After a spate of relative success in picking the match day 22 it appears as though I’ve taken a giant leap backwards this week! Then again there are always a few strange selection decisions round 6 Nations time.
Ulster: (15-9) J Smith, A Trimble, D Cave, P Wallace, S Danielli, I Humphreys, I Boss; (1-8) B Young, R Best, BJ Botha, D Tuohy, E O’Donoghue, T Anderson, D Pollock, C Henry (c); (16-22) N Brady, D Fitzpatrick, R Caldwell, R Diack, I Porter, I Whitten, T Nagusa.
Having said that, it’s good to see two of my personal favourites, Bryan Young and TJ Anderson, back in the starting XV and I’m also pleased to see Robbie Diack make a welcome return to senior Ulster colours after his enforced absence.
Even though he’s made a couple of cameo appearances for Ireland it’s also great to see Rory Best back for his Province, capping a remarkable recovery from his career threatening injury. Hopefully this will give a crumb of comfort to young Scottish winger Thom Evans as he begins his long journey back to fitness.
Don’t know what’s up with Tom Court, I suspect he’s being kept under wraps for Ireland, but let’s hope Bryan Young grabs this opportunity with both hands. Always a good scrum technician he has in the past suffered by comparison with the more abrasive performances round the park by less talented props. If he is to catch the eye of Ireland selectors in the months to come he’s got to work more aggressively in the loose. A difficult option for the mild mannered Bear but he’ll have no better side to practice against than the limited but hugely aggressive Dragons team.
I suspect that it’s in anticipation of a fairly frenetic opening quarter that young Anderson has been selected. Always able to look after him self, even in the dirty, nasty, atmosphere of FRU Awards Nights, TJ will be acting as enforcer in the back row, hopefully allowing Pollock and Henry to display their skills. Never one to shirk an encounter and fully prepared to give his all, I expect to see Anderson withdrawn with 20 to go to give Robbie “Soft Hands” Diack a bit of a run at 8 with Henry switching to 6.
Surprised to see Humphreys start, I thought they would have went with the same back line that started against Bath, but if they are expecting a good supply of ball then Humphreys is the man. I would have liked to have seen the glamorous Niall O’Connor on the bench though. Apart from the fact, in my own mind anyway, that O’Connor is going to be something special 8 – 12 months down the line once his thought process catches up with his ability, I just don’t like to see Paddy being considered as out-half cover. Paddy, though still effective, hasn’t played as well in the centre this season as he did last and I think that is largely due to an unwelcome increase in this dalliance with out half cover. Ulster and, more importantly, Ireland, just need to get over it.
As it is, a bench containing Caldwell, Diack , Porter, Whitten and Nagussa does give plenty of attacking options to introduce if we’re chasing a bonus point. I hope the hugely impressive Porter gets substantial game time whatever the score.
Lots of bigging up of the Dragons this week in other previews, but at the end of the day they are a fairly limited team with an absolutely fantastic attitude. If Ulster match the attitude they should romp home. If they don’t it could be a Dragon double this season.
I predict Ulster will bring the attitude and will win comfortably with Ian Porter securing the bonus point in the dying minutes to send the crowd home happy!
Tickets are available for Friday’s game from: the Ravenhill Ticket Office (Mon-Thurs, 9am to 5pm, Fri 9am – 3.30pm), the Ticket Hotline 028 90 493 222 Option 2 (Mon-Fri, 10am to 12noon,) Ulster Rugby ticket outlets province wide or to buy online click here.
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One Response to “Ulster team for Dragons”
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I wonder if new CEO Captain Mainwaring will be giving his troops a “we will fight them on the beaches” speach before the match.
The team are more likely to say, “You stupid boy!”
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