The UAFC

Would be great to see Ethan Graham in there, a top top player and a Monaghan man. Keeping the clubs system on the map

He’s pretty much admitting to fcuking up the LAR match. Without actually saying it.

HammerTime wrote:He’s pretty much admitting to fcuking up the LAR match. Without actually saying it.

Yep. But don’t stress too much because it didn’t take £700k out of our budget ‘just’ £500k ‘in real terms’ (whatever he means by that)

Columbo wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 11:05 pm

HammerTime wrote:He’s pretty much admitting to fcuking up the LAR match. Without actually saying it.

Yep. But don’t stress too much because it didn’t take £700k out of our budget ‘just’ £500k ‘in real terms’ (whatever he means by that)

After tax and/or insurance?

Decent interview by Bradley.

By local sports journo standards, he’s Pulitzer material.

I listened to the bel tel podcast last week were he said he’s been at JP for months for an interview but keeps getting batted off. Funny the interview was soon agreed to after making that public.

Decent attempt from BT better than expected but nothing effectively answered with just words with no substance… as for the weather around the La Rochelle game it wasn’t as bad as he suggested but the temperatures did drop early in the week and they where caught out badly. Turning the floodlights on in the two days before the match in an effort to defrost the pitch was nothing short of a joke.

HammerTime wrote: ↑Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:08 am I listened to the bel tel podcast last week were he said he’s been at JP for months for an interview but keeps getting batted off. Funny the interview was soon agreed to after making that public.

Indeed, although he did acknowledge the delay was partially due to his own scheduling issues tbf.

Big Sam Carter on the pod this week!

He was too wise to give much away and JB generally left it to Adam and his more genial style of questioning.

For me the Academy is failing and not producing anything much bar the very odd exception .. was Henderson the last forward to make an Irish regular…

You can bring 8 -16 in but if all are likely to be in a normal
Job by 25 because they can’t make it at rugby is it the system or that fact that we simply don’t have the talent

The big question avoided

How do you convince the average Ulster fan who knows , that it is worth paying to watch second class rugby due to the inability of the back line to get the ball to the wings - because IRFU fired Jackson -- and how do Ulster think they can change that with Burns at out half ?

justinr73 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 01, 2023 8:36 am

HammerTime wrote: ↑Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:08 am I listened to the bel tel podcast last week were he said he’s been at JP for months for an interview but keeps getting batted off. Funny the interview was soon agreed to after making that public.

Indeed, although he did acknowledge the delay was partially due to his own scheduling issues tbf.

Big Sam Carter on the pod this week!

He was too wise to give much away and JB generally left it to Adam and his more genial style of questioning.

Tried listening to the pod again. Starting with the one after the Connacht loss.

Jeez, 30 seconds in and I'm seriously struggling with Niamh Campbell's heavy Tyrone accent . . .

Fortunately, my wife has managed to end up with a more generic accent, although she’d probably say the same about my Lionel one.

NC really needs to make it sound like she’s not reading from a script…

I also can’t figure out why she introduced us to “another” episode of the rebranded ‘Inside Ulster’ podcast and “another” episode of the re-rebranded ‘Bel Tel Rugby’ podcast when they both first started.

Other than that, she’s great.

Listened to the whole thing just now. He has in many ways a thankless task, there are so many consistent problems that predated his tenure and I've no doubt he's trying hard. However my overall sense of what he said was depressing, and indicates a failure of the management to be honest with themselves.

Nr 2 on the league, yes, one place ahead of last year. Notwithstanding the reality that a freak Munster win against the Stormers in Cape Town facilitated that, on points difference, does the dross that a lot of teams put out on the pitch for so many league games not contribute to this. The single consistent fact is that when the chips are down, when it really matters, we lose.

75 tries scored vs 47 last year. I take the Zebre game as a case to discuss. Yes we scored >4 tries, but in some ways I found watching that game more disappointing than some of the others which we lost. Time after time the backline were uncoordinated, running the wrong lines, making poor passes, bumping onto each other. Zebra were worse, so whoopee, we're happy?

Billy Burns is not to the standard needed. Didn't of course expect JP to acknowledge that, but some reference to the need to have a strong leader at outhalf, physically and mentally, with a strong and accurate boot, would at least have sent out a message.

No mention of fitness. If the Munster experience of this season has taught anything its that their players were not hardened match fit to play the style of game that is needed. This surely applies to our talented backline more than most. Getting players fit is about as basic as it gets, nowt to do with schools, demographics or finances.

For reasons unconnected with last season I've passed, for the first time in 22 years, on renewing my ST. I'll still go to a good few games,but the reality has dawned on me that it is what it is, and that interview is only putting lipstick on a corpse.

Fairplay La Rochelle, fairplay Munster, Enniskillen even heading in the right direction and an Ulster free Ireland will maybe even give the World Cup a rattle, so plenty of joy still to be had in watching rugby.

So that’s two freak wins for Munster against Stormers in Cape Town now then?!

Remember when every Heineken Cup match was hugely anticipated and easily a sellout, rugby just isn't as exciting any more as a product never mind Ulster's version of it