Big-al wrote:so is this match on BBC1 W or BBC 2 W?
BBC2 Wales coverage starts at 2:00pm BST Sunday, programme called Scrum V Live, put your beer in fridge Saturday night to make sure it is cooled, switch telephone off, kick out wife/girlfriend plus kids if you have any and sit back and let your blood pressure go crazy for 90 minutes or so.
“That made me feel very special and underlined to me that Ulster is more than a team, it is a community and a rugby family" Rory Best
afternoon gents.
I am a Dragons fan and my usual board is http://www.draggedup.com but thought I would take a look at your site before our gamre Sunday. I agree with most of you that it should be close and its usually tight till an error etc. Have to be optimistic though and say we will win. Few new faces at Rodney parade this year and we have high hopes - of being better than at least 1 Welsh region!
Star men for us, Bearman, Tovey, Lydiate, Brew and Fussell. Centre is our weakness (we think!).
Enjoy the match.
Yorky wrote: Few new faces at Rodney parade this year and we have high hopes - of being better than at least 1 Welsh region!
Star men for us, Bearman, Tovey, Lydiate, Brew and Fussell. Centre is our weakness (we think!).
Enjoy the match.
Cheers Yorky, would think you should be fit to give Scarlets a fair run this year and with a bit of luck leave them in the ECC.
“That made me feel very special and underlined to me that Ulster is more than a team, it is a community and a rugby family" Rory Best
very much hope so. we get very bad press in Wales and no one really gives us much of a hope. Scarlets are within our sites! be nice to get above Bloos or "Hairsprays" as well which may be possible if they concentrate on HC rather than magners. can't wait till it all kicks off!
Ireland's Grand Slam-winning centre Paddy Wallace and Scottish winger Simon Danielli have been included in Ulster's extended squad.
Both players took ill last week and missed the province's final pre-season friendly against Worcester Warriors, but McLaughlin is likely to give them as much time as possible to prove their fitness for this weekend's league opener.
New signings Dan Tuohy and Andy Kyriacou and Ballynahinch duo Willie Faloon and Nevin Spence have made the cut for the Dragons game.
Wallace's Grand Slam-winning team-mates, Rory Best and Stephen Ferris, are two big absentees for McLaughlin's men.
Best has been ruled out for the season, while Ferris, who suffered a knee injury during the Lions tour, is unavailable for selection as he continues his pre-season regime.
Ferris' back row colleague David Pollock is also missing, with another six weeks of rehab ahead of him. He is recovering from a hip operation.
After enjoying three pre-season wins over Newcastle Falcons, Viadana and Worcester, new coach McLaughlin is looking forward to the start of Ulster's Magners League campaign.
He said: "We are pleased with the way the three pre-season games went. To get two home wins was very important for us going forward, particularly as we want to bring in that fortress Ravenhill mentality again.
"To get an away win (in Worcester) was really pleasing and the guys stepped up their performance again against a useful Worcester side.
"But it is now all about Sunday. It is our opening league game, our first really competitive match with points to be attained.
"We want to go and win the game, but we know it will be hard.
"The good thing about the pre-season games - outside the wins - was that we got to see almost everyone playing, particularly the young guys and I think we have shown that we have a good squad of about 30 players who can stand up and be counted.
"The young guys did exceptionally well against Viadana, as well as in Bayonne during the French training camp, and some have put their hands up for senior selection."
ULSTER Squad (v Newport Gwent Dragons):
Forwards - Nigel Brady
Tom Court
Brendon Botha
Bryan Young
Ed O'Donoghue
Matt McCullough
Andi Kyriacou
Dan Tuohy
Robbie Diack
Ryan Caldwell
Chris Henry
Willie Faloon
Declan Fitzpatrick
Backs - Timoci Nagusa
Darren Cave
Niall O'Connor
Simon Danielli
Ian Whitten
Andrew Trimble
Paul Marshall
Bryn Cunningham
Ian Whitten
Isaac Boss
Ian Humphreys
Paddy Wallace
Nevin Spence
notj wrote:The team I would expect McLaughs to select from that is...
1. Bryan Young
2. Andy Kyriacou
3. BJ Botha
4. Dan Tuohy
5. Ryan Caldwell
6. Chris Henry (c)
7. Willie Faloon
8. Robbie Diack
9. Isaac Boss
10. Ian Humphreys
12. Ian Whitten
13. Darren Cave
11. Simon Danielli
14. Andrew Trimble
15. Bryn Cunningham
16. Tom Court
17. Nigel Brady
18. Ed O'Donoghue
19. Matt McCullough
20. Paul Marshall
21. Paddy Wallace
22. Timoci Nagusa
I'd start Ed instead of Dan, Ed proved is vital for our lineout to work. I'd give touhy more time yet before starting him. Remember he was only playing in Englands 1st division last season and friendly wouldn't have the same intensity as a league match
Is BBC w2 available through I player or virgin red button free view ?
I would go with Notj selection but NoC instead of Ed on the bench as Matt can cover 2nd row but expect Matt to come on for Henry if the lineout fails to ignite
And Wallace to come on for Whitten with 20 mins to go
I think as someone pointed out with three games in three weeks I can see one second row being rested/ benched each week
and the same could be true of the front row but until the return of Ferris and Pollock and Horua passes the fitness test the backrow may look similiar for 3 or 4 weeks But
Diack could get rested/ Benched and Henry go to 8 and Matt 6 but there is very little room to vary the back row at the moment
That's not who I'd pick, although it's close, that's who I think will be picked with Paddy lacking game time and Ed coming back from injury. I think they may both start on the bench this week and then come in for the Ospreys game.
BBC2 Wales coverage starts at 2:00pm BST Sunday, programme called Scrum V Live, put your beer in fridge Saturday night to make sure it is cooled, switch telephone off, kick out wife/girlfriend plus kids if you have any and sit back and let your blood pressure go crazy for 90 minutes or so.
