Babbling 'brook

by scentofgunpowder Hawkshaw at 13 strikes me more as the coaching staff identifying a logjam at 12 and trying to find a way to get him into the team, rather than assessing his physical and technical attributes and coming to the conclusion that outside centre is the position that best utilises them...

by berliner And not exactly lit up the world either. I think they are trying to shoehorn him into a position that isn't his best one. Don't know why they don't give him a go at ten. Couldn't do worse than Carty or Hanrahan. Agreed. I thought he was great at 12 last year, but he hasn't been effectiv...

by ronk

Hawkshaw has 8 starts at 13 this season.

And not exactly lit up the world either. I think they are trying to shoehorn him into a position that isn't his best one. Don't know why they don't give him a go at ten. Couldn't do worse than Carty or Hanrahan.

by Colmodon Agree with this. Jackman was talking about the potential Jordie signing on the 42 and said he thought other provinces need more budget. In principle I don't really disagree, but I just don't really understand what they would do with that budget? What does another million get for Ulster ...

by dougie the flanker

Why on earth Connacht keep letting ball bounce is beyond me.

Very much this. It's rugby 101. Shockingly bad from Connacht.

I am ambivalent about the whole thing. Probably cause I f**king hate New Zealand.That said if he's wearing blue he's got my support. Hope he does well with us.

by bluemagic2 I haven’t watched it back but I thought AAA’s penalties were very harsh. It felt like Karl Dickson was trying to balance things out at the point and were penalising Leinster off the park. Incidentally I thought the same for Milnes scrummaging. He didn’t really get a fair go as Dickson...

Random thoughts after watching the game: A lot of my friends who support other provinces consider Larmour to be talented but flaky. Performances like this show that he is now the finished article who can step up if needed. It looked like Furlong was purposely put at Skelton to negate him and did jus...

Pretty sure Lam had the academy boys training with them for a good while. Maybe that stopped under Keane and Friendly. If so then it wasn't a smart move. Hopefully we see more Academy players coming through. Quite frankly I think Gavin and Devine would have made it anyway without pro training. This ...

by mildlyinterested Murray Kinsella linking Ben Murphy with a move to Connacht on the 42 weekly podcast Find that a strange move. Aren't they promoting a scrumhalf for next year called Devine? Admittedly the lad on loan (McDonald?) might be going back to Ulster but still why make a move for Murphy?...

Agreed but I was thinking more of a cash injection if you can produce a player for a particular position that your Province had struggled with.

Lots of interesting titbits in the article. I have been wondering would the IRFU ever consider giving financial incentives or penalties for player production? For example if Munster ever produce a center they will get X amount more money then the previous year. Same for us with scrumhalves and other...

Lucky us that they've already effectively killed the Heineken Cup then!

I remember didn't they try this with Soccer years ago? Man Utd went off and played the South American teams and lost. I vaguely remember the whole thing been a disaster and the South American's cheating blatantly.

It's amazing how Ulster produced three fantastic 12's in short succession in Marshall, Spence and Olding. All were quality on the pitch. Wish Marshall well in whatever he does next.

by Flash Gordon The global tournament is a revenue play clearly and the south probably needs it now the saffers have thrown in their lot with us. From a fan appeal point of view it's hard to see how supporters will get more excited about us playing the Melbourne Rebels (who most Irish fans will nev...

3 year contract for James McNabney, 2 years for Scott Wilson and Lorcan McLaughlin all on development contracts.

Didn't see the game. Did Archer play the full 80 or did Donnelly get any gametime?

Should relieve some of the pressure off Wilkins who a lot of the fans seem unhappy with. Part of the problem seems to be he's a tinkerer and doesn't know who his first XV is. The mixing and matching is driving fans crazy.

Happy for Ulster and hopefully it gives some confidence to the team as it seems to have been in the toilet. Like that Murphy seems to have a settled XV and is building for the future.