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It's nearly that time again!!!Can't wait!!
Ulster have so far played two friendlies, lost one, won one, and our four new signings have fairly stood up. Matt Williams' tenure has started quite successfully, and from the sounds coming from within the camp, the team and organisation as a whole have a much more positive attitude and professionalism, a direct result of the aussie coachs skills and experience methinks!
Ulster 7 - 15 Bath
First up, Ulster hosted visitors Bath at Ravenhill. Although neither team was at full strength, and like any typical pre-season match there were lots of substitutes, Bath ran out clear winners. Ulster played...okay actually, the new signings doing well, everyone playing decent running rugby, unlike last year. The tries however refused to come.
Two quick-fire tries in the first half did the damage, replacement Bath wing Rhys Crane scoring both with Shaun Berne converting one. Ulster pulled back a try shortly after the break, Darren Cave scoring and Clinton Schifcofske converting.With the second half looking likely to remain scoreless, Robbie Kydd landed an injury-time penalty for the visitors to give them an eight-point win.
Ulster 24 - 0 Reds
However, against the Queensland Reds, the Ulstermen proved too strong, as they controlled most of the 2nd half and prevented the Reds from scoring. The four new signings from the southern hemisphere played exceptionally well, notably Robbie Diack and Clinton Schifcofske.
The 1st half was a close game, bar a penalty from Schifcofske , however in the 2nd, Ulster developed much more attacking lines of running, with added penetration, Rob Dewey managing to touch down after a dynamic run by yer man Schifcofske.
Ulster Academy replacement Chris Cochrane touched down from a great offload by Darren Cave, Schifcofske was on hand again for the conversion. In the final minutes, Paddy Wallace just missed grounding the ball, but Timoci Nagusi finally scored after several missed chances, with Paddy Wallace closing the game off to bring the score to a well-deserved 24 nil.
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the reds held to zero points!, good to see schifocske settling in...looks like queensland could of done with him....
Yep early September it all kicks off again, time to get Setanta Sports again. Dragons have had a great start losing both their pre season games. To be fair they only lost by 5 points to Saracans which wasn't too bad a result.
Bring on the Magners league!!!! Oh and the Heineken Cup of course.
with all the different leagues it sounds like everyone wins something just for participating
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No theres only two. The Magners league is like the Super 14 comp but its for teams from Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Then as you know the Heinenken Cup is a pool and then knockout comp which includes teams from these three plus England, France and Italy and maybe one or two teams from other European countries.
Sorry but the European club comp is leaps ahead of the Super 14 comp. With some expansion of clubs in different countries, a longer season and a pool and then knockout Heineken Cup style comp running alongside the regular Super 14 season it will be equally as good if not better when it happens.
your even easier top get a repsonse out of then the fantapants sometimes
just becasue a knock out style comp works in the Northern Hemisphere doesnt mean it would work here. When would the games be played, mid-week or on alternate weekends?
Mid-week games in this sleepy little hamlet??
Monthly. It works very easy, all the clubs from different countries are divided into pools with 4 or 5 in a pool. You run the Super 14 comp as normal then once a month the Super 14 stops for a round and a pool match is played. Each team play eachother once with those with the most points moving onto the knockout stages of 1/4, semi and grand final action.
Watch the Heineken Cup on ESPN and check out the ERC website this year and it may seem clearer.
Here is the link to it: European Rugby Cup : Home
Just think of it like the Forces European tour where you get to see the boys go up against a few more teams from around the world every month.
Last edited by welshrugbyfan; 24-08-08 at 19:00. Reason: Its pools not polls
can't wait for the group stages of the heineken cup to start, its got to be rugbys greatest knock-out competition.....
A quick question for Welshrugbyfan
How do these competitions fit in with the Six Nations?
It seems that they are running together towards the end of these competitions.
It also seems that these competitions are the real "bread & butter" of professional rugby in europe and that the national teams are "the icing on the cake."
They just fit it in as well but the club season has a break on the weekends the six nations goes for. Most players feel it's an honour to go and play for your country so they go off to camp for the weeks that it runs for and the clubs lose those players. I guess it would be like the tri nations if it only went for five weeks and the Super 14 teams would lose those players for that time.
This is the link for my Welsh club side which shows how long and how many games they play in the magners league let alone the Heineken Cup and EDF energy cup knockout comps which you can see down the right hand side of the page is the pools their in for those comps. Newport Gwent Dragons Fixtures & Results in the The 2008/2009 Magners League
This is the six nations fixtures link. You can see between the two that there is no club rugby on these days but with all the club rugby youd be glad of the rest.
Official RBS 6 Nations Rugby : Championship - Fixtures Results
Glad to see that some countries have got their overall structure right, hopefully soon we will to.
Mate it works a treat. This is also why SANZAR whinge about the Northern boys sending down second string teams to play the AB's, Boks and Wallabies after that season finishes.
You can see how many club games they play plus the Six Nations and Heineken Cup games then their expected to come down here after all that to be cannon fodder for players who have only played 13 or so club games and want to smash international teams before their own tri nations campaign begins.
The whole Southern Hemisphere thinking needs an overhaul and it will happen, the question is when?
I wrote in another post (essay) that I think the problem the Southern Hemisphere has is that it see's its national teams as it's main income source rather than Super 14. It's interesting that the northern hemisphere have adopted this structure (which seems similar to the structure of soccer). I don't blame the northern teams for not bothering too much with the southern tours. Under the structure they have the six nations is important, the world cup is vital and the rest don't really mean that much. It's no different to us treating our November tour as a time for player development.
I agree with that, but even if this were the case, why should the June tours continue or why should we send our teams up there in october/november when they will continue to send piss weak sides down here in June.
I guess thats the problem when the clubs own the players and not the national unions. The players see it as an honour to represent their country when their clubs say they can, thats probably why the 6 nations are on bye weeks becasue it would come down to club vs country then and I can see the club (who pays the players wages) winning more often then not