Brian McLaughlin has named a 26 man squad for the Munster Interprovincial game at Ravenhill this Saturday 2nd January KO 6pm.
This is a match which Ulster need to win if they are to get their Magner’s League campaign back on track and if they are to stand any chance of retaining the fiercely contested Interpro title for the third year!
The squad sees the return of Court, Ferris, Trimble and Wallace who hopefully have got over the exhaustion of having to play three games in a row in October.
FORWARDS: Bryan Young, Tom Court, BJ Botha, Declan Fitzpatrick, Andy Kyriacou, Nigel Brady, Ryan Caldwell, Ed O’Donoghue, Dan Tuohy, Stephen Ferris, Willie Faloon, Chris Henry, TJ Anderson. BACKS: Jamie Smith, Clinton Schifcofske, Timoci Nagusa, Simon Danielli, Darren Cave, Ian Whitten, Jonny Shiels, Ian Humphreys, Niall O’Connor, Isaac Boss, Paddy Wallace, Andrew Trimble, Cillian Willis
All joking aside Ulster need to win the next four matches if the season is to live up to the early season expectations and there is no better way of starting off the New Year than with a sound beating of the Turnips, particularly as they are sending up a side without quite a few of their big name players.
If Ulster can recapture the effort and belief that they exhibited in the RDS they should win this game reasonably comfortably, though a lot is going to depend on how the big four slot back into the team.
Where Trimble is selected to play will, I feel, give us a good indication of the level of confidence in the camp. If he’s picked in midfield then Ulster are in a positive mood and are expecting to comfortably outscore their opponents. If he’s put on the wing with Cave in the centre and Nagusa dropping out then the confidence is not there yet and a more defensive game is expected.
Myself, I’m going to stick him in the centre and let the Turnips worry about us and with this decision taken we might as well go the whole hog and pick the most attacking team available which sees Smith stay at full back and Kyriacou move into hooker with the added bonus that he should be keen to get one over on his old team mates!
FRU Attack Select: (1-8) Court, Kyriacou, Botha, O’Donoghue, Tuohy, Ferris, Faloon, Henry. (15-9) Smith, Nagusa, Trimble, Wallace, Danielli, Humphreys, Boss. (16-22) Brady, Fitzpatrick, Caldwell, Anderson, Willis, Cave, Schifcofske
The official match day 22 will be named at 12 noon on Friday.
The match is almost a sell out so don’t miss out and book your ticket now.
The Connacht v Leinster game will be on in The Rosie from 4:00pm for your pre-match entertainment. Check our Events Section for details.
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7 Responses to “Squad for Munster”
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Looks a great team on paper but somewhere at the back of my mind a little bell rings that says we play better as a unit when we don’t have our marquee names playing.
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I know what you’re saying Parky as I did pen that very piece for the last match and the team responded admirably!
However I think it is a strong statement of intent from the management if they do decide to play an attacking side.
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Word is Kyriacou will still be picking splinters out of his bot on bench. Bear dropped from squad.
Having seen the Munster squad anything less than a 5 point bonus win will be a disappointment.
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Not quite in agreement with the Raven, hope eez in a good mood when ee reads this, but I reckon we’ll be made to fight all the way for points here by a together Munster squad. Just hope history doesn’t repeat itself with a Munster 2nd XV coming up and doing a doppleganger on us!!!
Happy New Year to the FRU team BTW.
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harbingers…………………..
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BP ……. your bar isn’t set very high if you don’t think a first choice Ulster should beat a Munster 2nd XV with a bonus point win.
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RR – My bar’s enthusiasm for the lofty heights is curbed by performances past. Remember standing beside two crestfallen Munster guys as we led 21 – 3. I said ‘don’t worry fellas we score 3 tries and that’s it’. When it went to 21-14 they said, I could well be right about Ulster and indeed I left early as the score went to 24-21 Munster. Many will remember this as munster’s 2nds and 3rds against our best, I still shrivel at the memory, hence my caution.
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