The UAFC

A ton of injuries leading up to this years 6 nations.
Which Ulster players will get picked?
What price Hendo to recover in time only to get broken again during the tournament?
Hendo, Timoney, should be Cooney but won’t, Hume, Balacoune.
Tom O’Toole??

Hopefully not too many, two postponed inter pros v Connacht and Leinster from Christmas to be rescheduled during 6N.

The Rugby Pod is heading to Belfast on 10 March.

The squad has been announced. Rob Baloucoune, James Shume, wee Mike Lowry, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Tom O'Toole, Nick Timoney and Kieran Treadwell are in.

Some interesting choices. Baloucoune, Hume, Lowry, Herring and Timoney couldn't have been left out given current form. Henderson is a class act when fit, but has been injured pretty much all season and has barely played. I'd probably pick Marty Moore ahead of O'Toole for Ulster, and O'Connor is the mainstay of our second row, with Treadwell only one of a rotating cast to partner him.

Jack Carty is in, quite rightly.

Ireland Guinness Six Nations Men’s Squad 2022

Backs (17)
Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 33 caps
Robert Baloucoune (Ulster/Enniskillen) 2 caps
Joey Carbery (Munster/Clontarf) 27 caps
Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht) 10 caps
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 4 caps
Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 27 caps
Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 96 caps
Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 12 caps
Mack Hansen (Connacht) uncapped
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 53 caps
James Hume (Ulster/Banbridge) 1 cap
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 16 caps
Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 30 caps
Michael Lowry (Ulster/Banbridge) uncapped
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 92 caps
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 37 caps
Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 101 caps CAPTAIN

Forwards (20)

Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University) 6 caps

Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 18 caps

Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 25 caps

Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 22 caps

Gavin Coombes (Munster/Young Munster) 2 caps

Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 12 caps

Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 52 caps

Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 112 caps

Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 65 caps

Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 23 caps

Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 16 caps

Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 45 caps

Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 79 caps

Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 2 caps

Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 40 caps

James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 40 caps

Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 2 caps

Nick Timoney (Ulster/Banbridge) 2 caps

Kieran Treadwell (Ulster/Ballymena) 3 caps

Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 35 caps

Development Player

Cian Prendergast (Connacht)

8 ulstermen must be a record for quite a while. Congrats to Lowry, well deserved and I hope he gets a run out at some stage. Hopefully none come back broken.

jean valjean wrote:8 ulstermen must be a record for quite a while. Congrats to Lowry, well deserved and I hope he gets a run out at some stage. Hopefully none come back broken.

Agree they all deserve it but how many injured tackle bag holders will we get back

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So much for the great white hope of Harry Byrne. Not much joy all round in the Byrne household this evening.
Carty and Lowry are well deserved.

As usual, I've divided loyalties. Great to see eight lads in the squad, but losing them, along with all of our injuries could leave us with up to 20 players unavailable during the 6 nations .

Kiwis need the tackle bags held in an Ulsterish manner you know. You could almost give fecks for this if any would get more than a crumb of game time.

Even all black conquerer Andeeeh Farrell knows that no Irish pack can function without Hendy. Anyway feck em.

Gwan Ireland.

O Connor is too small to be an International second row the fact that he may be considered a first name on the team sheet for Ulster may be down to the fact he is seldom injured and size may be less important at league level . O'Connor also suffers from the image of being a Leinster reject thus anyone at Leinster must be better .

The fact is Treadwell actually puts himself about on the pitch not so much as a ball carrier but in the tackle he appears to enjoy tackling which some player fine a task and become weary after a few.

Hendy tends to be a needless player if there is no need to exert himself he doesn't but in the essential areas of the game he is there 110% which possibly accounts for the fact he gets injured frequently because they are the times when effort is greatest.

Also when apparently doing little at times he is actually directing others around him because they are taking their positioning from him .

rumncoke wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:07 pm O Connor is too small to be an International second row the fact that he may be considered a first name on the team sheet for Ulster may be down to the fact he is seldom injured and size may be less important at league level . O'Connor also suffers from the image of being a Leinster reject thus anyone at Leinster must be better .

The fact is Treadwell actually puts himself about on the pitch not so much as a ball carrier but in the tackle he appears to enjoy tackling which some player fine a task and become weary after a few.

O'Connor is a very busy tackler as well, although I'd say Treadwell is probably a bit quicker around the pitch. Andy Warwick is another player who's never been on Ireland's radar, but I'm always reassured when I see him on the team sheet.

We're playing the rescheduled match against Connacht on 4 February, which is the night before Ireland play Wales in the Six Nations, and Leinster on 12 March, same day as Ireland play England. We'll be missing eight players, Connacht will be missing five, and Leinster will be missing a whopping sixteen. Best team we should be able to field:

Warwick Andrew M. Moore
A. O'Connor Carter
Marcus Rea Vermeulen Jones/Reidy
Cooney/Doak
Burns
Lyttle S. Moore Curtis Gilroy
McIlroy

Replacements: Stewart/D. Moore, McGrath, Kane, Kearney, Reidy/Jones, Doak/Shanahan, Madigan, Moxham

I reckon that's a decent lineup. Not sure if Tom Stewart is fit yet, but I assume Declan Moore is still with us as injury cover. In the back row, it might be worth switching Marcus Rea to openside and putting McCann in at blindside. Also not sure about the outside centre position - we might see Moxham there, with Curtis on the bench covering centres and out-half, but without Lowry I think we'd need to have Madge as experienced cover for Billy.

paddybrown wrote:

rumncoke wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:07 pm O Connor is too small to be an International second row the fact that he may be considered a first name on the team sheet for Ulster may be down to the fact he is seldom injured and size may be less important at league level . O'Connor also suffers from the image of being a Leinster reject thus anyone at Leinster must be better .

The fact is Treadwell actually puts himself about on the pitch not so much as a ball carrier but in the tackle he appears to enjoy tackling which some player fine a task and become weary after a few.

O'Connor is a very busy tackler as well, although I'd say Treadwell is probably a bit quicker around the pitch. Andy Warwick is another player who's never been on Ireland's radar, but I'm always reassured when I see him on the team sheet.

We're playing the rescheduled match against Connacht on 4 February, which is the night before Ireland play Wales in the Six Nations, and Leinster on 12 March, same day as Ireland play England. We'll be missing eight players, Connacht will be missing five, and Leinster will be missing a whopping sixteen. Best team we should be able to field:

Warwick Andrew M. Moore
A. O'Connor Carter
Marcus Rea Vermeulen Jones/Reidy
Cooney/Doak
Burns
Lyttle S. Moore Curtis Gilroy
McIlroy

Replacements: Stewart/D. Moore, McGrath, Kane, Kearney, Reidy/Jones, Doak/Shanahan, Madigan, Moxham

I reckon that's a decent lineup. Not sure if Tom Stewart is fit yet, but I assume Declan Moore is still with us as injury cover. In the back row, it might be worth switching Marcus Rea to openside and putting McCann in at blindside. Also not sure about the outside centre position - we might see Moxham there, with Curtis on the bench covering centres and out-half, but without Lowry I think we'd need to have Madge as experienced cover for Billy.

McCloskey should become available soon I would have hoped. Him and Moore in the centre would be a good selection.

jean valjean wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 5:51 pm

paddybrown wrote:

rumncoke wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:07 pm O Connor is too small to be an International second row the fact that he may be considered a first name on the team sheet for Ulster may be down to the fact he is seldom injured and size may be less important at league level . O'Connor also suffers from the image of being a Leinster reject thus anyone at Leinster must be better .

The fact is Treadwell actually puts himself about on the pitch not so much as a ball carrier but in the tackle he appears to enjoy tackling which some player fine a task and become weary after a few.

O'Connor is a very busy tackler as well, although I'd say Treadwell is probably a bit quicker around the pitch. Andy Warwick is another player who's never been on Ireland's radar, but I'm always reassured when I see him on the team sheet.

We're playing the rescheduled match against Connacht on 4 February, which is the night before Ireland play Wales in the Six Nations, and Leinster on 12 March, same day as Ireland play England. We'll be missing eight players, Connacht will be missing five, and Leinster will be missing a whopping sixteen. Best team we should be able to field:

Warwick Andrew M. Moore
A. O'Connor Carter
Marcus Rea Vermeulen Jones/Reidy
Cooney/Doak
Burns
Lyttle S. Moore Curtis Gilroy
McIlroy

Replacements: Stewart/D. Moore, McGrath, Kane, Kearney, Reidy/Jones, Doak/Shanahan, Madigan, Moxham

I reckon that's a decent lineup. Not sure if Tom Stewart is fit yet, but I assume Declan Moore is still with us as injury cover. In the back row, it might be worth switching Marcus Rea to openside and putting McCann in at blindside. Also not sure about the outside centre position - we might see Moxham there, with Curtis on the bench covering centres and out-half, but without Lowry I think we'd need to have Madge as experienced cover for Billy.

McCloskey should become available soon I would have hoped. Him and Moore in the centre would be a good selection.

Addison may be fit and ready to go also