Is Deccie on the Whacky Baccy?

[TinPig]

I am more than slightly worried as to Declan Kidney's influence to the team structure within Ulster rugby at the moment. I realise as do many others that the World Cup is the central focus of the IRFU and as they pay the wages, they call the tune.
I know that the player resting programme is probably in all, a good thing and cautiously acknowledge that.
Deccie has in the past experimented with playing certain players in positions outside their normal comfort zone. When in charge at Munster for instance he played Denis Leamy at centre. He now wants to see Paddy Wallace play 10 for a few games and on from that possibly DanTuohy play 6. At what stage does the tweeking players for the national side go too far?
These effects on the face of it seem minor, until you realise the full impact of them together. If Tuohy for instance is playing 6 that means Ferris is out of that position, also Tuohy will also require resting, as will Wallace a certain number of games.
In summary are valuable strength in depth is greatly diminished with some of our best players not playing in their strongest positions and then on top of that rested.
Is Ulster suffering more from these changes than the other provinces because we have more fringe Ireland squad members?
Is that why we got the money for the Boks?
Either way we have a good team, lets hope we can still keep winning with one hand tied behind our back.

[darkside lightside]

you can see where he's coming from - he's looking for adaptable squad fillers, e.g. maybe Tuohy vs Ryan for a 6th back row spot, providing second row cover, and Paddy covering 10 and 12.

I see 2 risks with this (i) it implies he has already basically selected his squad - given our relatively small pool of resources, this is natural to a certain extent, but if for example the form book gets torn up this year and say Leinster or Munster have a total shocker this year, and so do all of their familiar Ireland names, are we still going to go to the RWC with basically the same squad we had for the last 6N? I still have lingering suspicions that he is EOS reincarnate... (ii) ideally we want to get to the RWC with all our top players fit and fresh - but ideally we also want to get there with all our top players coming from clubs which are going well, and if interference from the centre gets too heavy-handed - e.g. insisting on players playing out of position at key moments of the season - and the Irish provinces lose matches as a result, it could crater this..

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Is that why we got the money for the Boks?

Who said we got any money for the Boks?

My understanding is that the Bocks are contracted to Ulster, not Ireland, and it is Ulster who have to stump up the money for them, not the IRFU. IRFU pay the money for the guys who go off to play or warm benches in the green of Ireland from time to time, not the darker green.

That's partly why we got the Boks, but not the money for them.

[notj]

Wallace at 10 is fine. Not ideal, but understandable. Tuohy at 6? That would weaken us. I think we have three players better than him in that position. If he isn't able to make an Ulster team at 6 on his own merit why are we talking about him needing to play there for Irelands sake?

[backawaygoonahead]

Deccie did pick Tuohy at 6 for Ireland A/Wolfies at Ravenhill but although I can't recall in detail I'm pretty sure it was a last resort kind of thing rather than a plan when other options were available.

I think we are over-reacting to the PW situation which is, from an Ireland viewpoint, both a pretty sensible option to cover possible injury to JS/ROG & an indictment of the other potential 10's. Keatley for instance won't take much inspiration from it.

Certainly unwelcome for Ulster (unless PW plays a blinder in which case I doubt we will complain) but understandable.