The Prodigal son returns!!!!!

[Big-al]

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/news/8600.php

ULSTER (15-9): Jamie Smith; Andrew Trimble, Darren Cave, Paddy Wallace, Simon Danielli; Ian Humphreys, Ruan Pienaar (1-8) Bryan Young, Rory Best (Captain), Tom Court, Johann Muller, Tim Barker, Pedrie Wannenburg, Chris Henry, Robbie Diack

Replacements (16-23) Nigel Brady, Paddy McAllister, Alan Whitten, Dan Tuohy, Willie Faloon, Paul Marshall, Ian Whitten, David McIlwaine



No Botha, which is a shame

[Cornerfleg]

Right - the team's been picked ... no more bitching about who should be where ...we need a win and we need a good one!

[The Boo Radleys]

Agree - can't wait - cmmonnn Ullsstaarrrrrr!!!!

[The Ulsterian]

Paddy at his best position

and a chance for iHumph to show what he can do beside Pienaar.

Time to step up to the mark lads.

Come on ULSTERRRRR!!!!

[cheese]

this culd be massive night for Ulster. with humph getting the kicking duties off his back he should be free to relax and get the exciting backline playing. i expect a big win if we give them and humph massive support

[mid ulster maestro]

The excitement and expectation is starting to build. Can't wait until kick off. See you all there!
Mum

[Rooster]

[Bart S]

So IH has gone from total obscurity to the starting XV, with not 1 second of competitive game time behind him and not having played at all for almost 2 months. Smacks of exceptionally poor man management or selection policy in that our back up no. 10 (in the eyes of management) is not given any game time. If this was some sort of "punishment" then management have potentially made Ulster as a team suffer through not giving Humphreys any game time, before our biggest game of the season.

It's clear that had NOC not been injured, IH would have seen no game time.

I really wish the journos would ask BMcL what was happening with IH.

Having said all that I'm delighted to see him in the team and hope he puts in the kind of performance which makes our coaching team look a bit foolish and him a nailed on starter for the Biarritz game, regardless of NOC's recovery prospects.

[Ulsterscall]

Within 2 weeks that backline has gone from looking boring, predictable and as unlikely to penetrate as a spotty teenager at a cheerleaders convention to something that has the potential to threaten and unlock defences. The addition of Pienaar and Ihumph, Paddy back at 12 and the return of Trimble and Danielli makes me think we can and will now win with a bonus point tomorrow night and I can't wait to cheer them on. Lets hope the pack can deliver some good quality ball so we can see what these boys can do - You could argue the merits of Faloon v Henry all day but IMO this is the best available team we have selected so far and I for one am well pleased!

[backawaygoonahead]

Delighted to see this selection. Before the season started if asked what would you like from 9-15 in the 1st Heiny game this would have been it. I really don't care how the selection has got there - its there so alls well.

Mind you probably a big ask for iHump had it not been Aironi. But Aironi it is and a great chance for him with the best that we have all around him.

Although an iHumph thread I just want to add how pleased I am that Tim Barker is the man to partner Muller. He has made a great return, works like fury, appears as fit as a fiddle and is really putting it up to Tuohy & Caldwell to improve.

I'm going out on a limb here I know but I expect us to cane Aironi stupid tomorrow night - in reality they are about as strong as the Borders were - a great way to prepare for bigger things to come over the next few weeks. Lack of a bonus point would boil my pish - unless it is played in a storm in which case we will take whatever win we get.

[BR]

Carlo to captain them

MONTEPASCHI AIRONI: 15 Danwel Demas; 14 Giulio Toniolatti, 13 Rodd Penney, 12 Gilberto Pavan, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti; 10 Ludovic Mercier, 9 Tito Tebaldi;
8 Nick Williams, 7 Aldo Birchall, 6 Andrea Benatti; 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Carlo Del Fava; 3 Luca Redolfini, 2 Roberto Santamaria, 1 Alberto De Marchi.

16 Luigi Ferraro, 17 Andrea De Marchi, 18 Salvatore Perugini, 19 Vickus Liebenberg, 20 Nicola Cattina, 21 Pablo Canavosio, 22 Gabriel Pizarro, 23 Riccardo Bocchino

[browner]

...and not before time...as our most instinctive 10 i expect over time to see a serious partnership develop between himself and "the talented Mr Pienaar."
Would have opted for Faloon at 7 to play the link man and cover Ruans sniping breaks...Chrissie has the brain not sure about the legs.

[semi mental]

dead happy to see humphreys at 10. NOC has done ok but plays much too deep for my liking. hopefully IH will play nice and close to the gainline and give our outside backs the chance to make some telling breaks. roll on friday.

[Harold7]

Perfect game for Humphreys although ideally he'd at least come off the bench at some stage this season, having Humphreys increases our chances of a five pointer which as has been said is a pre-requisite of tomorrow night.

Nevertheless, and this mightn't be popular, I still think NOC is the man for Biarritz, but that's for next week.

For me the thing about our out halfs is that it should be horses for courses, if we want to run the ball like we ought tomorrow night then you go for Humphreys, if you want to play a more basic game where your ten sits deeper and plays it in the opposition half you play NOC. The frustrating thing is that NOC almost certainly would have started tomorrow night if fit. It's up to Humphreys to grab the bulls by the horns, and playing outside Ruan he'll never get a better service.

[Ulsterbrum]

So IH has gone from total obscurity to the starting XV, with not 1 second of competitive game time behind him and not having played at all for almost 2 months. Smacks of exceptionally poor man management or selection policy in that our back up no. 10 (in the eyes of management) is not given any game time. If this was some sort of "punishment" then management have potentially made Ulster as a team suffer through not giving Humphreys any game time, before our biggest game of the season. So you get what you want and use it as an opportunity to moan

It's clear that had NOC not been injured, IH would have seen no game time.Really? Do you honestly believe that? It's not that long ago McL was being berated for not allowing either NOC or IH a decent run in the team, NOC gets 5 (thats 5 not 50, not 15 just 5) games and the world has imploded, poor man management, punishment, team suffer give it a rest

I really wish the journos would ask BMcL what was happening with IH. Why? Either he'll say what you seem to think is happening and get every man and his dog screaming about why he shouldn't discuss what goes on behind closed doors in public or he'll give a perfectly valid reason then you'd have nothing to whine about

Having said all that I'm delighted to see him in the team and hope he puts in the kind of performance which makes our coaching team look a bit foolish and him a nailed on starter for the Biarritz game, regardless of NOC's recovery prospects.Good for you, he gets a chance and your reason for wanting him to play well is to make the coaching team look a bit foolish

How many times (I guess me writting this gives another perfect opportunity).

The (hopefully soon to look a bit foolish ) coaching team have picked teams which have won 4 and drawn 1 out of 5 games. They have picked 1 of the 2 specialist OHs to start 4 and come on in one (the one we drew) of those 5 games. Maybe we would have done better with IH, maybe not. We did get 18pts with NOC though which is as good as I was hoping for at the start of the season. Recent consensus from a sizable number of fans...IH should have got a chance, McL must have a grudge.
IH starts the next match, your thoughts on the matter...blah blah blah, McL's a poor man manager, it would never have happened apart from NOCs injury, hope the coaching team are made to look foolish

They coach the team you support! Why in the name of all thats holy do you need to use every opportunity to complain about something? Is it so hard to say good luck to the whole of the Ulster squad and management without a snide remark hoping that the coach is proved wrong?