David Humphries

colinh · Post by **colinh** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:19 pm

Maybe it is time as a lot of posters have already said to bring on his replacement. Hump can win and he can loose a game. Last season he was poor in the CL. This season he has been inconsistent ot say the least. Against Sarries at home he was magnificent but last week and last night he was poor technically and latterly pulled the wrong strings. Can we afford ourselves the luxury of awaiting his good games and hope that his bad ones are not too costly. Last night has effectively cost us the league in a game where the Leinster 8 showed weakness early on which was not exploited with turn the screw kicking but lost through loose play and poor tactical options. He will play admirably for us against Biarritz I have no doubt but really unless we do a demoltion job the season as far as trophies is concerned is lost and we are just playing for pride.

Colin

aarons · Post by **aarons** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:31 pm

I can't bring myself to say anything bad about Davy, but I probably agree with you. Who's the replacement, though?

But the Celtic League isn't gone, we're still in a good position.

We have to play..

connacht (A)
Glasgow (H)
Llanelli (H)
Edinburgh (A)
Munster (H)
Dragons (H)
Llanelli (A)
Glasgow (A)
Cardiff (H)
Borders (H)
Ospreys (A)

5 away games, 6 home games. Of the away games, we -could- win them all. Edinburgh are probably the toughest team we have to face away, and Murrayfield isn't exactly a fortress for them. And we have a good record there

Home games.. Munster is probably the toughest challenge, and we'll play them at a time, during the 6N, when they're likely to be weakened.

It's all to play for. Though on recent form, Cardiff could throw a real spanner in the works near the end of the season.

Now, who's heading to Llanelli, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Swansea

Kerry Fisher · Post by **Kerry Fisher** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:59 pm

ColinH, your were spot on in your assessment of our situation. No longer can we rely on Humph saving games for us and the tactic of playing three centres should be binned as something that was tried but did not work out. We have lost four of our last six games and two of those were at Ravenhill, we will be lucky to hold our present position in the Celtic League.

colinh · Post by **colinh** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:02 pm

I can't bring myself to say anything bad about Davy, but I probably agree with you. Who's the replacement, though?

And that is the problem and the dilema. Do we start to bring in Steenson now and give him game time when he has not yet settled into the A slot but it would hardly do him any harm. One thing Steenson can do is to spot and attack space. He can get the ball inot danger areas very very quickly but he does tend to take incorrect options which suggests lack of experience. But there is only way to get experience.

Colin

Rooster · Post by **Rooster** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:03 pm

It all depends what comical does with our players during the 6 nations, we come home from Treviso and he will take 6 or 7 either to play or as tackle bags the next day, we then play Llanelli on Friday night , potentially with the same team that played Ospreys as Italy game is following Saturday, if that happens we will lose, as LLanelli will have less players away and have a good squad anyway. Edinburgh is between France and Wales so Edinburgh might be hit as badly as us, and the Munster game is between the Wales and Scotland games, a though call but I think Munster 2nd's are better than our 2nd's. One win out of the 3 would probably be the end result

The biggest question will be who will play 10 Wallace or Steenson

Paddy X · Post by **Paddy X** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:25 pm

I say its too early to bring in Steenson so move Steinmetz to out half but that also means who will play centre cause we dont want maggs there. If Humph does stay at out half give Steinmetz the kicking duties

horslips · Post by **horslips** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:41 pm

Colin

Unfortunately your are entirely correct in your assessment. Like many who travelled to Watford for the Sarries game I was both disappointed and angry at the situation that unfolded. Last night was yet another in an ever increasing series on under power performances by the once mighty Humph.

Unquestionably UR needs to go to plan B which is ??????.

heres where our coach needs a good kick up the a@@@e. In th "A" game PW got 40mins at inside centre. Just the sort of motivational performance any budding 10 needs. Clearly PW does not fit with Martha,s plans (assuming he has one) and must now for the sake of his career take up another contract ASAP (if indeed any club is willing to offer one or even consider the financial burden to remove him from his existing deal)
As for Pop, when was the last time he had any decent run for Ulster. Maybe he would have been an option midway through the Watford game, but it would have been a major risk.

While OH is a growing problem for Ulster it pales into insignificance with the damage that McCall is starting to inflict. We are a team with no obivious attacking strategies. We rely more on fortunate breaks to score rather than working the opposition defence and creating space.

A wheel fell off in Watford, and another came loose last nite

Rooster · Post by **Rooster** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:57 pm

You are welcome here Horslips

Good assessment of the Humph, he is past his best and hopefully will do what Wardy did last year and bow out before he gets consigned to the scrap heap.
You said a second wheel came loose last night I would count it all wheels or and the engine seized

Plan B could involve bringing Ian Humph home at the end of this season, I can't see him coming back if Dr D is still there though and we could do a lot worse

pwrmoore · Post by **pwrmoore** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:01 pm

McCall has gone form villain (Last season) to hero (at the start of this season when we were winning everything in sight) and back to villain again (as a resulst of a couple of poor performances in the last few games). We are too fickle

There are some changes that need to be made. Not least amongst these is the development of a suitable replacement for Humph wich still seems as far away as ever. What seems obvious is that Pop is not that replacment and that Paddy doesn't seem to feature in the long term plan either. Perhaps Steenson is a serious option and if he's being considered then perhasps a few appearances from the bench would be a good start.

I also agree that the 3-centres ploy is one which was worth a shot but now looks like a non-runner. I'd like to see two wings on the wings and our centres and Out-halves in their propper position.

I was intrigued to see Isaac get a full game last night but my conclusion so far is that whilst he opffers a few different options to Naz he doesn't necessarily produce a better performance from the rest of the team - and his pass is still more than a little variable....

Lets back off calling for Mark McCall's head on a plate for the time being and give him a chance to address some of the important issues. The CL season is not lost yet - thagh two home losses haven't helped, especially when both of them should have been wins

cjp · Post by **cjp** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:37 pm

If Steiner moves to fly half next year then we have to bring in an inexperienced inside centre. I have never liked McCall and still feel we could find a better coach. We have a good backline with players with real pace yet we can't do anything with them.

DHK · Post by **DHK** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:46 pm

For next year i would love to see Ian Humphreys back here. When he played for quins he really ran the show and a year at the Tigers will have brought him on a lot. Or if we move Steiner to 10 what about Glen Telford at 12. He was class in the u21's team in 2004 which made the world cup final and could develop into a really class player.

horslips · Post by **horslips** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:59 pm

Rooster

thanks for the welcome-another defector for the UR board

Paul.

I have never been convinced that McCall should have got the job or even remained after the first year.
At the start of the season there were 2 or 3 matches that suggested that we might have turned a corner. the trend over the past 3 or 4 games seems to be reverting to type. The Munster game was one that I did,nt see and by some accounts was a good performance. I have dificulty with the strange selection policy towards certain players, the lack of coherent strategy on the pitch, the real lack of passion on a consistent basis and persistent rumours about McCalls style

B.Y.O · Post by **B.Y.O** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:40 pm

IMHO HUMPH IS NEARLY DONE. BUT HEARD HE WILL BE AROUND FOR ANOTHER YEAR.
ANOTHER RUMOUR LAST NIGHT WAS HE COULD EVENTUALLY BE FILLING IN OR JOINING McCALLS MERRY BUNCH OF HELPERS ONN THE MANAGEMENT TEAM?

Freddie Benson · Post by **Freddie Benson** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 4:54 pm

horslips wrote:. We are a team with no obivious attacking strategies.

wtf??
Did you not see Bowe's try last night or some of the excellent scores by Trimble earlier in the season?

Humphs major problem in recent games has been his reluctance to make a tackle, although there have been wrong choices made with the ball also.

ali c · Post by **ali c** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 6:16 pm

i was listening to bristol v leicester webcast today.

leicester were hammered 15-3 but humph jr was brought on after 56 and made quite an impact on the field. was even nominated as one of the commentators MOTM for his contribution.

wonder iswould he like to come home

The UAFC

David Humphries

David Humphries

Re: David Humphries