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Has Ulster's homegrown flyhalf hope become 'persona non grata'? - Neil Best

Ulster should be happy with the addition of Jack McGrath

A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace

Cardiff’s surprise win at Edinburgh last weekend was as good for Ulster as their Ravenhill bonus win against Zebre. Conference B in the Pro14 is by far the more interesting, with a fantastic close contest for playoff places, behind run away leaders Leinster.

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Scarlets are sitting fifth but only five points adrift of second place Benetton and the Welsh side has a much easier run in. Sandwiched between them are Edinburgh and Ulster, with the Scots away to the Italians this Saturday -in a huge crunch game for both sides.

Players are often advised to play one week to the next and not focus too much on two and three games ahead. I was always the opposite. I enjoyed the mental exercise of working through the maths and predicting the outcome of other fixtures and what those results might mean for my Club. If any of Ulster’s current crop are doing the same exercise today, they will know that March is the month that will make or break their season.

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Home and away with very winnable games in the Pro14, followed by the near impossible challenge of putting Leinster to the sword in a Dublin European quarter-final. Any two out of three will mean a positive end of season.

In Belfast last weekend much more of Ulster’s broader playing pool was on show. We are also getting to see more of who Dan McFarland will be placing his confidence in the seasons to come. Robert Baloucoune is showing more and more ability in every game he plays, and fellow winger Rob Lyttle played with the confidence of someone who starts every week.

Lyttle has just signed a new contrast along with reserve scrum half Dave Shanahan, prop Ross Kane and Alan O’Connor, who I had a sneaking suspicion might have been tempted away from Ulster at the end of this season. Not least with the announcement that Brumbies lock Sam Carter will be joining in the Autumn.

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
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Those contract announcements followed hotly on the heels of Eric O’Sullivan, Michael Lowry and James Hume. And now rumours of Lions prop Jack McGrath moving north are building.

Ulster fans often talk of being “given” players who haven’t made it at Leinster or another province. And it was only a matter of time before one of those became a source of real regret in Dublin -and it’s increasingly looking like Eric O’Sullivan may well become that player. The idea that McGrath could soon be sharing the load with him in Belfast will cause real joy in Belfast and some serious dismay in Dublin.

It’s not positive for all though, the selection of Pete Nelson at flyhalf, ahead of Jonny McPhillips, strongly suggests McPhillips might be playing elsewhere next season. McPhillips did a great job taking over from Christian Lealiifano mid-season last year and was central to steering Ulster back into Champions Cup rugby. But for whatever reason he has hardly featured under McFarland and he’s starting to look like persona no grata.

This weekend I expect to see a few returnees from Ireland duty get game time in Newport. And for me some involvement of the likes of John Cooney, Rory Best, Iain Henderson or Jordi Murphy will tip the balance in Ulster’s favour. Don’t expect Jacob Stockdale to feature though, he’s just too good and too important for Ireland these days. His natural ability to score important tries -often from nothing -is a gift from above.

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J
JW 10 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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