TRANSFER RUMOURS!!

[Deraless]

+ he's constantly injured.....sign him up quick

Our rehab facilities are second to none. See how we keep fixing Payne for all those International matches and the rotters keep sending him back busted!

[jackthelad]

I could be grasping at straws, but I want to believe that there is some joined up thinking going on and that's what I'm going with. Beats the lining out of wallowing in despair. I have heard some positive reports about how things are changing and they are not part of a quick fix. If there is a strategy to build a team from the ground up, I'll back it.

Things do need to change both in our playing roster and in our coaching set up and while we know it won't be an overnight series of events, we've been waiting for these since the days of McLaughlin. We still have the coaches that have made the team's on-field activities what they are - mostly poor fare sprinkled with individual skill. Since the mantra that 'forwards win games - backs decide by how much' seems to be trite but true and given that we have backs who are not short of talent then we need changes in our forwards or we need changes in both how or what they are developed into or by whom they are coached. Our current coaches have failed continually and the team is in decline from last year to this. They played better rugby under Anscombe. They were a far more aggressive side then.

Ulster simply can't go out and buy a new bunch of high quality forwards to 'beat up' opponents. Our current players by and large are too nice. Diack for example is a very skilled player but never seems to get fired up. That's a pity as at 6'5" and 18 stones and pretty athletic he has the raw materials. If he had Fez's mentality he'd be a heck of a player. For all we hope the likes of McCall and Warwick are getting there, they seem to lack the brutality and sheer power of most of the better props. Sgt. Wilson's days are over but he's still better than some of the younger guys on our books. Beagle is simply too below par for 90% of his on field time.

It's difficult to know where the changes will come that will result in an up-turn. I think we have the core of a fine team. I just don't think they are on the right page of 'The Art of Coarse Rugby' that Clarke uses.

We have some very talented players. What we really lack are ignorant brutes in the forwards and I would think a forwards coach who can make the ones we have actually play like they can. Our forwards bar Best, Herring, NWJMB, FVDM and FNW seem more like pussycats than lions. At least when Tuohy was fit he got us a bit of go forward ball. It's surprising how much we might have missed his grunt. Currently the pack does not generate any dynamism, punch or athleticism and certainly puts no 'fear' on the opposition.

We all know that we have augmented the good players with far too many make-weights like Ross, Reidy, Windsor and therefore the work load on the good guys increases. FFs we are paying guys who have never played a second of 1st team rugby. Maybe McCall, Warwick, Dow etc will be even better next season and we will actually have a back row with Coetzee, MWJMB and Henry that can win the ball etc. One lives in hope. The sad thing is that our good players are beginning to look average under the constant pressure of the mistakes that pervade the games. e.g. Olding simply is wasted at 15. He needs to be closer to the action. We have now lost 4 out of 5 games and quite frankly we were in position to have won all of them, even without playing well.

[therealspratt]

McCall's performances have certainly shown he's no pussycat, it's a shame we don't play him more often. I would also have no illusions put about the place about Touhy prior to his injury, he was dreadful and AOC would deservedly still be ahead of him right now.

[Kofi Annan]

Change in the wind

[damianmcr]

Change in the wind

Well I don't have a fecking clue what that means.

[Rooster]

Change in the wind

Well I don't have a fecking clue what that means.

Logo just farted

[MemorialEnd]

Anyone know if we're likely to see Marcell Coetzee play for the Boks against Ireland in the upcoming series? Would be great to get a preview of our new arrival, albeit while yelling 'don't get injured!'

[drumbo diehard]

Is McCloskey going to Mexico for a long holiday?

[Wee Woman]

Is McCloskey going to Mexico for a long holiday?

And join a queue behind Henshaw, Ringrose, Fitz and McFadden??

Wouldn't think so - have you a source for this?

[Deraless]

Is McCloskey going to Mexico for a long holiday?

Is he going to Acapulco for a fortnight in the summer?

Would be a strange one, certainly this year as he is contracted with us for 2016-17.

[Joe Schmo]

Change in the wind

youre starting to sound like KOTH Kofi.

[Jockster]

Not a rumour--Andress away to the turnips. He's definitely had a fair aul career
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/35917621

[BaggyTrousers]

Change in the wind

Thanks be to Jaysus & the wee feckin' donkey.

You sure Kofi? I doubt there is anyone at Ulster Rugby who isn't happy with a reasonable balance sheet & the occasional hint of progress on the field.

My glass is nowhere near a quarter full never mind bloody half. I think our DNA screams "modest failure, and who feckin' cares". I'm seeing good players looking like beaten dogs & some real dogs looking like preening c0cks.

It was David Byrne who wrote "we're on the road to nowhere" but it could have been penned at Spanners.

[Silverstu]

Change in the wind

youre starting to sound like KOTH Kofi.

I thought he was sounding more like Russ...

[Russ]

Change in the wind

youre starting to sound like KOTH Kofi.

I thought he was sounding more like Russ...

I would have written

"Load of tom kite" and left it at that