Babbling 'brook

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.

Faz will want to win it. We would have probably have done it last time if Stander hadn't gotten a red early in a game so we have unfinished business.

Kitshoff rumours heating up. Apparently he has a clause in his contract that let's him be released if there is a managerial change. Also the Stormers have some new backers who are looking to make a splash.

Has any of the other academies been released yet?

by Serb Yeah I’d agree. We’ve played five 20 year olds this season so far, and still a chance we cap a couple more. Munster have capped 3 (but also had a massive injury crisis for half the season), Ulster have capped 1 and Connacht have capped none. Regardless of circumstances that is still a fairl...

Moving O'Toole to LH probably gives more gametime to Wilson which is not a bad thing but it makes the propping situation in Ulster fairly shallow. Is there any other bright young hope up there in the front row apart from Wilson?

by FtD That has also been allied with the well-publicised exodus that will occur at the end of the season, with Billy Burns likely to be followed out the door by the likes of Will Addison, Luke Marshall and Eric O’Sullivan Some big names leaving there. Marshall and Addision make sense with there in...

by FtD

Jack Aungier has signed a new two year deal with Connacht, so he's not coming home anyway.

Makes sense. With Bealham getting on he's in pole position to be the no. 1 TH in Connacht.

I would get rid of Bryn Cunningham as well and just have a clean sweep of it. A lot of the problems at Ulster seem to be from the top down so remove them all and start a fresh with a onus on player development.

Supposedly Kitshoff is heading back to the Stormers at the end of the season. The upside is it looks like McCloskey is staying.

The frustration is they could have played one another and called it an A game. I'm sure Murphy would have loved a pre-game where he could see what he was working with before his first URC game.