1
Ulster Rugby face anxious wait after both star summer signings injured
By Ian Cameron
Ulster Rugby's two big summer signing look like spending a significant chunk of the season on the sidelines after a double whammy of injuries forced the pair off the pitch during their side's clash with Bath Rugby in the Heineken Champions Cup.
Neither former Wallaby Sam Carter nor Ireland loosehead Jack McGrath made it through a brutal first half of rugby at The Rec.
First to go was McGrath who was forced to trudge off just 8 minutes into the first half. He appeared to be clutching his wrist.
Carter looked in serious discomfort following an incident in the 24th minute. The Wallaby then left the field with his arm in a makeshift team, suggesting a possible shoulder injury.
Alongside Highlanders star Matt Faddes - McGrath and Carter were Ulster Rugby's three big-ticket signings heading into the season.
The son of former Wallaby David Carter, Sam attended The Scots College in Sydney, before going on to represent Sydney University.
He made his debut for the Brumbies in 2011, against the Melbourne Rebels, and in 2018 he became just the twelfth player to make 100 appearances for the club. To date, he has earned 105 Super Rugby caps.
In February 2017, Carter was named as Brumbies co-captain alongside Christian Leali'ifano, who himself enjoyed a successful four-month stint at Ulster last season, and they have jointly led the side over the past two Super Rugby campaigns.
The 29-year-old made his Test debut against France in June 2014 and has earned 16 caps in total.
McGrath was first capped for Ireland in 2013 against Samoa and has won 54 caps for Ireland to date and featured in all three Tests on the 2017 British and Irish Lions Tour of New Zealand. He is a Six Nations winner with Ireland in 2014, 2015 and 2018.
He made his debut for Leinster in 2010 against Glasgow Warriors and has made over 140 appearances for the Province, winning three Heineken European Cups, an Amlin Challenge Cup, a Guinness PRO14 title and two PRO12 titles.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
Go to comments