Ulster 2021/22

[paddyor]

Comms going wild for the "flair" that tbh just isn't working

[riocard911]

That was a match saving steal in the five metre maul off a Toulouse line out. Fair play to Herring!!!

[Dave Cahill]

Holy Jebus!

[riocard911]

Ulster manage to win!!! Breathtaking stuff!!! Wow!!!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I’d like to see that penalty against Vermuelen again, he looked good to me and usually is very clean with those steals. Big moment to concede a try from that.

Brilliant result though. It might feel like a missed opportunity but you’d have taken that before the game and Barnes handed Toulouse so much after the red. Great position to be in for next week.

I questioned Timoney’s defence recently and someone disagreed but look at how he over chased and left the gap for Ramos to run through at the end, happens all the time.

[hugonaut]

Cracking game - very loose, but very, very enjoyable.

Bobby Baloucoune once again restating his claim for the Irish No14 jersey with a blistering performance in attack and some excellent tackling - front on, side on, chasing. Really want to see this guy play in green against New Zealand.

[Oldschool]

Cracking game - very loose, but very, very enjoyable.

Bobby Baloucoune once again restating his claim for the Irish No14 jersey with a blistering performance in attack and some excellent tackling - front on, side on, chasing. Really want to see this guy play in green against New Zealand.

I'd prefer to see him, using both hands to ground the ball.

[paddyor]

I’d like to see that penalty against Vermuelen again, he looked good to me and usually is very clean with those steals. Big moment to concede a try from that.

Brilliant result though. It might feel like a missed opportunity but you’d have taken that before the game and Barnes handed Toulouse so much after the red. Great position to be in for next week.

I questioned Timoney’s defence recently and someone disagreed but look at how he over chased and left the gap for Ramos to run through at the end, happens all the time.

Agreed on Barnes.

[Dexter]

The Toulouse score at the end makes it very interesting for next week. Most ties are very much still alive, which is good for the competition.

[Flash Gordon]

The Toulouse score at the end makes it very interesting for next week. Most ties are very much still alive, which is good for the competition.

Without that they might not have shown up at Ravenhill but it's all to play for and Toulouse will fancy their chances. Great game to watch as a neutral but once you get beyond the euphoria of winning in the Champion's backyard the review would be a bit critical I think, they didn't close out the game well and they very nearly lost it.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

The Toulouse score at the end makes it very interesting for next week. Most ties are very much still alive, which is good for the competition.

Without that they might not have shown up at Ravenhill but it's all to play for and Toulouse will fancy their chances. Great game to watch as a neutral but once you get beyond the euphoria of winning in the Champion's backyard the review would be a bit critical I think, they didn't close out the game well and they very nearly lost it.

Yeah and Toulouse can be very critical of their performance too. I said beforehand that Ulster could rattle them but I don't think they would have without the red card, Toulouse were finding it far too easy to make yards.

[hugonaut]

Baloucoune has signed a three-year extension to his Ulster contract: https://ulster.rugby/content/baloucoune ... r-contract

This is good contracting work from Ulster - it secures Baloucoune for a sizeable proportion of his peak years and makes him feel rewarded for form, because he has out-performed his current contract. It may not be absolutely peak earning for Baloucoune, but that is potentially offset by the security the deal offers.

It also stops somebody like Toulouse approaching him when his contract is running out and offering him twice as much as Ulster can offer him. His performance against them was exactly the sort of thing that would make them sit up and take notice, especially so given that they recently lost Kolbe.

I was then thinking about Ben Moxham starting on the wing against Toulouse in a European knock-out game at 20 years old ... and Aaron Sexton playing for Malone against Naas in AIL 1B.

He's got a lot of lads ahead of him in Ulster – not just Baloucoune and Moxham:

- Ethan McIlroy [b. Aug 2000] - 15+1/1107mins
- Robert Baloucoune [b. Aug 1997] – 11+0/789 mins
- Craig Gilroy [b. Mar 1991] - 10+2/728 mins
- Ben Moxham [b. Sep 2001] - 6+7/483 mins
- Rob Lyttle [b. Jan 1997] - 3+4/368 mins
- Jacob Stockdale [b. Apr 1996] - 1+0/80 mins
- Aaron Sexton [b. Aug 2000] - 0+2/27 mins

We should take advantage of the "for the good of Irish rugby" clause that's apparently in all IRFU contracts and bring Sexton down to the RDS. DK turns 33 in June and AB+ is off to Connacht; occasional winger Locko is headed for Exeter.

We've probably got more of a gap at wing than Ulster. It'd be exciting to see what our coaching team could do with him.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Payne heading to Clermont.

[ronk]

Payne heading to Clermont.

Johnny Bell is his replacement

[fourthirtythree]

Michael Lowry also re-signed early on a three year deal.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/united-rugby-c ... th-ulster/
along with Stewart Moore.

[neill_m]

Michael Lowry also re-signed early on a three year deal.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/united-rugby-c ... th-ulster/
along with Stewart Moore.

Baloucoune also.

[neill_m]

Ulster team to play Toulouse, Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 Second Leg, Saturday 16 April at Kingspan Stadium, 8pm kick-off, live on BT Sport, beIN Sports, and Sky Italia:

(15-9) Mike Lowry, Rob Baloucoune, James Hume, Stuart McCloskey, Ethan McIlroy, Billy Burns, John Cooney;

(1-8) Andrew Warwick, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor, Iain Henderson (Capt.), Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney, Duane Vermeulen.

Replacements: Brad Roberts, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom O’Toole, Kieran Treadwell, Jordi Murphy, Nathan Doak, Luke Marshall, Rob Lyttle.

STADE TOULOUSAIN (6-2 bench split)

15. Thomas Ramos, 14. Dimitri Delibes, 13. Tim Nanai-Williams, 12. Pita Ahki, 11. Matthis Lebel, 10. Romain Ntamack, 9. Antoine Dupont (c), 1. Rodrigue Neti, 2. Peato Mauvaka, 3. Charlie Faumuina, 4. Rory Arnold, 5. Richie Arnold, 6. Rynhardt Elstadt, 7. Anthony Jelonch, 8. Selevasio Tolofua.

Replacements:

16. Guillaume Cramont, 17. David Ainu'u, 18. Dorian Aldegheri, 19. Emmanuel Meafou, 20. Thibaud Flament, 21. Antoine Miquel, 22. Baptiste Germain, 23. Lucas Tauzin,

[Schumi]

Kamikaze play from Toulouse. Crazy to do that on your own line.

[fourthirtythree]

Getting some joy from the scrum and the maul now! This is a game. Real game on here.

Really hope Ulster and Munster get to play each other, knocking out Exeter and Toulouse would be a serious piece of business.

[Dundalk 1]

Carlay is a good homer tonight so far
Lowry should have got yellow and probably red