Ulster 2016/2017

by marty2086 Mon 13 Feb 2017, 9:43 am

First topic message reminder :

And it's been confirmed

Ulster Rugby has today announced that Jono Gibbes will join the Province as Head Coach ahead of the 2017/18 season, having signed a two-year contract.

The former New Zealand player is currently Forwards Coach at French giants ASM Clermont Auvergne and he previously held a similar position at Leinster Rugby.

Gibbes joined Leinster in 2008, helping the squad to win three Heineken Cup titles during a six-year spell in Dublin. The first of those successes came under the stewardship of Michael Cheika in 2009, before he assisted Joe Schmidt in the 2011 and 2012 triumphs.

He moved to France in 2014 and was part of a coaching set-up that guided Clermont to the Top 14 and Champions Cup finals in his debut season.

In addition to his expertise in forward play, the 40-year-old has also gained valuable experience in coaching other aspects of the game, such as attack, during his stints at Leinster and Clermont.

Gibbes said that there were many contributing factors in his move back to Ireland:

"The respect that I have for Les (Kiss), as a coach and as a person, was one of my main reasons for making this decision. He really sold his vision of where he wants to take Ulster over the next few years.

"Ulster is a team that I know well, having come up against them on a number of occasions. The Clermont-Ulster games this season gave me an insight into the strengths of the squad and it's exciting to think that I'll be part of that environment from next season.

"With 6 years at Leinster and 3 years at Clermont in the Top 14, I've been afforded many different experiences, working with some very talented coaches and players. I hope to apply what I've learned to the role at Ulster and my family and I are looking forward to integrating into a strong community in Belfast."

Welcoming the news, Director of Rugby Les Kiss, added:

"Jono's CV speaks for itself and I know that he's looking forward to joining Ulster and working with the team. Jono has vast experience on both the playing and coaching fronts, having worked in many different environments such as Super Rugby, PRO12, the French Top 14 and European competitions.

"Since his retirement from playing, Jono has had an integral role in the coaching teams of two of European rugby's most successful sides. He was a key part of the Leinster set-up that won three Heineken Cups in four years and he has continued to be hugely successful during his time in France.

"Jono's expertise as a Forwards Coach is obvious, however his wealth of knowledge in other areas of the game will be really important for us."

"A review of the coaching structure is ongoing ahead of next season and the appointment of Jono as Head Coach is the first part of that process. A further announcement will be made in the coming weeks, which will focus on getting the right balance in our coaching team."

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:23 pm

That was some run by Paddy clap

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:24 pm

I honestly don't care how good he is, the guy is on something like a million quid a year if he can't be bothered to at least run back 7 minutes into a big game like this then let him go back to New Zealand and save yourself an NIQ spot.

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:26 pm

Ah Luke you should have passed

by clivemcl Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:27 pm

Luke Marshall you donkey, what the hell was that???

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:29 pm

Niall Scannell hanging off the back of that maul and not penalised?

by clivemcl Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:33 pm

The stream I have has no commentary, what happened Henry?

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:34 pm

No idea Clive didn't hear commentators say other than he was hurt and went off

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:41 pm

Cant believe its 10-10. Ulster have been by far the better team.

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:43 pm

eirebilly wrote:Cant believe its 10-10. Ulster have been by far the better team.

Too many mistakes from Ulster at critical points and Pienaars passing is way off today but think that last penalty should have went Ulsters way looked like Ryan turned in and the pressure sent Herbst down

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:44 pm

Unbelievably sloppy from Ulster...

Massive pressure from Munster now.

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:44 pm

Piutau is a liability

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:44 pm

Piatau's positioning is absolutely dire...

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:46 pm

marty2086 wrote:Piutau is a liability

Gilroy in for the 2nd half?

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:48 pm

Stockdale needs to move away from Fullback as well

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:49 pm

eirebilly wrote:
marty2086 wrote:Piutau is a liability

Gilroy in for the 2nd half?

Piutau wont be taken off no matter what

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:50 pm

Gilroy to 15 and Stockdale to 11 would be my choice.

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:50 pm

The Blues helping Ulster out here as well, if Ulster win that is.

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:51 pm

My choice would be a ref who isn't afraid to penalise Munster at the scrum Rolling Eyes

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:55 pm

marty2086 wrote:My choice would be a ref who isn't afraid to penalise Munster at the scrum

Or a ref who correctly penalises Pienaar in the lead up to the Ulster try... boxing

by Pete330v2 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:55 pm

Piutau is just uninterested and is a liability. Olding has forgotten how to play for the second match in a row. At least the pack has shown up for once.
Mind you I didn't expect to still be in it by now so happy days. We could sneak this.

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:56 pm

Pete330v2 wrote:Piutau is just uninterested and is a liability. Olding has forgotten how to play for the second match in a row. At least the pack has shown up for once.
Mind you I didn't expect to still be in it by now so happy days. We could sneak this.

Cut out the errors and Ulster will win this, the better side in almost every aspect today but sloppiness has let them down.

by Guest Sat 15 Apr 2017, 3:59 pm

eirebilly wrote:
Pete330v2 wrote:Piutau is just uninterested and is a liability. Olding has forgotten how to play for the second match in a row. At least the pack has shown up for once.
Mind you I didn't expect to still be in it by now so happy days. We could sneak this.

Cut out the errors and Ulster will win this, the better side in almost every aspect today but sloppiness has let them down.

We can't cut the errors out. It's been part of our game plan all season.

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:07 pm

Shame for Stockdale there. Seen those given.

by clivemcl Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:24 pm

Ulster just confirming they aren't a team worthy of a playoff. That said, Munster today don't look particularly worthy of a semi final either on this showing.

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:30 pm

Ulster's game now.

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:30 pm

Tell you what this is a really back and forward match, you have no chance trying to call whos going to win

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:39 pm

Why the heck did Ulster just try and set that up as a maul? Are they really clueless

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:44 pm

For Frak sake Henderson that was a good chance with a little overlap there. Give the pass rather than looking to take the contact.

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:47 pm

Hard lines Ulster, cant believe Munster won that.

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:48 pm

See thats brainless too, run through a few more phases there, that was a terrible position for a dropgoal. Sums Ulster up really

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:48 pm

They fricking panicked there, why did they go left? Keep it central and go through a few phases then go for it

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:49 pm

Congrats Munster, hung in there the whole way through. It's a winners quality to keep going and winning when you aren't at your best. Hope you destroy Saracens next week

by Guest Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:49 pm

Errors costing us the game again, as that last play showed.

by eirebilly Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:50 pm

neilthom7 wrote:Congrats Munster, hung in there the whole way through. It's a winners quality to keep going and winning when you aren't at your best. Hope you destroy Saracens next week

Good man yourself thumbsup

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:51 pm

Munchkin wrote:Errors costing us the game again, as that last play showed.

I wouldnt say its that was an error, I dont think there was faith in the players to keep hold of the ball

by clivemcl Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:53 pm

A season ago, our claim was we didn't have a strong enough, deep enough squad to support our best starting XV. A season later and we are questioning if our 'star' players are even any good.

The only players next year that I can currently say will be good for us are Best, Coetzee, Jackson and Payne (Piutau always has ability to make something out of nothing). Pretty much everyone else, I'm not sure are any better than mediocre.

It's a huge ask for Gibbes to turn this mess around. I genuinely feel we are worse tha we were under Doak, Anscombe and McLaughlin.

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 4:57 pm

One thing I will say, we seem to have went backwards since Barakat left. We weren't great when he was around but we didnt seem to miss as many tackles or knock on as many balls as we do

by Guest Sat 15 Apr 2017, 5:07 pm

marty2086 wrote:
Munchkin wrote:Errors costing us the game again, as that last play showed.

I wouldnt say its that was an error, I dont think there was faith in the players to keep hold of the ball

I would say it's an error to panic on the last play when we are just behind. A bit of patience might have made the difference between winning and losing.. We should have looked for a penalty, and if the drop was on then go for it. I take your point though.

Piutau should have been subbed much earlier.

by Guest Sat 15 Apr 2017, 5:11 pm

marty2086 wrote:One thing I will say, we seem to have went backwards since Barakat left. We weren't great when he was around but we didnt seem to miss as many tackles or knock on as many balls as we do

I don't think Barakat was doing much for our defense at all, but I suppose it doesn't help to go half a season without a replacement. That and those two numpties disrupting training.

by clivemcl Sat 15 Apr 2017, 5:19 pm

Munchkin wrote:
marty2086 wrote:One thing I will say, we seem to have went backwards since Barakat left. We weren't great when he was around but we didnt seem to miss as many tackles or knock on as many balls as we do

I don't think Barakat was doing much for our defense at all, but I suppose it doesn't help to go half a season without a replacement. That and those two numpties disrupting training.

This is all too convenient for my liking. I've had 4/5 years of coaches being promised to make a difference, why should I be so enthusiastic about Gibbes and Peel? Really though?

I don't remember anybody claiming Kiss wasn't good enough.

No offence, but most of us posting on here haven't a clue what the problem is, or if the successors will solve those problems to any great extent.

Sorry... I'm just thoroughly fed up as a supporter of this team.

Remember how we supposedly can't produce good homegrown forwards, but we can churn out the top class homegrown backs. Where are they, where are these homegrown backline superstars?

As you watch your team supposedly evolve and progress, there is nothing worse that watching players hailed as the next big thing become consistently woeful. It's just kinda gut wrenching. thumbsdown

by Guest Sat 15 Apr 2017, 5:39 pm

clivemcl wrote:
Munchkin wrote:
marty2086 wrote:One thing I will say, we seem to have went backwards since Barakat left. We weren't great when he was around but we didnt seem to miss as many tackles or knock on as many balls as we do

I don't think Barakat was doing much for our defense at all, but I suppose it doesn't help to go half a season without a replacement. That and those two numpties disrupting training.

This is all too convenient for my liking. I've had 4/5 years of coaches being promised to make a difference, why should I be so enthusiastic about Gibbes and Peel? Really though?

I don't remember anybody claiming Kiss wasn't good enough.

No offence, but most of us posting on here haven't a clue what the problem is, or if the successors will solve those problems to any great extent.

Sorry... I'm just thoroughly fed up as a supporter of this team.

Remember how we supposedly can't produce good homegrown forwards, but we can churn out the top class homegrown backs. Where are they, where are these homegrown backline superstars?

As you watch your team supposedly evolve and progress, there is nothing worse that watching players hailed as the next big thing become consistently woeful. It's just kinda gut wrenching.

I believe the problems are quite apparent when you look at our game plan, defense, set-piece, errors/drop off in skills and general attitude. Much of that is down to poor coaching. When we manage to make a world class player like Piutau look ordinary, if not clumsy and lacking in certain skills, we know we have a serious coaching issue.

I don't doubt Gibbes will have a huge positive impact on Ulster, especially with getting the head right. Mentally we are well off. Peel I haven't a clue about. I would have preferred someone with a good CV, but hopefully he proves a great signing. We also need more backroom staff. Logan needs to get the check out.

I completely agree that Ulster are a frustrating and gut wrenching side to follow. We must all be addicted to pain Smile

by Guest Sat 15 Apr 2017, 5:44 pm

Oh, and well done, Munster clap

I'm not going to say anything nice about you, because I don't feel like it mad

by Geen sport voor watjes Sat 15 Apr 2017, 6:00 pm

Ulster fans say they are rubbish. Munster fans feel we are playing like drains. Everybody is miserable ergo everybody is happy. No?

by Guest Sat 15 Apr 2017, 6:11 pm

No

You look a side on the up. We look like we're falling apart. You have everything to play for in two competitions. We really have nothing, although we might sneak a win against Ospreys next week.

I had a feeling that Munster would be off the boil this week, with an eye on next weeks game. More important than the win for you was finishing the game without any serious injuries. Hopefully those injured are ok to go next week.

by clivemcl Sat 15 Apr 2017, 6:20 pm

Ospreys play us and Scarlets, we play Ospreys and Leinster. As crazy as it is , we are still this. (Not sure any of us want to be though!

Beat Ospreys next week and we go into final week needing either Scarlets to beat Ospreys, or ourselves to beat Leinster.

It wouldn't say much for the standard of the league though if we made a semi-final.

by neilthom7 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 6:22 pm

I think there really needs to be a complete culture change at Ulster. The coaching changes are a good start as we really need to get rid of that old mentality and start a fresh. There is much more that needs to be done though, our scouting for talent has to widen beyond a few schools and more to the club game which in turn needs investment to produce better coaches for these guys in turn generating better players for Ulster in future years.
Yes I hope these coaches make a short term difference but this also needs to be a long term structure change to ensure the future is right as well.
A huge part of that is the mentality we have about giving young players a chance. Sure not all young players are going to work out but you will never know if you don't give chances. This is one area where Leinster are streets ahead and they are better off for it.
For young players to really show if they are the next big thing, a good club player or not going to make the grade they need 3 things.
1. The right enviroment where they are encouraged to develop and pointed in the right direction when things go wrong as they inevitably will. Ulster do not have this players rarely get a chance to break through, when they do if something goes wrong they get massacared even when experienced heads are making the same mistakes. Even when they get in and do play well often the more experianced players just step back in regardless of form.
2. Good coaching- The fact that some of our young players have went elsewhere and become infinately better players really helps show we don't have this.
3. Gametime- We just don't give these guys a chance at gametime. Look at Roger Wilson for example a guy who is at least 2 seasons beyond where he should have been shown the door and yet we persist with him instead on giving young players a chance. Imagine where we could be if we had given Timoney or Dow or whoever else Wilsons gametime over the last 2 years, we could have had serious players by now. We would at least know if they were going to be up to the grade or not. Sadly it seems with the arrival of Botha we are unlikely to see these guys get a lot of gametime soon either.

by marty2086 Sat 15 Apr 2017, 7:01 pm

Munchkin wrote:
marty2086 wrote:One thing I will say, we seem to have went backwards since Barakat left. We weren't great when he was around but we didnt seem to miss as many tackles or knock on as many balls as we do

I don't think Barakat was doing much for our defense at all, but I suppose it doesn't help to go half a season without a replacement. That and those two numpties disrupting training.

He was coaching the 'contact' though and thats where we seem to really struggle, how many tackles do we miss every game these days? The same with knock ons in contact?

I said it earlier in the season, Im not sure where we are in tries and points conceded at this stage but back then we were top 3 in both but for the most part we were dominating games then but the conversation rates were better against us than for us.

by Artful_Dodger Sat 15 Apr 2017, 9:52 pm

I agree with neilthom. There is a serious lack of psychological gumption about our local fellas. Pienaar deserves better than this just before he leaves, Johann Muller would be shaking his head in disbelief were he still here and dare I say it these guy aren't of the same stock as the greats of yesteryear. I'm not just talking the likes of Willie John McBride, these boys aren't even of the same stock as the likes of Stephen Ferris. There is just a serious lack of grit and brawn about the guys we have coming through. We've had how many coaches now? Kiss may have his faults, but if we get rid of him where do we go? We got rid of Anscombe, get rid of Kiss and god knows what calibre of coach we will end up with.

Its time for some of those local boys to start showing the resilience and abrasiveness we are known for in this part of the world.

As for Piutau, I hope it was a one off, I really do. Nothing wrong with a star player having a bad game, but a lack of interest in a guy being paid 500k a year (he's in the top 10 list of best paid Union players anywhere in the world) isn't acceptable.

by Redman Sat 15 Apr 2017, 10:07 pm

O'Sullivan was scathing on the radio commentary. I've always liked him as a pundit. For his failure as Ireland coach, we could still do worse than get him in as a consultant the same as Leinster have got Lancester.

by Redman Sat 15 Apr 2017, 10:12 pm

clivemcl wrote:
Munchkin wrote:
marty2086 wrote:One thing I will say, we seem to have went backwards since Barakat left. We weren't great when he was around but we didnt seem to miss as many tackles or knock on as many balls as we do

I don't think Barakat was doing much for our defense at all, but I suppose it doesn't help to go half a season without a replacement. That and those two numpties disrupting training.

This is all too convenient for my liking. I've had 4/5 years of coaches being promised to make a difference, why should I be so enthusiastic about Gibbes and Peel? Really though?

I don't remember anybody claiming Kiss wasn't good enough.

No offence, but most of us posting on here haven't a clue what the problem is, or if the successors will solve those problems to any great extent.

Sorry... I'm just thoroughly fed up as a supporter of this team.

Remember how we supposedly can't produce good homegrown forwards, but we can churn out the top class homegrown backs. Where are they, where are these homegrown backline superstars?

As you watch your team supposedly evolve and progress, there is nothing worse that watching players hailed as the next big thing become consistently woeful. It's just kinda gut wrenching.

We have 1 home grown player who can consistently get in the Ireland team. That's Best. He's 34. 35 a month after the Lions finishes. That tells you all you need to know about our player progression and development over the last 10 years.

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