Ulster 2022-2023

[naraic]

According to News24 Kitshoff is on £660,000 a year at Ulster

Looks like those figures are a bit on the high side, apparently £440,000 a year it seems.

According to News24 Stormers offer was 440k and it was beaten by 50% by Ulster.

[neill_m]

According to News24 Kitshoff is on £660,000 a year at Ulster

Looks like those figures are a bit on the high side, apparently £440,000 a year it seems.

According to News24 Stormers offer was 440k and it was beaten by 50% by Ulster.

Yup that was reported, those numbers being queried on uafc.

"The News24 article states no salary cap in Irish rugby, couldn’t be further from the truth. Kitshoff has maxed it on the lower figure quoted."

[Ruckedtobits]

According to News24 Kitshoff is on £660,000 a year at Ulster

Looks like those figures are a bit on the high side, apparently £440,000 a year it seems.

According to News24 Stormers offer was 440k and it was beaten by 50% by Ulster.

Some of that, if true, must be coming from 'outside the tent'. Maybe RMc needs another consultant.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Good to see Henderson back on the bench. I'd expect a big game from Hume as well.

Interesting to see how Doak and Flannery do as well. Doak wasn't great against Munster but I'd give him a pass for that considering the illness in SA and having to travel back before playing another away game.

[neill_m]

Ulster team to play Zebre Parma, BKT United Rugby Championship Round 8, Friday 25 November at Kingspan Stadium (KO 7 35pm), live from 7 15pm on BBC NI, TG4, Viaplay & URC.tv.

(15-9): Stewart Moore, Ethan McIlroy, James Hume, Luke Marshall, Jacob Stockdale, Jake Flannery, Nathan Doak;

(1-8): Callum Reid, Tom Stewart, Marty Moore, Cormac Izuchukwu, Sam Carter, Matty Rea, Marcus Rea, Duane Vermeulen (Captain).

Replacements: John Andrew, Andy Warwick, Jeff Toomaga-Allen, Iain Henderson, David McCann, Michael McDonald, Angus Curtis, Ben Moxham.

LA FORMAZIONE DELLE ZEBRE PARMA CHE VENERDÌ 25 NOVEMBRE ALLE ORE 20:35 ITALIANE SCENDERÀ IN CAMPO AL KINGSPAN STADIUM DI BELFAST CONTRO I NORDIRLANDESI DELL’ULSTER NELL’8° TURNO DEL BKT UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP:

15. Lorenzo Pani (8) 14. Jacopo Trulla (29) 13. Richard Kriel (5) 12. Enrico Lucchin (Cap) (42) 11. Simone Gesi (10) 10. Geronimo Prisciantelli (3) 9. Chris Cook (9) 8. Matt Kvesic (0) 7. Giacomo Ferrari (1) 6. Guido Volpi (2) 5. Andrea Zambonin (24) 4. Jan Uys (1) 3. Matteo Nocera (26) 2. Jacques Du Toit (4) 1. Juan Pitinari (10)

A disposizione:

16. Marco Manfredi (29) 17. Daniele Rimpelli (56) 18. Riccardo Genovese (0) 19. Leonard Krumov (78) 20. Iacopo Bianchi (38) 21. Ratko Jelic (1) 22. Joey Caputo (2) 23. Erich Cronjé (19)

[Ruckedtobits]

Neilly & McWhirter one-eyed commentary as always. Talking as if there has not been a marked improvement in Utalian rugby this season, particularly Zebre's try scoring in a number of games.

Ulster pack marginally on top in scrums & mauls but Zebre line-out very secure and Ulster back-line defence very fragile, notably Stockdale, who looks very heavy legged.

Ulster lead 19-8 with Carter in the bin - 3 tries for Ulster.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Hume still very much out of sorts, himself and Stockdale had a nightmare for the first Zebre try and he got done very badly close to the touchline on other occasion too. The type of situations that he was dominating last season.

Marty came off at half time but had a very big first half, showed good defence and great hands. Looks like JTA picked up a bad injury. He’s probably not in their first choice 23 but that’s a big blow up front if himself and Sutherland are out for a while this early in the season.

Interesting incident with Doak as well. Made a reasonably dangerous tackle but the Zebre player made it worse by the way he fell. A yellow was probably fair enough IMO but I would have thought it was red by the laws because the player landed on his head.

[Dave Cahill]

Is Dan McFarland the man to take Ulster to the next level? Ulster have a talented team, they have a great internal production line, they are able to attract talent from outside both the province and the country, and between their stadium and their unique cross border position they seem to be well funded - but they still, regularly, flatter to deceive. Saturday was just the latest example of the team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[ronk]

Not many teams can afford to sack their coach because they can't beat us. And Ulster did well last year.

Is taking Ulster to the next level realistic with their squad?

[naraic]

Under McFarland Ulster have played 12 knockout games and won 5. I feel thats a poor return over 4 years.

21/22 P3 W1
20/21 P3 W2
19/20 P3 W1
18/19 P3 W1

In general they have been a very consistent league team in the regular season but too many early stage knock out exits.

I'm not sure they have the squad to make that step up though.

Burns isn't good enough at outhalf and theres too many backs who are good players in some respects but are (imo) short of being a full package. Also they are a little short in depth in the pack.

[ronk]

Last year should be played 4, won 2. They beat Toulouse and then lost.

Round Robin matches were a huge advantage to the lower seeded team and they got beaten in a close finish.

I'm taking the next level to mean: win trophies. That might have been the original point though.

[naraic]

Last year should be played 4, won 2. They beat Toulouse and then lost.

Round Robin matches were a huge advantage to the lower seeded team and they got beaten in a close finish.

I'm taking the next level to mean: win trophies. That might have been the original point though.

I could take it either way. I counted the round robbin as one because of the aggregate.

They have 2 levels to go up imo. Winning regularly in knockouts is one level. The winning trophies is a second level imo.

[dropkick]

I count 17 forwards who are not Ulster natives. Until they start producing their own it's going to be an uphill struggle. Stewart looks a real talent but they need that type of quality coming through every year.


They got blown away up front against Leinster because they don't have the quality of athletes. McFarland has put together a very well drilled pack which can win games with their maul BUT its limited in other ways.


They do look to be consistently building though and as long as they're getting better then McFarland deserves the benefit of the doubt. The lack of native forwards could continue to be a handicap though.

[StopTheLights]

The tide seems to be turning in that regard, with Ulster providing a large number of the starting forwards for the recent u20 campaign. Hard to know whether that’s a statistical anomaly, or the result of any sort of concentrated effort to funnel more underage talent into specific positions. You'd imagine the former is true. Lorcan McLoughlin and James McNabey looked like real prospects, particularly McLoughlin who proved to be a very abrasive, powerful player. Ulster seem to have a strong development pipeline, so you’d hope that all would even out and they’d start getting a good mix of backs and forwards in their academy. They have more rugby playing schools than Leinster, by far, if I’m not mistaken.

[mildlyinterested]

The tide seems to be turning in that regard, with Ulster providing a large number of the starting forwards for the recent u20 campaign. Hard to know whether that’s a statistical anomaly, or the result of any sort of concentrated effort to funnel more underage talent into specific positions. You'd imagine the former is true. Lorcan McLoughlin and James McNabey looked like real prospects, particularly McLoughlin who proved to be a very abrasive, powerful player. Ulster seem to have a strong development pipeline, so you’d hope that all would even out and they’d start getting a good mix of backs and forwards in their academy. They have more rugby playing schools than Leinster, by far, if I’m not mistaken.

McLoughlin is an exile and after being brought in from the UK.

[StopTheLights]

Ahh, I wasn’t aware that McLoughlin was brought in from the UK, well seems a good bit of recruiting, in that case. Thanks for that info

[riocard911]

Lot of possession for Ulster, but Sale's D is preventing them making any progress with it thus far. 0-0, 10 mins.

[riocard911]

Sale strike first off a first-phase line-out move. Try Curry. 5-0, conversion missed, 16 mins.

[riocard911]

Off the restart Sale get their maul marching, bag a peno and get back into the Ulster 22. Ulster under pressure.

[riocard911]

Held up in the goal area. Ulster get lucky.....