The UAFC

Fortyniner wrote:Dave had posted his observations about Henry's defensive abilities the morning after the Edinburgh game, and one wonders what he has shown in training to convince Dan that he makes a better 13 than Darren, who has been doing a good job in organising and tackling.
Maybe the plan (??....that will be a new thing for us!) is to get Henry more involved in attacking mode and get the ball into his hands more often.
We can but hope.

Cave and McCloskey can’t play every game in midfield and with Ludik and Luke M (plus Stockdale ) our alternaitves are pretty limited. Maybe Dan is looking at another combination which he hopes may deliver more in attack. I would have kept Speight in the wing but with Dan being a new coach who hasn’t had the luxury of a full pre season with the team and in Speight has not even had the luxury of seeing him train with his team mates fir very long, he is still very much trying things out at this stage, with the resources we have.

Further debate rendered somewhat pointless, Speight back on the wing, Gilroy out, Cave at 13. Has a more solid look to it. Hope nothing serious with Gilroy a lad well up in years who will be Ulster's highest ever try scorer and caps holder be the time he hangs up his gutties.

CIMANFOREVER wrote:

HwoodMike2umate wrote:It being Culture Night in Belfast tomorrow we possibly fancy watching the Ulster game (or at least the second half) in pub in central Belfast/Cathedral quarter and then take in some of Culture night (weather permitting). Have never watched an Ulster game downtown. Anyone know of any bars that will definitely be showing the Ulster game and which wont also be full of kids or folk singing/dancing/reading poetry etc . Fall back is Stokers in Holywood and then the 8.17pm train in.

Garrick showing the matches

That’s Mike sorted.

I tend to claim the Garrick as my reward if the Mrs fancies a trip to the shaps.

Not fair really. She likes a pint as much as I do.

BaggyTrousers wrote:Further debate rendered somewhat pointless, Speight back on the wing, Gilroy out, Cave at 13. Has a more solid look to it. Hope nothing serious with Gilroy a lad well up in years who will be Ulster's highest ever try scorer and caps holder be the time he hangs up his gutties.

Hond on the bench ahead of McPhillips?

Dave wrote:

BaggyTrousers wrote:
You think Billy Burns will kick a dose of penalties? From what I've seen so far from King Billy, he has a very disconcerting kick style both from hands and the tee. Not for Billy the pull back and put the leather straight through the ball, it's all jerky, almost spastic.

I hope to be far off the mark but I'm not feeling it.

That said, I am interested that he is starting EricO & Herbst, they appeared much more solid, though doubtless against tired and second string props, will be good to see what they've got.

The selections do not augur well in my view. The Cheetahs will run at us and attempt to play expansively all over the pitch. They have been scoring tries despite suffering losses. Taking out our best organiser in defence and replacing him with our worst defender into the hardest position to defend, is certainly questionable.

Ultimately I feel that the Cheetahs defence will leak scores. I think we can and should win but it could be a struggle. We need to paste them up front. I think we are starting our best front row in terms of scrummaging. The backrow looks strong with decent firepower on the bench. Hopefully this will give us the platform to get some meat pie.

Sorry Dave but some of this just isn’t true, Cheetahs are woeful and have not been scoring tries, they are lowest scorers in the league with 38 points over 3 games which is plainly woeful for a team that looked decent enough last year. Correct their defence is pants too, almost 140 points conceded there too

Id be shocked if we lose this game, Cave for his defensive qualities has clearly not been up to scratch with the ball in his hands (when he actually caught it), if we can some early possession and state our intent early on I think the Cheetahs may feel they could be in for a long afternoon, even with wee Dave

Or on the other hand (and more likely) Ulster could fup it up in the only way they can

breakdown wrote:

Dave wrote:

BaggyTrousers wrote:
You think Billy Burns will kick a dose of penalties? From what I've seen so far from King Billy, he has a very disconcerting kick style both from hands and the tee. Not for Billy the pull back and put the leather straight through the ball, it's all jerky, almost spastic.

I hope to be far off the mark but I'm not feeling it.

That said, I am interested that he is starting EricO & Herbst, they appeared much more solid, though doubtless against tired and second string props, will be good to see what they've got.

The selections do not augur well in my view. The Cheetahs will run at us and attempt to play expansively all over the pitch. They have been scoring tries despite suffering losses. Taking out our best organiser in defence and replacing him with our worst defender into the hardest position to defend, is certainly questionable.

Ultimately I feel that the Cheetahs defence will leak scores. I think we can and should win but it could be a struggle. We need to paste them up front. I think we are starting our best front row in terms of scrummaging. The backrow looks strong with decent firepower on the bench. Hopefully this will give us the platform to get some meat pie.

Sorry Dave but some of this just isn’t true, Cheetahs are woeful and have not been scoring tries, they are lowest scorers in the league with 38 points over 3 games which is plainly woeful for a team that looked decent enough last year. Correct their defence is pants too, almost 140 points conceded there too

Id be shocked if we lose this game, Cave for his defensive qualities has clearly not been up to scratch with the ball in his hands (when he actually caught it), if we can some early possession and state our intent early on I think the Cheetahs may feel they could be in for a long afternoon, even with wee Dave

Or on the other hand (and more likely) Ulster could fup it up in the only way they can

They have scored the same number of tries as Ulster. They are a different animal at home though. They scored 25 points last week against Glasgow. However, like you say it would be shocking if we don't win.

Fortyniner wrote:Dave had posted his observations about Henry's defensive abilities the morning after the Edinburgh game, and one wonders what he has shown in training to convince Dan that he makes a better 13 than Darren, who has been doing a good job in organising and tackling.
Maybe the plan (??....that will be a new thing for us!) is to get Henry more involved in attacking mode and get the ball into his hands more often.
We can but hope.

Maybe Dan has decided to check Henry at 13 in a live environment should Cave get fecked
You know disaster planning. Something Kiss never did

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Dave wrote:

breakdown wrote:

Dave wrote:

BaggyTrousers wrote:
You think Billy Burns will kick a dose of penalties? From what I've seen so far from King Billy, he has a very disconcerting kick style both from hands and the tee. Not for Billy the pull back and put the leather straight through the ball, it's all jerky, almost spastic.

I hope to be far off the mark but I'm not feeling it.

That said, I am interested that he is starting EricO & Herbst, they appeared much more solid, though doubtless against tired and second string props, will be good to see what they've got.

The selections do not augur well in my view. The Cheetahs will run at us and attempt to play expansively all over the pitch. They have been scoring tries despite suffering losses. Taking out our best organiser in defence and replacing him with our worst defender into the hardest position to defend, is certainly questionable.

Ultimately I feel that the Cheetahs defence will leak scores. I think we can and should win but it could be a struggle. We need to paste them up front. I think we are starting our best front row in terms of scrummaging. The backrow looks strong with decent firepower on the bench. Hopefully this will give us the platform to get some meat pie.

Sorry Dave but some of this just isn’t true, Cheetahs are woeful and have not been scoring tries, they are lowest scorers in the league with 38 points over 3 games which is plainly woeful for a team that looked decent enough last year. Correct their defence is pants too, almost 140 points conceded there too

Id be shocked if we lose this game, Cave for his defensive qualities has clearly not been up to scratch with the ball in his hands (when he actually caught it), if we can some early possession and state our intent early on I think the Cheetahs may feel they could be in for a long afternoon, even with wee Dave

Or on the other hand (and more likely) Ulster could fup it up in the only way they can

They have scored the same number of tries as Ulster. They are a different animal at home though. They scored 25 points last week against Glasgow. However, like you say it would be shocking if we don't win.

I know, but Ulster havent been the best team either with ball in hand. At least we can defend

Fortyniner wrote: Maybe the plan (??....that will be a new thing for us!)...

There's always been a plan, it just has been too detailed and one-dimensional. I fear Mr McFarland may be cut from similar cloth.

Distressingly I remain unclear if I shall be watching the game at 7.15 or 11.00 pm, I fear the latter. Doubtless they will tell you the score during the Munster match, they don;t appear to understand the concept of watching "as live".

Good to know the GARRICK has Premier Sports but looks like wee Jane and I may now be watching tonight's game at my mum's house - she has Premier Sports and Sky Sports (I have neither) - and then getting the 3A Metro bus in from Knocknagoney about 8.15pm. Hoping to catch a bit of the Boom Strut Brass Band (9-10pm in Warehouse lane) and also a bit of Belfast Ukulele Jam (9-10pm on Donegall Street Stage). And no doubt will find someone with facepaint reciting poetry on stilts somewhere.

Doncha just love culture, Belfast style?

I’m disappointed that we aren’t going to see Henry at 13, would have been interesting.

The decision to try him there is great to see. This shows a coach who looked at the last few games and realised that despite lots of possession and territory we have struggled to score tries, and reacted accordingly. Makes a nice change from the last number of years where we just kept doing the same thing and expecting a different result, or made random changes with little obvious direction.

BaggyTrousers wrote:Further debate rendered somewhat pointless, Speight back on the wing, Gilroy out, Cave at 13. Has a more solid look to it. Hope nothing serious with Gilroy a lad well up in years who will be Ulster's highest ever try scorer and caps holder be the time he hangs up his gutties.

Baggy, I haven’t seen this confirmed anywhere? How did you hear Gilroy was out?

Have to admit, when I saw Cave was out of the (original?) starting line up I immediately thought it was a fitness thing- not flogging our oldest three quarter from the start of the match at altitude but bringing him on to organise the defence late on when the game became more fragmented. Seemed relatively pragmatic to me. However, I too would have gone Addison 13, Speight 14, Gilroy 15 but D4 are probably insisting Addison plays 15 so hands are tied in that respect.

All academic, if as you say, Gilroy is out anyway.

Has Gilroy been stood down for a private WhatsApp message by the BoI or some other shower of Bellends?