Squad v Ospreys

[cables]

ULSTER SQUAD FORWARDS
Bryan Young; Declan Fitzpatrick, Nigel Brady, Rory Best (Capt), Tom Court, Matt McCullough, Carlo Del Fava, Ryan Caldwell, Kieron Dawson, Roger Wilson, Neil Best, Stephen Ferris, Grant Webb, Chris Henry.

ULSTER SQUAD BACKS
Isaac Boss, Kieran Campbell, Paddy Wallace, Niall O’Connor, Mark McCrea, Rob Dewey, Mark Bartholomeusz, Andrew Trimble, Bryn Cunningham, Tommy Bowe, Paul Steinmetz.

[againstthehead]

Kind of what I expected. Looks as though he's going for a more experienced side. Odd to see Webb, Wilson, Ferris and Henry all in the mix.

I'd expect a backrow of Ferris, McCullough and Besty or maybe even Wilson at 8 with Ferris at 6.
No idea why campbell is there. Perhaps he's playing boss for the 80 and wants marshall to play Ulster A. He may through Henry into the side - but more likely to be on the bench.

NB a big game for Ulster A this weekend so a decent match for guys like pollock and marshall. Maybe he thinks marshall will learn more playing with the humph than getting a hammering against the ospreys.

[cables]

Is the next 'A' game not the following weekend v Leinster?

On the UR website the selection is by MW but the Press Statements are by the Asst. coach Steve Williams.

[Rooster]

Ok thats a 25 man squad so what's the chances he starts Henry, McCrea and Deccy this week ? Or possibly Webb if he is a prospect to stay next season ?

[Harold7]

Well if MW is ture to his word about using the away games to blood the youngsters then i'd think Henry is a banker to start.

[bigchiefally]

I think D Fitz and McCrea will start. I doubt Henry will, but good to see him in the squad. be interested to see how he does if he gets on, heard good things about him.

Not sure I agree with Webb or Campbell being in the squad at the expense of Pollock and Marshall. Going with the logic that unless a player who is leaving is better than a staying player we should be playing the guy who is staying it is hard to see why Pollock and Marshall have been dropped entirely from the squad. Given that they havent really played that much lately I doubt they are tired, and really what 21 year old would get tired playing a game a week anyway? At that age you recover very quickly.

Regarding the 4 number 8s in the squad (Ferris, Wilson, Webb, Henry) I think it is all about cosmic ying and yang. In the middle of the season we had none. Now we have 4. Balance restored.

Anyway, minor niggles aside I am sure MW should be able to form a team capable of competing well from the guys there. At the very least one that should never be pummeled by 36 points. Looking forward to it.

[McPepper]

on the radio it said that Paul Marshall was injured and Kieran Campbell was called in as cover

[Rooster]

Marshall is believed to be ruled out with a groin strain injury.

[Rooster]

On the UR website the selection is by MW but the Press Statements are by the Asst. coach Steve Williams.

Very astute cables, not only that but Steve did the tv interview as well our man Matt appears to have gone AWOL today from those type of formality's, could he be on the contract signing trail ?
He may be back tomorrow though

Williams: Spirit in squad is good
by Mark Doyle, 26 March 2008

Ulster assistant coach Steve Williams insists that the province’s players have not been adversely affected by their embarrassing 42-6 defeat by Munster last weekend and intend to bounce back by upsetting the Ospreys in Swansea on Friday night.

The Ulstermen’s impressive recent run under new boss Matt Williams came to a grinding halt in Cork, with the visitors being outscored by six tries to nil.

However, Steve Williams is adamant the players’ confidence remains intact and they firmly believe that they can get back to winning ways against the Ospreys.

"Morale in the camp is fine,” he insisted. “It will probably take the lads some time to get over the disappointment of not performing as they know they can. That is what will stick in their stomachs, so they just want to get out there this weekend and put it right.

"Ospreys are a fantastic squad with some great players and are currently right up there in Europe, and they are a hell of a good side. But we have taken a good look at ourselves and picked ourselves up again and are ready to move on.

”This is a learning curve and the game against Munster was a reality check, but it wasn't all negative, there were some big positives from the game as well as the negatives."

Meanwhile, head coach Williams will name his starting line-up for the trip to the Liberty Stadium on Thursday morning.

[scrum5]

Would like to see the team as 1) Bryan Young , 2) Rory Best , 3) Tom Court , 4) Ryan Caldwell , 5) Matt McCullough , 6)Stephen Ferris , 7) Kieron Dawson , Chris Henry , 9) Issac Boss , 10) Niall O'Connor , 11) Mark McCrea , 12) Rob Dewey , 13) Andrew Trimble , 14) Tommy Bowe and at 15) Bryn Cunningham. The replacements would be 16) Nigel Brady , 17)Declan Fitzpatrick , 18) Carlo Del Fava , 19) Neil Best , 20) Kieron Campbell , 21) Paddy Wallace , 22)Mark Bartholomeusz. I went for Henry instead of Neil Best for a couple of reasons, despite Neil Best leaving he has had a poor season by his standards and looks like someone who is disinterested in playing for Ulster, ( sorry if this annoys anyone ) but the amount of lost ball in contact in the last few games has been criminal. Also have watched Henry a few times this year playing for the A's and he has impressed with his leadership, his tackling , his first to the break down and turn over ball and all round fitness, (and no he is not my son ). I also picked Dewey instead of Wallace for his size and strength to combat the threat of the O's attacking threat down the centre, but would expect Paddy to come on about the hour mark when the game has opened up to make those incisive breaks that we saw against Munster. Left Del Fava on the bench hoping like Wallace that he to can make a huge impact coming of the bench, also feel that McCullough is playing really well at the moment and deserves to be starting purely on merit, anyone agree or plenty disagree....

[againstthehead]

The thinking of MW with regards the backrow is a hard one to call - potentially there are 7 back rowers in that squad. Mat McC is, however, listed alongside the 2nd rows so that may tell a story.
I think Ferris may be given a chance at 6, with Dawson starting at 7. Wilson is leaving so maybe Web or Henry will start at 8.
Depending on Dewi's fitness, Steiner may start at 12 - can't see PW starting at 12 for this one. Looks as though MWs policy is to include a few different youngsters into the squad each week and also to give the older guys like Dawson and Web a fair crack to win their jersies for next season.
Sounds like a plan to me.
I imagine that for connacht it will be our strongest squad that he can put out - so that will interesting to see.

cables wrote:
Is the next 'A' game not the following weekend v Leinster?

sheesh, thanks for that mate - I was all on for heading down to ravers tomorrow night... oops...

[Surrey Red Hand]

A lot of the Big names listed in the Ospreys squad, looks like we are in for a game !


The Ospreys team to face Ulster in the Magners League on Friday 28th March at Liberty Stadium, kick off at 7.10pm, will be as follows:-

15 Johnny Vaughton
14 Nikki Walker
13 Sonny Parker
12 Andrew Bishop
11 Shane Williams
10 James Hook
9 Justin Marshall


8 Filo Tiatia (Capt)
7 Ben Lewis
6 Jonathan Thomas
5 Ian Evans
4 Ian Gough
3 Cai Griffiths
2 Huw Bennett
1 Duncan Jones


Replacements:


16 Richard Hibbard
17 Paul James
18 Alun-Wyn Jones
19 Tom Smith
20 Rhys Webb
21 Shaun Connor
22 Jonathan Spratt

[bigchiefally]

A tough enough team but if we want to be a contender again we need to be able to go up against teams like this, compete and win.

[againstthehead]

Big game for the pack. We need to secure our set piece and try and put pressure on theirs. MW has talked a lot about intensity since he has taken over. Our pack needs to lift things several levels over what we saw last week. The O's will want to take things easy and play pretty boy rugby out wide. If we can dominate up front and make serious ground with the ball carriers we may run the O's close. I'd be in favour of a, get in their faces approach, with the likes of Del Fava and Ferris being very physical in the tight. Time to get back to basics.