Name the Best Ulster Team of the Professional Era.

OK Lads and Lassies.
Ulster Branch have a Competition running to choose your best Ulster team of the professional era (1996-2012). I have scanned the list so hopefully you can see that.
Just for information the competition is to raise funds for the Clubs. Each Club is responsible for selling the entry form (£10.00) and get to keep what they raise.

So just for fun (I might use the best one ), have a go.

[img][/img]

Two tie-break questions:
1. Name the best Ulster Coach of the Pro era.
2. Name the best Ulster Captain of the Pro era.

Ooooohhhhhh!

That is sooooo tough.

Humph who lead us to our only HEC so far and who has had such a huge influence on our amazing re-emergence.

Simon who was there through some of the toughest times and whose influence was cut short by his early retirement.

Johann who has lead us on the pitch in the most successful years for a long time.

Harrison I can discount very easily.

Rory's best years as a player have been since Muller has been captain.

McCall. Can't remember too much about his era to be honest. Maybe someone could give a synopsis of his reasons for inclusion?



Which to choose?

Mrs P. The captain thing is an aside. Get on to picking your best team. Some tough decisions in there.

MrsP wrote:Ooooohhhhhh!

That is sooooo tough.

Humph who lead us to our only HEC so far and who has had such a huge influence on our amazing re-emergence.

Simon who was there through some of the toughest times and whose influence was cut short by his early retirement.

Johann who has lead us on the pitch in the most successful years for a long time.

Harrison I can discount very easily.

Rory's best years as a player have been since Muller has been captain.

McCall. Can't remember too much about his era to be honest. Maybe someone could give a synopsis of his reasons for inclusion?



Which to choose?

McCall was the captain of the 1999 team but was injured for the final. Humps took over. Surprised you didn't know that.

Of Course!!!!!

Well, it was before my time!



I was thinking about him as a coach!

1. Court
2. Best
3. Afoa
4. Muller (c)
5. Johns
6. Ferris
7. McBride
8. McWhirter
9. Pienaar
10. D. Humphreys
11. Trimble
12. Wallace
13. Bell
14. Bowe
15. Cunningham

Brian McLaughlin
What a job to take us from the awful side we were post Matt Williams to a HC final. Harsh on Sir Harry!

Lock is a tough one! Leaving out Jerry Davidson and Longwell. Picking 13 I was thinking about Nevin. RIP

You could pick a pretty dodgy team from that too

1.
2. Andi 'slash' Kyriacou
3. BIIIIGGGG Joe
4. O'Donkeyhue
5. Rowan 'getting high' Frost
6.
7.
8. Feather
9.
10. NicNOC
11.
12. Rob(bed the back account) Dewey
13.
14.
15. Shatcofski

No Grant Webb on the list

Campbell Feather... now theres one. Can we have Grant Webb and Tamaiti Horua alongside him in a hard-hitting backrow?

For me, I have to go for

1. Tom Court
2. Rory Best
3. BJ Botha
4. Johann Muller
5. Jeremy Davidson
6. Stephen Ferris
7. Kieron Dawson
8. Roger Wilson
9. Ruan Pienaar
10. David Humphreys
11. Andrew Trimble
12. Paddy Wallace
13. Johnny Bell
14. Tommy Bowe
15. Bryn Cunningham

Horua didn't seem to have much luck. Felt a bit sorry for him

toml wrote:Horua didn't seem to have much luck. Felt a bit sorry for him

Me too. Maybe he was just an ok player but he was never fit with Ulster until he had to retire.

What's pleasing about this is the number of guys I'd have in our best all-time XV who are still playing for Ulster. This is the strongest Ulster team seen in the professional era.

Chris henry isn't far off the best side either. Hopefully he'll be in it after a few more seasons. He's a real 7 now... I'd actually have him in the 1st chose Ireland side.
6Ferris
7Henry
8SOB
or more likely (due to fitness)
6SOB
7Henry
8Heaslip

1. Court
2. Best
3. Afoa
4. Muller (c)
5. Harrison
6. Ferris
7. Best
8. Wannenburg
9. Pienaar
10. D. Humphreys
11. Trimble
12. Steinmetz
13. Cave
14. Bowe
15. Payne

Honorable mentions: Chris Henry, Roger Wilson, Jeremy Davidson, Paddy Wallace, Bryn Cunningham, Stefan Terblanche, Craig Gilroy, Simon Best, Kevin Maggs.

Captain: Muller
Coach: Anscombe/ McLaughlin

Hard to compare eras but I believe the current side is the best I've seen by a distance so the side has a modern look about it. A lot of guys like Paddy Johns and Johny Bell straddled the amateur era so don't quite make my cut....plus I have a terrible memory.....

I suppose this depends on how you decide what best means.
I'm averaging how good a player was against how long they played, and how much they meant at the time.

Payne is easily more talented than Bryn, but where would we have been without Bryn? whereas Payne has only played 15 or so games

toml wrote:Payne is easily more talented than Bryn, but where would we have been without Bryn? whereas Payne has only played 15 or so games

Totally, you have to weigh up longevity and overall contribution against percieved ability. Payne might be gone in 6 months but as with Terblanche he's one of the best players I've ever seen in an Ulster jersey so he makes my side, I'm jsut presuming he'll keep delivering.

It's all subjective really and there's a few tight calls in there for me. I could pick a few different sides.

Simon Danielli makes my honorable mentions too...

None of you have mentioned Eric Miller who was one of Ireland's best ever No. 8's. I can't find out anything about his Ulster career (1998-2000) but if we are picking the best player then he would be in the reckoning for No.8 in my view.

Maybe a bit before your time some of you.

Muller for captain for me. Coach is trickier.


I can't pick a side in truth but certs are

Rory Best
Ferris
Muller
Ruan
Pedrie
Humph Sr
Bowe

I would actually love to select a Gilroy or a Luke Marshall as a tip of the hat to the future (couldn't select paddy jackson over humph Sr!) similarly without the 3 south africans named Ulster just wouldn't be where they are.

Afoa is a better player than BJ but the latter gave us so much so hard not to pick him. Much as I wouldn't pick him I was a big fan of Nagusa. Then the likes of cave, court deserve mentions and of course Rob Dewey at 12 .....




B
A
Z
I
N
G
A
!

I always liked Timoci Nagusa at a time when our NIQ players weren't great he was the best.
Houra
Clinton Schifcofske
Carlo del Fava

Don't think he would get on the team ahead of Trimble, but worth considering

Maybe we should have 2 separate teams.

One based on purely the best player in that position if selected at the peak of their form regardless of how long they played and one based on the greatest contribution to Ulster rugby in that position.

Rava wrote:None of you have mentioned Eric Miller who was one of Ireland's best ever No. 8's. I can't find out anything about his Ulster career (1998-2000) but if we are picking the best player then he would be in the reckoning for No.8 in my view.

Maybe a bit before your time some of you.

I remember Eric at Leicester Tigers and the Lions. Brilliant player but can't really recall his Ulster performances. Think he was crocked a lot post 1997 wasn't he?

Yeah I liked nagusa because the improvement in him was something to behold. We retained danielli over him which I felt was a mistake at the time but then you can't argue with Danielli's record.

Rava wrote:None of you have mentioned Eric Miller who was one of Ireland's best ever No. 8's. I can't find out anything about his Ulster career (1998-2000) but if we are picking the best player then he would be in the reckoning for No.8 in my view.

Maybe a bit before your time some of you.

For me, he would be in for what he did elsewhere not what he did at Ulster but you're right in saying he was a bit before my time.

Tyrone Howe? Ryan Constable?

Paul steinmetz, andy ward.
Steiner was probably the best import until Muller

Thats why Steinmetz is in my team .... Andy Ward is a good shout.

Standulstermen wrote:
B
A
Z
I
N
G
A
!

Sheldon Coulter Cooper?

There are just so many guys on that list that have contributed at the high end of the scale for us. I am struggling with a few positions.
This is a first go: -

15. Terblanche
14. Bowe
13. Bell
12. Wallace
11. Trimble
10. Humphries
9. Pienaar

1. Court
2. Best
3. Afoa
4. Muller
5. Davidson
6. Ferris
7. Dawson
8. Miller

My pick for Captain is Muller but I would say that Justin Harrison did a lot in his time to instill a more professional approach. Up to his arrival I felt we could be bullied by teams. You certainly couldn't say that about any of his teams.

Andy Ward should surely be there ahead of Keiron Dawson!

Strange list with the spelling mistakes and missing players. Apart from Grant Webb, where are all the others even from the current squad!? I'm sure there are a load more but where are:

Former players - Matt Miles, Stuart Philpott, David McIlwaine, Paul Emerick, Tommy Seymour, Jonny Shiels, Jamie Smith and James McKinney.

Current squad - Joyce, Birch, Simpson, Annett, Doyle, Herring, Lutton, Nelson, Allen, Heaney, Cochrane.

It must be pretty demotivating for these young guys to see they've been left out.

Muller is the best captain Ulster have had.

As for Eric Miller - great player but he was long past his use by date when he came to Ulster, (same as Maggs and to a lesser extent Dawson).

Harrison did add a hard edge and was the first signing that really put down a marker, although Kempson had paved the way and influenced some of the money men to look further afield.

Come to think of it Irish International () Derek McAleese isn't in the list and he was in the 99 squad!

Rava wrote:None of you have mentioned Eric Miller who was one of Ireland's best ever No. 8's. I can't find out anything about his Ulster career (1998-2000) but if we are picking the best player then he would be in the reckoning for No.8 in my view.

Maybe a bit before your time some of you.

Was just about to... Yeah, Miller walks into that team.

Miller with Ulster is really similar to Simon Taylor at Bath now. Would anyone at Bath have him as their all time best No.8?

I just want to point out this is a farcical thread. Not one mention in the best team for Joeli Veitayaki? Hang your collective heads in shame. Hang them I say!

22 Stone of prime Fijian beef. He would shine in this side:

Schifcofske, Bartholomeusz, Emerick, Dewey, Bromley, Free, Spee, Moore, Miles, VEITAYAKI, Frost, Mustchin, Feather, Pfister, Horua

No votes for Seamus Mallon or Niall O'Connor?

No politicians or children of entertainers!

The Great Aukster wrote:22 Stone of prime Fijian beef. He would shine in this side:

Schifcofske, Bartholomeusz, Emerick, Dewey, Bromley, Free, Spee, Moore, Miles, VEITAYAKI, Frost, Mustchin, Feather, Pfister, Horua

How dare you lump him in with Rob Dewey. Veitayaki had more pace, more guile and better passing than Dewey on his best day.

Hookisms and Hyperbole wrote:

The Great Aukster wrote:22 Stone of prime Fijian beef. He would shine in this side:

Schifcofske, Bartholomeusz, Emerick, Dewey, Bromley, Free, Spee, Moore, Miles, VEITAYAKI, Frost, Mustchin, Feather, Pfister, Horua

How dare you lump him in with Rob Dewey. Veitayaki had more pace, more guile and better passing than Dewey on his best day.

The idea was to make him SHINE.

Wasn't it great the way he'd make the centre of the pitch his own - rolling like a great beach ball as the waves of play surged from end to end and oscillated him between the 10m lines? Then he'd do the amusing three diddy trick by putting the ball up his jumper and get punters to guess where it was, or the times he'd serenade the ruck by whipping out his ukelele and singing "somewhere over the rainbow".

Well, the votes have been counted....

"The competition was discussed at length at rugby grounds around the Province, as fans tried to match the selection of the rugby writers’ panel, listed below:

(15): Simon Mason
(14): Tommy Bowe
(13): Jonathan Bell
(12): Paddy Wallace
(11): Tyrone Howe
(10): David Humphreys
(9): Ruan Pienaar


(1): Justin Fitzpatrick
(2): Rory Best
(3): Simon Best
(4): Johann Muller
(5): Jeremy Davidson
(6): Stephen Ferris
(7): Andy Ward
(8): Tony McWhirter

So 6 of the current squad making the Ulster GOAT list.

I got 11 right and am still pretty annoyed! Afoa, Kempson and Cunningham had to be certs, and while a closer call, I say Paddy Johns, 59 Irish caps and Irish captain, ulster legend, shades it over the also worthy Muller. I want my car!!

Best I can tell you Logie is that I hope your car is where you left it!

Tough love MrsP, tough love....

You know it makes sense!

I don't know man. Cunningham had the longer Ulster career and was a one-club man unlike Mason who was signed by Stade Francais after we won the big one.

But would we have won the European Cup in 1999 without Masons phenomenal goal kicking record? Not sure. Humphreys was fairly inconsistent earlier in his career.

Actually, Looking at the team they have choosen it is a mix of the 99 team and the current team plus Tyrone Howe, Simon Best and Jeremy Davidson.