Ulster squad for weekend

[sewa]

Still no Humphs or Harrison. This coach might actuallybe good [img]smileys/shock.gif[/img]


Williams names 27-man squad to face Edinburgh
Tuesday, 27 November 2007 15:26
Ulster caretaker coach Steve Williams has named a 27-man squad ahead of the Magners League clash against Edinburgh on Friday (kick-off 7.10pm).


Ulster moved off the bottom of the Magners League at the weekend after recording their first victory since September, and their first away win since April against Connacht at the Sportsground.


Williams has no injury concerns following the Galway game and has named an extra five players in an extended squad.


Ulster Captain Rory Best is under no illusion at what an important game his side are playing on Friday night: 'Friday night is now the biggest game of our season again, like Friday past was and the week after will be.


'We can't go looking beyond Edinburgh.'


Former Ulster player Andrew Maxwell who scored for his new club Edinburgh at the weekend said this of the fixture: 'The thing with Ulster is to get on top of them and play at your pace, and don't let them control the game, which they're good at.


'They won on Friday night and will be looking to get some momentum going now. It's a massive match for both teams.'


Williams will then name his final squad of 22 on Thursday at noon.


ULSTER squad to face Edinburgh at Ravenhill on Friday, kick-off 7.10pm:


Backs
M Bartholomeusz; B Cunningham, T Bowe, A Trimble, M McCrea, P Steinmetz, S Danielli; P Wallace, I Boss, P Marshall, K Campbell, N O'Connor, R Dewey


Forwards
J Fitzpatrick, R Best (Captain), N Brady, B Young, S Philpott, T Court, M McCullough, C Del Fava, N Best, K Dawson, R Wilson, D Fitzpatrick, R Caldwell, D Pollock.

[mikerob]

Still no Humphs or Harrison. This coach might actuallybe good [img]smileys/shock.gif[/img]

It is good to see Williams is being his own man.


I always felt McCall was too close to Humphreys as they were former team-mates going back donkeys years and was never objective when it came to DH's performances and the management of Paddy Wallace.


Harrison was a key player for Ulster in 05/06 but has been in decline since then and was also apparently close to McCall.

[Mucky Boots]

looks weak

[LZ]

Harrison has decided to stay loyal to Ulster and play for the BaaBaas this weekend. Then again, maybe Steve Williams told him that he wouldn't be involved on Friday night anyway and let him go.


Ulster should win this one. Two wins on the bounce and with a winnable match against the Os at Ravenhill in the HC next month . . . things are definitely looking up.

[pwrmoore]

Humph is apparently still not 100% form an earlier ankle injury. However even if he were fully fit I think he is doing more good on the training field that he is likely to do on the pitch. It gives Paddy and Niall O'Connor both an opportunity to get some game time and that has got to be good for Irish rugby in the long run.


Harrison has not put in a big performance in about 18 months and the team is probably stronger without him.


Things are certainly improving butit's really too early to look more than one game ahead at a time.It's a big test on Friday but certainly a winnable game.

[Combatlogo]

Still no Humphs or Harrison. This coach might actuallybe good [img]smileys/shock.gif[/img]

Remind me which coach has Harrison this weekend?

[sewa]

Harrison wasn't in the last squad either and the IRFU made it clear that guys wouldn't be releeased if they were needed by their provinces ya dope ya. Do try and keep up [img]smileys/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Red Hand Hero]

Harrison wasn't in the last squad either and the IRFU made it clear that guys wouldn't be releeased if they were needed by their provinces ya dope ya. Do try and keep up [img]smileys/biggrin.gif[/img]

Wouldn't have been in the squad anyways IMO. Few rumours flying about up this end with regards to harrison and his disruptive influence within camp i.e. refusing to scrummage with the A team when told to etc. Williams is showing who's boss, Humph is still injured to whatever degree and is actively assisting Williams in coaching the backs apparently. It could be the boot up the hole Harrison needs but sadly it could just end up with both parties leaving on bad terms because IMO Harrison was a tremendous signing for his qualities on and of the field.


Decent looking squad IMO, slightly lacking in props but Youngwas tremendous last week in Connacht. If S.Best doesn't make it back i think we should definitely try and poach Ross away from Hairyqueens, and i'd hope the IRFU would see the benefit in assisting such a move.

[Red Hand Hero]

Ulster caretaker coach Steve Williams has made two changes to the side for Friday's Magners League game against Edinburgh at Ravenhill.


Scotland centre Rob Dewey returns to face his former colleagues while David Pollock comes into the back-row.


Edinburgh welcome back centre Matt Dey and fly-half Phil Godman.


Hugo Southwell has a sprained ankle and is replaced by Ben Cairns at full-back, while Scotland prop Gavin Kerr reclaims the number three shirt. <!- E SF ->


Winger Simon Webster is unavailable because of a back injury, so former Ulster wing Andrew Maxwell continues in the number 11 shirt against his old club.


Meanwhile, Alistair Warnock and Craig Hamilton are named amongst the visitors' replacements.


Godman swaps places with David Blair on the bench and Dey comes in for John Houston, who is ruled out with a dead leg.


Dewey, who was dropped to the bench for the last two games, comes in to partner Andrew Trimble in midfield with youngster Pollock taking over from Kieron Dawson at openside.


David Humphreys remains out injured for the home side, while Justin Harrison is part of the Barbarians squad to play South Africa.


Ulster moved off the bottom of the Magners League with a 30-13 win over Connacht in Galway last weekend.


"Friday night is now the biggest game of our season again, like Friday past was," said Ulster skipper Rory Best.


Former Ulster player Andrew Maxwell scored for his new club Edinburgh at the weekend and is expecting a tough test this weekend.


"The thing with Ulster is to get on top of them and play at your pace, and don't let them control the game, which they're good at.


"They won on Friday night and will be looking to get some momentum going now. It's a massive match for both teams."



<HR>



Ulster: M Bartholomeusz; T Bowe, A Trimble, R.Dewey, S Danielli; P Wallace, I Boss; J Fitzpatrick, R Best (Capt), B Young, M McCullough, C Del Fava, N Best, D.Pollock, R Wilson
Forwards: N Brady, D Fitzpatrick, R Caldwell, K Dawson, K Campbell, N O'Connor, P.Steinmetz.


Edinburgh: B Cairns, A Turnbull, N De Luca, M Dey, A Maxwell, P Godman, M Blair (capt), A Jacobsen, R Ford, G Kerr, M Mustchin, B Gissing, R Reid, R Rennie, D Callam.
Replacements: A Kelly, A Allori, C Hamilton, S Cross, B Meyer, D Blair, A Warnock.

[JoeyFantastic]

Decent looking squad IMO, slightly lacking in props but Youngwas tremendous last week in Connacht. If S.Best doesn't make it back i think we should definitely try and poach Ross away from Hairyqueens, and i'd hope the IRFU would see the benefit in assisting such a move.

Ross has already turned down a move to Ulster because Quins could pay more, wonder what Ulster would need to provide to get him?

[Red Hand Hero]

Joey i'd say if S.Best does not get the nod from the specialists to return the IRFU would logically support a UB move for Ross. Also as has been well documented there are18 players (well 17 since Barker has gone) out of contract. 2 of those-Harrison and Humph will not be extended. I seriously doubt if Tom Court will be rewarded with an extension because basically he is cack. That will free up a bit more of the budget for an improved approach. Also regardless of who is coaching the team players playing at home will always be at a slight advantage IMO especially in regards to training camps etc as well as head to heads against the provinces when they come up against Irish incumbants.


That is certainly an angle i would go at Ross with, if Ulster can match his salary playing with us would be of serious benefit to his international career. He is what 26/7, if he is to get test recognition it has to come in the next 2 years. Buckley is already ahead of him, so to the Bull and probably S.Best (possibly a moot point).


Quin's games do not recieve the same amount of airtime as the big GP teams, and even that pales in comparison to the ML coverage provided by Setanta to the provinces thus further pushing his claims in matches that the management do not attend.

[LZ]

RHH, haven't been paying too much attention to Ulster recently, but why is Caldwell not in the starting line-up anymore? He was starting at the beginning of the season, wasn't he? Then he got sent off against Edinburgh and hasn't regained his place in the side since?

[blackadder]

RHH, haven't been paying too much attention to Ulster recently, but why is Caldwell not in the starting line-up anymore? He was starting at the beginning of the season, wasn't he? Then he got sent off against Edinburgh and hasn't regained his place in the side since?

McCullough and Del Fava are playing well at the minute so would be hard to justify them being dropped, could have said the same for Dawson though, plus Caldwell has a knack of giving away more than a couple of penalties each match, this could prove costly in a tight game which it is likely to be tomorrow, discipline is something Caldwell needs to improve.

[Red Hand Hero]

Basically what BA said. It'll do him no harm, he's still quite raw and on current form, McCullough and Del fava are ahead of him. People have seemingly forgot hat a good player McCullough as before his life-threatening car crash in the CC 2 years ago, his return coincided with the racist abuse allegations and then he was injured for the rest of the season!! Del Fava is a real grunt man, works tirelessly around the fringes and in the tight which is something e have been lacking IMO. Caldwell will no doubt get a chance when he deserves it as Williams has shown he is not afraid of rewarding performance.

[sewa]

The Ross thing for me shows what strenght in depth we have down here in the club game. A lot of the Ulster sides are division 3 now of the AIL and badly need supporting. Thats the sustainable route forward for Ulster in my view.

[JoeyFantastic]

The Ross thing for me shows what strenght in depth we have down here in the club game. A lot of the Ulster sides are division 3 now of the AIL and badly need supporting. Thats the sustainable route forward for Ulster in my view.

True, it's been amazing to see the club game effectively collapse in Ulster at the highest level, it's not a co-incidence that the Ulster side struggles at the highest level either, imo.

[blackadder]

It's a bit of a struggle at the minute, 2 teams in Div 1 and both of those could be in a relegation dog fight, 3 in Div 2 and i think 6 in Div 3, hopefully at least one of those teams will be promoted this season though, this shouldn't be too hard since we make up 50% of the league!

[JoeyFantastic]

It's a bit of a struggle at the minute, 2 teams in Div 1 and both of those could be in a relegation dog fight, 3 in Div 2 and i think 6 in Div 3, hopefully at least one of those teams will be promoted this season though, this shouldn't be too hard since we make up 50% of the league!

What happened?

Imo, the role of the schools in Irish rugby is overemphasised and the clubs have been too sidelined. Munster have the most competitive club structure and the strongest provincial side despite (afaik) having fewer schools players than either Ulster or Leinster.

[sewa]

The clubs up north have been very competitive in the past so it shouldnt be too hard to revive provided the reousrces and support were put behind it.

[blackadder]

My club are in Division 3 so i can't really speculate too much about what is going on further up the ladder because i don't watch AIL 1 rugby, but i get the impression that the likes of Ballymena, Dungannon and Belfast Harlequins have very young sides and they maybe struggle with the physicality of the big Limerick and Cork sides.


We also tend to lose a lot of players after school to English and Scottish universities thanks to the famous "brain drain".I remember someone telling me that Dundee University fielded 10 Ulster born and bred players in their 1st XV in a game three or four years ago!

[sewa]

The economy picking up should help turn that around

[Red Hand Hero]

It's not about the economy IMO. As BA says there is the "brain drain" problem which is fairly accurate.NI has 4 "Universities":Queens, University of Ulster-J'town, Coleraine and Magee. Other than Queens the the other three are not terribly high on the Uni rankings scales and are not your traditional Red Brick University. Thus those who are looking to do say, Law, Medicine or Accountancy or even History and English and do not achieve AAA (or ABB in History+English) don't really stand a pups chance in hell of getting into Queens and with those grades can get into better Uni's across the water.


In fairness to the Branch the whole academy structure is starting to counter this balance but only for a small few. For example you get slight dispensation on your grades if you have Irish underage honours iirc but again obviously only applies to a small percentage.


BA also makes a good point about the general age of Ulster AIL teams. Gannon and B'mena generally have a slightly older team than most but on the whole teams are really quite young. My own club Hinch have a very young team at the moment, aside from the front row the average age is around 23/4ish iirc (not 100% as i'm living across the water) which bodes well for the future.


Another problem facing Ulster clubs is the limited affiliation with many players before secondary school. Most kids start and often finish playing rugby at Grammar school as they have no links to clubs, and don't really care for club scene at all which is obviously a problem.


Interestingly U-19's coach Charlie McAleese made a similar point and said that rugby would die a death if it continued down it's elitist schools system where the clubs, and club players are largely ignored especially for underage teams. There is then a big drain of players between school and joining clubs which means far fewer playersplaying than there should be iirc.

[JoeyFantastic]

Another problem facing Ulster clubs is the limited affiliation with many players before secondary school. Most kids start and often finish playing rugby at Grammar school as they have no links to clubs, and don't really care for club scene at all which is obviously a problem.


Interestingly U-19's coach Charlie McAleese made a similar point and said that rugby would die a death if it continued down it's elitist schools system where the clubs, and club players are largely ignored especially for underage teams. There is then a big drain of players between school and joining clubs which means far fewer playersplaying than there should be iirc.

And yet we have plenty of people who think further dismantling of the club game is the way forward. We should aspire to kids joining clubs at 5,6 or 7, not just for the good of rugby, but for the kids own health and all the benefits that come with being part of a team and a club.

[blackadder]

The club game is very important Joey, we need a bridge between Schools/Youth rugby and the Provincial game and that is the clubs obviously.


That saidi'd argue the AIL needs to be slim lined a bit, i think we had this debate a couple of weeks ago butsurely 16 teams is too many as it dilutes the talent. A smaller home and away league is the best way forward in my opinion and i think i've come to the conclusion that 12 teams would be the ideal amount but that could be open to more debate.


Also wouldn't it be great if the media gave the AIL the respect it deserves, i know RTE show the odd game but Setanta have a great opportunity to buy up the rights and show a couple of games each week of live bread and butter, blood and guts rugby while show casing one or two stars of the future in each game. I'd certainly buy into it.

[Red Hand Hero]

Another problem facing Ulster clubs is the limited affiliation with many players before secondary school. Most kids start and often finish playing rugby at Grammar school as they have no links to clubs, and don't really care for club scene at all which is obviously a problem.


Interestingly U-19's coach Charlie McAleese made a similar point and said that rugby would die a death if it continued down it's elitist schools system where the clubs, and club players are largely ignored especially for underage teams. There is then a big drain of players between school and joining clubs which means far fewer playersplaying than there should be iirc.

And yet we have plenty of people who think further dismantling of the club game is the way forward. We should aspire to kids joining clubs at 5,6 or 7, not just for the good of rugby, but for the kids own health and all the benefits that come with being part of a team and a club.

Agree wholeheartedly. Not only that but getting more kids involved from an early age will (in theory) mean more players making it at the highest level. Another point Charlie made was the funding for clubs is shocking. Wheras schools have their budgets as well as full-time PE teachers who are specialist rugby coaches clubs don't/can't afford high calibre coaches for the under-age teams which means the best is not being brought out of players and thus club representation at international underage level is minimal. IRFU needs to up the level of funding provided and the UB for example should be going to the British government looking for grants for grass-roots rugby.


The IFA missed out on a £4million grant from the government lastweekbecause they could not agree upon a 10-man panel who would delegate the money. Surely something along these lines could be set-up to promote rugby across the province, especially in "non-traditional areas" (something the branch are already working at coincidentally) as well as going to fund youth development at clubs across the province. It's one thing has always bothered me is that rugby is often happy to work of its own bat instead of approaching bodies like the Govt/Lottery with proposals for grants and such to enable development that won't hit their own budgets so badly.

[Red Hand Hero]

Ulster lose 20-14. Terrible forward passcall by ref prevents a certain score for Ulster on about 20minutes, luck of the bounce/awful basics by Bart gift edinburgh a score, they pull another one quickly and Ulster are reeling. Dewey is fast turning into the worst signing Ulster have made, Wallace is not getting enough purhcase with his line kicking and Wilson our most impressive forward of the past 3 weeks is now out for 6 weeks with a fractured hand/thumb. Ferris could be back for next week but we are in troulbe. Ball in Williams court to blast another dose of passion and confidence into the squad for a tought trip to the O's next week.


Feck.

[banjaxed]

The only way is up RHH.............it will all come good

[Red Hand Hero]

Install a new coach, get players re-signed and then look to attract 1/2 good SH stars. The thing that was galling was Ulster were all over them for the first 20 and could/should have had 3 tries by the time Edinburgh got their first and it would have been a totally different game, but i guess thems the breaks. Worried for our backrow make-up next week.

[Sea_point]

Ulster lose 20-14. Terrible forward passcall by ref prevents a certain score for Ulster on about 20minutes, luck of the bounce/awful basics by Bart gift edinburgh a score, they pull another one quickly and Ulster are reeling. Dewey is fast turning into the worst signing Ulster have made, Wallace is not getting enough purhcase with his line kicking and Wilson our most impressive forward of the past 3 weeks is now out for 6 weeks with a fractured hand/thumb. Ferris could be back for next week but we are in troulbe. Ball in Williams court to blast another dose of passion and confidence into the squad for a tought trip to the O's next week.


Feck.

Got to fell sorry for Dewy and Danieli and DelFalva (who hasn't impressed at all)really...


Can't really help that they've walked right into a squad with a confidence crisis, and especially now that McCall was forced out.


There are a couple of players that need to move on for the deveopment of the team, Harrison needs to be cut (I imagine that would free up a fair amount of dosh) as he offers nothing at all now. Neil Best probably needs a move as well, he doesn't seem to be firing at all this season..

[Red Hand Hero]

Ulster lose 20-14. Terrible forward passcall by ref prevents a certain score for Ulster on about 20minutes, luck of the bounce/awful basics by Bart gift edinburgh a score, they pull another one quickly and Ulster are reeling. Dewey is fast turning into the worst signing Ulster have made, Wallace is not getting enough purhcase with his line kicking and Wilson our most impressive forward of the past 3 weeks is now out for 6 weeks with a fractured hand/thumb. Ferris could be back for next week but we are in troulbe. Ball in Williams court to blast another dose of passion and confidence into the squad for a tought trip to the O's next week.


Feck.

Got to fell sorry for Dewy and Danieli and DelFalva (who hasn't impressed at all)really...


Can't really help that they've walked right into a squad with a confidence crisis, and especially now that McCall was forced out.


There are a couple of players that need to move on for the deveopment of the team, Harrison needs to be cut (I imagine that would free up a fair amount of dosh) as he offers nothing at all now. Neil Best probably needs a move as well, he doesn't seem to be firing at all this season..

Agree with you in pieces sea-point. Dewey is crap, i've seen better centres in AIL 3 than him.Thing was everyone was raving about him (including myself) when we signed him because he was playing excellently for scotland trucking the ball up the middle. He has been exposed in many regards as a one trick pony and if he is to get beyond this needs to work very hard on his acceleration, handling (catching ball and passing) as well as his physicality.


Danielli was (at the time) the more questionable signing yet i feel he is now proving a far better player than Dewey. He's big, strong pretty fast and hard to put down.


Disgaree entirely about Del Fava he was tremendous on friday night, he has amonsterous work ethic hitting rucks and mauls with real aggression. He could prove to be a very shred signing IMO and will form a formidable engineroom with either McCullough or Caldwell.


A new coaching regime needs put in place and by all accounts the branch are no waiting to see the outcome of the AB coaching decision and whether Wayne Smith is staying down south. If not i think Williams should be given the job and try and sign a good backs coach. He can then set about clearing the deadwood out of the squad and bringing in some fresh faces who HE wants.


McCall was left at the helm too long IMO and should have been chopped last season but can't change the past. Williams has inherited a team he has had little influence on putting together and is no doubt trying to put his own ideas, philosophies and structures in place which takes time. The season is pretty much a write-off with little left to fight for but pride.