Ulster Bank League 2017-2018 Talk/Gossip/Rumours

Tarf1234 · 27-07-2017 2:15pm

ym wrote: »

http://community.connachtrugby.ie/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Fixtures-Season-Plan-2017-18.pdf

dates are here -thankfully last years disgraceful decision to play semi finals same weekend as b and i final and champions cup semis has not been repeated

Interesting that it has the U20 inter pros in there given what is being claimed. Glad to see that there is no clash this year was deeply unfair on you lads. There is a lot of rugby there for anyone playing B&I/20s/AIL and I think we all know which level will be the one to have players pulled.

Cookie_fan · 27-07-2017 2:20pm

Heard in the local last night that Daniel Hurley has signed for YM, he should go straight into the first team, cant see him playing 20's, so could have himself and Nash on either wing just need to get them the ball!!

Tarf1234 · 27-07-2017 2:43pm

Cookie_fan wrote: »

Heard in the local last night that Daniel Hurley has signed for YM, he should go straight into the first team, cant see him playing 20's, so could have himself and Nash on either wing just need to get them the ball!!

Have you lads lost many? I know we've only lost a couple and only added a couple. Still waiting on confirmation from some of the school leavers

Cookie_fan · 27-07-2017 2:51pm

I have heard 3 Darren Ryan, Sean Rennison (both Garryowen) & Cian Bohane (taking a year out of rugby is what I heard) there are probably others but none that would have much gametime last year for our first team.
We have signed a few replacements including Tom Ryan as mentioned by stellenbosch, Mark Kelly from Galweigans, a kiwi 12 who moved to Limerick whose name evades me and then got a couple of high profile schools players including Hurley.

Tarf1234 · 28-07-2017 9:24am

Cookie_fan wrote: »

I have heard 3 Darren Ryan, Sean Rennison (both Garryowen) & Cian Bohane (taking a year out of rugby is what I heard) there are probably others but none that would have much gametime last year for our first team.
We have signed a few replacements including Tom Ryan as mentioned by stellenbosch, Mark Kelly from Galweigans, a kiwi 12 who moved to Limerick whose name evades me and then got a couple of high profile schools players including Hurley.

Seems like limited movement in general. Not bad business if the Kiwi guy is good and can replace Bohane but not miss anything through inter pro commitments. I wonder if the PPS is having an impact on player movement or if it is genuinely just players not moving.

ym · 28-07-2017 9:44am

ben swindlehurst is kiwi centre -played with naas for few years and can placekick, ed okeefe is back, tom ryan huge addition and ben kilkenny fit again,

hurley would be great additon

did bowser go to ucc?

aaron mccluskey gone to garryowen , darren ryan did play most games last year

home to garryowen in charity cup- great draw for both good hit out before league starts assumed we dont mangle each other too much, winners home to bruff/crescent.

stellenbosch · 28-07-2017 9:45am

Tarf1234 wrote: »

Have you lads lost many? I know we've only lost a couple and only added a couple. Still waiting on confirmation from some of the school leavers

Who have Tarf lost?

Tarf1234 · 28-07-2017 10:07am

stellenbosch wrote: »

Tarf1234 wrote: »

Have you lads lost many? I know we've only lost a couple and only added a couple. Still waiting on confirmation from some of the school leavers

Who have Tarf lost?

That ones that I'm pretty much certain of are Rob Keogh, Karl Moran, Eoghan Browne, Rory Litchfield and Rob McGrath. I believe Mike Brown is gone but I'm not 100% and apparently Mick McGrath is out for a good while injured.

stellenbosch · 28-07-2017 12:51pm

Tarf1234 wrote: »

That ones that I'm pretty much certain of are Rob Keogh, Karl Moran, Eoghan Browne, Rory Litchfield and Rob McGrath. I believe Mike Brown is gone but I'm not 100% and apparently Mick McGrath is out for a good while injured.

Thanks - any idea where they are gone to?

Tarf1234 · 28-07-2017 1:20pm

stellenbosch wrote: »

Tarf1234 wrote: »

That ones that I'm pretty much certain of are Rob Keogh, Karl Moran, Eoghan Browne, Rory Litchfield and Rob McGrath. I believe Mike Brown is gone but I'm not 100% and apparently Mick McGrath is out for a good while injured.

Thanks - any idea where they are gone to?

Keogh & Browne retired, Moran Canada, Rob McG is Barnhall apparently, Litchfield is apparently going to Sutton for 3 months before he heads of to Oz. Not sure on the story behind Mike Brown

ArmchairQB · 30-07-2017 9:27pm

Interesting proposal for Scottish rugby that will be up for discussion this coming week, would/could same happen here?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/40764024

Braken · 31-07-2017 3:28pm

ArmchairQB wrote: »

Interesting proposal for Scottish rugby that will be up for discussion this coming week, would/could same happen here?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/40764024

Interesting...is something like this envisaged with AIL div 1 going forward and the restructure of the rest of the divisions???

stephen_n · 31-07-2017 8:01pm

To what end? Why would the IRFU invest in something like this?

Also the last venture into professionalism did more damage than good.

shoutman · 01-08-2017 9:09am

Saw James Downey doing some preseason fitness work with some guys on the Clontarf 1sts, don't know if anything can be taken from that but wouldn't be a bad guy to have around.

Also as an aside and not Ulster Bank related, was having a few pints on Saturday evening and James Hart (formerly racing now with munster) was out on the pitch doing his usual two hours of passing the ball around the pitch on his own, great to see the dedication.

Tarf1234 · 01-08-2017 9:13am

shoutman wrote: »

Saw James Downey doing some preseason fitness work with some guys on the Clontarf 1sts, don't know if anything can be taken from that but wouldn't be a bad guy to have around.

Also as an aside and not Ulster Bank related, was having a few pints on Saturday evening and James Hart (formerly racing now with munster) was out on the pitch doing his usual two hours of passing the ball around the pitch on his own, great to see the dedication.

Ye, Jimmy Downey is taking over from Simon Broughton as backs coach.
It is incredible how often you see James Hart down in the mornings and evenings out practicing his passing or kicking. Works outrageously hard.

shoutman · 01-08-2017 11:44am

Tarf1234 wrote: »

Ye, Jimmy Downey is taking over from Simon Broughton as backs coach.

Where has he moved on to?

Tarf1234 · 01-08-2017 1:20pm

shoutman wrote: »

Tarf1234 wrote: »

Ye, Jimmy Downey is taking over from Simon Broughton as backs coach.

Where has he moved on to?

He's in with Leinster so can't coach AIL 1A

ArmchairQB · 01-08-2017 3:48pm

stephen_n wrote: »

To what end? Why would the IRFU invest in something like this?

Also the last venture into professionalism did more damage than good.

IRFU all ready touting 7 team top division in latest feedback to clubs. AIL up for review during this coming season so will be interesting to see the direction they envisage

Tarf1234 · 01-08-2017 4:29pm

ArmchairQB wrote: »

stephen_n wrote: »

To what end? Why would the IRFU invest in something like this?

Also the last venture into professionalism did more damage than good.

IRFU all ready touting 7 team top division in latest feedback to clubs. AIL up for review during this coming season so will be interesting to see the direction they envisage

I reckon 8 is probably the right number if you go that direction.
I think probably the biggest issue is the failure of Connacht and Ulster to produce clubs to compete. In Leinster and Munster I think you could fairly quickly pick 3 clubs good enough to go into it. Issue in Leinster would be the politics. Munster should be Con, YM and GO. Buccs from Connacht and maybe Hinch/Ballymena from Ulster?

Cookie_fan · 02-08-2017 11:14am

If 8 is the number there a case for having a second ulster team and only two from Munster, basing this purely on adult male player numbers which is almost similar.
Also is 8 even the right number, the quality of a 10 team division 1A has been fantastic over the last number of years that is even with a strong 1B/2A etc. If we are going down this route should we look at a 10 team league with perhaps an extra Ulster and Leinster club involved. So split could be 2 Ulster, 1 Connacht, 4 Leinster, 3 Munster. I don't think that would dilute the pool too much.

Tarf1234 · 02-08-2017 12:44pm

Cookie_fan wrote: »

If 8 is the number there a case for having a second ulster team and only two from Munster, basing this purely on adult male player numbers which is almost similar.
Also is 8 even the right number, the quality of a 10 team division 1A has been fantastic over the last number of years that is even with a strong 1B/2A etc. If we are going down this route should we look at a 10 team league with perhaps an extra Ulster and Leinster club involved. So split could be 2 Ulster, 1 Connacht, 4 Leinster, 3 Munster. I don't think that would dilute the pool too much.

I think it's a mute point anyway as I don't see the branches wanting to move from A games and this would be essential to make it competitive. Ulster have proved they can't produce more than one competitive team at a go. I think there'll be too many political point of views etc. to stop this ever getting off the ground. It would make it very difficult to get fair Junior and 20s teams as well as everyone would be even more focused on the clubs selected. Hard to find a good solution.

Have to agree in relation to recent standard and I'd be happy if they kept to 10 team league and just got rid of B&I

ArmchairQB · 03-08-2017 8:43am

Tarf1234 wrote: »

I think it's a mute point anyway as I don't see the branches wanting to move from A games and this would be essential to make it competitive. Ulster have proved they can't produce more than one competitive team at a go. I think there'll be too many political point of views etc. to stop this ever getting off the ground. It would make it very difficult to get fair Junior and 20s teams as well as everyone would be even more focused on the clubs selected. Hard to find a good solution.

Have to agree in relation to recent standard and I'd be happy if they kept to 10 team league and just got rid of B&I

Problem is IRFU & Provinces want more B&I games for fringe & academy players

Tarf1234 · 03-08-2017 9:31am

ArmchairQB wrote: »

Problem is IRFU & Provinces want more B&I games for fringe & academy players

What I want to see and what I expect to see is very different. Union and Branches are interested in different things to our clubs which is pretty sad.

RuPi · 03-08-2017 2:55pm

Fixtures must be out with the clubs

http://www.banbridgerfc.com/1sts/1sts-201718/

The Lost Sheep · 03-08-2017 11:14pm

Cookie_fan wrote:

If 8 is the number there a case for having a second ulster team and only two from Munster, basing this purely on adult male player numbers which is almost similar. Also is 8 even the right number, the quality of a 10 team division 1A has been fantastic over the last number of years that is even with a strong 1B/2A etc. If we are going down this route should we look at a 10 team league with perhaps an extra Ulster and Leinster club involved. So split could be 2 Ulster, 1 Connacht, 4 Leinster, 3 Munster. I don't think that would dilute the pool too much.

but you wouldn't base it just on adult playing numbers or some provinces would be over represented and others under..

Tarf1234 wrote:

I reckon 8 is probably the right number if you go that direction. I think probably the biggest issue is the failure of Connacht and Ulster to produce clubs to compete. In Leinster and Munster I think you could fairly quickly pick 3 clubs good enough to go into it. Issue in Leinster would be the politics. Munster should be Con, YM and GO. Buccs from Connacht and maybe Hinch/Ballymena from Ulster?

More the failure of ulster more than Connacht. Connacht will have a 1a side next year and should still have wegians in 1b bar a lot of bad luck last season. Ulster rugby at club level needs a big shake up.

Tarf1234 wrote:

I think it's a mute point anyway as I don't see the branches wanting to move from A games and this would be essential to make it competitive. Ulster have proved they can't produce more than one competitive team at a go. I think there'll be too many political point of views etc. to stop this ever getting off the ground. It would make it very difficult to get fair Junior and 20s teams as well as everyone would be even more focused on the clubs selected. Hard to find a good solution.

why would the professional sides of provinces want to move away from a games which they can control over club games they can't?

Tarf1234 wrote:

What I want to see and what I expect to see is very different. Union and Branches are interested in different things to our clubs which is pretty sad.

clubs make up the branches and most votes on branch are the clubs and their reps....

RuPi wrote:

Fixtures must be out with the clubs

they are. Should be in media/clubs social media tomorrow...

Tarf1234 · 04-08-2017 8:48am

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

but you wouldn't base it just on adult playing numbers or some provinces would be over represented and others under..

More the failure of ulster more than Connacht. Connacht will have a 1a side next year and should still have wegians in 1b bar a lot of bad luck last season. Ulster rugby at club level needs a big shake up.

why would the professional sides of provinces want to move away from a games which they can control over club games they can't?

clubs make up the branches and most votes on branch are the clubs and their reps....

agreed on the first 2 points. Ulster really don't seem to know what they're doing. I didn't mean it was the fault of Connacht just that they can't do it on a regular basis, population and playing numbers are a big issue for them Ulster should not have the same issues.
If they set things up properly they could certainly have way more input into club game. Look at Porter playing tighthead for UCD last year. There are numerous other less obvious situations where the provinces have told the club play player x for a max or min of x minutes or in x position.
In relation to your last point the reality and theory are not the same. In particular with the union and the clubs and this has been very well documented.

ym · 04-08-2017 9:55am

munsters first 5 games
h -ucd a-lansdowne a-buccs h-trinity -a con
have garryowen away nov 10 and home Jan 5th both friday

as you can see the season of goodwill will end in limerick on Jan 5th

Tarf1234 · 04-08-2017 10:48am

ym wrote: »

munsters first 5 games
h -ucd a-lansdowne a-buccs h-trinity -a con
have garryowen away nov 10 and home Jan 5th both friday

as you can see the season of goodwill will end in limerick on Jan 5th

Haven't seen ours yet but a nice change for us to not have UCD first and last after 2 years of it. Can't imagine there'll be any Christmas spirit left in Limerick on 5 Jan!!!

Chico Flores · 04-08-2017 12:37pm

Any word on Mike Brown leaving Clontarf? I heard he was staying

Tarf1234 · 04-08-2017 2:02pm

Chico Flores wrote: »

Any word on Mike Brown leaving Clontarf? I heard he was staying

I've heard nothing more than the original rumour he was going. I haven't seen him yet but again that's no surprise considering time of year.

Ulster Bank League 2017-2018 Talk/Gossip/Rumours

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