Ulster 2022-2023

[blockhead]

Nevin Spence, his dad and brother. 10 years ago today.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Nevin Spence, his dad and brother. 10 years ago today.

Is it that long now? RIP

[the spoofer]

Nevin Spence, his dad and brother. 10 years ago today.

Such a tragedy. Always remembered.

[neill_m]

Ulster team to play Connacht, BKT United Rugby Championship Round 1, Saturday 17 September at Kingspan Stadium (KO 7 35pm), live on BBC 2 NI from 7 15pm, TG4, Premier Sports & URC.tv:

(15-9): Stewart Moore, Rob Baloucoune, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak;

(1-8): Eric O’Sullivan, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor (Capt.), Sam Carter, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, David McCann.

Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Reid, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Cormac Izuchukwu, Jordi Murphy, David Shanahan, Angus Curtis, and Aaron Sexton.

The following players were not considered for selection due to being in the Graduated Return to Play process, on the IRFU Player Management Process, or on international duty:

Andrew Warwick; Rob Herring (IRFU PMP); Tom O’Toole (IRFU PMP), Iain Henderson; Nick Timoney (IRFU PMP); Duane Vermeulen (SA Rugby); John Cooney; James Hume; Ben Moxham; Jude Postlethwaite; Will Addison; Ethan McIlroy; and Mike Lowry (IRFU PMP).

CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY SQUAD VS ULSTER RUGBY
Saturday 17th September 2022, 19:35 @ Kingspan Stadium

Number/Name/Caps ( * denotes uncapped)
15. Tiernan O’Halloran (206) 14. Byron Ralston * 13. Tom Farrell (79) 12. Tom Daly (61) 11. John Porch (59) 10. Conor Fitzgerald (53) 9. Kieran Marmion (209) 1. Peter Dooley * 2. Dave Heffernan (165) 3. Jack Aungier (31) 4. Gavin Thornbury (63) (C) 5. Leva Fifita (15) 6. Josh Murphy * 7. Conor Oliver (41) 8. Paul Boyle (73)

16. Dylan Tierney-Martin (6) 17. Denis Buckley (208) 18. Sam Illo (2) 19. Niall Murray (35) 20. Shamus Hurley-Langton * 21. Caolin Blade (150) 22. David Hawkshaw * 23. Oran McNulty (9)

[Dave Cahill]

Ulster team to play Connacht, BKT United Rugby Championship Round 1, Saturday 17 September at Kingspan Stadium (KO 7 35pm), live on BBC 2 NI from 7 15pm, TG4, Premier Sports & URC.tv:

(15-9): Stewart Moore, Rob Baloucoune, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak;

(1-8): Eric O’Sullivan, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor (Capt.), Sam Carter, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, David McCann.

Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Reid, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Cormac Izuchukwu, Jordi Murphy, David Shanahan, Angus Curtis, and Aaron Sexton.

The following players were not considered for selection due to being in the Graduated Return to Play process, on the IRFU Player Management Process, or on international duty:

Andrew Warwick; Rob Herring (IRFU PMP); Tom O’Toole (IRFU PMP), Iain Henderson; Nick Timoney (IRFU PMP); Duane Vermeulen (SA Rugby); John Cooney; James Hume; Ben Moxham; Jude Postlethwaite; Will Addison; Ethan McIlroy; and Mike Lowry (IRFU PMP).

CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY SQUAD VS ULSTER RUGBY
Saturday 17th September 2022, 19:35 @ Kingspan Stadium

Number/Name/Caps ( * denotes uncapped)
15. Tiernan O’Halloran (206) 14. Byron Ralston * 13. Tom Farrell (79) 12. Tom Daly (61) 11. John Porch (59) 10. Conor Fitzgerald (53) 9. Kieran Marmion (209) 1. Peter Dooley * 2. Dave Heffernan (165) 3. Jack Aungier (31) 4. Gavin Thornbury (63) (C) 5. Leva Fifita (15) 6. Josh Murphy * 7. Conor Oliver (41) 8. Paul Boyle (73)

16. Dylan Tierney-Martin (6) 17. Denis Buckley (208) 18. Sam Illo (2) 19. Niall Murray (35) 20. Shamus Hurley-Langton * 21. Caolin Blade (150) 22. David Hawkshaw * 23. Oran McNulty (9)

Poor old Kieran Treadwell - from a series win against the All Blacks to being forgotten about!

[LeinsterLeader]

Ulster team to play Connacht, BKT United Rugby Championship Round 1, Saturday 17 September at Kingspan Stadium (KO 7 35pm), live on BBC 2 NI from 7 15pm, TG4, Premier Sports & URC.tv:

(15-9): Stewart Moore, Rob Baloucoune, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, Nathan Doak;

(1-8): Eric O’Sullivan, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor (Capt.), Sam Carter, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, David McCann.

Replacements: John Andrew, Callum Reid, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Cormac Izuchukwu, Jordi Murphy, David Shanahan, Angus Curtis, and Aaron Sexton.

The following players were not considered for selection due to being in the Graduated Return to Play process, on the IRFU Player Management Process, or on international duty:

Andrew Warwick; Rob Herring (IRFU PMP); Tom O’Toole (IRFU PMP), Iain Henderson; Nick Timoney (IRFU PMP); Duane Vermeulen (SA Rugby); John Cooney; James Hume; Ben Moxham; Jude Postlethwaite; Will Addison; Ethan McIlroy; and Mike Lowry (IRFU PMP).

CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY SQUAD VS ULSTER RUGBY
Saturday 17th September 2022, 19:35 @ Kingspan Stadium

Number/Name/Caps ( * denotes uncapped)
15. Tiernan O’Halloran (206) 14. Byron Ralston * 13. Tom Farrell (79) 12. Tom Daly (61) 11. John Porch (59) 10. Conor Fitzgerald (53) 9. Kieran Marmion (209) 1. Peter Dooley * 2. Dave Heffernan (165) 3. Jack Aungier (31) 4. Gavin Thornbury (63) (C) 5. Leva Fifita (15) 6. Josh Murphy * 7. Conor Oliver (41) 8. Paul Boyle (73)

16. Dylan Tierney-Martin (6) 17. Denis Buckley (208) 18. Sam Illo (2) 19. Niall Murray (35) 20. Shamus Hurley-Langton * 21. Caolin Blade (150) 22. David Hawkshaw * 23. Oran McNulty (9)

Two things strike me there.....
1. Jordi Murphy has fallen away badly. You'd have to think if Ulster had all their players back he'd be struggling to make a matchday 23. Hope he can turn it round.
2. There's going to be some display of ex-Leinster players on show tomorrow night

[Dave Cahill]

The D15 centre combo could happen

[neill_m]

Scarlets team to play Ulster (Parc y Scarlets; Saturday, Sept 24, 1pm, Premier Sports)

15 Ioan Nicholas; 14 Corey Baldwin,13 Jonathan Davies (capt), 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Gareth Davies; 1 Steff Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 3 Javan Sebastian, 4 Vaea Fifita, 5 Sam Lousi, 6 Blade Thomson, 7 Josh Macleod, 8 Sione Kalamafoni.

Reps: 16 Daf Hughes, 17 Sam O’Connor, 18 Harri O’Connor, 19 Tom Price, 20 Luca Giannini, 21 Kieran Hardy, 22 Dan Jones, 23 Rhys Patchell.

Unavailable

Johnny McNicholl, Tomás Lezana, Tom Rogers, Leigh Halfpenny, Aaron Shingler, Scott Williams, Steff Evans, Dan Davis, Phil Price, Lewis Rawlins, Joe Roberts, Carwyn Tuipulotu, Callum Williams, Kemsley Mathias, WillGriff John, Samson Lee, Griff Evans, Josh Helps.

Ulster team to play Scarlets, BKT United Rugby Championship Round 2, Saturday 24 September at Parc y Scarlets (KO 1pm), live on Premier Sports and URC.tv.

(15-9): Michael Lowry, Aaron Sexton, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney;

(1-8): Andy Warwick, Rob Herring, Marty Moore, Alan O’Connor (Captain), Kieran Treadwell, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney.

Replacements: Declan Moore, Eric O’Sullivan, Tom O’Toole, Sam Carter, Sean Reffell, Dave Shanahan, Angus Curtis, Craig Gilroy.

[blockhead]

Leinster oldboys got 45 of Ulsters 55pts at the weekend with Cooney getting a whopping 30pts all on his own.

[LeinsterLeader]

Interesting article here on Ryan Caldwell and how things went south after Rugby. Addresses a lot of things including that famous punch from POC at the Irish training session. Well worth 5 minutes of your time.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/ ... by-ulster/

Edit: If you haven't seen him in a while, you might want to brace yourself

[wixfjord]

Fascinating read. Glad the guy has found some happiness.

That POC incident sounds much worse than I realised. Not POC's finest hour.

[riocard911]

Great read. Sounds like some trip, with him luckily in good place today. The reference to professional rugby players being "in a bubble" fueled by "toxic masculinity" is so effin' cliché though. I would posture that every single professional sportsperson on the planet is "in a bubble", such are the demands of competing at the highest level. And as for "toxic masculinity", rugby is a team sport, the physical and mental demands of which are comparable to full contact martial arts such as Kyokushin karate or MMA. One doesn't just have to practically self-hypnotise oneself to go out and put one's body on the line but also as a group. It's for this reason, that rugby is replete with military jargon. Take the physicality and all the "toxic masculinity" out of it and what are you left with? Tag? The woke-folk at the Irish Times and beyond would love that. And I'm saying that as a Tankie, who took up Kyokushin post-rugby and to this day studies and practices Asiatic martial arts. How do the women rugby players get up for their matches? Or are they infected by "toxic masculinity" too?

[Oldschoolsocks]

Great read. Sounds like some trip, with him luckily in good place today. The reference to professional rugby players being "in a bubble" fueled by "toxic masculinity" is so effin' cliché though. I would posture that every single professional sportsperson on the planet is "in a bubble", such are the demands of competing at the highest level. And as for "toxic masculinity", rugby is a team sport, the physical and mental demands of which are comparable to full contact martial arts such as Kyokushin karate or MMA. One doesn't just have to practically self-hypnotise oneself to go out and put one's body on the line but also as a group. It's for this reason, that rugby is replete with military jargon. Take the physicality and all the "toxic masculinity" out of it and what are you left with? Tag? The woke-folk at the Irish Times and beyond would love that. And I'm saying that as a Tankie, who took up Kyokushin post-rugby and to this day studies and practices Asiatic martial arts. How do the women rugby players get up for their matches? Or are they infected by "toxic masculinity" too?

“Paulie came to the hospital after, I was 22 at the time, in my first camp with Ireland rugby. I was obviously trying to keep myself right and saying ‘nah don’t worry about it’, even though inside I was like, ‘flipping hell, man, he nearly killed me today.’”

I'm not sure I understand what "toxic masculinity" is tbh, but getting a blindside punch to the head, ending up in hospital after pitch side CPR from it and then saying "nah don't worry about it" to the perpetrator because he was "trying to keep himself right" is pretty feicin toxic if you ask any normal thinking person.

[CiaranIrl]

I am 100% certain that a lot of other people wouldn't describe that Paul O'Connell punch in the same way. I wouldn't take his account as gospel at all. Caldwell had a really nasty reputation back in the day - off the field reputation.

[riocard911]

Great read. Sounds like some trip, with him luckily in good place today. The reference to professional rugby players being "in a bubble" fueled by "toxic masculinity" is so effin' cliché though. I would posture that every single professional sportsperson on the planet is "in a bubble", such are the demands of competing at the highest level. And as for "toxic masculinity", rugby is a team sport, the physical and mental demands of which are comparable to full contact martial arts such as Kyokushin karate or MMA. One doesn't just have to practically self-hypnotise oneself to go out and put one's body on the line but also as a group. It's for this reason, that rugby is replete with military jargon. Take the physicality and all the "toxic masculinity" out of it and what are you left with? Tag? The woke-folk at the Irish Times and beyond would love that. And I'm saying that as a Tankie, who took up Kyokushin post-rugby and to this day studies and practices Asiatic martial arts. How do the women rugby players get up for their matches? Or are they infected by "toxic masculinity" too?

“Paulie came to the hospital after, I was 22 at the time, in my first camp with Ireland rugby. I was obviously trying to keep myself right and saying ‘nah don’t worry about it’, even though inside I was like, ‘flipping hell, man, he nearly killed me today.’”

I'm not sure I understand what "toxic masculinity" is tbh, but getting a blindside punch to the head, ending up in hospital after pitch side CPR from it and then saying "nah don't worry about it" to the perpetrator because he was "trying to keep himself right" is pretty feicin toxic if you ask any normal thinking person.

I agree with you 100%. I wouldn't dream of justifying or making light of that dreadful incident nor was I attempting to. Something like that should never, ever happen on a training pitch, in the course of a match or in the changing room. Caldwell comes out however with the sweeping generalisation "There's toxic masculinity in these rugby circles. It's really bullshit, man". He's right it is bullshit, but maybe in the circles he was in he was the main contributor to such "toxicity". Scummy behaviour and harmful social dynamics such as bullying, mobbing and hazing occur in a wide range of societal contexts, not just in sport be it contact or otherwise. Eliminating them is what leadership is about. Singling out rugby is a nonsense, IMO.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Great read. Sounds like some trip, with him luckily in good place today. The reference to professional rugby players being "in a bubble" fueled by "toxic masculinity" is so effin' cliché though. I would posture that every single professional sportsperson on the planet is "in a bubble", such are the demands of competing at the highest level. And as for "toxic masculinity", rugby is a team sport, the physical and mental demands of which are comparable to full contact martial arts such as Kyokushin karate or MMA. One doesn't just have to practically self-hypnotise oneself to go out and put one's body on the line but also as a group. It's for this reason, that rugby is replete with military jargon. Take the physicality and all the "toxic masculinity" out of it and what are you left with? Tag? The woke-folk at the Irish Times and beyond would love that. And I'm saying that as a Tankie, who took up Kyokushin post-rugby and to this day studies and practices Asiatic martial arts. How do the women rugby players get up for their matches? Or are they infected by "toxic masculinity" too?

“Paulie came to the hospital after, I was 22 at the time, in my first camp with Ireland rugby. I was obviously trying to keep myself right and saying ‘nah don’t worry about it’, even though inside I was like, ‘flipping hell, man, he nearly killed me today.’”

I'm not sure I understand what "toxic masculinity" is tbh, but getting a blindside punch to the head, ending up in hospital after pitch side CPR from it and then saying "nah don't worry about it" to the perpetrator because he was "trying to keep himself right" is pretty feicin toxic if you ask any normal thinking person.

I agree with you 100%. I wouldn't dream of justifying or making light of that dreadful incident nor was I attempting to. Something like that should never, ever happen on a training pitch, in the course of a match or in the changing room. Caldwell comes out however with the sweeping generalisation "There's toxic masculinity in these rugby circles. It's really bullshit, man". He's right it is bullshit, but maybe in the circles he was in he was the main contributor to such "toxicity". Scummy behaviour and harmful social dynamics such as bullying, mobbing and hazing occur in a wide range of societal contexts, not just in sport be it contact or otherwise. Eliminating them is what leadership is about. Singling out rugby is a nonsense, IMO.

Grand job, I don't know what Caldwell's reputation is but what I do know that in his own autobiography Paulie talks about kicking an opposition player in the head when he was on the ground and "the Claw" saying something like "good lad", I pretty much gave up on the book after that.

[riocard911]

“Paulie came to the hospital after, I was 22 at the time, in my first camp with Ireland rugby. I was obviously trying to keep myself right and saying ‘nah don’t worry about it’, even though inside I was like, ‘flipping hell, man, he nearly killed me today.’”

I'm not sure I understand what "toxic masculinity" is tbh, but getting a blindside punch to the head, ending up in hospital after pitch side CPR from it and then saying "nah don't worry about it" to the perpetrator because he was "trying to keep himself right" is pretty feicin toxic if you ask any normal thinking person.

I agree with you 100%. I wouldn't dream of justifying or making light of that dreadful incident nor was I attempting to. Something like that should never, ever happen on a training pitch, in the course of a match or in the changing room. Caldwell comes out however with the sweeping generalisation "There's toxic masculinity in these rugby circles. It's really bullshit, man". He's right it is bullshit, but maybe in the circles he was in he was the main contributor to such "toxicity". Scummy behaviour and harmful social dynamics such as bullying, mobbing and hazing occur in a wide range of societal contexts, not just in sport be it contact or otherwise. Eliminating them is what leadership is about. Singling out rugby is a nonsense, IMO.

Grand job, I don't know what Caldwell's reputation is but what I do know that in his own autobiography Paulie talks about kicking an opposition player in the head when he was on the ground and "the Claw" saying something like "good lad", I pretty much gave up on the book after that.

My best friend got kicked in the head in a match once, just after he'd tackled a guy and the two of them were on the ground. The next opposition player up puts the boot in. My friend lets out a shout of pain. The kicker starts laughing as does the guy who was tackled and is now returning to his feet. Being next to arrive, I went ballistic, launched into the two of them and ended up getting all three of us red carded. Two for the price of one I reckoned was an ok deal. My friend survived without lasting injury, as far as we can tell...

[Logorrhea]

in his own autobiography Paulie talks about kicking an opposition player in the head when he was on the ground and "the Claw" saying something like "good lad", I pretty much gave up on the book after that.

There is context to that quote isn't there?

[ronk]

It's a harrowing story and I'm deeply ambivalent about it.

Bill Parcells said that (American) Football is not a sport for the well adjusted. The cocoon and other parts ring true, and I've seen things that corroborate. Clearly he's recovered from an extremely challenging experience after the end of his career. Why shouldn't he feel that valuing a man based on his physical prowess is toxic once the experience ends. Why shouldn't he draw a line between a vicious assault that left him unconscious and the concussions that ended his career.

On the other hand it's a good time to win hearts and minds in advance of a lawsuit. Caldwell brushes over some of the things that he did too. And it's too easy to call everything toxic masculinity, but in doing so there's no outlet for positive masculinity. Is rugby toxic? I don't think so.

POC obviously did seriously wrong, and despite the remorse he showed in going to the hospital to apologise, he still got off extremely lightly. Clearly only because of the privileged position he held in Irish rugby.

Is loyalty at your own expense toxic masculinity? It's probably rational behaviour for an ambitious 22 year old.

[Oldschoolsocks]

in his own autobiography Paulie talks about kicking an opposition player in the head when he was on the ground and "the Claw" saying something like "good lad", I pretty much gave up on the book after that.

There is context to that quote isn't there?

I don’t know tbh, he kicked some lad in the head and a senior interpro praised him for it. I gave up on the book after that.

The toxic part may or may not be POC kicking a lad in the head, but he was in a culture where that behaviour was praised and rewarded…