Ulster v Leicester

[Meg The Lab]

Today's game is over, we were beaten by a team of superstars which has been brought together by a shed load of money and in the professional era it is always going to be hard to beat a team like that. Our boys didn't lie down and how many times have you seen a team finish a game with three scrum half on the pitch?

Anyway, what sort of a squad is Doak going to be able to choose from next week? We have seen Ludick going off with what looked like damaged ribs, PJ with what looked like a dislocated elbow, at least from the TV pictures I was viewing at the time he made contact with the Toulon player's chest and then Olding with another elbow injury, though no where near as bad looking as PJs.

Our injury list now looks more like the waiting list in the Royal A&E on a busy Saturday night.

iHumph will no doubt start at 10 with Ruan at 9. Thankfully Tommy will be back again along with Gilroy so the options in the backs will be a bit healthier than they were for the second half of todays game. Would you rather see Herring continue at hooker or Best come back into the front row considering the lineout performed a lot better today than in Italy last week?

Leicester, whilst not a team full of Toulon style superstars are still a very formidable unit and they will no doubt want to put as much pressure on their French rivals as possible. They also know that Ravenhill has not been a happy hunting ground for them in recent times and will want to get that monkey off their back.

Some might say, "again we have nothing to lose" well we have, as was pointed by some of the commentators today we have a game to lose and our pride in being a winning team on our own patch. Will the team be allowed to play the style of rugby they played today or will they revert to hoof it away and wait for them to run back at us?

It certainly is going to be an interesting affair, one which will see Leicester having much more to prove than us.

[Harold7]

We were never going to win today so it was right to rest Best and Bowe etc, it's a shame Jackson and Olding weren't rested too but there you go.

Next week is different, true it means nothing to us in competition terms, but it's a winnable game, we're at home and we are playing Leicester, a team we all love to beat. So personally I'd throw the kitchen sink at it but no doubt some will disagree so we can concentrate on the league.

Also if we win we will probably finish third in the pool, it may seem a little thing but finishing beneath the Scarlets would be disappointing.

[BaggyTrousers]

Yes, lets go all out to win this meaningless game ................. break Ruan, Darren, Jihad again and possibly Rory and Transit.

Yeah, GO FOR IT, IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO ..........................feck the consequences.

Some times I just get fu@ked off with the idiot tendency.

#SUFTUM #IDIOTS'R'US #WEAREFUCKINGBRILL.

[BaggyTrousers]

Sorry H7, you aren't an idiot, I just get somewhat irritated having watched us lose two more top players, maybe three in a game we couldn't even be arsed fielding a full strength team in.

[Russ]

Black Herring Bross
Vdm AoC
Cross Diack McCooomash

P Humph

Allen any fit 12 Cave Any fit 14
Now that Jihad is back playing 15 I don't want him broken, so Gilroy

[rorybestsbigbaldnoggin]

Black Herring Bross
Vdm AoC
Cross Diack McCooomash

P Humph

Allen any fit 12 Cave Any fit 14
Now that Jihad is back playing 15 I don't want him broken, so Gilroy

We don't have any 12s left though, do we?

Might have to be a three quarters of

Bowe-Cave-Allen-Gilroy

Which is not ideal. If we choose to rest Bowe or Gilroy again, there'd have to be a scrummie in there, right? . . . Or Ruan to fly-half and Humphreys defending the 12 channel?

[Deraless]

...Or Allen-Cave-Bowe-Gilroy

Ruan is possibly less likely to be crocked if he plays 9? We have so many injuries we probably can't afford to rest too many guys. Plus we're playing an English team so it would really stick in my throat if we didn't put in some sort of effort.

Let's stop kidding ourselves too. We won't win the Pro12. Rest of the season is about securing Euro cup place for next season. If we get an away play-off that's about it.

Maybe next week we could have a system of 3 scrum halfs playing a zonal game where they each cover rucks for a designated third of the field. With Big Mike as an auxillary 10..

[Snipe Watson]

...Or Allen-Cave-Bowe-Gilroy

Ruan is possibly less likely to be crocked if he plays 9? We have so many injuries we probably can't afford to rest too many guys. Plus we're playing an English team so it would really stick in my throat if we didn't put in some sort of effort.

Let's stop kidding ourselves too. We won't win the Pro12. Rest of the season is about securing Euro cup place for next season. If we get an away play-off that's about it.

Maybe next week we could have a system of 3 scrum halfs playing a zonal game where they each cover rucks for a designated third of the field. With Big Mike as an auxillary 10..

Given that we lost 3 more today, I think we are down to 8 fit backs.

[shamalicious]

Is there a possibility that Ulster may have to forfeit the match? What happens if we don't have enough fit registered players? :-S

[BaggyTrousers]

Is there a possibility that Ulster may have to forfeit the match? What happens if we don't have enough fit registered players? :-S

As long as you can put 15 players on the pitch you can play, a full bench is not essential (though I'm not sure if you must have 3 front row men right enough ), perhaps 18 required.

[BaggyTrousers]

I like Leicester people, a few unsavoury clowns on their forum, but then who doesn't. I've enjoyed Leicester win or lose. Must say winning is pleasant just the same.

I'd rather like us to stand up and fight, despite my concerns about further injuries.

[bazzaj]

Thing is Bagster I would rather us do one or the other.
Go for it for the confidence factor and get the first picks to play in an effective no pressure training exercise or don`t and rest players to avoid further injury.
Selection against Toulon meant that we didn`t do one or the other and picked up 3 back injuries with feck all to show for it.

Personally I`m with you now and we should go for it and put on a show to inject some badly needed confidence in the set up.
It can work and I remember Wales adopting a similar approach in the World cup in 2003 where they got to a point where they changed philosophy.
They just thought lets just go for it when they realised they weren`t getting anywhere the way they were playing.
The results were they shook the All Blacks and nearly beat England and it sowed the seeds for a grand slam in 2005.

[rorybestsbigbaldnoggin]

Is there a possibility that Ulster may have to forfeit the match? What happens if we don't have enough fit registered players? :-S

As long as you can put 15 players on the pitch you can play, a full bench is not essential (though I'm not sure if you must have 3 front row men right enough ), perhaps 18 required.

I think numbers 16, 17 and 18 must be the "nominated" replacement hooker, LH and TH respectively - but I don't think there are any restrictions beyond that. We would hypothetically, I think, be able to start Best, have Herring as replacement hooker and (say) Andrew as replacement TH (Doakie if you're reading this, don't do it!)

[Rooster]

Is there a possibility that Ulster may have to forfeit the match? What happens if we don't have enough fit registered players? :-S

As long as you can put 15 players on the pitch you can play, a full bench is not essential (though I'm not sure if you must have 3 front row men right enough ), perhaps 18 required.

I think numbers 16, 17 and 18 must be the "nominated" replacement hooker, LH and TH respectively - but I don't think there are any restrictions beyond that. We would hypothetically, I think, be able to start Best, have Herring as replacement hooker and (say) Andrew as replacement TH (Doakie if you're reading this, don't do it!)

We have enough for the front row and we can just load the bench with scrum halfs and, get Shanaghan in there and go for a world record of 4 scrum halfs on one team

[BaggyTrousers]

Actually 15 is fine, if you name 16,17 or 18, you must have 4 front row players, 19-22, 5 front row, 23, 6 front row.

Hypothetical I hope.

We appear to have 10 fit backs assuming Olding is not risked :

9 (or with pretensions) Pienaar, p, Heaney, Shanahan
10 (sort of) iHumph
11 Gilroy
12 Allen ?
13 Cave
14 Bowe
15 Payne

That is it, self selecting with 3 scrum-half replacements.

We have 18 fit forwards (if you include Fat Declan)

Props: Black, Fat Declan, Aussie Dave, Useless Dave, Bross, Big Licence
Hooker: Best, Herring, Andrew
2nd Row:Franco, Big-Al O'C, Rocket, McComb, Donnan
Back row: MaCooooooomash, Daick, Wilson, Cross

Remove, Andrew, Aussie & Ugly Daves, Donnan & McComb and there are your twenty three, unless you swap one of those 5 for Shanahan and go 6:2 bench, possibly Andrew & name Herring as the new Nigel Brady. That or expect McComb to be a 6.

Wisdom of Solomon not required, Darkie will do between them.

Feck Sadie, ah haven't a gulder to muster.