Harrison is back in again - is Del Fava still injured?
No Neil Best but Webb and Wilson on the bench??
Ulster Team
Ulster Team: (15-9) B Cunningham; T Bowe, A Trimble, P Wallace, M Bartholomeusz; N O’Connor, I Boss; (1-8) B Young, R Best (Capt), T Court, J Harrison, R Caldwell, M McCullough, K Dawson, S Ferris
Replacements: (16-22) N Brady, D Fitzpatrick, G Webb, R Wilson, K Campbell, R Dewey, M McCrea
Matt McCullough, Isaac Boss, Kieron Dawson and Bryan Young all return to the starting line up to play the Ospreys in Swansea tomorrow night.
The back row is transformed with Neil Best and David Pollock dropping out of the squad and Matt McCullough taking the number 6 jersey and former Irish International Kieron Dawson starting at 7.
In the front row Bryan Young returns to loose head with Justin Fitzpatrick omitted from the team and Declan Fitzpatrick added as cover. Grant Webb is named on the bench.
The backs remain unchanged apart from Isaac Boss returns to the starting lineup with Kieran Campbell acting as cover.
Williams said this of his team selection, “We have some guys back starting for us including Bryan Young, Kieron Dawson and Matt McCullough, we are fortunate that we have those options to move things around and keep things fresh. Paul Marshall picked up an injury against Munster so Isaac will be starting. Our back line functioned well offensively against Munster and the offset play defended well so that unit remains the same with Kieran Campbell in as cover on the bench
Grant Webb deserves a shot; I haven’t seen him play since I arrived so it is an opportunity for him on the bench, same with Roger Wilson who has had 20 minutes of rugby in last 3 months.
We know that this will be a tough game, we always said the Munster and Ospreys games would be the two hardest away games but it is a chance to give the young guys some game time and the game will be really important as part of the learning curve as we build up to the home Connacht game on the 11th Aprilâ€
Looks as though MW is keen to put out an experienced side...
The bench is a bit bizzare with 2 number eights. If that's the situation, I'd have been keen to see Henry on the bench. Webb deserves a chance but Wilson is gone.
What's MW going to do with 2 8's on the bench? Play one of them out of position? Actually, the more I think about it, the more crazy that selection is - why not have Best or Pollock on the bench instead of Wilson? And put wilson on the bench next week.
If fava is injured, I'd put Mat in the engine room, move Ferris to 6 and play any of the 8's at 8.
Apart from that, no real surprises - I'd prefer to see PW used as an impact player but Dewey probably still isn;t 100% and PW may be able to assist NOC with kicking duties. Glad to see Dawson at 7 - he's done well this season and hopefully will get some joy this weekend.
Prediction? May be able to keep things close for 50 min then the extra quality of the O's will come through. Defeat by 10-20 I'm afraid...
Last edited by againstthehead on Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Climb up onto the top of your house and start screaming: 'stand up for the Ulstermen, stand.......'
Best axed! I thought he played OK, and better than most, against the Munstermen, considering the team were on the back foot for most of the match. At least the Ospreys have taken pity on us and are fielding their B team plus Shane Williams.
rosetintedgoggles wrote:Best axed! I thought he played OK, and better than most, against the Munstermen, considering the team were on the back foot for most of the match. At least the Ospreys have taken pity on us and are fielding their B team plus Shane Williams.
I don't think it is the Ospreys B team, it's fairly strong .......... more of an A- or a B+ team to me.
I didn't think Neil Best had a good game against Munster, nor did most of the posters here, and doesn't deserve to be in the 22. But I though Chris Henry would get a place on the bench ahead of Webb, given Matt Williams objective of blooding new talent in away games.
That's what will happen RHH, with Ferris moving to 6 and Webb / Wilson coming in at 8.
Personally I'd like to see Webb there. Good to see Tom Court starting again and we have a decent squad.
No doubt Tommy will be out to prove that he can slot into the Osprey's 22 easily.
Some people say I used to be called Colzo. Don't listen to them people, I talk much less sense than Colzo.
Colzo wrote:
No doubt Tommy will be out to prove that he can slot into the Osprey's 22 easily.
I'm sure Trimble and Bowe will be looking forward to getting their hands on Shane Williams for a change!!
Perhaps Trimble will break the line for a change. He has been frankly dreadful for most of this campaign. He has lost what little pace he had and seems obsessed with the "big hit"! If its big hits we want give Dewey a start.
No real surprises in the starting team; I thought Wallace had a good game last week and deserves his place in the side while McCullough and Dawson should add a bit more grit to the backrow. Good to see Young back in the front row - he's been on impressive form at loosehead under Matt Williams. The only disappointment I have about the starting team is that I'd rather have had McCullough in the 2nd row, with Ferris at 6 and Wilson or Webb at 8; that said, I'm basing that more on the fact that I thought Harrison was another one who had a poor game in Munster - he would probably have been on the bench, with either Wilson and Webb dropped of Del Fava had been available. If Del Fava was available, I'd be happy with the backrow as it is.
I was initially quite surprised by the bench, but I think it makes sense - Williams would have selected, or at least planned his preferred starting side early enough in the week so that a few specific training exercises could be done around a set gameplan for that selection; with Del Fava dropping out, the replacement made is the most like-for-like available with only one change to the starting team. The alternative of moving McCullough into the second row would have involved three changes overall and would have changed the backrow dynamic quite considerably. The only surprise, I guess, is that both Wilson and Webb make the bench ahead of Henry. I'm guessing Williams has made that selection based on being able to put out the best available team for our remaining home games.
Not the team i was expecting or even hoping for, but hi what do I know, a bit surprised that Harrison is in the starting 15 considering that he was not even in the original 25 man squad. Disappointed that Chris Henry didn't make the 22 ahead of Wilson who is leaving at the end of the season and Webb ( don't know what to say about the guy even MW hasn't seen him play )hopefully will see Henry in before the season is over. The front 5 look good apart from Harrison, and when i say that, what i mean is that i hope he is not carrying an injury as was the case against Munster, if he's fully fit then the pack are a match for the O's pack. I wonder was Wallace picked ahead of Dewey seeing that the O's picked Marshall ahead of Mike Phillips who is a much bigger and more robust runner down the central channel and who would have exploited Paddy's defensive capabilities, But all in all we should be able to compete over the 80 minutes, with Del Fava's omission for what ever reason we are a bit scarce in the lock department especially if Harrison is not fully fit ( need 2 for next season ). The bench should have enough impact when deployed about the 60 minute mark. Hopefully a much closer game than last weeks providing the line-out functions and we make our tackles...ONWARDS AND UPWARDS FOR THE ULSTERMEN
In memory of Nevin Spence 1990- 15th Sept. 2012
Axel..... 30 October 1973 - 16 October 2016
Pedrie Wannenburg. 2 January 1981 - 22 April 2022.
Neil F wrote:No real surprises in the starting team; I thought Wallace had a good game last week and deserves his place in the side while McCullough and Dawson should add a bit more grit to the backrow. Good to see Young back in the front row - he's been on impressive form at loosehead under Matt Williams. The only disappointment I have about the starting team is that I'd rather have had McCullough in the 2nd row, with Ferris at 6 and Wilson or Webb at 8; that said, I'm basing that more on the fact that I thought Harrison was another one who had a poor game in Munster - he would probably have been on the bench, with either Wilson and Webb dropped of Del Fava had been available. If Del Fava was available, I'd be happy with the backrow as it is.
I was initially quite surprised by the bench, but I think it makes sense - Williams would have selected, or at least planned his preferred starting side early enough in the week so that a few specific training exercises could be done around a set gameplan for that selection; with Del Fava dropping out, the replacement made is the most like-for-like available with only one change to the starting team. The alternative of moving McCullough into the second row would have involved three changes overall and would have changed the backrow dynamic quite considerably. The only surprise, I guess, is that both Wilson and Webb make the bench ahead of Henry. I'm guessing Williams has made that selection based on being able to put out the best available team for our remaining home games.
fair play to you for making sense out of that one... I see where you are coming from but 2 eights on the bench is a bit mad. I think MW was on the beers yesturday, hence, SW did all the talking...
On a serious note, we have 1 specialised flanker in the squad and 4 specialised number eights... Okay Ferris and Mat are adaptable but it's still odd. Common sense dictates that Neil Best should be on the bench. UNLESS, MW was drunk off with his performance last week and wants to set an example of him? I'm probably reading too much into it...
Climb up onto the top of your house and start screaming: 'stand up for the Ulstermen, stand.......'
Don't know how many tackles Bestie missed last week but he looked like a demented bull running at players and then realising about 10 yards later he had actually missed them.
Harrisons height is needed in the lineout for Gough and safer to get Del back properly fit than risk him for the sake of another week or two.
Wonder has Webb ever played 6 or 7 as we are a bit scarce in that department.
“That made me feel very special and underlined to me that Ulster is more than a team, it is a community and a rugby family" Rory Best
I see where you're coming from but, personally, I wouldn't put Neil Best in the Ulster side. His performance against Munster was exactly that of a player who knows he is leaving - I don't mean that to be vindictive, just that Bestie was played like his mind was elsewhere. I don't think there is space for the kind of errors that a distracted performance will bring in professional sport. It was disappointing to see Bestie put in that kind of performance, especially after such a positive impact against the Scarlets but I don't think rewarding him with a place in the 22 is the right way to deal with his performance in Cork. Along with Pollock, Bestie wasn't in the 25 man squad named by Williams earlier in the week - I guess that under the expectation of Del Fava being available to start, Pollock and Best were left out of that extended squad, so may well not having been involved in particular elements of training that those in that squad would have.
Rooster wrote:Don't know how many tackles Bestie missed last week but he looked like a demented bull running at players and then realising about 10 yards later he had actually missed them.
Harrisons height is needed in the lineout for Gough and safer to get Del back properly fit than risk him for the sake of another week or two.
Wonder has Webb ever played 6 or 7 as we are a bit scarce in that department.
Was watching Setanta this morning for the fourth time and saw what you mean. He appeared to be anticipating a pass and getting himself caught between two stools. He would have been better doing what he does best and just knocking the guy who had the ball down. Perhaps he is suffering from travelling up and down the road to Dublin and holding all those tackle bags during the six nations! That would drive anyone demented!
