Northampton 16th Jan

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Tweet from Stephen Jones: “ The much-hyped Chris Boyd era in grave danger of petering out completely without trophies or even improvement. A big club like Northampton really should be seeing Ulster off in a home game.” Charming!

The Stephen Jones era at the Sunday Times will undoubtedly peter out at some stage without any improvement too.

A big paper like TST really should be seeing him off before too long.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Next week who else may be back?
McCloskey possible but what about Henderson & Luke Marshall.
Anybody any idea?

Honestly I love Luke but would you drop Hume for him?? I wouldn't

No way.

Hume is the future and I would love to see Luke back, but until he proves otherwise, he has become the backup/squad player.

I would suspect he knows that too.

[jean valjean]

We could lose hume to Ireland duties so we need all the centres we can get. A fit marshall would be a great help, he has had a tough time but he has a lot still to offer ulster.

[big mervyn]

The issue that this raises is that Ireland will no doubt call up Lowry Hume and Ballybeen to hold tackle bags for two months. Will leave the cupboard very bare

Don't think there are any fixtures during international window with this new league format. It was a precondition.

Albeit covid cancelled games may now take place

When's the most likely date for the last 16 game?

Games - 2 legs. Weekend of April 8-10 and 15-17. If Ulster finish in top 4, they will be at home 2nd.

So ... any sort of win next week and we're at home 15-17?

[Bart S]

My view from Frankin Gardens :- BP win away from home against a team which put out their big guns. Ulster also missing 3 of their 4 or 5 most important players. Have to be happy overall.

Kudos especially to Marty Moore - we had the upper hand at scrum time which was unexpected. Stuart Moore - thought he was very good in attack and defence and mixed his game well.Rob Baloucoune - straight back from injury but awesome under the high ball,, constant threat and a great finish. Was my MITM. Billy Burns - have been a big critic and still don't see him as a long term option at 10 but thought he was pretty decent overall.

The ability of the pack to compete and our defence are the big differences this season

[solidarity]

Like others, I doubt that Luke would get into his former spot if we have most of our backline fit and available. Clearly, this won't often be the case, so he will probably get a run out in the next few months. He should have another few good years in him. Might he think of having them elsewhere? Hope not.

[Jackie Brown]

Star of the Match? Honest to fcuk

[StandUp]

Tweet from Stephen Jones: “ The much-hyped Chris Boyd era in grave danger of petering out completely without trophies or even improvement. A big club like Northampton really should be seeing Ulster off in a home game.” Charming!

Bellend

[StandUp]

Much better by Burns. Did he get a rocket after Munster or was it the spectre of Mads on the bench?
Total brain fart by Mads but good to see him getting some game time. We may be in dire need of him if Burns takes a knock.
Better by Treadwell. Aggression was more controlled this week.
If we can maintain that type of focus we might get past the quarters but so far this season we have been too inconsistent.
Pure filth by the backs and Bobby B is back with a bang.

[StandUp]

Who was the Sale player that got scooped and what did he do?

[UlsterNo9]

My view from Frankin Gardens :- BP win away from home against a team which put out their big guns. Ulster also missing 3 of their 4 or 5 most important players. Have to be happy overall.

Kudos especially to Marty Moore - we had the upper hand at scrum time which was unexpected. Stuart Moore - thought he was very good in attack and defence and mixed his game well.Rob Baloucoune - straight back from injury but awesome under the high ball,, constant threat and a great finish. Was my MITM. Billy Burns - have been a big critic and still don't see him as a long term option at 10 but thought he was pretty decent overall.

The ability of the pack to compete and our defence are the big differences this season

If Stuart Moore could string a dozen games together he'll bypass McCloskey and I don't say that lightly, he doesn't seem to stay fit for long enough.

We played of 10 today rather than from 9 which we do when Cooney was there. Cooney and our play when he's on are styled to the traditional French way of thinking. Burns was given the opportunity to play lead role today and he took it, also took the pressure off Doak Jr. He's capable of those type of performances, we've seen them before, it'll be interesting to see what his performances are like if Cooney is out for the next few games. The jury is out but I'd love him to shut up his critics, as I'm sure they would be to.

[StandUp]

Who was the Sale player that got scooped and what did he do?

Never mind. Found it.

[StandUp]

My view from Frankin Gardens :- BP win away from home against a team which put out their big guns. Ulster also missing 3 of their 4 or 5 most important players. Have to be happy overall.

Kudos especially to Marty Moore - we had the upper hand at scrum time which was unexpected. Stuart Moore - thought he was very good in attack and defence and mixed his game well.Rob Baloucoune - straight back from injury but awesome under the high ball,, constant threat and a great finish. Was my MITM. Billy Burns - have been a big critic and still don't see him as a long term option at 10 but thought he was pretty decent overall.

The ability of the pack to compete and our defence are the big differences this season

If Stuart Moore could string a dozen games together he'll bypass McCloskey and I don't say that lightly, he doesn't seem to stay fit for long enough.

We played of 10 today rather than from 9 which we do when Cooney was there. Cooney and our play when he's on are styled to the traditional French way of thinking. Burns was given the opportunity to play lead role today and he took it, also took the pressure off Doak Jr. He's capable of those type of performances, we've seen them before, it'll be interesting to see what his performances are like if Cooney is out for the next few games. The jury is out but I'd love him to shut up his critics, as I'm sure they would be to.

+1. I would love Burns to turn things around and become a brilliant player for Ulster. Still very sceptical though.

[Neill_M]

The issue that this raises is that Ireland will no doubt call up Lowry Hume and Ballybeen to hold tackle bags for two months. Will leave the cupboard very bare

Don't think there are any fixtures during international window with this new league format. It was a precondition.

Albeit covid cancelled games may now take place

When's the most likely date for the last 16 game?

Games - 2 legs. Weekend of April 8-10 and 15-17. If Ulster finish in top 4, they will be at home 2nd.

So ... any sort of win next week and we're at home 15-17?

2 match points will do.

[Dave]

Northampton are not bigger than Ulster but we have more restrictions from our governing body.