RugbyRebels

15 George Furbank
14 Courtnall Skosan
13 Tom Litchfield
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 Tom Collins
10 Dan Biggar
9 Alex Mitchell

1 Alex Waller
2 Sam Matavesi
3 Paul Hill
4 David Ribbans
5 Brandon Nansen
6 Courtney Lawes
7 Lewis Ludlam (c)
8 Teimana Harrison

Replacements:
16 James Fish
17 Emmanuel Iyogun
18 Ehren Painter
19 Api Ratuniyarawa
20 Alex Coles
21 Juarno Augustus
22 Tom James
23 Tommy Freeman

Not considered for selection:
Emeka Atuanya, Callum Burns, Piers Francis, Oisín Heffernan, Alex Moon, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Matt Proctor, and Kayde Sylvester.


Ulster:
Lowry; Baloucoune, Hume, S Moore, McIlroy; Burns, Doak; Warwick, Herring, M Moore; O'Connor (c), Treadwell; Rea, Timoney, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Andrew, O'Sullivan, O'Toole, Carter, Jones, Shanahan, Madigan, Moxham.

The away fixture was a 5 point loss, which we can hopefully turn around at home. Though saying that, as long as we perform well I'm not overly concerned with the outcome as I have next to no interest in the Euro competition in the current format.

Good to see Litchfield starting, and also looking forward to seeing what Nansen can bring. I thought we might have seen a bit more of Nansen this season to add some more oompf to the pack. Good to have Harrison back too, was quality on his return last week.

Boyd is serving his 2 match ban for criticising the awful ref from the Saracens match, so Dowson gets a go at his new job early.

Superb from Lawes and Hutchinson.

Northampton are quite a dumb team.

Hutchinson having a lovely game

Baloucoune is a great player, the offload for that BP try was great

Litchfield looks like a player worth investing in. Runs very strongly and directly.

Puja

Adam_P wrote:Hutchinson having a lovely game

Nice to hear. A great player to watch when he’s gliding around and causing havoc, but seemed to take a huge dip in form immediately after getting a Scotland cap. Then seems to have flittered between 12 and 13 for a few seasons now without finding any consistent form.

Puja wrote:Litchfield looks like a player worth investing in. Runs very strongly and directly.

Puja

Aye I hope he will be the mainstay of our centres as a hard runner for a while once he's bedded in

So many of our attacks are cut short by knock ons as a result of players absolutely bulleting passes that don't need it. So frustrating.

Adam_P wrote:

Puja wrote:Litchfield looks like a player worth investing in. Runs very strongly and directly.

Puja

Aye I hope he will be the mainstay of our centres as a hard runner for a while once he's bedded in

Who are you pairing him with?

Mikey Brown wrote:

Adam_P wrote:Hutchinson having a lovely game

Nice to hear. A great player to watch when he’s gliding around and causing havoc, but seemed to take a huge dip in form immediately after getting a Scotland cap. Then seems to have flittered between 12 and 13 for a few seasons now without finding any consistent form.

His defence is iffy.

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:

Puja wrote:Litchfield looks like a player worth investing in. Runs very strongly and directly.

Puja

Aye I hope he will be the mainstay of our centres as a hard runner for a while once he's bedded in

Who are you pairing him with?

I'd have him at 12 and rotate Dingwall and Hutch at 13. We definitely need a centre capable of hard carrying, which it seems Litchfield would give us.

Banquo wrote:

Mikey Brown wrote:

Adam_P wrote:Hutchinson having a lovely game

Nice to hear. A great player to watch when he’s gliding around and causing havoc, but seemed to take a huge dip in form immediately after getting a Scotland cap. Then seems to have flittered between 12 and 13 for a few seasons now without finding any consistent form.

His defence is iffy.

To say the least.

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:
Aye I hope he will be the mainstay of our centres as a hard runner for a while once he's bedded in

Who are you pairing him with?

I'd have him at 12 and rotate Dingwall and Hutch at 13. We definitely need a centre capable of hard carrying, which it seems Litchfield would give us.

Dingwall is better at 12 than either imo

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote: Who are you pairing him with?

I'd have him at 12 and rotate Dingwall and Hutch at 13. We definitely need a centre capable of hard carrying, which it seems Litchfield would give us.

Dingwall is better at 12 than either imo

Well yes at the moment Dingwall is the better player. Litchfield is 19 years old and today made his European debut. Give the guy a chance.

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote: Who are you pairing him with?

I'd have him at 12 and rotate Dingwall and Hutch at 13. We definitely need a centre capable of hard carrying, which it seems Litchfield would give us.

Dingwall is better at 12 than either imo

Well, he had a great coach

Adam_P wrote:Baloucoune is a great player, the offload for that BP try was great

He is, but little Lowry at FB is something special in that form. Fantastic acceleration and footwork.

Spiffy wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:
I'd have him at 12 and rotate Dingwall and Hutch at 13. We definitely need a centre capable of hard carrying, which it seems Litchfield would give us.

Dingwall is better at 12 than either imo

Well, he had a great coach

I coached his dad

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:
I'd have him at 12 and rotate Dingwall and Hutch at 13. We definitely need a centre capable of hard carrying, which it seems Litchfield would give us.

Dingwall is better at 12 than either imo

Well yes at the moment Dingwall is the better player. Litchfield is 19 years old and today made his European debut. Give the guy a chance.

Eh? was just expressing an opinion, not remotely slighting Litchfield. Proctor when fit is excellent too. You were proposig starting Litchfield and rotating two proven good players to be fair.

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote: Dingwall is better at 12 than either imo

Well yes at the moment Dingwall is the better player. Litchfield is 19 years old and today made his European debut. Give the guy a chance.

Eh? was just expressing an opinion, not remotely slighting Litchfield. Proctor when fit is excellent too. You were proposig starting Litchfield and rotating two proven good players to be fair.

Litchfield looks a 13 to me but, yeah, still very young.

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote: Dingwall is better at 12 than either imo

Well yes at the moment Dingwall is the better player. Litchfield is 19 years old and today made his European debut. Give the guy a chance.

Eh? was just expressing an opinion, not remotely slighting Litchfield. Proctor when fit is excellent too. You were proposig starting Litchfield and rotating two proven good players to be fair.

This is all on the basis of my comment that I'd like to see Litchfield as a constant in our centres 'once he's bedded in'. I'm not meaning right now, this season. Indeed I think at the moment our best pairing is probably Dingwall and Proctor.

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:
Well yes at the moment Dingwall is the better player. Litchfield is 19 years old and today made his European debut. Give the guy a chance.

Eh? was just expressing an opinion, not remotely slighting Litchfield. Proctor when fit is excellent too. You were proposig starting Litchfield and rotating two proven good players to be fair.

This is all on the basis of my comment that I'd like to see Litchfield as a constant in our centres 'once he's bedded in'. I'm not meaning right now, this season. Indeed I think at the moment our best pairing is probably Dingwall and Proctor.

Fair enough, and I agree on the latter.

Spiffy wrote:

Adam_P wrote:Baloucoune is a great player, the offload for that BP try was great

He is, but little Lowry at FB is something special in that form. Fantastic acceleration and footwork.

Baloucoune looks more of an international though.

Can’t escape the fact that at test level Lowry would be massively targeted in the air, and I’ve noticed that he’s really not got good top end pace. Got chased down by Mitchell against Saints, who is a very sharp scrum half but shouldn’t be catching test potential back 3 players.

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote: Eh? was just expressing an opinion, not remotely slighting Litchfield. Proctor when fit is excellent too. You were proposig starting Litchfield and rotating two proven good players to be fair.

This is all on the basis of my comment that I'd like to see Litchfield as a constant in our centres 'once he's bedded in'. I'm not meaning right now, this season. Indeed I think at the moment our best pairing is probably Dingwall and Proctor.

Fair enough, and I agree on the latter.

Though saying that...