The UAFC

Rightly or wrongly I'd be of the opinion that the Academy is working pretty well now. There is obviously one or two problem positions, as is the case in almost any team, but we've more than our fair share or talented youngsters in the squad. The issue is much more that for a much longer time than it...

it'd also be interesting to see how the percentage success has changed over time. I'd expect that because they're tried so rarely used now, one someone does go for one out of desperation with the pressure on they're more likely to miss. The only player that comes to mind now still playing when I thi...

Think with the injuries a lot of the team picks itself, think loosehead and hooker are both interesting decisions though. McGrath has generally been starting for Ulster, but EOS has been picked ahead of him for Ireland, while at hooker, Herring now seems to be first choice for Ireland, but Andrews h...

Ulster 19-0 up after 25 minutes now. A couple of nice moments from Ulster, particularly the first try, but Edinburgh haven't shown up at all.

Not a bad try to start with. Quite an impressive turn of pace from Andrews too on the wing.

Scarlets clearly taking their inspiration from Ireland's performance yesterday.

Nearly getting sent off aside, Treadwell has been playing well.

That was truly dire, but a win's a win. I think the two big causes of concern coming from it are the success that Cardiff had in slowing our ball down at seemingly every ruck, and the lack of big ball carriers to try and get us the go forward ball in the first place. For me Turnbull was the stand ou...

I'd assumed it might be to help with travel in some way, shape or form. Maybe it's just to enable TV so be able to show two games back to back, assuming there is another at 7:45?

It seems very likely there'll be a second lock-down imposed in France from tomorrow. If so, it remains to be seen if this competition will even be able to go ahead.

As the holders Exeter couldn't have got a much harder draw either, think Toulouse are comfortably the strongest third seed in the draw.

Looking good so far. Madigan over cooked a crossfield kick a couple of minutes in but it was on. One thing that's really stood out for me in the last few weeks is the amount of offloads we're starting to find. Maybe the long break in interfering with my memory, but it seems to be an area of our game...

This is the best game of rugby I've seen in ages. Some soft defence from both sides, but it's not too surprising there are gaps with the pace it's being played. Moore has looked electric with ball in hand, but think Treviso wouldn't be making the same headway with McCloskey in defence. Given it's th...

Haven't heard anything, but unfortunately if our finances are as bad as being made out then it would make sense to help try and balance the books. Hope that it isn't the case though.

Love the idea of there being an 'inter-pro' sub competition if it was actually taken seriously. It could add a bit more bite to the matches and stop the trend of all the provinces sending their second strings out for the away fixture. Sadly I doubt that it'll happen though.

I'll take a guess at something like: 1. EOS 2. Herring 3. TOT 4. Treadwell 5. Carter 6. McCann 7. Nordi 8. Timoney 9. Cooney 10. Lowry 11. Sexton/McIlroy 12. Madigan 13. Moore 14. Lyttle 15. Faddes I'd expect a few of the people who've been started the last three games to get another week off, thoug...

Silly to write the guy off when he’s been hampered by injury, yet still tops the Ulster charts for Pro 14 tries and yardage made. Think there are a couple of different points here. Given his super rugby pedigree I've no doubt Faddes is a much better player than we saw last year, where regardless of...