Ulster on to a winner as social media fans are thrilled by signing of Matt Faddes
Ulster confirmed the rumour on Tuesday that Highlanders centre Matt Faddes will be joining them ahead of next season.
The 27-year-old centre is having an excellent season with the Super Rugby outfit, and will be a great addition to an Ulster side that are hoping to close the gap on their Irish rivals Leinster and Munster.
The former New Zealand Sevens player looks to be one of those signings that can make a huge impact at a club. Capable of playing in the centres, on the wing or at full-back, he is an elusive runner with a good turn of pace. He’s solid in both attack and defence and has a great skill set, as all New Zealanders do.
In light of this announcement, Ulster fans have taken to Twitter to welcome Faddes to Ravenhill as they look forward to what he can bring. This is what they said:
Thrilled that these rumours have turned out be true. @MattFaddes is having a great season with @Highlanders. What a signing! Welcome Matt! SUFTUM.
— WJE-SUFTUM (@WJE_SUFTUM) May 14, 2019
Oof. Great signing. @sharnehawkins
— Jonathan Hawkins (@JonnyMoHawkins) May 14, 2019
Super signing! Made my day! #baller https://t.co/vwD6WD7r5r
— Ross Barnett (@rbarnett08) May 14, 2019
Another exciting addition to the squad. We are moving in the right direction ? #SUFTUM https://t.co/06JedZL9KX
— David Patterson (@DPatz13) May 14, 2019
Fantastic player and great to see it's finally confirmed suftum onceaulstermanalwaysaulsterman https://t.co/H18m7NigUI
— chris TOOLE???????????????? (@1018ct) May 14, 2019
What a scary back 3 @UlsterRugby are going to have faddes stockdale and Addison suftum onceaulstermanalwaysaulsterman
— chris TOOLE???????????????? (@1018ct) May 14, 2019
More good business for Ulster. Matt Faddes is a tidy back from the Highlanders who will do good things next season. https://t.co/Q1ayA5Qrvr
— Will Slattery (@slatterywill) May 14, 2019
Faddes is a great signing. He's sneaky fast, decent on the wing or at 15. Not sure about Owen's knees and a 3g pitch though ?
— Rhys Knott (@wrhys_writes) May 14, 2019
With Darren Cave, a long-time stalwart of the Ulster back line, retiring at the end of the season, Faddes may have been highlighted as the man to replace the former Ireland international in the 13 shirt. If that is the case, Ulster have landed the perfect replacement.
With the arrival of Wallaby Sam Carter and British and Irish Lion Jack McGrath next season, Ulster are intent on building their squad to compete with the likes of Leinster. While Faddes may not be an All Black, he has all the hallmarks of being a favourite at Ravenhill for the seasons to come.
The additional loss of Rory Best, who is retiring, will only add to coach Dan McFarland’s tinkering for next season.
But their latest recruitment means that the side are heading in the right direction as the versatile Faddes has the potential to have the same impact as the likes of Charles Piutau with the Northern Irish club.
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Pls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
124 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
124 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
124 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
124 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
4 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to comments