The run in.....

[UlsterNo9]

1 Scarlets 13 9 0 4 281 237 4 40
2 Connacht 13 8 0 5 285 239 8 40
3 Leinster 12 9 0 3 232 147 3 39
4 Edinburgh 13 8 0 5 220 173 5 37
5 Ulster 12 7 0 5 235 152 9 37
6 Munster 12 8 0 4 216 229 4 36
7 Ospreys 12 6 0 6 229 228 4 28
8 Cardiff 12 5 0 7 282 271 7 27
9 Glasgow 10 5 0 5 212 201 7 27
10 Dragons 12 4 0 8 195 235 4 20
11 Zebre 12 4 0 8 176 298 2 18
12 Treviso 13 0 0 13 185 338 7 7

Matches
Dragons Home
Glasgow Home
Scarlets Home
Cardiff Away
Zebre Home
Glasgow Away
Connacht Home
Zebre Away
Leinster Home
Ospreys Away

[UlsterNo9]

Shockingly we seem to be well setup for the second half of the season, next up three home games all very much winnable unless we do something stupid.

Game in hand over teams above us with the exception of Leinster who we have at home, we should be looking at a home semi final....

[big mervyn]

Should be at least 35 points from that lot.

[Russ]

I get 38 Merv

[big mervyn]

I get 38 Merv

I was being cautious Russ. There's 38 there alright.

The target for a top 4 or top 2 finish should be a bit lower this year with so many points already dropped by the main contenders. I 'll be disappointed if we don't finish Top 2 from here.

[UlsterNo9]

I'm only getting 31....

Dragons Home
At home we should be picking up 5 points here, appreciate it's Six Nations weekend and they suffer less than we do at this time of year however only for adverse weather conditions there should be four or more tries in us.

Glasgow Home
The Weegies are not the team they were 12 months ago, combine that with them feeding a significant amount of players to the Scottish Six Nations panel and we should have another 4 points.

Scarlets Home
Above us according to the league table, they don't seem to travel well. 4 point minimum win and we leap frog them.

Cardiff Away
This I believe will be a banana skin. Lose bonus.

Zebre Home
5 points

Glasgow Away
Weekend after the Six nations, we tend to rest our Irish contingent whereas I fear the Weegies will fire their Scottish troops straight back in. I don't see us getting anything from this.

Connacht Home
The record speaks for itself, unbeaten at home versus Connacht in.... expect us to win and if hungry take a bonus point. I'll go 4 points the dorty pessimist that I am.

Zebre Away
Fingers crossed the return of Henderson, Bowe and Herbst from the bench. 4 points, we'll make it hard for ourselves. I can see us being stupid enough to rest players for the Leinster game the following weekend.

Leinster Home
4 points

Ospreys Away
With a top two finish secured I think Rowley, Browne, Dave etc will put in a decent performance in a game that will mean little. If we have to go there needing points we will struggle.

I think the big bonus is that we have Scarlets, Connacht and Leinster who are above us all at home. Winning those three are the key.

[CIMANFOREVER]

To vomit the usual cliché, its in our hands. Internationals back unbroken, players back from injury, and out there for us to feck up. We must rue that home loss to Munter.

In the run in, could we have? (I know its doubtful to have everyone fit but):

McCall
Best
Herbst
AOC
FVDM
HENDO
FNW
HENRY
RP
PJ
AAT
OLDING
DC
CG
JP

And bench permed from :
CB RH RL
DT
RW OR SR OR RD
SMALL P
LM
LL
TB
RS

If we can get anywhere near that, then things get a bit rosier...

[Deraless]

Do we have 2 back rows with the initials OR? lol

[Deraless]

Olive Ross and Orcan Row???

[damianmcr]

CIMAN, very harsh on Stuart McCloskey dropping him though I suspect its a mistake. Bit of a headache for Kiss for the 12 and 13 shirts.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Forward slash and colon are both long and short term
injuries although I could see colon for the semi.....

[CIMANFOREVER]

CIMAN, very harsh on Stuart McCloskey dropping him though I suspect its a mistake. Bit of a headache for Kiss for the 12 and 13 shirts.

he has been average tho: relegated to Ravens with Hump, Rowley, an Inspector posts, and the Ross twins.

Seriously tho, if all fit, someone's gonna be P*ssed. I see SO as 10 cover, as Nelsons gone for the season. ( another I forgot lol)

[Snipe Watson]

CIMAN, very harsh on Stuart McCloskey dropping him though I suspect its a mistake. Bit of a headache for Kiss for the 12 and 13 shirts.

Olding is a very different kind of centre to McCloskey and I'm quite sure Les will rotate them on a horses for courses basis. Having genuine sid in the backline is a massive bonus going into the tail end of season. keeping them all healthy will also be made easier with options to choose from. The possibility of getting Hendy and Tuohy back will also bolster the final charge.

[Boutye]

Home semi final, best price from all the bookies of 3/1 to win it, worth a score of anyone's money.

[Russ]

CIMAN, very harsh on Stuart McCloskey dropping him though I suspect its a mistake. Bit of a headache for Kiss for the 12 and 13 shirts.

Olding is a very different kind of centre to McCloskey and I'm quite sure Les will rotate them on a horses for courses basis. Having genuine sid in the backline is a massive bonus going into the tail end of season. keeping them all healthy will also be made easier with options to choose from. The possibility of getting Hendy and Tuohy back will also bolster the final charge.

Jut imagine the bakebook warriors when that rotation happens