Ian Whitten finds himself out of his regular position in the centre as he occupies the left wing berth for the first time.
Ulster (15-9): A D'Arcy; C Gilroy, D Cave, N Spence, I Whitten; I Humphreys, P Marshall; (1-8) P McAllister, A Kyriacou, J Cronin, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, P Wannenburg, W Faloon, C Henry (capt).
Replacements: N Brady, C Carey, A Macklin, N McComb, R Diack, I Porter, P Jackson, P Nelson.
Wow. Before reading the detail I had assumed it'd be Spence getting shunted out. This should be interesting in the least. Looks like that might put him up against Seymour.
Really don't know what to make of that. Time will tell I guess, roll on Friday.
I don't think Luke Marshall is out of favour at all, just a lot of competition.
With five top class centres in our squad, one of them needs to be tried on the wing. A lot of our backline moves involve our wing running a hard line into midfield. It's an unusual move but worth a try.
Going for experience it would seem. Pretty strong team all things considered though you'd wonder why Luke Marshall and Gaston were overlooked. Is that Carey the prop who was absolutely pumelled during the Junior World Cup?
Suspect that the option of switching Spence & Whitten is largely in coahes mind if the trial is not working out. The more versatility in the squad the better. This look very like a case of suck stand see. Besides I suspect that Glasgow are not the strongest side in the league so a good time to experiment.
Suspect that the option of switching Spence & Whitten is largely in coahes mind if the trial is not working out. The more versatility in the squad the better. This look very like a case of suck stand see. Besides I suspect that Glasgow are not the strongest side in the league so a good time to experiment.
notj wrote:I don't think Luke Marshall is out of favour at all, just a lot of competition.
With five top class centres in our squad, one of them needs to be tried on the wing. A lot of our backline moves involve our wing running a hard line into midfield. It's an unusual move but worth a try.
Would not try it away from home or in Europe.
I understand the logic. Would have just thought playing the fastest centre, and the one with most experience on the wing, that being Nevin Spence, on the wing, would make more sense than asking Ian Whitten to play out there. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I can't say I've seen too much to make me thing Whitten is winger material.
No me neither, but I'd rather have him than break up the centre partnership thats developing. Those two are building a partnership; best not to tinker with it.
McL is showing committment to a Spence/Cave midfield and doesn't want to keep changing it, so Whitten will have to fit in as cover for injury. He is probably playing left wing to nullify Seymore's physicality so it looks a defensive pick. For his sake I hope he makes a good impression there as he may not get too many opportunities this season.
Strange choices to say the least. I'm all for trying things out but maybe as an option from the bench once the win(+ BP) has been achieved. Its very important that we hit the ground running this year and I would question taking risks with positional changes in the first league game.
Again where is Black & Fitzpatrick? And Barker for that matter/ Are these players injured or just being rested?
