Ulster v Glasgow Warriors KO 19.35 IRE/UK 20.35 ITA/SA Kingspan Stadium, Belfast Referee: Ben Whitehouse

Well first match of the season
I won't insult our Noniron cousins by trying to guess their line up. Mind, it would be helpful if one of them could find the time to enlighten us as to who to look out for this season/week.

Strange as it may seem Glasgow may have their first injury crisis of the season. Loose Head in particular is looking rather barren. Neither Kebble (injured) nor Bhatti have featured in the warm up games. So we'll be going to one of the toughest away fixtures with our third and fourth choice LH's. N.B. that is not me setting a new world record for getting excuses in early.

Anyhoo.

1. Lambert/Thyler
2. Chuckles [i]Turner seems to have suffered a concussion.[i]/ Jonny Matthis
3.Berghan/McCallum
4. Bean
5. Surfer Dude / Big Bad
6. Cummings
7. Darge? Batman
8.Dempsey
9. Hornito/House Elf
10. Meatball/ Ross The Boy Wonder
11. Forbes
12. Johnson
13. Shona
14. Titman/ Smith
15. Lord Stafford Of Mc Dowall


The back row looks problematic; DW seems to want a second row in there at 6 but that means Batman at 7 or 8. I just think that if he weren't captain then he wouldn't be first choice in either position. Also Cummings is a much better 4 than 6.

Stafford at 15 allows cover for 12&13 and Smith can cover the back three.

My biggest concern is at the scrums. We could get hammered here although lambert looks as if he will be a cracker in a couple of seasons and Berghan is a Scotland international. Anyhoo, we're back and it should be a good game, Ulster by 15 though.

Fraser Brown and Ryan Wilson featuring in the Glasgow Warriors promo pictures for the fixture. I know they are co capts but if they are fit, hard to imagine starting this season opener without the two of them!

Agreed Gee. However Darge is playing like a man released from a life of Luvviedom. Think Al Kellock or Ryan Grant. I think Batman's days of being an 8 are in the past, he really is a 6.5. DW may well start Batman and bring on Darge with the change of half backs to really up the pace in the last 30 minutes.

I think Darge may well start at 7, with Wilson more likely at 6 and Dempsey at 8.

Gordon on the bench to cover the backrow with the option of Cummings moving into the backrow later in the game as well. He really needs to start in the row against a big and physical Ulster side.

Most of our Ireland players and Henderson didn’t play in the 2 pre season games so if they start tomorrow will be completely cold in terms of recent game time.
Vermuelen won’t be with us to after November so you don’t need to worry about him.
I would assume around midday for a team announcement

I'm going to get this one in early this season, the well known 606 "(insert team) are going down" phrase that is.

So to celebrate the new season starting.....Glasgow are going down!!!!

Glasgow Warriors team to face Ulster in the United Rugby Championship, Friday 24 September 2021, kick-off 7.35pm, live on Premier Sports 1 and URC TV. You can follow the action in our Live Match Centre at glasgowwarriors.org.

1. Brad Thyer (0)
2. Johnny Matthews (12)
3. Simon Berghan (0)
4. Scott Cummings (78)
5. Richie Gray (61)
6. Ryan Wilson (C) (192)
7. Rory Darge (4)
8. Jack Dempsey (0)

9. George Horne (66)
10. Duncan Weir
11. Rufus McLean
12. Sam Johnson (72)
13. Sione Tuipulotu (0)
14. Kyle Steyn (31)
15. Cole Forbes (6)

16. Fraser Brown (109)
17. Jamie Bhatti (47)
18. Murray McCallum (0)
19. Lewis Bean (5)
20. Rob Harley (252)
21. Jamie Dobie (19)
22. Ross Thompson (13)
23. Ollie Smith (7)

Unavailable for selection: Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Thomas Gordon, Pete Horne, Oli Kebble, Kiran McDonald, Ewan McQuillin, Ali Price, Ratu Tagive, George Turner.

International duty: Sebastian Cancelliere, Domingo Miotti, Enrique Pieretto.

Well we have probably gone for the biggest pack we can muster, with a bit more to come off the bench later on as well.

Pretty pleased with that team really. Front row is a slight worry, but probably the best we can do at the moment.

Who is Brad Thyer...?

15 McIlroy
14 Baloucoune
13 Hume
12 McCloskey
11 Stockdale
10 Burns
9 Cooney

1 Warwick
2 Roberts
3 Moore
4 O'Connor
5 Carter
6 Jones
7 Reidy
8 Vermeulen - Only kidding Timoney

Replacements: Herring, O'Sullivan, O'Toole, Kearney, Rea, Doak, Lowry, Addison.

That's some backline !

jimbopip wrote:Strange as it may seem Glasgow may have their first injury crisis of the season.   Loose Head in particular is looking rather barren. Neither Kebble (injured) nor Bhatti have featured in the warm up games. So we'll be going to one of the toughest away fixtures with our third and fourth choice LH's. N.B. that is not me setting a new world record for getting excuses in early.

That excuse is null and void.

Ulster starting with, at best their 3rd choice LH, and I would argue 4th choice

Ulster unavailability list:

Jack McGrath, Gareth Milasinovich, Iain Henderson, Kieran Treadwell, Cormac Izuchukwu, Jordi Murphy, Ian Madigan, Luke Marshall, Rob Lyttle, Aaron Sexton.

Strong backline from Ulster, may be a little weak up front though

RDW wrote:Who is Brad Thyer...?

LH prop on loan from Cardiff for a month whilst ours get themselves fit again!


He did pretty well in the pre season games

BigGee wrote:

RDW wrote:Who is Brad Thyer...?

LH prop on loan from Cardiff for a month whilst ours get themselves fit again!


He did pretty well in the pre season games

DW made a point of saying he rewards performances: the front row was not too solid in the first 40 against Wuss and Brad Majors and Jonny Matthis shored it up really well in the second half so they get the jerseys for tomorrow night.For those of you who say "Oi Jimbo, enough of the silly pseudonyms! Why is it Brad Majors?" My only reply is, Can it! Janet!

Fantastic start for Ulster, out of the traps very quickly

Ulsters lineout is falling apart

Good man Brad, thats more like it, best hair in rugby on the scoresheet

Nathan Doak on, not great to see Cooney go off like that. Really interested to see how Doak goes though, lots of promise

Wee Horne is a handful eh.

Half time Glasgow lead 15-14, Ulster shown glimpses of great play but Glasgow better on the whole

Agreed neilthom7, but is kicking to Stockdale a great idea?
Darge...wow.
Shona...tasty
Hornito... I get deja vu every time he scores .

The kicking has been loose from Glasgow, Ulster should be making more from it. Has a feel of a first game of the season, some great stuff but not consistent from both teams, Glasgow will tighten up the kicking in the second half i'd guess

Ref is a bit of a goon eh

I think that decision is harsh to say the least.

Not sure about that penalty try!!

I really don't get that, that makes zero sense to me, what is he supposed to do, just let him score, good luck to whitehouse getting a pint in Belfast tonight

I get the rule and decision but it doesn't sit well with me. It wasn't dangerous. Hume was in control.

It’s almost like the ref has thought “oh, maybe I shouldn’t have shouted advantage over, I’ll give something else to Glasgow to make up for it”

Good support by Doak there, great to see Addison back though and having an effect

Lovely score. Where did you get Darge from?? Class.

Ulster fell off a lot of tackles there, good play by Glasgow to keep it alive and score

This is some game and is going to be a huge 5 mins

Great game. Just a shade of accuracy missing for Glasgow, but a belter of a contest.

Ulster win 35-29, and all I can say is phew lol really thought Glasgow were going to get that win at the end as they brought huge pressure, credit to Ulster for hanging in there
Fantastic game, huge credit to Glasgow, away from home on first week to put in that performance they will be up there this year

Ulster escaped there imo. But it's 5 points in the bag plus it's the first game. I'd take that at kick off.

Well, could have gone either way. Let's hope every match is as entertaining as this.
2 points from Kingspan? Not too shabby.

There was huge fight there from Glasgow, I wonder how much of this is knowing every game matters now with Europe and the play offs etc, previously a few tries down they might have just given up.