severe. You hear about people getting strokes and all sorts with this type of thing. The important thing is getting him right. They were optimistic that he could resume his rugby career in a matter of months, which is great, but important thing is that he gets the all clear from the specialist.

Sean Reidy and Clive Ross have a massice challenge now. One of them will have to nail down a place for the ECC games against the Scarlets.

My guess it will be Reidy he looks like a ball winning 7 so would be the most direct replacement for Henry

Ulster XV & Replacements to play Ospreys, Guinness PRO12, Kingspan Stadium, Friday 21st November, 19:35 (15-9): S Olding; L Ludik, D Cave, S McCloskey C Gilroy, P Jackson, P Marshall; (1-8): C Black, R Herring, W Herbst, L Stevenson, F vd Merwe, C Ross, S Reidy, R Wilson (Capt); Replacements (16-23): J Andrew, A Warwick, D Fitzpatrick, A O’Connor, N Williams, M Heaney, I Humphreys, P Nelson.

Good team for this time of year

Very good team, looking forward to the game and nice to have more than 2 second rows again.

I want a big win from your boys, Notch.
A comprehensive kick in the crackers to the league leaders.

Nothing else will do with that team you're putting out.

Last five meeting have all resulted in a losing bonus point. I want us to deny them that and beat them resoundingly!

I feel we should beat the O's and beat them well with that lineup. There's simply no excuses, a win is a must, denying them the losing bonus point would be the icing on the cake.

However, anything can happen in that little 80 minute period so fingers crossed that Ulster can lift the game just like we did against the Weegies.

SUFTUM!!!!!

& CAB!!!

What does CAB stand for?

Citizens Advice Bureau? College of Administration and Business? Coronary Artery Bypass? Certified Angus Beef? Canadian Association of Broadcasters?

Crepes and Beer Notch, the Ravenhill staple diet.
Or at least it was the last time I was there. That was 2 years ago now, I've been unfit to travel ever since

Although I may try and get up to the Scarlets game on the 6th if I'm well as there's a mini-rugby coaches outing for that game......crepes and beer mmmmmmmm!!!!

Crepes and beer.

Decent team - looking forward to seeing Reidy and O'Connor again, but I am a bit worried about the backrow as a unit.

We said again and again... what if something happens to Chris Henry. Our back row strength goes out the window if something happens to him. Hate being proven right.

I think our need for Hendo will be greatest at sixl ater this season, especially if Raaymaker turns out to have some talent.

You were always saying it Notch, we should never have signed fullback cover when we were one injury away from having a problem in the back row.
The Raaymaker man can cover back row and may well be a good find who'll stay a little longer than originally planned. Reidy and Ross need to prove their worth in the next few games. From what little we've seen of them they seem to be good signings, lets hope they can kick on and become fan favourites.

Thats was a good win! Delighted to have beaten Glasgow and Ospreys and not let them away with anything BP wise. Real character shown by Ulster in the second half to guts that out. I thought it was the best performance Franco has put in since he arrived. He was everywhere, my man of the match. Also really happy with Sean Reidy, think he's doing well and we'll need him to continue that. He looks a good signing, he has a great work rate and he can mix it physically. His tackling was great, brilliant effort from him in defence. Clive Ross also quite decent if pretty unspectacular- he has potential to improve but looks like a solid option at this level. The back row that started was nothing special and likely not good enough for Europe but went much better than I had feared so happy with that.

While it was a really great shift from the pack, our kicking game needed to be a lot better- kicking long did not work, and we needed to go shorter although it must be said the wind made up and others and chip kicks very unpredictable and a bit risky especially when playing into the wind. But even if we take the difficult conditions into account and the fact we were against the wind in the second half, there was still room for improvement in that area. The Ospreys showed how a mixture of both could work and they won the tactical kicking battle which put us under pressure. Paddy Jackson is still not near his best. Last season he would have bossed that game, he's still getting his eye in with the kicking game. I was slightly relieved to see Ian Humphreys come on to be honest, he immediately recognised the space was there for the cross kick to Gilroy and tried that instead of just banging it deep. It didn't come off either time but he found grass and the Ospreys weren't able to make up the territory.

We should have won much more comfortably because we should have had a few more penalties out of that scrum. The referee decided to stop blowing his whistle if the ball was coming back. I appreciate a referee who lets the game flow, so I'm not criticising him, but we didn't get much reward for forcing the Ospreys to infringe, basically. There was one scrum the Ospreys blind side was basically bound by a fingernail, waiting for the ball to come out... thats quite frustrating when the score board is close but good teams take the referees interpretation out of the reckoning and thats what we did in the end.

I thought the Ospreys showed a lot of character to come back from that HT scoreline and get within two points, and gave a great account of themselves in doing so. Likewise we showed a gutsful of character to react to their fightback by holding our composure, staying patient and slowly turning the game back into our favour. So it was a very good game of rugby despite all the mistakes caused by the incredibly difficult weather conditions.

Fair play to the Ospreys for their gutsy second half display and well done to Ulster!

Notch wrote:Thats was a good win! Delighted to have beaten Glasgow and Ospreys and not let them away with anything BP wise. Real character shown by Ulster in the second half to guts that out. I thought it was the best performance Franco has put in since he arrived. He was everywhere, my man of the match. Also really happy with Sean Reidy, think he's doing well and we'll need him to continue that. He looks a good signing, he has a great work rate and he can mix it physically. His tackling was great, brilliant effort from him in defence. Clive Ross also quite decent if pretty unspectacular- he has potential to improve but looks like a solid option at this level. The back row that started was nothing special and likely not good enough for Europe but went much better than I had feared so happy with that.

While it was a really great shift from the pack, our kicking game needed to be a lot better- kicking long did not work, and we needed to go shorter although it must be said the wind made up and others and chip kicks very unpredictable and a bit risky especially when playing into the wind. But even if we take the difficult conditions into account and the fact we were against the wind in the second half, there was still room for improvement in that area. The Ospreys showed how a mixture of both could work and they won the tactical kicking battle which put us under pressure. Paddy Jackson is still not near his best. Last season he would have bossed that game, he's still getting his eye in with the kicking game. I was slightly relieved to see Ian Humphreys come on to be honest, he immediately recognised the space was there for the cross kick to Gilroy and tried that instead of just banging it deep. It didn't come off either time but he found grass and the Ospreys weren't able to make up the territory.

We should have won much more comfortably because we should have had a few more penalties out of that scrum. The referee decided to stop blowing his whistle if the ball was coming back. I appreciate a referee who lets the game flow, so I'm not criticising him, but we didn't get much reward for forcing the Ospreys to infringe, basically. There was one scrum the Ospreys blind side was basically bound by a fingernail, waiting for the ball to come out... thats quite frustrating when the score board is close but good teams take the referees interpretation out of the reckoning and thats what we did in the end.

I thought the Ospreys showed a lot of character to come back from that HT scoreline and get within two points, and gave a great account of themselves in doing so. Likewise we showed a gutsful of character to react to their fightback by holding our composure, staying patient and slowly turning the game back into our favour. So it was a very good game of rugby despite all the mistakes caused by the incredibly difficult weather conditions.

Fair play to the Ospreys for their gutsy second half display and well done to Ulster!

Good report Notch, I thought we deserved a BP with our 2nd half display, one of our supporters who goes to EVERY game said it was not only blowing it was gusting, we'll be lucky to get no points next Friday, I can see us going from 1st to 5th next weekend

Great to hear some more positive news on Chris Henry!

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/News/LatestNews/TabId/149/ArtMID/793/ArticleID/3055/MEDICAL-UPDATE-Chris-Henry.aspx

It's good to hear he's recovering, it's a very scary time for him and his family and friends.

Need a little information about local Ulster rugby. Got a tour next year, and would like to know how good Down High Grammar are, Year 8 & 9 age grade.

Or just in general, their rugby pedigree?

Jay,
Down High would not be a big rugby school. My son's school would have their B team play fixtures against Down High's A team in the Junior years. They had a reasonable team which would be about year 12 or so now but not a rugby power house by any means. Head of PE is a good guy though.

Gotta love this. "Ballybosch" indeed... Fair play, lads.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/video-news/video-ulster-rugby-stars-ruan-pienaar-and-robbie-diack-launch-their-new-wine-range-ballybosch-30778664.html

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=11366458

I know he was exceptional for us at times but is he really worth that much? I am more than happy with Herbst, I reckon he has filled johns boots admirably.

Great to hear that Chris Henry has started back training/rehab.

He said on twitter "I've never been so happy to see an exercise bike"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/30326158

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/News/LatestNews/TabId/149/ArtMID/793/ArticleID/3093/Pienaar-and-Tuohy-back-for-Ulster-.aspx

Diack, Wilson and Williams all together in the back row... looks unbalanced. Doesn't say much for the trust the coaches have in our other options there. We're trying to play a continuity game but the only one of those three pulling their weight this season for me is Diack.

I would think that Sean Reidy must surely be injured, because he has been better than Williams this season.

Sean Reidy is with the Ravens...

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/News/LatestNews/TabId/149/ArtMID/793/ArticleID/3094/Seven-changes-for-Ulster-Ravens.aspx

Very doubtful about our back row selection then. I know we need carriers, and I know neither Diack nor Wilson can offer the power of Williams from 8, but Williams needs a big game to pay back the faith thats being shown in him. Because lately he's only popped up for a few big carries a game and has otherwise been invisible.

I didn't think Reidy was with the European squad anyway so that explains his omission. Tuohy wasn't registered either so they had to use the non- front row replacement on him.

Standulstermen wrote:I didn't think Reidy was with the European squad anyway so that explains his omission. Tuohy wasn't registered either so they had to use the non-  front row replacement on him.

Aha, that makes sense.

Morning all. Olding off again with a bang to the head, McCloskey didn't look to good as he left. Who is next in line for 12 ? And will Marshall be back anytime soon?
All good things to ponder on a sunday