Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Talk about the men in white, and everything Ulster!!

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Neill_M
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by Neill_M »

Finidhed 36-33 to Glasgow. Real stuff starts on Friday 27/9 v Ospreys.
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Setanta
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by Setanta »

So did Addison get any minutes? I read the reports and still can't work out which subs were used. Good display by all though; if the Glaswegians had also been penalised for offside we would have won. Mind, the rolling maul defence was non-existent! So, did Addison play at all?
From the rolling glens of Antrim through the hills of Donegal we will stand and shout for Ulster as we win both scrum and maul from the lovely lakes of Fermanagh tae the shores of ould Lough Gall we will scream and shout for Ulster as we beat them one and all!
volvo
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by volvo »

Addison was kept on the bench,orders from IRFU due to injury to Robbie Henshaw. He hasn't left for Japan yet as they were waiting for results of a scan on Henshaw supposed to be done this morning our time. The weegies commentator kept referring to Addison on the pitch at 15 but it was Faddes who had 15 shirt on.
Sue Dename
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

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Columbo
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by Columbo »

Well I have to say that the two friendlies were pretty heartening - in recent years they've been meaningless hit-outs from pretty random-seeming selections, this year the selections gave the impression of being solidly planned and I thought the performances, while they weren't brilliant (impossible to make that amount of changes inside 80 mins and keep standards up) I thought the signs were very encouraging:
* defence - yes work to do (far too many missed tackles in the away game, and midfield defence in game 1, half 1 was poor with Hume / Faddes in the centre, completely transformed when Marshall came in), but on the whole I thought it looked decent, reasonable linespeed, on the whole well-connected
* rucks - very impressed on our ball, ruck clear-outs generally very effective giving good ball (although without Marcell we lack genuine threat over the ball in defence IMO)
* attack - interesting, looked like we were working on bringing depth to our attack, particularly in the first game, with a lot of ball going to forwards at first receiver with a couple of runners, and then out the back to deeper-lying back alignment. Reminiscent of how Connacht played under Lam. A criticism last year was over-use of McCloskey on the crash and not much variety, so this was good to see - and resulted in some nice breaks for example Kernohan's try.
* skills - on the whole looked pretty good, sometimes we over-played and there were the usual pre-season fumbles, but I thought our passing looked good and there were some nice offloads.

The selections were interesting too. Early signs of a pecking order - it looks like Billy is the clear starter at 10 (40 mins each match, as captain... Lowry 60 mins, Johnston 20 mins); at 1 it looks like McGrath, EOS & McCall, with Warwick bumped; Andrew ahead of McBurney at this stage (was impressed by him in both matches). I was very impressed by Hume, I think he needs to shore up his defence (has a habit of slipping off tackles) but one of the nicest-looking players to watch. Not to forget McIlroy and G Curtis who were very sound in the first game

In fact a 'problem' I forsee is that we have a load of impressive backs, but a significant number of them are going to see little if any game-time in big matches, unless there are injuries. Even thinking about next Friday, my guess at a XV would be: EOS - Herring - Moore - Carter - Treadwell - Rea - Reidy - Murphy - Cooney - Burns - Lyttle - McCloskey - Marshall - Gilroy - Faddes; this leaves the following scrapping for 2 bench spots - Johnston, Lowry, Curtis, Hume, Kernohan (and this with Ludik & Baloucoune injured, Stockdale with Ireland and Addison assumed to be rested / called up as well...)
..one more thing
Aird
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by Aird »

Would agree with most of Colombo comments but would point out that we have been in the situation of seemingly having a surplus of class backs. Then Messers Jackson and Olding fresh from starring roles for Ireland v S.Africa disappeared ,and Gilroy Ludik picked up longtime injuries and virtually disappeared for a season. Trimble and Bowe both hung up there boots in favour of a media careers. I appreciate that there is a danger of young platers getting restless likeTommy Seymour and others have done but. My point is that things can change quite dynamically in the course of a season and there is no such thing as too many good players.
justinr73
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by justinr73 »

There looks to be a decent blend of experience and styles of play.

I think the emergence and impact of Bobby B was a massive plus from last season. Have we any idea what’s wrong with him?

Only one of those backs is durable as such so we may need the numbers, although one or two of the lads will inevitably fall away.

Nice to have a bit of depth at ten. I reckon Burns’ calf injury would have kept him out of the Ashes but he had to play through it for Ulster.
therealspratt
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by therealspratt »

justinr73 wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:20 am There looks to be a decent blend of experience and styles of play.

I think the emergence and impact of Bobby B was a massive plus from last season. Have we any idea what’s wrong with him?

Only one of those backs is durable as such so we may need the numbers, although one or two of the lads will inevitably fall away.

Nice to have a bit of depth at ten. I reckon Burns’ calf injury would have kept him out of the Ashes but he had to play through it for Ulster.
I don't think there's been anything official said about Baloucoune, I think maybe the Tele lads said he wasn't too far off?
rumncoke
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by rumncoke »

Watched the second pre-season on tube -- the ref was a home and no Nigel called several marginal off -sides putting Glasgow into the corner -- to maul the tries -- that said Glasgow got a couple of nice trys wide on the wing because Ulster and Gilroy especially were defending to narrowly. Gilroy's positioning in defence has always been a bit suspect -- basically wings like their opposite number to run outside so as to tackle side on -- Gilroy just has to move about two -three feet closer to the touch line and to trust the players inside him to look after their own.
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Columbo
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Re: Pre Season Friendlies 2019/20

Post by Columbo »

Aird wrote: Thu Sep 19, 2019 3:32 pm Would agree with most of Colombo comments but would point out that we have been in the situation of seemingly having a surplus of class backs. Then Messers Jackson and Olding fresh from starring roles for Ireland v S.Africa disappeared ,and Gilroy Ludik picked up longtime injuries and virtually disappeared for a season. Trimble and Bowe both hung up there boots in favour of a media careers. I appreciate that there is a danger of young platers getting restless likeTommy Seymour and others have done but. My point is that things can change quite dynamically in the course of a season and there is no such thing as too many good players.
very true
..one more thing
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