not an unexpected result,  too many mistakes.  Baloucoune rarely got touching the ball ( I think it was 20+ mins before his first touch).  McCloskey was sub power compared to his normal high standard, ( oh the miss pass to hugo that led to a walk in for New Zealand) maybe it just been too long of a season for him.  But even Aki was off, I remember Hugo had a break on the right ( might have been a cross field kick, and you could see Aki was jogging after him and only sped up when he got tackled and isolated, but it was too late.  I don’t think Aki will be at a high enough level come the next world cup and then we are really relying on McCloskey.  Seem to be been short sighted not to have blooded in Jude as he seems the next logical option?

Yes I think it will be seen in hindsight that they have kept Aki in the team too long.  Jude might have got a chance in these summer games but he had to have surgery, and the fact that he’s routinely on the Ulster bench probably counted against him a bit.

It’s also a mystery (to me anyway) how James Hume has never got another look.  Since he came back from the injuries he has been excellent for Ulster. We’ve been sitting on the Henshaw/Aki/Ringrose triumvirate (admittedly they’ve all been great) for a very long time and it was really only Aki’s suspension that got even McCloskey back in.

@forestial now knowing he’s was getting surgery, him not being included makes more sense ( not that I’m 100% certain he would been on squad bar that)

James has been better, but don’t think he’s back at his peak of a few years ago before he got injured.  At the time ringrose was not playing great, so there was more chat about Hume.  But maybe he can have a great season this year and gets to be a bolter on to the squad.  If Aki keeps regressing there might be space for jude and/ or james