The Front Row Union
Dan McFarland has named a strong side for the welcome of Conference A rivals Glasgow Warriors to Kingspan Stadium tomorrow night as they chase a five-win start to the Guinness PRO14 for the first time since 2016-17. Billy Burns and Stuart McCloskey are on international duty but Ulster welcome back Matt Faddes and Marcell Coetzee […]
Ulster win their first away game of the season as they triumph three tries to nil over the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium. Jacob Stockdale, Marcell Coetzee and John Cooney were on the scoresheet while Cooney contributed a further nine points from the boot. Iain Henderson set the tone of the game by declining a […]
Marcus Rea will make his first start for Ulster while his brother, Matthew, is set to make his 50th Ulster appearance as Dan McFarland makes four changes for the trip to Swansea. Alan O’Connor replaces Sam Carter in the second row, Marcus Rea starts ahead of Sean Reidy and in the backline, Ian Madigan and […]
[pullquote]Report and pictures courtesy of Bob Given Photography[/pullquote] On a chilly Friday evening at the Kingspan Stadium, defending champions, City of Armagh, met Ballynahinch in the Senior Cup Final. It was a match which ebbed and flowed, with the lead changing hands on a number of occasions. The game was minutes old, when following a […]
I finally caught up with AIL 1A runaway leaders Cork Constitution on Saturday afternoon when they visited Ballymacarn Park to play Ballynahinch in the league. The Cork side made their journey home with four points after coming out on top in their battle against Hinch and some pretty awful weather to win 5 – 16. […]
Hinch, rooted to the bottom of AIL 1A, have only scored 8 points less but have haemorrhaged 70 points more than Clontarf who were sitting 4th before today’s match. Could this porous defence be corked and get Hinch some badly needed point? The welcome return of Marcus Rea, Aaron Cairns and Kyle McCall from Ulster […]
We have an indepth look at the two teams ahead of this afternoon’s 2019 World Rugby U20 Championship 7th Place Final match. Kick off is at 13:00 in Argentina, 17:00 in UK/IRE. The match should be streamed live for those of us in the UK and will also be shown on EIR Sports. Why is […]
Ulster ended a run of four losses against Leinster with a 14-13 victory over their neighbours at Kingspan Stadium in the final match of the Guinness PRO14 regular season. The match wasn’t a classic it was good to see some of the fringe players get some game time at the end of the season. Debutant […]
Round 8 certainly threw the cat in amongst the pigeons in AIL 1B with the top four sides all losing. This allowed St Mary’s College to leapfrog them all with their bonus point win against Banbridge. At the moment only five points separate the top six sides. It got equally close at the bottom of […]
Week 4 was a good weekend for most Ulster clubs with Banbridge, Malone and Ballynahinch taking full advantage of Nass’s rearranged fixture against Old Wesley to move into positions 1 – 3 at the top of the league. However, Banbridge’s bonus point win was at the expense of, fellow Ulster club, Ballymena who remain in […]
With the match between Old Wesley and Nass refixed for 9th November 2018 there are only four fixtures in the All Ireland League 1B his weekend and with Nass cooling their heals one of four Ulster clubs have the chance of finishing the weekend at the top of the table. The fixtures this weekend are […]
With the news released today that Angus Curtis and Tom O’Toole have been granted a development contract we thought it would be an opportune time to have a look at the players in the Ulster Academy. Curtis and O’Toole will remain in the Academy for this season before graduating onto a Playing Contract. Players who […]
Ulster were narrowly edged out by Gloucester despite tries from Marcus Rea and Nick Timoney in the first half as well as James Hume in the first of two pre-season friendlies. Despite a fast tempo start from both sides it took until the 28th minute for the deadlock to be broken with Gerbrandt Grobler crossing […]
Ireland U20 internationals, Peter Cooper, Angus Curtis, Marcus Rea, Jack Regan and Jonny Stewart are included in the Ulster Academy for the coming season. Cooper, Rea and Steward all featured in the Academy, and for Ulster A in the B&I Cup, last season, Curtis and Regan being new inclusions for 2017-18. They are joined by […]
We have a look at the statistics behind Ireland U20’s recent 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship campaign in Georgia. Who did what and how did the Ulster contingent perform? Ireland U20 World Championship Results. Ireland 21 – 22 Italy Ireland 28 – 32 Scotland Ireland 3 – 69 New Zealand Ireland 52 – 26 Samoa […]
The teams have been announced for the 9 – 12 place semi-final between Ireland U20 and Samoa U20 in the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship. The match takes place at the Avchala Stadium, Tbilisi, kick off 13:00 local, 10:00 UK/IRE. It’s been a difficult tournament for the Irish youngsters, and the attrition of this tournament has taken […]
The teams have been announced for the final round of pool match of the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship between Ireland U20 and New Zealand U20. The tournament hasn’t gone too well for Ireland’s youngsters this year. It was always going to be a big ask to follow last year’s successful team and their task […]
We caught up with the Ulster players in the Ireland U20 squad out in Kutaisi, Georgia to find out how they are enjoying the experience so far. We paired the guy’s up with their animal spirit guides and asked them a few questions! 😆 We asked Marcus Rea how they have found the U20 World […]
Ireland U20’s slipped to a 21 – 22 defeat by Italy U20’s in their opening match in the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship. Such is the nature of this fantastically compact tournament they will probably now need bonus point wins against Scotland and New Zealand if they are going to achieve a top four finish. […]
The teams have been announced for Ireland U20’s opening match, against Italy U20’s, in the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship which kicks off in Georgia tomorrow afternoon. KO12:30 UK/IRE. Ireland U20 came away with a one-point win in the U20 Six Nations but it was a bit of a steal with the Italian pack having the better of […]
I must admit that when the Ireland U20’s squad for the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship in Georgia was announced last week I was a little disappointed. The squad was missing the exciting Ulster duo of Rob Lyttle and Johnny McPhillips as well as other key players in Bill Johnston, Cillian Gallagher, Jordan Larmour and […]
The Ireland U20’s squad for the World Rugby 2017 U20 World Championship was named yesterday afternoon with four Ulster players in the 28 player squad. The Ulster contingent consists of Queen’s University’s Angus Curtis and Jonny Stewart in the backs with fellow Queen’s player Marcus Rea and Belfast Harlequins Peter Cooper in the forwards. However, […]
We have a look at the statistics behind Ireland U20’s recent Six Nations campaign. Has it been a good or bad tournament for the Ulster youngsters? Ireland finished fourth overall, with three wins and two losses. They had the same number of wins as France and Wales but their inability to pick up bonus points, […]
Ireland U20’s came up just short in a highly entertaining match against England U20’s at Donnybrook on Friday night. The 10 – 14 win for the visitors saw the English youngsters complete an impressive Six Nations Grand Slam. England scored all their points in the first half with Jack Nay and Henry Walker scoring converted […]