Agrees, a true wrecking ball of a man, a fantastic player that had you drawing breath when he ran through and over people. It always shows what a hard tough game this is when men like him have to stand down.

Best of luck to him for the future.

sad day but stephen ferris has retired at 28. (you could say 26 as he hasnt played much in 2years)

on his day, he was one of the best

Never liked Tom Court and never rated him but if Connacht can carry on the way they have played this season and keep their discipline Court may well have gifted £10,000 with that red card.

They had over 3k there last night. Seemed to be a decent atmosphere going by pro12 highlights. Looks a nice ground in photos. Maybe 4dogs or one of the others can give their opinion on it in the flesh.

mary hinge wrote: Of course Zebre are battling Treviso for the spot in the New Heineken. Does this bring them past Treviso?

Yeah, they're ahead on points difference, so Treviso have to pick up at least a bonus point at home to Glasgow or away to Dragons.
The way Treviso are haemorrhaging players, Zebre will be a better team than them next season anyway.

Of course Zebre are battling Treviso for the spot in the New Heineken. Does this bring them past Treviso?

Great passion and pride from them. Love the coaches reaction at the end !

And an Ulster win over Leinster might make things a little easier for Connacht since the Ospreys will have little to play for then.

A more competitive Zebre squad wouldn't be welcomed news for Connacht, but I for one would love for them to be allowed to build on their recent form next season.

Some thought I was mad to be tuning into Italian TV at 5pm on a Thursday.
I even questioned my own sanity.
But what a finish.
Ulster just need one point from their last two games now to guarantee a semi.

connachtexile wrote:

Don't forget Mr Ryan arriving from Parma as well as cover for TH.

I thought Ryan was a LH and his brother Tim was the TH?

He converted at munster and now plays both but imo hes a LH.

No news of Ian Porter?

connachtexile wrote: Yeah he's meant to be the long-term future for Ulster now that Afoa is going? Can't see it. Reading the boards in Ulster Rugby even a good percentage of the fans their are tired of his constant injuries.
Ulster could be in trouble next season. All they have apart from Fitzpatrick is Herbst who is untried in the N.H. and a lad from the academy called Taylor who is meant to be the next big thing. Not sure if McAllister or Macklin are hanging around and wouldn't have a huge amount of faith in them keeping fit either.

P.S. Pretty sure Wallace is gone. He reinjured the same leg in the same place in his comeback game. Can't see him coming back from it unfortunately.

Such a shame for Wallace to be in the form of your career and then suffer that type of injury luck.

Don't forget Mr Ryan arriving from Parma as well as cover for TH. Never watched Herbst before but one thing you have to say about Ulster under Humphreys is they don't appear to make many bad signings.

Goes to show just how tough this game actually is. I have not seen Ferris much since his return, has he come back the same player?

Also heard that Paddy Wallace could be finished? He has been out for some time now.

Simple/inevitable answer is he can't keep going. 2010/11 was the last time he managed to appear in 15 games. I'm constantly amazed that he is considered a valid option (long term or otherwise) for Ulster and Ireland with his history.

A lot of ulster fans are giving out about scottish tmo and lacey being a munster man reffing their game.it highlights again one of the bigger problems with this league. A welsh or italian ref and tmo and its poor officiating. With current system its a conspiracy at all times. It has to change if league is to succeed imo.

Borders no.2 wrote:

Fourdogs wrote:

Borders no.2 wrote: Glasgow look a good bet for a home semi-final at this stage. Their run in looks good. They went close last year I wouldn't write them off this year. Looking at Ospreys run in compared with Ulster, Ospreys could squeeze them out of the top 4 altogether.
.

Tonights result just made our life, and that 7th spot a whole lot harder. Ospreys now have a really strong shot at a play off spot.
A win for Ulster tonight would have left Ospreys and Glasgow fighting for the 4th spot and with their respective remaining games, you would have to back Glasgow. Now it looks like Ulster might even struggle to make the play off's with Leinster & Munster as their last 2 games.
If Ospreys had been out of the running, our last game might have been a little easier, not so if they are trying to secure their play off spot.

We really need to win tomorrow night.

It has its positives and negatives, Leinster, Munster, Glasgow and Ospreys have games against sides around us in the table and given how tight the table is they'll want to maximise points in those games so you'd imagine they won't slip up against Edinburgh, Dragons, Treviso etc.

In all honesty, the chances of us getting anything on the last day are and always were remote. If Zebre could do us a favour tomorrow it'd be fantastic but I think if we win our next two games we'll get 7th.

So do connacht remember! Lol.