jean valjean wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 3:21 pm
At present ulster are better with burns at 10 than doak. The question is do we sacrifice that in order to invest in doak for the rest of the season.
That’s my point, but season isn’t dead so for me the answer is no.
Doak has no vision at 10 and yes he’s out of position, but when we are still in contention it’s not the right time for me to find out what his potential is in a positional switch.
I think Doak has to learn how to play at 10, and keep his cool. A yappy 9 is not needed at 10.
One more match this week will likely see the season ended anyway, but if Burns is fit, I would start with him this week, and once we're out, continue with Doak. Certainly against Cardiff, we should play Doak at 10 irrespective of Burns' fitness.
Surely the other way round Cap'n.Challenge cup is a free hit for Doaks development in a testing environment at the Tyre Factory?
We know what Burns can and mainly can't do.
The business end must wins for me are the URC top 6/ playoffs for £ in Europe
I'm indifferent to the doak / burns situation but where it does weaken us is if cooney gets injured or is having a mare. Having a shanners / doak partnership is not one I want to see. Making 2 positional changes when u only want to replace the 9 is not ideal.
jean valjean wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 4:19 pm
Does the ban on SA sides hosting semifinals apply to the challenge Cup as well as the champions Cup?
Not that I'm expecting ulster to win next week but would a semi against the sharks have to be held in Europe?
"A home semi". Where have I heard that before? It'll be Dublin won't it?
jean valjean wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 4:19 pm
Does the ban on SA sides hosting semifinals apply to the challenge Cup as well as the champions Cup?
Not that I'm expecting ulster to win next week but would a semi against the sharks have to be held in Europe?
"A home semi". Where have I heard that before? It'll be Dublin won't it?
Casement Park
Not expecting a home semi any year soon then?
I'm not arguing -
I'm just explaining why I'm right
CIMANFOREVER wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 1:54 pm
Making it embarrassingly easy for 14 MP. How many scrum pens is that now Shytehouse?
Is 14MP Two-Metre Peter's 12m taller cousin?
He stretched on puberty. Trust you to focus on that and not the scrum pens
I've given up on Whitehouse Junior. He's not even half as good as his da, and he was useless.
I was amazed when he awarded the Addison try today - I wa sconvinced he would find something to disallow it for.
Only after the red card did he change sides from being a homer - and even then he still refused to give as many cards as he should.
He did his best to overrule the Addison score. A mind-bending entirely fictional interpretation of the replay was quite entertaining but ultimately the tmo didn't buy it.
Clermont will be a big ask however they bear no resemblance to their team of 5-6 years ago. They beat the Cheetahs 27-22 yesterday in what was Ruan Pienaar’s very last game of professional rugby. Have a great retirement Ruan and thank you for all you did for Ulster rugby!
CIMANFOREVER wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 1:54 pm
Making it embarrassingly easy for 14 MP. How many scrum pens is that now Shytehouse?
Is 14MP Two-Metre Peter's 12m taller cousin?
He stretched on puberty. Trust you to focus on that and not the scrum pens
I've given up on Whitehouse Junior. He's not even half as good as his da, and he was useless.
I was amazed when he awarded the Addison try today - I wa sconvinced he would find something to disallow it for.
Only after the red card did he change sides from being a homer - and even then he still refused to give as many cards as he should.
He did his best to overrule the Addison score. A mind-bending entirely fictional interpretation of the replay was quite entertaining but ultimately the tmo didn't buy it.
He was happy enough but then he imagined the knocked back off the leg thing.
I reckon there’s an argument that it only looked like it went backwards because Bobby went forwards but, hey, Montpellier would have found a way for us to win anyway.
Alec Adoo MBE_ wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 11:04 pm
Clermont will be a big ask however they bear no resemblance to their team of 5-6 years ago. They beat the Cheetahs 27-22 yesterday in what was Ruan Pienaar’s very last game of professional rugby. Have a great retirement Ruan and thank you for all you did for Ulster rugby!
Over 400 senior games. Some career
Volunteer at an animal sanctuary; it will fill you with joy , despair, but most of all love, unconditional love of the animals.
Big Neville Southall
jean valjean wrote: ↑Sun Apr 07, 2024 4:19 pm
Does the ban on SA sides hosting semifinals apply to the challenge Cup as well as the champions Cup?
Not that I'm expecting ulster to win next week but would a semi against the sharks have to be held in Europe?
It doesn’t say it does in the summary of the rules.
It was similarly unclear why Ruan would have got a game at Ravenhill had the Cheetahs won (albeit his skipper didn’t say that exactly)
It'll be Dublin won't it? 
