We’ve been caught somewhat on the hop today with the flood(?) of information coming from Ulster Rugby.
First of all big Mike resigns and then the team for the Dragons match is slipped out amid the furore.
Good luck to big Mike and I hope things work out but it is time for Ulster Rugby to move forward from an administrative haven to a marketing dynamo and we’ll cover this next week when we get hold of Kimble’s ten point plan of how he’s going to drive Ulster forward. I also hear The Raven is tidying up his CV as well so it should be interesting reading!
Now, no disrespect but we’ll move on to the more important business of team selection.
We’ve also got a few surprises with big name casualties Court and McCullough dropping out of the forwards panel with Declan Fitzpatrick getting a bench spot and TJ Anderson acting as back row cover.
In the backs Andrew Trimble makes a welcome return to the centre at the expense of youngster Spence and one of the Ian Whittens, a move which allows Nagusa to start on the wing. Still not convinced by the Fijian flyer’s defensive capabilities but McLaughlin hasn’t put a foot wrong yet so there is no point arguing.
Having recently made the acquaintance of Andy Kyriacou’s dad and his big sister I’m a bit loathe to say that I’d have preferred the underrated Brady to start and I’d have liked Ed to have taken the fire out of the Dragons bellies before Tuohy was unleashed with his pace. However we can hardly complain as a bench with Brady, Marshall, O’Donoghue, Wallace and Cave could do some serious damage in the second half if used correctly.
The FRU Predicts.
Ulster to pull away in the second half for a comfortable bonus point win. Expect to see Paddy come on for the final ten minutes at Out Half!
Don’t forget that the match will be shown live at The Rosie.
Ulster Team
(1-8) Bryan Young, Andy Kyriacou, Brendon Botha, Dan Tuohy, Ryan Caldwell, Chris Henry, Willie Faloon, Robbie Diack.
(15-9) Bryn Cunningham, Timoci Nagusa, Andrew Trimble, Ian Whitten, Simon Danielli, Ian Humphreys, Isaac Boss.
(16-22) Nigel Brady, Declan Fitzpatrick, Ed O’Donoghue, Thomas Anderson, Paul Marshall, Paddy Wallace, Darren Cave.
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