Team v Edinburgh

[Dogsd]

Dropping Dewey against his old team is a big call... You would of thought he would have been really up for it....

[bogboy]

The one thing I'm glad to see is Timmy getting rested before his confidence is totally lost a week on the bench might restore it

There is a little to much pressure on this game from an Ulster point of view

Loosing at home to the Dragons when they should have beaten them and the margin of defeat against the Ospreys will not provide a sound base to play Edinburgh who while not a great side ( definitely not one of the top five in the ML )

(Ospreys
Munster N.B. Ulster have played 3 of the top 5 sides in 4 weeks nearly beating one away from home all those
Leinster sides have fairly settled squads as compared to changes imposed on the Ulster squad
Cardiff
Scarlets)

Have a reasonable pack of forwards who have been around for some time and therefore Edinburgh while no great shakes cannot be taken likely esp with Patterson on hand to kick any penalties given away

A tough game which requires a careful application of skill and pace and avoidance of infringement at the breakdown ( which could be the reason for Matts place on the bench)

given the Number of tackles made last week I am sure some are being rested due to bruising etc ( ie Dawsons place on the bench ?)

[28']

Good News Paterson not playing. (ankle injury)

[againstthehead]

hard selection to analyse. Trimble on the wing so our most potent attacker is unlikely to see much of the ball. I'd have been in favour of a boss/humph combo at half back.
Back row has a decent balance though so happy with that one. In fact, our pack looks good on paper - time to perform up front.

The loss of patterson is a massive bonus for us. We may just sneek this one - c'mon ulster!!!!

[The Boo Radleys]

Edinburgh team:

Edinburgh: J Thompson, J Houston, H Southwell, N De Luca, M Robertson, D Blair, M Blair (capt), A Jacobsen, A Kelly, G Kerr, J Hamilton, B Gissing, M Mustchin, A Hogg, S Newlands.
Replacements: R Ford, G Cross, C Hamilton, C Fusaro, G Laidlaw, P Godman, C MacRae

[Jackie Brown]

When is young Wallace back?

does anyone really care

He's our best inside center, so yeah, I'd say people do care.

[FRB]

Might have kept Boss in to counter Mike Blair who is a class act.

The Edinburgh centre pairing could give Ulster problems.

Really looking forward to seeing this back row in action.

I shall go to Ravenhill quietly confident (as usual).

COME ON ULSSSTERRRRRR!!

[againstthehead]

I think it will be decided up front and by the 10. If we can dominate their pack and NOC can keep us in the right areas of the park we have a decent chance.

[bags]

i think this is getting closer to our strongest pack...maybe carlo in second row...but with a strong pack and hopefully a stronger platform for the backs they will have no excuse...

i dont know how MW can expect backs to preform with so many different people being tried in so many positions...no continuity at all....trimble must be getting a bit peeved off...how can you expect a player to play well if keep getting moved about...think back to tommy in centre last season..nothing spectacular until he had a few games in his natural position...

[ulsterrugbylover08]

Looking forward to tomorrow night - it sounds like a good, strong pack which will be facing Edinburgh. Great to see Willis getting a start aswell - he was saying last night at how he would love to start for Ulster.

Here's looking for a win tomorrow night!

[Lisburnsooty]

can't argue with the selection except to say - why is Boss still around ?

[Lisburnsooty]

Can't argue with this selection - except why is Boss still around ?

[Rooster]

When is young Wallace back?

does anyone really care

He's our best inside center, so yeah, I'd say people do care.

I'd almost put money on him playing against Stade next week.

[Neil F]

Understandable selection but I'm still worried about the lack of consistency in selections so far this season. This will be Ulster fifth game this season and it seems that only a first choice front-row has something of a stable selection, although hopefully now with injuries out of the way, we can see more consistent selection in the backrow as well. The worry is that Williams seems to be putting players in the centre in the hope that this week's selection click and do what last week's selection didn't. I think Williams needs to be more patient than that and get some stability into these areas, to allow partnerships to build and to become effective over time. I've said before that I think Wallace or Steinmetz to play a footballing game at 12 and Trimble or even Dewey bringing a bit of power down the 13 channel would be Ulster's most effective set up. Cave has done reasonably well but he hasn't figured enough in attack, although part of that problem should be overcome by having a more skillful and tactically minded 12 on the park in Steinmetz and is probably worth the punt, given the form of Nagusa thus far.

Ultimately, in five games this season, Ulster have had four different starting centre partnerships (Dewey and Cave, Wallace and Cave, Trimble and Dewey and Steinmetz and Dewey). The only pairing to be repeated was Dewey and Cave and that selection wasn't on consecutive weeks. He's done a slightly better job with the back three - this is only the third different selection in five weeks but it still can't be described as stable. It leads one to ask where Trimble and Schifcofske, especially, are spending most of their time in contact training? Perhaps it could even go some way to explaining exactly why the basic skills along the backline seem to be so poor? It seems that Williams is giving O'Connor time to prove himself, and I think O'Connor deserves it because I personally feel he's actually played well this season, especially during the times that he had Wallace outside. I cannot understand why Williams isn't looking to build other players and combinations in a similar manner?

Is the Ulster squad so threadbare that we have to accept that Trimble will spend this season as a utility player? If that is the case, then I wonder if that will alter his mindset when it comes to penning a new contract at Ulster? Being shifted from wing to centre certainly won't do his international chances much good. Ultimately, Ulster are selecting from a full set of backs right now (bar Danielli and Wallace, but Wallace would be a straight swap for Steinmetz, so it doesn't complicate things the way the injury to Danielli has) and because one player isn't on form, we're seeing two players moved out of their most natural positions to compensate. All of these problems are coming from the back three. One injury really shouldn't cause that sort of disruption, even if Nagusa has looked flaky at best. With that being the case, one really must ask why Williams wasn't sniffing around guys like Carr or McFadden at Leinster - young guys with plenty of potential but with little chance of starting serious games in D4. Carr moved on to Connacht so that sort of move was obviously a possibility. Even if he was just in the squad as backup, Carr would have been a lot closer to the action at Ulster than he would be at Leinster.

[BigHairyMonster]

Liking the look of the pack guys.