Tag Archives: ulster rugby

Munster have added 20-year-old out-half Ben Healy in place of Alex Wootton to their Champions Cup squad ahead of Saturday’s Pool 4 opener against the Ospreys.  With first-choice ten Joey Carbery out injured and back-up J.J Hanrahan a doubt for this weekend, Munster are light of options with Tyler Bleyendaal the side’s only available out-half. Despite Johann van Graan suggesting …

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland was a little more optimistic than expected when he spoke to the media after seeing his side fall to a second defeat of the season.  The northern province led Munster by a point with a quarter of the game remaining in Thomond Park but they weren’t able to capitalise any further as Andrew Conway’s sublime …

Seán McMahon reporting from Thomond Park.  Munster are facing into a potential out-half crisis with European rugby on the horizon after JJ Hanrahan was removed after the half-hour mark in Munster’s 22-16 win over Ulster in Limerick on Saturday night.  Munster head coach Johann van Graan confirmed during his post-match press conference that Hanrahan was removed with what looks to …

Munster 22 Ulster 16 Sean McMahon reporting from Thomond Park  Halloween may be behind us but Munster produced a real fright for their supporters as they almost suffered an unlikely defeat at home. With a 15-6 lead at halftime, many expected Munster to push on but some poor discipline allowed Ulster a way back into the game through the boot …

Leinster and Ulster have named their teams for their respective matches in the Guinness PRO14 this weekend.  Leinster host the Dragons on Friday night at the RDS and head coach Leo Cullen has made a number of changes to the side which produced a narrow 3-0 win over Zebre in Italy last weekend. Devin Toner will captain Leinster from the …

With the Rugby World Cup taking a rest day, attention turns to the Guinness PRO 14 which kicks off tonight with the meeting of Ulster and Ospreys. Excitement is building in Belfast ahead of the new season with Friday night rugby at the Kingspan Stadium set to return for another year of thrills and spills. The atmosphere at the ground …

A lot of questions were asked of this Ireland squad in the lead-up to the ongoing Rugby World Cup in Japan.  A poor showing in the Six Nations was compounded when England dropped 57 points on Joe Schmidt’s side last month in Twickenham. A lot of criticism was levied at the team, but outgoing captain Rory Best seemed to shoulder …

Ulster Rugby have today confirmed that Iain Henderson will take over as club captain for the 2019/2020 season following the retirement of Rory Best. The 27-year-old has previously captained the northern province on numerous occasions and brings a wealth of experience to the role having made 105 appearances for Ulster as well as having represented both Ireland and the British …

Highly rated strength and conditioning coach, Peter Donnelly, is set to leave his role with Tyrone following the conclusion of this year’s All-Ireland campaign to take up a new role within the Ulster Rugby Academy.  Donnelly was an extremely decorated player in his own right picking up All-Ireland medals in 2005 and 2008 as part of the Tyrone senior panel …

The fixtures for the 2019/20 Guinness PRO14 season have been released by tournament officials this afternoon.  Due to the 2019 Rugby World Cup which takes place in Japan, the season will begin later than usual with the opening round taking place on the weekend of 27-28th September. Ahead of the new campaign, there has been some shake-up to the conferences …

Ulster have been hit with the disappointing news that their new signing, Gareth Milasinovich, has sustained an ACL tear in training.  The northern province are currently in pre-season training ahead of the 2019/20 campaign and Milasinovich, a tighthead prop signed from Worcester Warriors, will now miss nine months due to the injury. Milasinovich was expected to put pressure on Marty …

Will Addison has linked up with the Ireland squad after returning from injury earlier than expected. Addison suffered a season-ending back injury which ruled him out for the majority of the second half of last season and it was thought that he would also miss out on the opportunity to play in the Rugby World Cup after undergoing surgery in …

Ulster out-half, Johnny McPhillips has signed a deal with Leicester Tigers and will join the English Premiership ahead of next season.  McPhillips becomes the second Irish player to move to Welford Road this summer alongside Leinster’s, Noel Reid, where they will be coached by former Irish international, Geordan Murphy. He was born in England and spent five years playing soccer …

Ulster Rugby have announced their Academy intake for next season and it includes Irish Schools sprint record holder Aaron Sexton.  The 18-year-old broke the Irish Schools record in the 100m and 200m recently but he has made the decision to focus on rugby full-time instead of athletics. Despite his age and that he is now only entering his first year …

The draw for the 2019/2020 pool stages of the Heineken Champions Cup took place on Wednesday as clubs from across Europe learned their fate as to who stands between them and the knockout stages of the competition.  It’s a special year for the Irish teams as it’s the first time that all four provinces have qualified for Europe’s premier club …

The draw for the 2019/2020 edition of the Heineken Champions Cup was made on Wednesday afternoon in Lausanne, Switzerland.  All four of the Irish provinces are competing in next season’s edition of the Champions Cup and today they learned who stands between them and European glory. Here we discuss some of the biggest talking points from Wednesday’s draw. Pool Of …

The PRO14 has confirmed the makeup of the two conferences for the next two seasons.  The current format of the PRO14 has been in place for two seasons with the same teams competing in the same conferences in the last two campaigns. However, officials have now confirmed that there will some shakeup ahead of the 2019/20 campaign with six teams …

Zebre have announced today that they have signed Irish second-row Ian Nagle ahead of the 2019/20 season.  Nagle was one of seven players who Leinster announced will be departing the province but it remained to be seen where he would end up. The 30-year-old has been on loan with Ulster since November where has made 11 appearances for Dan McFarland’s …