Ulster v Tigers HC Match Preview

By ChrisC
October 7 2013

Suits of Armagh It’s a long time since I’ve been to Northern Ireland, the last being a sphincter contracting occasion. As local companies were unwilling to be involved one of my businesses, which did a great deal of public sector work, was commanded to quote for restoration work to a building in Armagh that had suffered bomb damage.

To show willing and in the interests of not prejudicing the winning of future work we agreed to inspect the site.

We planned to travel by car and to use the ferry but were advised that the prudent thing to do was to travel by air and then hire a car which would have local number plates.

Having duly arrived in Belfast we made our way to the car hire desk to be told that there’d been a mess up with the booking but that we had been upgraded to another vehicle.

Somewhat buoyed by this, as I had never been upgraded even though I’d tried for many years to persuade stony faced check in staff that I was a candidate for such largesse, we followed the clerk into the car park to be presented with a gleaming white Rover. “This is more like it” I thought.

Happiness can be a fleeting emotion and so it was now as one of my colleagues beckoned me to the rear of the car and pointed out the English number plates. I chased after the clerk who explained that it had been a one way hire and was all they had available.

So we set off, shining like a beacon of Englishness, through the streets of Belfast but we travelled the thirty or so miles without incident, other than some startled looks, and arrived in Armagh.

We were soon lost but kept moving until we plunged down a cul-de-sac and, grinding to halt, were immediately surrounded by a group of men and youths.

We sensed we could be in some difficulty. One of the men approached the driver’s window and indicated that it should be opened and after glancing around at his shrugging passengers the driver complied.

“Yous English then?” the man enquired. “Err, yes”. “Yous lost?” he said, as one of his young friends traced a finger across the car’s bonnet while the others circled the car. “Afraid so” we nervously replied. “Where yous headed?” he asked. This could be tricky we thought but four Englishmen in Armagh what the hell could they be there for? There was nothing for it so we confirmed our destination.

“Ah, right” he said with much nodding from his companions. Time stood still as they looked at each other and began muttering until, after more nodding and gesticulating, our new acquaintance returned to the car. We held our collective breath and awaited our fate – “back-up” he said, “we’ll see yous out and then follow Michael here who’ll show yous the way”.

Was it a ruse? No all went as we’d been told and we were led to our destination where Michael bade us a cheery farewell before heading off on his moped. Book, judge, cover and all that!

I doubt the Ulster rugby team will be in such an obliging mood when Tigers visit them for the opening fixture of what will be the last Heineken Cup to be played at Ravenhill.

The home side will be buoyed by their victory in Wales on Friday evening when they clawed their way back from a twelve point deficit against the Ospreys.

It was dull sort of match with the result decided by the referee’s whistle and the boots of Dan Biggar and Paddy Jackson.

The following day was East Midlands’ derby day when Northampton Saints arrived at Welford Road determined to stake their claim to be the region’s top dogs for a while.

Tigers were by turns; shoddy, inaccurate, dogged, inspired and full of character, managing to get a draw by playing with pace and intensity for just fifteen minutes.

Tigers’ pack looked comfortably dominant against Saints and didn’t entirely get their just desserts from Mr Doyle who seemed to take pity on the disintegrating visiting eight as well as putting in a haphazard and inconsistent performance epitomised by his decision to gently warn Hartley for dissent but award a Yellow Card to Deacon for the same offence.

At The Liberty Stadium, in another scrappy and error strewn encounter, referee Fitzgibbon with a display of spectacular pedantry squeezed such life as there was out of the match between Ulster and Ospreys, enabling Paddy Jackson to do what Toby Flood couldn’t at Welford Road; make the most of his chances from the kicking tee. Jackson’s display saw his side home where the missed points from Flood, from eminently kickable positions for a top class exponent, contributed to Tigers having to settle for a draw which could have so easily have been an unlikely victory had not Saints’ Dickson been permitted to take the ball out of the advancing Tigers’ scrum which was within feet of the Saints’ line. Once again how did the phalanx of officials miss this cheating?

The Ulster pack put on a good showing against the pride of Lions forming the Ospreys scrum and I don’t think Tigers will find them the easy meat that English packs have been.

Tom Court, who was called into the Lions’ squad to cover for the injured Corbiserio, has taken over from Calum Black, who’s done the early season lifting in the Rabo.

Since Court’s return Ulster have won all three of their matches and, now playing at loose-head, although he can play either side of the front row, the Ulster scrum has gone well and I’m sure the veteran prop will be looking forward to locking horns with Dan Cole who’ll again be starting for the visitors, no soft start introduction for him. Court’s side of the scrum looked solid against Adam Jones but he’ll need to do that and more against Cole who’s really on top of his game.

Although Marcos Ayerza is notionally available before he beetles off for the Autumn Internationals (will this nonsense never end?) with Mulipola going so well I think the Argentinian will at best be on the bench.

Meanwhile All Black John Afoa, who has been injured, has been in New Zealand for surgery on the bicep he tore during last season’s Rabo Final. He’s reported to be looming on the horizon but if not it’ll be a toss-up between club stalwart Declan Fitzpatrick who had his problems with Mr Fitzgibbon at The Liberty Stadium or Ricky Lutton with whom Fitzpatrick has been sharing the shirt. Either way they’ll have a tussle on the hands with Mulipola who’s having a great start to the season. However if Afoa is on parade for his season debut the Samoan will have a one of the best to test himself against.

Rory Best is another who was called into the Lions’ squad in Australia and is another who’s just returned from a rest, he’ll be facing one of his travelling companions down under in the shape of Tom Youngs who hasn’t had a rest.

Both Best and Youngs have rediscovered the art of hooking although Youngs may have more to say in the loose than the thirty-one year old Best.

I’m sure that British Lion Geoff Parling will be in the second row for Tigers and given the heavyweight nature of the likely Ulster duo of Muller and Tuohy I’d favour Parling being partnered with Louis Deacon who can have a break the following week.

The Ulster locks are a muscular pair but their line out work isn’t always seamless, defensively they’re hard to fault with their breakdown and mauling work very impressive. It’s to be hoped that Tuohy’s forearm, which got him in trouble again against Ospreys, remains under control.

With Ferris still absent nursing a long term ankle injury it looks as if South African born, but Ireland qualified, Robbie Diack will be on the blind-side for the hosts. He’s a very impressive back row player who can play in any position with ability at lock on his cv. He joined the province from Stormers for the 2008/09 season and will add presence to the Ulster line-out as well as mobility at the break-down.

Now I have to warn readers that Ulster will have about six players on the pitch called Chris Henry – well it seemed as if they had against Ospreys. Every time a player appeared making a tackle it was him. Making a break – him again. Foraging for the ball – yup you guessed it!

He has played on the blind-side and at #8 but I’d say he’s really best at open-side where, come Friday, he’ll be opposing the archetypal #7; Julian Salvi who played very well against Northampton with some extraordinary ball stealing when he got the chance and was not illegally removed by the opposition coming in from the side. It’ll be a real good contest between the respective open-sides but I expect Salvi will prevail.

There’s a tricky choice at #8 for both teams. Will it be the bustling hard charging All Black Nick Williams or the tricky and fast Roger Wilson, who was such a loss to Northampton. I have to confess a preference for Wilson. I just like his style of play more than the directness of Williams but either will be a handful.

If Steve Mafi is still unavailable then in spite a patchy display last week Slater will probably start on the blind-side for the Tigers and augment their line out.

Jordan Crane’s rich seam of form stuttered a bit last Saturday. I don’t think Waldrom will be preferred at Ravenhill, although in my view his specialist knowledge as a flanker would be very welcome against the Ulster back row but if he’s excluded from the starting line up maybe, having not been in Monday’s A team, he’ll be in the match day squad for the positional flexibility he offers and the variation he provides against tiring defences.

I can see the set piece being pretty even with maybe Tigers having an edge but the breakdown could be a danger zone for the visitors. They’ll need to be smarter than they were against Saints if the Ulster back-row and locks are not to be all over them like a cheap suit. Tigers must protect their own ball better and disrupt Ulster’s quick ball. The home side have a dynamic pick and go which needs to be stopped at source.

Ruan Pienaar, like Ayerza, is free of Championship commitments and available to play.

The South Africa scrum half brings so much to the Ulster side I reckon he’ll start which will be tough on Paul Marshall who went well down in Swansea but Pienaar is a class act.

Ben Youngs is also a class act but currently looks a somewhat out of sorts and jaded class act. He’s worked on his kicking, which is much improved as is his passing, but he is too slow to move the ball away from the tackle area and scrum giving the opposition time to slow down the ball or counter ruck. He must spend less time waving his arms about and more time playing. He also needs to get back his trademark sniping. It was noticeable that when Mele replaced Youngs last Saturday the pace of Tigers’ play accelerated as if somebody had released the handbrake. For me Mele should start at Ravenhill as he also has the advantage of being a relatively unknown quantity.

Paddy Jackson is somebody else who’s being working on his kicking. He looks a real good all round fly half with the boot as well as with ball in hand and more secure in defence than the departed Humphreys.

All is not well with Toby Flood. Maybe it’s the burden of captaincy, he’d not be the first fine player to be promoted and promptly suffer a dip in form. Maybe it’s the uncertainty of his international prospects, hardly enhanced by his performance for most of Saturday’s match. Maybe it’s the consequent uncertainty surrounding his intentions as to his future club career. Or maybe a combination of all three.

With Ben Youngs’ sluggish service Flood is standing deeper for to stand flat merely sees him repeatedly clattered by opposition defences. However this re-jigging of his natural game has seen the Tigers’ centre become grumous with Allen and Goneva having little room in which to operate. Once Mele arrived on the scene Flood resumed his usual modus operandi and normal service was resumed.

If Tigers’ first choice half backs are as uncoordinated as they were against Saints, whose Myler seemed to have all the time in the world to bring on his strike runners, then Ulster’s excellent and experienced Paddy Wallace, if he makes his season’s debut in preference to Luke Marshall, will run riot as Ulster will also send their strike runners pouring through the 9/10/12 channels and the Belfast side have plenty of players to cause similar havoc as did Saints.

Tony Allen for once wilted under the pressure of the waves of Saints’ power runners which even he couldn’t contain. Cramped and unable to operate in attack and overwhelmed in often solo defence Allen had an unhappy afternoon. Bowden looked purposeful and dangerous when he came on but of course by then the half back dynamic had changed and Flood was finally finding space. Allen should, if fit, still start against Ulster as his organisational talents will be needed against the hosts who have the patience of Job in mounting multi phase attacks although they couldn’t break down Ospreys no matter how much they huffed and puffed.

Goneva was kept firmly squeezed out of Saturday’s match until late on and he and Allen will have it all to do to contain the elegant Darren Cave who cut through Ospreys defence, although he does tend to resort to the grubber kick more often than is ideal, especially as he has the gas to run the ball and better release his wingers. Cave has two tries from his half dozen appearances for Ireland and for me is a real danger man. But if Allen and Flood can release Goneva then I think he can give Cave problems in defence.

Initially against Ospreys Cave was to be on the bench to retain his freshness but with Jared Payne crying off with a stomach bug Cave started.

With Tommy Bowe reportedly fit he will be in the back three mix with Payne, Trimble and the relatively new kid on the block Mike Allen, who looks really useful. Tricky, fast feet and already with three tries from four starts this term, eclipsing the brace he nabbed from his eighteen appearances last season. The coming man is our Mr Allen and one I expect to see feature in this season’s Six Nations.

Craig Gilroy hobbled off in Swansea to give the ex Doncaster and Bristol winger cum full back McIlwaine a run out but I can’t see him featuring this Friday. Gilroy must be doubtful and with the fire power available he need not be risked.

I rather expect to see Trimble, who was in and out of the action last Friday but showed glimpses of what he can bring to the party with his strong running and the devastating line he cuts through the 10/12 channel, paired with the County Monaghan born British Lion Tommy Bowe, who is another who’s had to recover from an injury (broken hand) sustained in pursuit of Lions’ glory. Jared Payne would be my pick at full back as the ex Blues player is fabulous coming into the line and rock solid in defence.

If Ulster have hard choices to make in selecting their back three then the headache that Richard Cockerill is simple – who’s fit?

Scully was drafted onto the wing last weekend but frankly after he’d been illegally taken out by Dickinson, a foul so blatant it is a matter of wonder that nobody from the team of match officials spotted it, the American was fortunate that the ball got out wide as little as it did as he looked to be somewhat at sea. Benjamin didn’t feature in the A Team match against Worcester so maybe he’s fit enough fit enough to play a part. Otherwise I expect that Scully will continue and that he’ll be paired with the indefatigable Adam Thompstone who only really saw the ball when attached to a Saints’ player.

The general malaise even spread to Niall Morris who looked as uncertain as I’ve seen him under the high ball but with Tait unavailable to provide respite for the talented Irishman he should be on duty again in an unchanged back three who’ll hope to see some attacking ball.

A trip to Ravenhill is testing at the best of times and while I think the Tigers’ scrum will gain a measure of ascendency at the set piece if Ulster are permitted to display the same degree of unpunished cheating at the breakdown as were Saints then Tigers must meet fire with fire. Mr Poite is invariably fair so I feel optimistic he’ll judge the teams equally.

The key will then be, if Youngs is selected, can the British Lion bring pace into the Tigers’ attack and will Flood feel confident enough to again challenge the gain line as of old?

Too many questions marks over the teetering Tigers to predict anything other than a home win.

Ulster v Tigers HC Match Preview

Posted by: TheLeicesterTigers.co.uk (IP Logged)

Date: 07/10/2013 19:45

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:10:14:22:40:55 by Tiggs.