Ulster 2023/24

[naraic]

Petrie and McFarland responsible for a lot of money wasted on salaries in the 2022-23 season. They paid a lot of players to play not a lot of rugby.

I suspect that Bryn Cunningham (as head of Rugby operations) is equally responsible for that and he remains in situ.

That said your point is very valid.

[ronk]

Bradley Roberts retires.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rug ... e-29701538

[paddyor]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/a ... gdljzx2npo

Details of Ulster's financial woes here. 2.5-3 million deficit but the ceo thinks they will break even within a couple of seasons.

It’s quite depressing checking out uafc. Making excuses and pointing the finger at the IRFU for “not empowering Ulster to find the right CEO” or some shite. Like surely that’s an Ulster job? We weren’t given Nolan or Dawson were we? And it’s a an extremely low 8 digit turnover SME. Even if they doubled turnover it’d still be low. You don’t need some Fortune 500 exec or divinely appointed servant to run the Ark ffs.

[naraic]

Ulster have added Zac Ward from the Irish sevens set up to the squad on trial.

[sunshiner1]

by naraic

Ulster have added Zac Ward from the Irish sevens set up to the squad on trial.

Good on him. Would like to see him at winger, will be curious to see where he's played.

[Keith]

Ulster have added Zac Ward from the Irish sevens set up to the squad on trial.

Another success story from the sevens.

[paddyor]

Ulster have added Zac Ward from the Irish sevens set up to the squad on trial.

Another success story from the sevens.

It's a trial

[StopTheLights]

by naraic

Ulster have added Zac Ward from the Irish sevens set up to the squad on trial.

Good on him. Would like to see him at winger, will be curious to see where he's played.

What position did he play in XVs previously?

[Keith]

Ulster have added Zac Ward from the Irish sevens set up to the squad on trial.

Another success story from the sevens.

It's a trial

Which he earned through his performances for the sevens...

[Keith]

by naraic

Ulster have added Zac Ward from the Irish sevens set up to the squad on trial.

Good on him. Would like to see him at winger, will be curious to see where he's played.

What position did he play in XVs previously?

He's been signed as a backrower according to Ulster fans, though they seem to want him to play try wing.

[StopTheLights]

Good on him. Would like to see him at winger, will be curious to see where he's played.

What position did he play in XVs previously?

He's been signed as a backrower according to Ulster fans, though they seem to want him to play try wing.

Interesting profile alright! Hope it works out for him anyway

[Dave Cahill]

He played back row all the way up from Schools thru the Academy and development sides

[naraic]

He played back row all the way up from Schools thru the Academy and development sides

Yep. He has shed about 7kg to play sevens. I'm not sure what a trial will bring if he is a backrow forward as he would probabaly have to put that weight back on so I wonder if we could see him in the backing somewhere.

[sunshiner1]

by StopTheLights

What position did he play in XVs previously?

He played backrow but with his hand-off abilities and pace most want to see him try winger especially with the lack of quality wingers at Ulster right now.

[mildlyinterested]

TOT to loosehead is happening, apparently Ulster in market for tighthead.

[Ruckedtobits]

TOT to loosehead is happening, apparently Ulster in market for tighthead.

Wouldn't surprise me at all. They have Wilson to develop with Marty Moore as an experienced alternative starter and Callum Reid in reserve with Jacob Boyd proving with the Irish 20's last season that he could cover either side.

It's not yet clear whether Jack Boal or Cameron Doak, of the Academy, could also develop as THPs. But if they could find an experienced Irish qualified TH somewhere else, it would be a good investment.

They are however in a queue with Munster & Leinster for that species.

[Keith]

TOT to loosehead is happening, apparently Ulster in market for tighthead.

Wouldn't surprise me at all. They have Wilson to develop with Marty Moore as an experienced alternative starter and Callum Reid in reserve with Jacob Boyd proving with the Irish 20's last season that he could cover either side.

It's not yet clear whether Jack Boal or Cameron Doak, of the Academy, could also develop as THPs. But if they could find an experienced Irish qualified TH somewhere else, it would be a good investment.

They are however in a queue with Munster & Leinster for that species.

If TOT moves to TH they should be allowed sign a NIQ one. You can't really count Moore with his injury record.

[hugonaut]

TOT to loosehead is happening, apparently Ulster in market for tighthead.

It makes tons of sense from the perspective of the Irish national side.

1] He is the most like-for-like prop in Ireland with Andrew Porter in terms of build, strength, carrying ability, attitude.
2] Cian turns 37 next month. He played well off the bench in South Africa, but while there are no hard and fast rules about players being too old to play for Ireland, experience and common sense tells you that Ireland really need somebody to take his place off him if they can. You would prefer that player to be a guy with a lot of physical ability, not a journeyman who is perhaps a percent or two better at his peak than a player [albeit a great player] in his late 30s.
3] We have Furlong, Bealham and Jager on the TH side. With O'Toole on that side, a good prop is getting left out and a worse prop is making squads on the LH side. With TOT on the LH, you get all your best props into a 6-man propping corps.

From Ulster's point of view, it's a difficult situation. Good THs are very hard to find. They have done an awful lot right in developing O'Toole, from identifying him for their academy, giving him good training and loads of exposure to games at a young age for a TH. Now they are back to where they started on that side of the scrum.

On the other side of that argument, Ulster have produced very, very few players for Ireland in recent years. Last season they had the ignominy of not having a single player in one of the matchday squads in the Six Nations. The IRFU gives them a ton of money and gets very little back in return. If the Irish head coach wants O'Toole to play on the LH, it's really the least Ulster can do.

[paddyor]

TOT to loosehead is happening, apparently Ulster in market for tighthead.

Wouldn't surprise me at all. They have Wilson to develop with Marty Moore as an experienced alternative starter and Callum Reid in reserve with Jacob Boyd proving with the Irish 20's last season that he could cover either side.

It's not yet clear whether Jack Boal or Cameron Doak, of the Academy, could also develop as THPs. But if they could find an experienced Irish qualified TH somewhere else, it would be a good investment.

They are however in a queue with Munster & Leinster for that species.

If TOT moves to TH they should be allowed sign a NIQ one. You can't really count Moore with his injury record.

Would be very funny if the front row NIQ embargo was binned after 3 months "because reasons this 1 time". I see Munster are teeing up their own crisis with rumours that KIlcoyne could be forced to retire due to an achilles problem.

[ronk]

Would be very funny if the front row NIQ embargo was binned after 3 months "because reasons this 1 time". I see Munster are teeing up their own crisis with rumours that KIlcoyne could be forced to retire due to an achilles problem.

That'd be sad news. He's been out with a shoulder injury, so this would be new and a sign of bad luck rather than bad planning.