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Ulster face nervous wait as Billy Burns undergoes scan

364 days ago

Ulster's Billy Burns (Photo by Matt Impey/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Ulster will soon learn the fate of fly-half Billy Burns after he picked up a shoulder injury against the Sharks on Saturday in the United Rugby Championship.

The Ireland international was replaced by Nathan Doak early in the second half of Ulster’s 22-12 loss after injuring his shoulder. He will undergo a scan today in Cape Town to find out the extent of an injury that at first appeared quite severe.

The 29-year-old’s participation against the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday seems unlikely as they look to bounce back from the loss in Durban. They will be up against a Stormers side that posted a 43-21 win over Edinburgh over the weekend.

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Burns is already in the final straight of his Ulster career, with a move to Munster agreed ahead of next season, and a severe injury may limit his participation in his final weeks at the Kingspan Stadium.

The fly-half is not the only casualty from the Sharks game though, with flanker Sean Reffell also set to undergo a scan for an ankle injury.

The loss to the Sharks, who had only previously won one URC game all season, was a setback in Ulster’s hopes of making the top four this season, and the challenge only gets harder against the 2022 champions in Cape Town.

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Comments on RugbyPass

YeowNotEven 26 minutes ago

'There's a lot of rugby knowledge': David Havili's reasoning behind in-form backline

Cullen grace seems to me like an old leathery veteran and he’s barely in his mid 20s

27 Go to comments

YeowNotEven 31 minutes ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

Sux DuPont got hurt but it was a normal rugby incident. It’s a contact sport, accidents will happen, people get hurt.

We don’t need to go all Jan 6th with outrage every time someone breaks something or gets their head bumped.

8 Go to comments

PT 1 hour ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

The truth can sometimes sting a bit, so I fully understand your delusional take on it. Also, I'm sure you'd be aware of the list of opposition players Irish players have injured with this? To be clear, I don't believe the Irish players are trying to intentionally injure opposition players, certainly not. But they are reckless in a lot of their ‘clearing out’ maneuvers and tactics, therefore causing injuries to opposition players. I suppose they don't do it at training so they don't injure each other, but it really does appear to be repetitive aspect of their play.

So, why don't you get some batteries for your noddy train & go play for a while.

8 Go to comments

raymond bailly 1 hour ago

Waratahs snap losing streak against ill-disciplined Brumbies

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Crusaders prepare for 'dangerous in all elements' Chiefs game-breaker

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BH 1 hour ago

'There's a lot of rugby knowledge': David Havili's reasoning behind in-form backline

Your hatred for ALB is borderline trolling at this point. He’s proven himself at test level for years.

Ennor is done and dusted. Too injury prone for years and years. Proctor is a better choice.

27 Go to comments

BH 1 hour ago

'There's a lot of rugby knowledge': David Havili's reasoning behind in-form backline

Tele’a scored some wonderful tries on the end of year tour against England and Italy and played well against Ireland.

Reece is the liability at test level - he was shown up big time against France.

27 Go to comments

PS 2 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

What you're asking for is an explanation for why the officials and citing officials don't make the same judgements on specific incidents as you do. What explanation can be given other than something along the lines of “the incident wasn't judged to have met the criteria for an illegal tackle”? What other explanation do you expect? Refs now give explanations for why an incident is judged to be illegal and why an illegal action may result in a card. If a card, or a penalty is not awarded. The only explanation possible is that there's no evidence of foul play. A coaching team can (and often do) seek clarity from the officials and WR on specific incidents in a game and they are free to share the outcome of such questions with fans. You should turn to the French coaching team for answers. The French coaching team should have raised any concerns in the appropriate channels instead of publicly accusing players of intentionally trying to injure another player. This incident has left a very sour taste and created a lot of bad blod

8 Go to comments

JH 2 hours ago

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Given he’s from Christchurch, the Crusaders are probably kicking themselves a bit.

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JH 2 hours ago

Sky Sports commentator on why Wallabies players are outplaying All Blacks counterparts

““Rieko Ioane has struggled to find form in Super Rugby. We know what he can do at Test level, on the wing I’ll add that”

Exactly, and that was years ago now. Rieko is a liability with a seriously limited skillset, especially for a 13. Frankly, every opponent is outplaying him. He’ll still make the ABs though, every player over 50 caps will, because we don’t drop ‘leadership group’ players apparently.

7 Go to comments

PS 2 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

I agree with your last sentence. In addition, I would like to add that I also wish you a speedy recovery from whatever made you write the first two sentences.

8 Go to comments

Poorfour 2 hours ago

Antoine Dupont undergoes surgery on injured knee ahead of long absence

I’m not looking for special treatment for anybody. If anything, I’m looking to dispel the perception that some teams are treated more leniently than others.

For instance, compare the tackle that ultimately earned Owen Farrell from the RWC warm ups with the one that only earned Eben Etzebeth a YC from head contact with Atonio in the QF. I have yet to see any reasonable justification for why two near-identical incidents (with Farrell’s if anything having the greater mitigation) produced totally different judgements.

Rugby has a long and inglorious history of dismissing these incidents without providing any explanation - remember the spear tackle on BOD on the 2005 Lions tour?

If Beirne wasn’t reckless, then he and Ireland should have nothing to fear, but the game benefits from having a clear explanation of why.

8 Go to comments

Chiefs Mana 3 hours ago

Sky Sports commentator on why Wallabies players are outplaying All Blacks counterparts

She’s talking more about individuals, i couldn’t agree more with you though from a team perspective.

Aussies also have the motivation of a Lions series to fuel them through and a lot of wide open spaces in the WB team.

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Ma'a Nonu secures Top 14 return aged 42

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RedWarriors 4 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

“There has been a university brain drain for many decades (at least since the 90s) so I'm not sure if overly relevant. Most talented youth players are identified at school and then provided a development contract with Ulster which requires them to stay in Ireland. I don't know of any young players who left to go to university and then were awarded professional rugby contacts to an English/Scottish team.”

Ok thanks, that clears that up.

43 Go to comments

RedWarriors 4 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

“I would also be surprised if there are many kids going “across the water” to schools. It is a long time since I taught and coached rugby in Ulster, but I am still in contact with family and lads I coached…have not heard any of that mentioned.

What I have heard is that a significant number now to to Uni. outside Ireland. In my day it was Queen’s or Trinity, a few to UCD.”

Apologies, you are correct, I was thinking about Universities! I had heard that amore students were being educated outside of Ireland but mixed that up with fee paying schools. Would this affect potential rugby careers or would promising rugby players tend to stay in Ireland?

Wider question but I’ve often taught sevens was the way to break kids more generally into rugby. Say for example, Ireland had a successful 2023 RWC. Volume of rugby playing population could be quickly expanded via sevens then building pathways for promising looking 15s players etc.

43 Go to comments

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RedWarriors 4 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

Another sign in Munster was Castletroy winning Junior and Senior Cups in same year maybe 15 years ago. Castletroy is a public schools (not fee paying) and it was a double first for a non Cork/Limerick private school or somewhere like Rockwell (where my Dad went).

He won the Senior Munster Cup when he was there. As a snapshot at what it was like in the 50s: he claimed a Cork team used to win most years then (Presentation College I think) as a victory celebration they used to kick the Cup down St Patricks hill (notoriously steep hill in Cork City Centre). The year Rockwell run, Presentation had paper marche-ed the cup back together from the previous years kick down St Patricks Hill. They assumed their guy would be the guy lifting the cup and he knew to be careful. With the shock Rockwell victory my Dad got to lift the cup and there was no gentleness only ecstacy. Unfortunately, he lifted so hard the two lugs detached and he hoisted the lugs in the air with the cup staying put. Presentation got the last laugh there!

Not sure if prez still kick it down Patricks Hill, maybe O’Gara would know!

43 Go to comments

Js 5 hours ago

Sky Sports commentator on why Wallabies players are outplaying All Blacks counterparts

Slow and steady builds for sustainability. Why burn out too soon? I agree with Wilson that Aussie players are trying to prove a point but our ABs don’t need to burn themselves out within the early stages.

7 Go to comments

RedWarriors 5 hours ago

'Ulster, though no one wants to admit it, isn't much more than a development province right now.'

Connaught has a population of 0.5 million and 1/14th of Ireland’s total population. They are building an exciting, strong, young team. We have no issues. What exactly is Munster’s issue? Is it injury or is something else? As I suggested a tweak to the centralized contracts to rebalance funding might help. As for Ulster, the playing pool needs to be expanded. Leinster has 3 million people, Ulster has 2.25 million but there is no comparison to the amount of players, systems and the Leinster academy. This is not explained by IRFU favouring Leinster players.

Leinster supply a lot of Ulster players as you imply and were it not for that Ulster would Ulster be in worse straits?

There is no magic wand here. I will put it plainly, Ulster needs to push rugby out beyond the traditional few schools that play. It probably needs the IRFUs help with that potentially with an Ireland wide plan to develop the sport.

Others have noted that an infusion of quality coaches would go a long way.