Ruan - Crapola Vu all over again

[Tender]

Or just knock out Nuncefecker

[LegsLikeSausages]

Either Les knows more about our scrum halves than we do or the IRFU actively want us to fail. Honestly, I suspect it is the latter.

Next few seasons (after this one) are going to be about giving some kids a crack and hoping they don't all fail. Probably worth poaching Niall Saunders and giving him a lash alongside Shanahan, Lloyd and Stewart. Blooding them at that stage seems far more likely to break them than make them but you never know. In the mean time, Paddy's development will suffer and Herron's and McPhillips will likely stop altogether.

Was that the development of indigenous talent you had in mind, you brainless, charmless, Aussie bellend?

Sooner you feck off back to Oz, the better.

[therealspratt]

Niall Saunders didn't look great in my opinion...

[LegsLikeSausages]

Niall Saunders didn't look great in my opinion...

We're already at the bottom of the barrel.

[mikerob]

The reality is that Ulster has failed miserably coming up with a successor for Ruan in the last 7 years.

This was always going to bite them in the ass sooner or later. Nucifora has just forced the issue rather than rewarding failure and prolonging things for another couple of years.

[Cornerfleg]

So have we signed Marmion yet?

[damianmcr]

So have we signed Marmion yet?

I'll get him on Twitter now.

[Cornerfleg]

I'm just wondering, does Nucifeckwit play the Tuba ...

[Pimpmac]

As for this crap many of you are talking about "not bringing through a scrum half", sadly this highlights not only your lack of knowledge of Ulster rugby but also Irish Rugby. You struggle to bring through what isn't there, silk purses are not made from sow's ears.

Disagree to a large extent there skinny jeans.


It is painfully obvious to all that Paul Marshall is somewhat brainless on the pitch. What tuition he has been receiving has been entering one ear, and flying straight out the other. He has never learned that he needs to be aware of whats around him before he gets to a ruck so he's 90% of his decision making done before he ever puts hand to ball.

If we'd got shot of him early on and had 3 or 4 kids there that received the same tuition, patience and gametime - who knows where they'd be.

All of Ian Porter, Dave Shanahan and Michael Heaney were at or near beagle's level - yet were significantly younger, had significantly less experience behind them and were without the same track record of not learning from mistakes. Why were they ditched and Marshall retained?

None of the 3 you have mentioned whom have all moved to other clubs to further themselves have been shown to be less than average at best. I think I hold the stock of UR coaching and management team in higher regard when it comes to identifying player talent and future ability. if they had a gem there they would have developed it and we would be in a different position. Baggy is entirely right, we have been producing dross in this position for years - the kind of dross that no matter what effort or support or coaching they are given will never be anything other than dross. Equally, whilst Paul Marshall is a torture to watch at times and does make the wrong decisions he is also when on form a game changer and a damn sight better than the 3 you mentioned. Even look at him the other night against Saints, he set the tone and had them on the back foot on a number of occasions. He is a very different player to Ruan and as such I think that UR wanted that as it offers a balance to the squad. As a fan I'm not too sure I would have been to happy to have had any of the 3 you mentioned as back up to Ruan, given Marshall has accumulated 174 odd caps (some 50+ more than Ruan) a reasonable back up has been required and the 3 aforementioned are not that.

All this being said I'm gutted and as someone has already mentioned you couldn't make this stuff up - letting the leagues best players drift off to England/France is utter madness given the challenge the Pro 12 faces. Further to that what message about UR's desire and long term competitiveness are the IRFU sending out to the world and to our existing players. As a season ticket holder and fan I'm pretty disgusted today and the IRFU will suffer the consequences of this and other decisions like this in the years to come.

[LegsLikeSausages]

As for this crap many of you are talking about "not bringing through a scrum half", sadly this highlights not only your lack of knowledge of Ulster rugby but also Irish Rugby. You struggle to bring through what isn't there, silk purses are not made from sow's ears.

Disagree to a large extent there skinny jeans.


It is painfully obvious to all that Paul Marshall is somewhat brainless on the pitch. What tuition he has been receiving has been entering one ear, and flying straight out the other. He has never learned that he needs to be aware of whats around him before he gets to a ruck so he's 90% of his decision making done before he ever puts hand to ball.

If we'd got shot of him early on and had 3 or 4 kids there that received the same tuition, patience and gametime - who knows where they'd be.

All of Ian Porter, Dave Shanahan and Michael Heaney were at or near beagle's level - yet were significantly younger, had significantly less experience behind them and were without the same track record of not learning from mistakes. Why were they ditched and Marshall retained?

None of the 3 you have mentioned whom have all moved to other clubs to further themselves have been shown to be less than average at best. I think I hold the stock of UR coaching and management team in higher regard when it comes to identifying player talent and future ability. if they had a gem there they would have developed it and we would be in a different position. Baggy is entirely right, we have been producing dross in this position for years - the kind of dross that no matter what effort or support or coaching they are given will never be anything other than dross. Equally, whilst Paul Marshall is a torture to watch at times and does make the wrong decisions he is also when on form a game changer and a damn sight better than the 3 you mentioned. Even look at him the other night against Saints, he set the tone and had them on the back foot on a number of occasions. He is a very different player to Ruan and as such I think that UR wanted that as it offers a balance to the squad. As a fan I'm not too sure I would have been to happy to have had any of the 3 you mentioned as back up to Ruan, given Marshall has accumulated 174 odd caps (some 50+ more than Ruan) a reasonable back up has been required and the 3 aforementioned are not that.

All this being said I'm gutted and as someone has already mentioned you couldn't make this stuff up - letting the leagues best players drift off to England/France is utter madness given the challenge the Pro 12 faces. Further to that what message about UR's desire and long term competitiveness are the IRFU sending out to the world and to our existing players. As a season ticket holder and fan I'm pretty disgusted today and the IRFU will suffer the consequences of this and other decisions like this in the years to come.

Well said. I would add, what is the purpose of the NIQ players if not to plug the positional gaps that our small population has not been able to provide, whilst improving the side and making it competitive?

[Nightsoil]

As for all this "Well its all Ulster's fault why should the IRFU help them" malarkey, I don't see why its so unreasonable that we expect the IRFU to help us.

I accept the national team is their priority and rightly so but - news flash - this move probably harms Ireland's national team more than it helps it.

Which is Nucifora in a nutshell. feck over the provinces to play Russian roulette with the national team.

[Cornerfleg]

At least being a born and bred Irish man he will not feck away off home if it all goes t!ts up .... ahem!

[rumncoke]

I don't really understand the logic of those that Ruan is essential to Paddy Jackson's continuing improvement as an International player .

The argument is only valid if both played for Ireland and in fact the reverse could be true that Quality
Of service Paddy gets from Ruan is detrimental to Paddy's development because the service at Oonternational level could be inferior ( but I won't say that loudly in Munsterland)

At 33 unfortunately Ruan is basically looking at 2-3 more years ( that includes this year )
So Ulster really should be in the market for a long term replacement at this time anyway

The fact is while you have a squad for a season management has to plan for the squad two years from now based on the age a durability of players . Because every squad is going to have casualties and premature retirements .

Unfortunately there is no place for sentiment in professional sport in terms of picking teams

Ask Darren Clarke


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[Cornerfleg]

Darren would never have made it as a 9 ....

[Pimpmac]

I don't really understand the logic of those that Ruan is essential to Paddy Jackson's continuing improvement as an International player .

The argument is only valid if both played for Ireland and in fact the reverse could be true that Quality
Of service Paddy gets from Ruan is detrimental to Paddy's development because the service at Oonternational level could be inferior ( but I won't say that loudly in Munsterland)

At 33 unfortunately Ruan is basically looking at 2-3 more years ( that includes this year )
So Ulster really should be in the market for a long term replacement at this time anyway

The fact is while you have a squad for a season management has to plan for the squad two years from now based on the age a durability of players . Because every squad is going to have casualties and premature retirements .

Unfortunately there is no place for sentiment in professional sport in terms of picking teams

Ask Darren Clarke


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Sometimes I just lose the will to live.....