Are we headed for dark times??

[ulster_beef]

From what I understand a skilful player with good handling skills/ball control and able to offload now dumped in the rugby wasteland at a tender age and deemed useless to Ulster. The lad is likely to give up and concentrate on his academic side and good luck to him for I suspect that if not him one or two others like him may be to Ulster's loss. It appears that size is everything and ball skills nothing.

And we all know how the Argentina game went vs a lighter Argentina pack.

[rumncoke]

I draw very little from the Game against the Pumas other than Ireland can't play 3 games in 3 weeks against group 1 teams

Teams win going wide especially if they have pace against an out of line defence


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[Cockatrice]

From what I understand a skilful player with good handling skills/ball control and able to offload now dumped in the rugby wasteland at a tender age and deemed useless to Ulster. The lad is likely to give up and concentrate on his academic side and good luck to him for I suspect that if not him one or two others like him may be to Ulster's loss. It appears that size is everything and ball skills nothing.

And we all know how the Argentina game went vs a lighter Argentina pack.

Size isn't everything otherwise South Africa, Australia, France and England would have met in the S-F as these are the four teams with the largest average pack weight. On the day the Pumas certainly topped Ireland in the pack weight in part due to injuries but it much more than that which seen them win.

If UR see fit to dispense with 17-20yr kids with good ball handling skills that can read the game simply because they don't have the correct muscle ratio then that is their loss. I watched Puma forwards both against Ireland and Australia even some very young ones with much better handling skills.

It must be a tough call for whoever is watching MCB V Sullivan and deciding that the 16 yr old OH is the next Paddy Jackson and then running with that for the next 5-6 years to find out its just another Niall O'Conner.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Am I getting this right, we have two good signings, so all will be okay

And therein lies the problem.

With a NIQ quota of 4 players plus a project, the remaining 30+ players in the squad need to be either home grown or IQ foreigners (seems very rare to find decent quality IQ foreigners). In times of need, Leinster and Munster have both pilfered from Connacht, but we don't seem to have that ability.

Assuming a playing career of 8-10 years, that means that the Academy needs to produce 3-4 first team players per year of which one needs to be international quality. Furthermore, we need to produce these players across all positions, not just produce a load of wingers for 3 years, then a load of centres for the next 3. Clearly we desperately need back row forwards coming through now but can anyone remember the last truly international quality scrum half produced by an Ulster school? I'm scratching my head to think of anyone more recent than Colin Patterson (with an honourable mention to Andy Matchett).

So when is this much lauded academy going to start delivering the goods?

Rob Saunders....

[CIMANFOREVER]

I've spotted an All Black on the Esportif website. Do I win a prize?

Who are we buying Jackie?

Kaino again?....

[ruckover]

I think everyone is missing the point here.

Yes we are heading for dark times. It's nearly winter, the nights are longer so we will have more darkness.

[CIMANFOREVER]

I'm not convinced that bringing in players is the panacea for all our ills. There needs to be a sea-change in attitude. If you listen to AAT after Edinburgh. There's a guy who is professional to the core and stoic with it, yet he was highly critical of that performance. Something like that is a product of frustration plain and simple. We'll see what happens in Limerick on Friday night. If its the same lethargic dross that we have seen in our two previous away fixtures, questions need to be asked.

There will be no excuse for supine baring our ar$es to Munter... I can take mistakes etc if its at least backed by b*lls and bottle. If we roll over like a box of kittens, then clear the shyte out. We should never take a backward step in interpros.... especially the auld enemy
I demand biff, boot and bollock as Doyler used to say....

[big mervyn]

will have more darkness.

Yes. I believe they're back together.

[Cockatrice]

will have more darkness.

Yes. I believe they're back together.

I had a pin stripe like that….must hunt it out.

[Cockatrice]

I'm not convinced that bringing in players is the panacea for all our ills. There needs to be a sea-change in attitude. If you listen to AAT after Edinburgh. There's a guy who is professional to the core and stoic with it, yet he was highly critical of that performance. Something like that is a product of frustration plain and simple. We'll see what happens in Limerick on Friday night. If its the same lethargic dross that we have seen in our two previous away fixtures, questions need to be asked.

There will be no excuse for supine baring our ar$es to Munter... I can take mistakes etc if its at least backed by b*lls and bottle. If we roll over like a box of kittens, then clear the shyte out. We should never take a backward step in interpros.... especially the auld enemy
I demand biff, boot and bollock as Doyler used to say....

CI…. I know what you are saying but then again if some of them can raise themselves for selective games then they too need a clear out. They need a bigger red hand maybe on the shirt to remind them.

[Cracker]

When you look at the fantastic attendance on Friday of around 16000 compared with Leinster's 11000 surely the best supported team in the league deserves better than we are getting at the moment. Even Connaught with its regular support of under 4000 are doing better.Is it because they have no restrictions on the number of overseas players they can sign?

[CIMANFOREVER]

The massive red hand from the seventies and eighties, instead of yon marketed shyte currently on the jersey.... I say bring back the 1000 denier cotton jerseys too... character building as the combination of sand off a shytty pitch, mud/ rainwater, and the extra 2 kgs per jersey ground your shoulders to pulp and scar tissue every scrum, followed by galloping hypothermia.. good times

[Snipe Watson]

Please tell me that you guys don't really think that changing the badge back to the old one would make a jot of difference?
The 'do rightly' culture that seems to have emerged at Ulster needs to be expunged.

[LegsLikeSausages]

Am I getting this right, we have two good signings, so all will be okay

And therein lies the problem.

With a NIQ quota of 4 players plus a project, the remaining 30+ players in the squad need to be either home grown or IQ foreigners (seems very rare to find decent quality IQ foreigners). In times of need, Leinster and Munster have both pilfered from Connacht, but we don't seem to have that ability.

Assuming a playing career of 8-10 years, that means that the Academy needs to produce 3-4 first team players per year of which one needs to be international quality. Furthermore, we need to produce these players across all positions, not just produce a load of wingers for 3 years, then a load of centres for the next 3. Clearly we desperately need back row forwards coming through now but can anyone remember the last truly international quality scrum half produced by an Ulster school? I'm scratching my head to think of anyone more recent than Colin Patterson (with an honourable mention to Andy Matchett).

So when is this much lauded academy going to start delivering the goods?

Rob Saunders....

I think of him as a London Irish player. What school did he go to? (I genuinely don't know).

[thecrouch]

Charles plays 15 as well.

2 big signings sealed already so don't worry.

I'll believe it when I see it. No faith in the management (all 50 layers of it) to do the right thing.