Rabo PRO12 (Round 7): Ulster (away) v Dragons at Rodney Parade Friday 26th October

First topic message reminder :

Roger Wilson and Declan Fitzpatrick have been named in the extended Ulster squad for Friday's RaboDirect PRO12 game against Dragons at Rodney Parade (kick off 7.05pm).

It is the first time Wilson has been named in a preliminary squad since his return to Ulster, having suffered a hamstring tear playing for Northampton Saints at the end of last season. The number 8 has enjoyed impressive outings for the Ravens in recent weeks and scored two tries in Sunday’s loss to Bristol.
Fitzpatrick had suffered a reoccurrence of a medial ligament injury prior to the Connacht match earlier this month but has undertaken full training over the past week and will be hopeful of getting much needed game time.

Stephen Ferris has been included after missing the last two games with a back injury, while flyhalf Niall O’Connor has also been added to the panel.

Johann Muller has been ruled out for eight weeks after sustaining a thumb injury in Friday’s Heineken Cup win over Glasgow. Ireland international back row Chris Henry will captain the side in Muller’s absence.

Ulster continue to set the pace at the top of the PRO12 table, and still possess a 100% winning record in all competitions this season. The Ulstermen have won five of their last six fixtures with Welsh regions and have been victorious on their two visits to Wales so far this campaign.

Dragons’ only win in their last seven matches in all competitions was 32-12 at home to Edinburgh in round five of the league. The Welsh outfit have an even worse record against Irish provinces, winning just one of their last 14 encounters. That success did come over Ulster though, just over 12 months ago when they registered a 22-9 win at Rodney Parade. The Ulstermen have managed only one victory at Rodney Parade since 2006.

ULSTER SQUAD TO FACE DRAGONS, RABODIRECT PRO12, FRI 26TH OCTOBER, RODNEY PARADE (7.05PM):

FORWARDS (15):

Rory Best, Nigel Brady, Tom Court, Callum Black, Declan Fitzpatrick, Adam Macklin, John Afoa, Lewis Stevenson, Dan Tuohy, Iain Henderson, Stephen Ferris, Mike McComish, Chris Henry (capt), Nick Williams, Roger Wilson.

BACKS (11):

Paul Marshall, Ruan Pienaar, Niall O’Connor, Paddy Jackson, Paddy Wallace, Luke Marshall, Darren Cave, Andrew Trimble, Tommy Bowe, Craig Gilroy, Jared Payne.

Dragons team to face Ulster:

Tom Prydie, Will Harries, Adam Hughes, Andy Tuilagi, Tonderai Chavhanga, Lewis Robling, Jonathan Evans, Owen Evans, Steve Jones (c), Nathan Buck, Adam Jones, Rob Sidoli, Tom Brown, Jevon Groves, Toby Faletau.

Replacements;
Sam Parry, Nathan Williams, Dan Way, Ian Nimmo, Nic Cudd, Liam Davies, Steffan Jones, Pat Leach.

At least he apologised. Football antics

I don't think anyone took it seriously did they? Personally I was a bit puzzled, I didn't know if he was shushing the local fans who were complaining about the pass that led to the try or if Court was shushing some critic or other of his. At least he's apologised anyway.

As Ryan Constable said, sure he was only trying to make sure the Ulster supporters at that end of the ground didn't get too carried away with their celebrations!

Very respectful really when you know all the facts!

I'm glad Court posted that Rava as his celebration was a bit footballish.

Artful_Dodger wrote:I'm glad Court posted that Rava as his celebration was a bit footballish.

Fixed that Dodger

Maybe Court was shushing that rowdy Ulster supporter Munkian was on about earlier...

The irony is that he 'shushed' the quietest part of the ground! The uncovered north terrace is the overspill from the stands, but as we never get to capacity it's rarely used!

Either end it's a bit pointless mind isn't it. The changing room end has next to nobody there too.

Well, to be fair, if the lad had run up the side line after scoring you'd have been even more annoyed, no?

Of course, as would any rugby fan. I'm sure the Ulster faithful are no different? Imagine 'shushing' the Ravenhill faithful!

We all like them to score, say nothing, not smile and then run back. That's standard. Pantomime antics after scoring are not 'cool' in rugby; however, it's getting like the starting line of the 100m final lately. Players will have their own signature moves soon.

Griff wrote:The irony is that he 'shushed' the quietest part of the ground! The uncovered north terrace is the overspill from the stands, but as we never get to capacity it's rarely used!

Well those ball boys can be noisy bhuggers...

It's good Court came out and apologised for this because I think we can all see that kind of thing doesn't belong in Rugby. He must have learned that in Australia

Rava wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:I wonder if Kidney is still going to play Tommy at fullback for Ireland despite the fact it is clear he wasn't comfortable there last night..

What makes you think Kidney had anything to do with Bowe playing at 15 last night?

I think it was pretty obvious Rava. Kidney selects no full back and then Bowe plays 80min at 15 for the first time in years. Even when Payne came on he went to centre rather than fullback.

The reports are that Felix Jones will be selected and given his injury record it looks like Kidney see's Bowe as the main back up.

I actually think Bowe was fairly good last night. Made a couple of good line breaks and kicked well from hand. 2 poor passes apart and a bit of a mess up with Trimble when the ball was kicked straight out after being carried into the 22 I thought he had a good game.

Just watching the replay...

By jeebus Trimble and Henderson were outstanding. If this guy Hendo gets any better we might have to ship Ferris out to Connacht

Henderson made plenty of mistakes but by god his physicality at 20 dwarfs even ferris at the same age. He is the equivalent of etzebeth for ireland and I'm not sure he compares unfavourably

His strength and athleticism are incredible stand. Can't think of a comparable Irish player at the same age. Seems to read the game well too. What a future this guy has.

Was in your pub today, thought you might have the Leinster game on.... you need to get RTE sorted sir!

We do have rte but we also have idiots sadly! In fairness there are about 3 sky boxes each with different channels so it is a tad confusing at times. Should have mentioned you were coming I could have made sure it was on. Was watching the premiership earlier. Two reAlly good games.

Will be interesting to see what the situation is with our international contingent next week. I hope Marshall and to a lesser extent Henderson are available.

Aye no bother stand, friendly staff in there, had a nice and watched the end of the Tigers game....would have had 2 if the Leinster game was on mind...

rodders wrote:Just watching the replay...

By jeebus Trimble and Henderson were outstanding. If this guy Hendo gets any better we might have to ship Ferris out to Connacht

Oh he'll get better don't worry about that. a) he made a lot of mistakes, as he gets more experience that'll change b) he's probably still growing!

At 23/24 he'll be an Ireland regular.

munkian wrote:headless is all I can say. Fastest winger in the league and he doesn't get the ball.

I counted three touches all night, and two of those were in defence. The worst was in the second half when Ulster kicked through and Prydie gathered the ball. There was a bit of space and he had Chavhanga outside him. What does he do? He kicks it. It was criminal. Chavhanga must wonder why he bothered coming over here.

And I've changed my mind about Tuilagi and Adam Hughes being our best midfield pairing. It could be our best centre pairing, but I can see the lightbulb appear above Darren Edwards's head: Tuilagi was man of the match against Bayonne, so let's get him to take the ball into contact every time he gets it. Adam Hughes didn't see much more of the ball than Chavhanga did.

Darren Edwards is lucky that criticism of the Dragons has focussed on the failings of the pack, because there was no backline play to speak of last night. From first phase, Tuilagi ran hard and straight, and after that, the ball was shipped to whoever was standing in the line, often forwards. There was no spontaneity: when we could have switched play, we just went whichever side Ulster had covered. It was clueless rugby. In the final ten minutes with the match lost, we were picking and driving from our own half. Did we really think we could pick and drive our way to the line?

It occured to me standing there on Friday night that we didn't know what we were trying to do. That thought genuinely saddened me.

It was awful, headless clueless stuff.

I think part of being a Dragons fan is cheering on the under dog but at the moment the under dog is rolling on its back and weeing on itself.

And we had a chance. 19 - 16 down at half time, Ulster not firing on all cylinders, everything to play for. But the signs were already there: how easy was it for Ulster to score their tries? Our defence was terrible but there was Rob Appleyard by the dugout, laughing and joking.

Luckless

There was no chance at half time, the Dragons had the wind to their backs and played like it was in their face. before half time I mentioned 30 points for Ulster 2nd half.

Okay, well let's say from a scoreboard point of view.

Our win at the weekend, coupled with other results, has catapulted Ulster into third place in the (unofficial) European Rankings.

http://www.eurorugby.com/index.php

Having started this season in 14th place we have now equaled our highest ever position.