South African second-row Johann Muller in Ulster switch

[againstthehead]

welcome to the board beaver - great post and hard to argue with any of those points. With regards the backrow, i'd like to see a bit of specialised cover at 6. Ferris is the kind of players who reguarly picks up knocks. In addition, he'll be rested lot next season so I think we could do with some more cover at 6 - but is Rush not an 8? Furthermore, I sometimes feel a that our pack lack powerful ball carriers. Apart from Ferris, we don;t have what I would call explosive power. This season Court and Henry have shown glimpses but some raw power in the likes of Rush and Mueller may be a big bonus.

Scrum half is obviously the key area in which we must fill. If we can afford the cash then why not spend it. UR arn't renowned for throwing about silly money so I can only assume that the success of the national side is finally filtering down to Ulster. kellagher or weepu would be amazing signings but surely there'll be a mass exodus of exiled kiwis back to NZ this year?

15 is an interesting one. Is shifty staying? IMHO, shifty and bryn are both good solid players that won't let you down. Certainly, good at Magners levels. But neither offer anything meaningful in attack and neither have a particuarly big boot to pump the ball deep in the opposition half. Personally, I think we get ourselves in all sorts of trouble by playing too much of the game in our own half. I'd love to see us buy a FB who can hump the ball from 22 to 22. Smith hasn't done much wrong this season. If he can develop his kicking game perhaps he'll be a decent option.

[The Boo Radleys]

Based on everything that is going on, it will be interesting to see how many of the starting 15/squad 22 in Bath start our (hopefully!) first game in the Heinekin next season! Looks like its going to be pretty unrecognisable...

[Ithryn]

Muller is a ball carrier. Tuohy with a bit more bulk would be good at it too.

Henry can play 6 when ferris is injured/rested leaving room for Diack/rush at 8.

Porter looks like the real future at 9, but is the branch planning that he has 1-2 years in the academy to bulk up and play with the A team before he gets a full contract?

[Pimpmac]

http://images.teamtalk.com/08/10/800x60 ... 275325.jpg

Not so sure about the Sharks training bib over his UR top

[Teenage Grandad]

After reading a lot of posts spread out over a lot of forums i thought i'd offer my opinion on the latest transfers:

Boss is leaving for Leinster so we need a scrum half. The reason why nobody knows.
Mike Blair would be a good signing. Pienaar would be an awesome signing. We WILL NOT sign both him and Pienaar. Pienaar will cost 500000 and Blair will cost 350000. Thats 8500000 worth of players for one position!!!!! Pienaar WILL ONLY move if he is guaranteed a scrum half position. He is not coming to ulster to play 10. There is NO WAY ulster will sign two world class international scrum halves. It will be one or the other. My guess is Blair as he is cheaper - simple as that - we are not rich despite what some people seem to think.
IF we have indeed signed Rush then wheres the problem? He is not just a no.8. I suspect he will move to Japan though due to the wages on offer.
I suspect they are looking pienaar because he will play at 9 but if he HAS to he can drop to full back or switch to 10 if needed. I don't think we can afford the wages he wants.
As for Danielli - we will resign him - either the SRFU will give him a central deal or we can use the money saved by not signing blair,pienaar or rush or any of them.

Being realistic I think its time to get used to us being a feeder club. We simple don't have the support or money to support a team strong enough to compete against europes top teams. The best we can hope for is to achieve through our youth policy and use it to try and drag ourselves upto a more competitive level. We don't have the money to go buying big name players to bolster out squad. For example just look at the ticket prices we charge so that we can get a decent crowd of fans at a magners match. In comparison the cheapest ticket for Leinster v Connacht is 30 euro rising uo to 60....and they'll sell out!!! We simply can't compete against that sort of money. Each knockout round of the heiny is worth 500000! Again how can we compete if we never qualify beyond the goup stage.

[earl the beaver]

Being realistic I think its time to get used to us being a feeder club. We simple don't have the support or money to support a team strong enough to compete against europes top teams. The best we can hope for is to achieve through our youth policy and use it to try and drag ourselves upto a more competitive level. We don't have the money to go buying big name players to bolster out squad. For example just look at the ticket prices we charge so that we can get a decent crowd of fans at a magners match. In comparison the cheapest ticket for Leinster v Connacht is 30 euro rising uo to 60....and they'll sell out!!! We simply can't compete against that sort of money. Each knockout round of the heiny is worth 500000! Again how can we compete if we never qualify beyond the goup stage.

Disagree entirely, it's not so long ago that we were the only side in the ML selling out games, sure we haven't had as much success as Leinster or Munster but these things go in cycles, you can see the talent coming through and as for not signing top quality players BJ Botha is a big signing as is Muller, Pienaar or Blair would be more big signings, clearly we still have the money to appeal to players.

Talk of becoming a feeder club is completely wrong, this season we showed that we aren't far off qualifying for the HEC knockouts and we are still within reaching distance of the ML play offs, negativity is like this is never going to help us, we have the fanbase to fall back upon which other sides in the ML would die for.

[fermain]

agreed, lets keep our expectations high.
We're still in wi' a real chance of the Celtic League play-offs, which means we have a chance at the title.
Ulster were European champions, and will be again.

[Ardglass2]

Pienaar would be an awesome signing. We WILL NOT sign both him and Pienaar. Pienaar will cost 500000 and Blair will cost 350000. Thats 8500000 worth of players for one position!!!!!

Has anyone anywhere said any different

Being realistic I think its time to get used to us being a feeder club. We simple don't have the support or money to support a team strong enough to compete against europes top teams.

You base this assessment on what?
None of the departures, including Boss, are because we are in feeder club status

We don't have the money to go buying big name players to bolster out squad.

Are you going to tell BJ and Harrison or am I?

[againstthehead]

agreed, lets keep our expectations high.
We're still in wi' a real chance of the Celtic League play-offs, which means we have a chance at the title.
Ulster were European champions, and will be again.

I think we have an excellent chance of the top 4. Pretty much all of our remaining games are winnable. In addition, we're out of europe which means less fatigue and less injuries. Furthermore, we've only a handful of irish internationals so our side is less disrupted than most.
After the disapointment against Bath, I'm sure the coachs and players will be bloody determined that this season is not a total washout.
With players like meuller, pienaar and blair linked with ulster and a squad filled with exciting young talent, things haven't look so good for ulster in a long long time. If nothing else, the value for money with regards to entertainment value has been outstanding this season. Long may it continue!

[Rooster]

We don't have the money to go buying big name players to bolster out squad.

Are you going to tell BJ and Harrison or am I?

That would be some start for the new CEO
BJ "Mr Logan my pay cheque just bounced"
Logan " Has no one told you yet that you and the rest of the front row are now being paid with pies, Mikes order continues to the end of the season and there is no way we can afford the pies and your wages"

[BPH]

Boss is concerned. If the management don't see how important he is to the team and the supporters they are in need of a wake up call.

Would these be the same supporters a majority of whom have spent the last few seasons deriding him for having a slow pass and being indecisive? That wanted Cillian Willis as the starting scrum half up until a few months ago?

And who says Ulster fans are fickle

[Hot in the Tropics]

The fact that we are taling about sigining some, not all, of these 'big names' would surely suggest our ambitions are not limited at being a feeder club. And anyway I seriously doubt if David Humphreys has committed himself to a career with Ulster Rugby, rather than one in his chosen professional qualification, with the intention on baby-sitting a 'feeder club' to simply nurture and develop home grown talent, who then drift away for pastures greener. A business modelled on that strategy might function satisfactorily for a few years, but ultimately would stop attracting quality sponsors and even quality home grown talent.

[Rooster]

Irish club Ulster are set to announce the signing of Sharks lock Johann Muller, 29, later this week.

Muller - who relinquished the Sharks captaincy to John Smit this season- is likely to be released from his Currie Cup obligations in Durban to allow him to link up with Ulster at the end of the Super 14.

The 23-cap Springbok will join up with BJ Botha at Ulster. The former Sharks tighthead having signalled his intent to remain in Ireland rather than returning to South Africa.

Ulster also looked into luring Sharks flyhalf Ruan Pienaar abroad, but they were unsuccesful.

If Muller decides to leave it will be a huge blow to the Sharks who are sure to miss his experience, hard-nosed attitude and leadership.

http://www.sarugby.com/news/News/article/sid=12948.html

[Freddie Benson]

After the disapointment against Bath

What dissappointment would that be? Winning in England for the first time in the ERC? Comprehensively outplaying the opposition (Whether they had 14 or 15 men)?

[Big-al]

Irish club Ulster are set to announce the signing of Sharks lock Johann Muller, 29, later this week.

Muller - who relinquished the Sharks captaincy to John Smit this season- is likely to be released from his Currie Cup obligations in Durban to allow him to link up with Ulster at the end of the Super 14.

The 23-cap Springbok will join up with BJ Botha at Ulster. The former Sharks tighthead having signalled his intent to remain in Ireland rather than returning to South Africa.

Ulster also looked into luring Sharks flyhalf Ruan Pienaar abroad, but they were unsuccesful.

If Muller decides to leave it will be a huge blow to the Sharks who are sure to miss his experience, hard-nosed attitude and leadership.

http://www.sarugby.com/news/News/article/sid=12948.html