Ulster Vs Scarlets. 15th September 2017

Fri 15th Sep 2017 19:35 Ravenhill  Ref: Marius Mitrea

Ulster:

L Ludik, A Trimble, L Marshall, S McCloskey, J Stockdale, C Lealiifano, J Cooney; K McCall, R Herring, W Herbst, K Treadwell, A O'Connor, C Henry (capt), S Reidy, J Deysel.

Replacements: J Andrew, A Warwick, R Ah You, R Diack, M Rea, P Marshall, P Nelson, T Bowe.

Scarlets:

L Halfpenny, J McNicholl, H Parkes, S Williams, S Evans, R Patchell, G Davies, R Evans, K Owens (capt), S Lee, J Ball, T Beirne, A Shingler, W Boyde, J Barclay

Replacements: R Elias, W Jones, W Kruger, D Bulbring, J Macleod, J Evans, R Jones, J Davies.



Two teams that have been fairly even in the past, however Scarlets coming into this as champions and Ulster having had a dire season last year. Scarlets have a superior side on paper and Ulster have home advantage. Could go either way.

Glad McNicholl is on the wing, he looks extremely dangerous from fullback.

Will be interesting to see if time with the Scarlets improves Halfpenny's running game. He has looked robotic at times in the past

Marius Mitrea could be the deciding factor if this is a tight game. It's a coin toss as to who will benefit from him

How's the weather looking in Belfast for tonight?

When I saw the teams, and being more honest the Ulster absences, I was quite hopeful that we can head over there and get a result. But as time is drawing closer, I have lost that confidence a bit, and am starting to get a sinking feeling.

I wouldn't worry SS, you have much more reason for optimism than we have.

The weather is set to remain dry. I'd prefer a mudbath with driving rain and wind to even things out

As mentioned on the Ulster thread, Deysel is out, Rea is promoted to starter and Ross is on teh bench. We;re missing Best, Hendo, Coetzee and Piutau - arguably our four best players in any position. Add Payne and Deysel to that, and we're six first-teamers down. I think you can be confident. The only thing that might swing it is that there will be a lot of fire in the belly, it being the fifth anniversary of Nevin Spence's death.

Scarlets are looking good this year but in truth they haven't been tested yet. With missing in Action for Ulster I go for an away win - never thought I'd say this but I expect the Scarlets pack to be too good this time around.

stevetynant wrote:Scarlets are looking good this year but in truth they haven't been tested yet. With missing in Action for Ulster I go for an away win - never thought I'd say this but I expect the Scarlets pack to be too good this time around.

I remember telling a lot of welsh fans, this time last season, when the Ospreys and Blues fans similar when they were raving about how well they were going.

Truth is, for me anyway, Ulster are as close to a derby match we have outside of Wales. And because of that I can't shake that feeling that no matter how is in or our the team they are going to really give us a real test. And we have not had that since the Leinster semi-final (no disrespect to Munster, but they were out of the final come 30 mins), so I have a feeling if they the game is tight we are going to be be the ones who start flapping, pushing things and making the mistakes.

Ulsters decision making is awful, that try all came from someone forcing pass when they should have held on to it and reset. Far too many times tonight that has happened

That's well worked, good play by big Stuart

Lovely try, Luke Marshall did so well to keep it alive

Well I have to say I didn't expect that. Great spirit shown by the lads tonight. With the players we have not playing that was excellent. Fair play to Scarlets, they look dangerous in broken play and their breakdown is fantastic. Big performances tonight though from McCloskey and Cooney

Big Stu gets MOTM and Cooney must be a close second.
What a performance in the end. A weakened side went out there and did Nevin proud, that was for him.

Well played Ulster. No argument the better team win (put that in your diary, I won't say it often lol)

Great game, Close too. I think some Ulster fans might have underestimated their team. Is Lealifano only a temp staff member? Pro 14 needs more guys like him on a permanent basis.

Best team won on the day I think but what an advert for the league,well done both sides. How good is Taigh Berne as well, pretty sure Leinster must be regretting letting him go now.

The Spence factor got an extra oomph from the Ulster players and without it they would have lost. Berne was exceptional - certainly motm if Scarlets had won and maybe was anyway.

The Great Aukster wrote:The Spence factor got an extra oomph from the Ulster players and without it they would have lost. Berne was exceptional - certainly motm if Scarlets had won and maybe was anyway.

Taig Beirne heading for Ulster next season....

He's get more game time than where he is and stand a better chance getting into Ireland contention. Beirne will go to Leinster or Munster though.

Think it'll be Munster gets Taig Beirne, they are a bit short after Ryan leaving, Gerbrandt Grobler was signed on a one year contact which I suspect is because they are planing to get Beirne the following year and need a stop gap.
However I think Beirne would really add to Ulster, but Munsters need is greater for locks. Mind you they did sign Copeland when our need was greater, so hopefully we can get him.

I find it extremely unlikely Beirne is headed to Munster. Rory guaranteed me that they have a great many fantastic homegrown talents coming through and they don't bring in talent from outside the province nearly as much. He knows all their names.

There are alot of talented players in Ulster that are the equal of other provinces that just need developed. The coaching has let us down, not the talent.

Hopefully that will change as well. We're already seeing a fair few young lads from the likes of Letterkenny start to come onto the radar.

I see Ulster schools U16(?) Beat Munster at the weekend. I wish they would tell us more about these games. Just mentioned in passing on Twitter.

Ulster do ok at schools level but then can't make the transition to the adult game. That is where they are behind the other three provinces and have little representation in u20 Ireland sides. They can trawl the province as much as they like but the talent isn't there, which is why half the squad comes from everywhere but Ulster.