ronk wrote:cormac wrote:simonokeeffe wrote:you'd fear for Ulster travelling to SA shorn of a lot of leadership, Best, Herring, Henderson and maybe more
As it's an away game on a Friday I fear the only player we might get back will be RK as he is the only one needing gametime
If you exclude the players in the Ireland squad and those injured these are our only senior backs available for the Glasgow match:
Gibson-Park, McCarthy, Ross Byrne, Marsh, O'Loughlin, McFadden
Injured: Tom Daly, Barry Daly, Reid, Ringrose, Nacewa
Ireland: McGrath, Sexton, Carbery, Henshaw, Adam Byrne, Dave Kearney, Rob Kearney.
Injuries are much tougher on Leinster than Ireland on that list.
Suppose Larmour gets a start. Might be a chance to try Byrne one March as centre.
We look very lightweight – as you would expect – with all those guys ruled out. We're particularly shorn of a lot of talent at centre with Ringrose, Reid, Daly and Nacewa [who has only played centre this season] all out injured.
I saw Conor O'Brien sitting with the subs up in Belfast, which might indicate that he is in contention for a debut against Glasgow. I saw some highlights of Jimmy O'Brine playing very well recently in the B&I Cup, it'd be good to see him involved in some capacity. I don't think either Marsh or Ross Byrne have any future as a centre: one is too lightweight, the other too slow. Don't see the point of playing either of them out of position in an already weakened team – there's very little chance for the experiment to succeed.
[15-9]: R. Kearney, F. McFadden, R. O'Loughlin, C. O'Brien [A], J. Larmour [A], R. Byrne, N. McCarthy
[1-8]: P. Dooley, S. Cronin, M. Bent, S. Fardy, R. Molony, C. Doris [A], J. Murphy, M. Deegan
[16-23]: R. Strauss, E. Byrne, A. Porter, M. Kearney, P. Timmins, J. Gibson-Park, C. Marsh, J. O'Brien [A]