Could the answer to our problems be...

[Shem]

Gareth Steenson?

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport ... 52566.html

I must say I'm an iHumph fan but why oh why are we not making an attempt to get Steenson signed, at least for next season?

Has anyone heard anything going around Ravers about the possibility of bringing him back to Ravenhill?

[Fly Half]

Top kicker, but makes iHumph look like Jerry Collins in defence

[fuzzylogic]

The guy played really well in an alright league last year. Whats all the fuss about him now that hes played well in 2 prem games and average in another.

Top class goal kicker but thats about it, still has to babysat and stuck out on the wing when the other team has the ball, so really makes and his distribution game is really just on par with NOC.

When it comes down to a comparison between GS and IH Steenson is going to out kick him all day, but can he match his go forward and create as many trys . . . no!

[Setanta]

I've seen him play three times now on TV and he's played very well and tackled. Fly-half and Fuzzy logic have been knocking him since his Armagh days (before I'd ever heard of him!). Very curious as to why? Did he know your sister?

[fuzzylogic]

by Setanta » Sun Sep 19, 2010 1:46 pm

Fly-half and Fuzzy logic have been knocking him since his Armagh days (before I'd ever heard of him!).

Fuzzy logic only found out who he was last year!

[Setanta]

My apologies if I've got the wrong person but somebody's been hammering him every time his name's mentioned.

[fuzzylogic]

Im not so much hammering him, rather just not jumping on the bandwagon like everyone else seems to be doing

The guy had a good season last year in a weak league and has played ok so far in 3 games in the Prem. 3 good games and everyone is touting him as the saviour of Ulster Rugby.

But just like IH was the saviour last season after a good run of games before xmas and Danny Cipriani was the saviour of English rugby after a handful of good games people need to take a step back and say "alright, maybe if this guy has a good season, we should look at him" not "WOW lets sign this guy, hes played good in 3 games, he must be amazing!"

[Rooster]

I have followed the lad pretty closely since he was in U21 and playing for Dungannon, he has always been a real kicking machine, either side of the pitch wind and rain in his face or back and he will still knock over more than any other kicker around at present, stats don't lie if anyone could be bothered digging them up I would put money on it he has a better average than any regular kicker in Magners or Premiership.
That all said he was like a revolving door in his early days and not only revolved but looked like he was permanently spinning, was too small and just got swatted out of the way, he has improved drastically since then right from the time he went to Rotherham then moved down to Pirates and lastly over to the Chiefs. He can run a game whacks over the occasional drop goal and even scores a few trys, teams have built a winning system used around he kicking skill by the use of a big pack either getting up into drop goal range or going for infringements and him slotting the penalties, during defensive scrums he does finish up on the wing and he is not the first or will he be the last outhalf that does that in professional rugby.
Could he do a job over here at present ? I would say yes with that current pack, the 3 matches we have played so far I doubt he would have missed any more than 1 or 2 of the kicks taken resulting in putting more pressure on the opposition to chase the game and thus opening it up for Ulster to exploit.
He will never be a world class outhalf but he is a great asset to have in a squad.

[mikerob]

if anyone could be bothered digging them up I would put money on it he has a better average than any regular kicker in Magners or Premiership.

Well you would lose your money based upon stats right now - but its pretty close - and we are only a few games into the season.

Attempts Success
86.96% Ian Keatley (Connacht ) 23 20
84.62% Chris Paterson (Edinburgh Reivers ) 13 11
82.35% Stephen Jones (Llanelli ) 17 14
82.35% Wietz Botes (Benetton Treviso ) 17 14
76.92% Isikeli Nacewa (Leinster ) 13 10
69.23% Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Caledonians ) 13 9
66.67% Matthew Jones (Gwent Dragons ) 18 12
64.29% Ludovic Mercier (Aironi Rugby ) 14 9
64.29% Daniel Biggar (Ospreys ) 14 9
61.54% Niall O'Connor (Ulster ) 26 16

93.33% Nick Evans (Harlequins ) 15 14
88.89% Gareth Steenson (Exeter ) 18 16
88.24% Nick MacLeod (Sale Sharks ) 17 15
78.57% Mark van Gisbergen (London Wasps ) 14 11
75% Jeremy Staunton (Leicester Tigers ) 16 12
64.29% Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints ) 14 9

I've just shown players with >12 attempts so far this season. Amongst these players the average is 76.7%. I think you can expect the strike rate to drop as the season progresses because of muddy pitches and worsening weather.

[ColinM]

Maybe you should only show players with >15 attempts?

[Snipe Watson]

The guy is holding down a starting place in a premiership team that is doing well. He is playing well, kicking his goals, getting good reports and nobody at Exeter is calling for his head. Those points put him ahead of anything we have here.

[mikerob]

Maybe you should only show players with >15 attempts?

Another way would be to select the main kicker from each side irrespective of their number of attempts so based upon this, the list would be:

100 Dan Parks (Cardiff ) 11 11
86.96 Ian Keatley (Connacht ) 23 20
84.62 Chris Paterson (Edinburgh Reivers ) 13 11
82.35 Wietz Botes (Benetton Treviso ) 17 14
82.35 Stephen Jones (Llanelli ) 17 14
76.92 Isikeli Nacewa (Leinster ) 13 10
72.73 Ronan O'Gara (Munster ) 11 8
69.23 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Caledonians ) 13 9
66.67 Matthew Jones (Gwent Dragons ) 18 12
64.29 Ludovic Mercier (Aironi Rugby ) 14 9
64.29 Daniel Biggar (Ospreys ) 14 9
61.54 Niall O'Connor (Ulster ) 26 16

93.33 Nick Evans (Harlequins ) 15 14
90.91 Jimmy Gopperth (Newcastle Falcons ) 11 10
88.89 Gareth Steenson (Exeter ) 18 16
88.24 Nick MacLeod (Sale Sharks ) 17 15
83.33 Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens ) 6 5
78.57 Mark van Gisbergen (London Wasps ) 14 11
75 Jeremy Staunton (Leicester Tigers ) 16 12
75 Olly Barkley (Bath ) 8 6
72.73 Ryan Lamb (London Irish ) 11 8
64.29 Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints ) 14 9
57.14 Christian Lewis Pratt (Leeds Carnegie ) 7 4
50 Nicky Robinson (Gloucester ) 6 3

Average is 76.9%.

NOC is 22nd out of 24 based upon this list.

[Rooster]

Thanks for that lot mike, interesting stat among that also is that we have been awarded far more kickable penalties/conversions or else other sides have been going for touch instead of points which is doubtful.
Next week could be interesting as Connacht have the second highest number of kickable penalties/conversions awarded.
Potentially with a top range kicker we would have around 20 points more in the points for column.

[mikerob]

Ulster certainly do seem to have more penalty attempts than other teams - for example - NOC is 13/20 penalty attempts, Keatley 12/15 and between Parks and Blair at Cardiff, they are 10/10.

I think NOC has gone for some speculative long range attempts that the other kickers aren't attempting but I don't think any of the kicks last Friday night would fit into this category. It is probably too early to say if Ulster are being awarded more penalties than the other teams given there has only been 3 games and the home team will usually get some advantage.

[TinPig]

I noticed that as well, that Ulster have been awarded a lot of penalties. Maybe the opposition feel they can infringe, with a reduced risk of actual damage to the scoreline. Ulster have poor kicking stats for a few seasons.
We have had a few opposition players sinbinned against us as well in the opening games.
I cant wait for Pienaar to start, put a "Cat amongst the Pigeons".