Leinster blink and Ulster stumble

In the valleys steeped in folklore, pride and years of hardship, blood sweat and toil in the mines you can feel the roots of rugby and see the beginnings and the reasons why the Welsh are so passionate about our great game. The myths of dragon slaying and stories of heroics on the field borne out of relief from the hard toil generated into a culture of self-belief and enormous pride in the feats of their prize teams. Names like Bridgend, JPR Williams, Swansea and now Llanelli are names touring sides have come to dread for out of these town and villages in a small region half the size of Ulster some of the worlds most ferocious players can lay claim to be their descendants. Leinster having blinked in Cardiff had handed the initiative over to Ulster who have not lost in Wales this year. An achievement in itself as before this they had not won in Wales in the modern day Celtic League. A win was required and preferably one with a bonus point would make Ulster unassailable and Celtic League Champions. The Cup was in Strady, in itself a bad omen, but this was not to be the night of fairy tales and of dragon slaying nor were Ulster to be the crowned champions this night at any rate. Heroes maybe for there were many deeds worthy of mention in terms of bravery such as the awesome defence for most of the game that yielded only 2 tries after a period of sustained pressure as good as this side has had to endure all season.

The conditions were abysmal and not befitting the time of year more like the middle of November in the worst possible meaning. Not suited to the type of running game Ulster enjoy as the slippery ball leads to errors and the wind to imprecision in passing. However apart from that there were disappointing aspects to the Ulster game. The second Scarlet try was a maul of 60 yards that seemed almost effortless and Ulster players too many to mention were slow and sluggish to rejoin the fray and only too keen to continue revisiting after the resist was long past its point of attack. That was simply unforgivable. The turnovers and the slow ball once the very influential Ferris left the field with an ankle injury were the ultimate downfalls. The very dominant and incisive display over the Borders last week coupled with a first quarter that was close to mesmeric at Strady may all have aided to the poor showing. But that should not detract from the defensive effort that was put in the tackle nor should we forget that their Captain Simon Best was stretchered off with a broken ankle, although there were signs of imprecision creeping in you felt it would be eradicated as the defensive line out was working a treat in stealing ball and the rest was going swimmingly. But on loosing Simon Best Ulster lost their leader and were a belligerent tribe without any real direction but a lot of very brave men with no sense. Anything that could possibly go wrong was going wrong. David Humphries had to go off with a cut above his eye and Jonny Bell came on only to slip on his first touch of the ball. Mr Reliable Bryn Cunningham knocked on without a Scarlets player within a hound’s growl of him. Davy Humphries put 3 kicks directly into touch and Andrew Maxwell one. Those are all massive initiatives to donate to the opposition. Throw in a few dropped passes poor kicking out of defence, players not chasing kicks ahead and hoping someone else would do the job for them. Then you begin to have some idea of the pressure the Ulster defence was under and sapping tackles that had to be made. The intense contribution in the tackle slightly built players like Davy Humphries, Isaac Boss and Paddy Wallace made. How well the line out functioned. Had these factors not been the case Ulster would have been stuffed.

It had all started of so brightly with Tommy Bowe scoring after a very clever Humphries kick to the corner for the former to control and score in the corner. Minutes later Andy Maxwell scores the second latching onto a Trimble initiative and breeching the home defence to make us think the job could be completed before half time. It may have been the case that Ulster thought this as well. But that was a good as it was going to be with Ulster destined not to score again. Paddy Wallace missed a penalty close in. In fairness to him the wind was horrendous and Llanelli missed an even easier one late on in the game. Ulster were stealing the ball from the lineout moving into their patterns well knocking the stuffing out of the Scarlets; or so we thought. The home side maul was proving to be a handful and although when the ball was moved in the backs the talented Scarlets back line proved to be no real threat to the Ulster defence. Just before half time though Phil John rumbled in to set the scene of the rest of the game. Half time Scarlets 7 Ulster 12.

The second half was more of the same with Ulster trying to play their game in terrible conditions when it may have been best to keep the ball a bit tighter and bring the forwards back into it. They had proved in the first that they could maul in a series of energy sapping drives that do more to stifle the opposition that anything else in such conditions. Scarlets knew this to be the case. The Scarlets were all over the Ulster side like a rash when they kicked ahead cutting down the option and time of players like Cunningham and Maxwell forcing them into errors. When Ulster kicked ahead it was very seldom into space and it was very seldom followed up with much enthusiasm and certainly with no pressure put on the opposition. Then came that drive in a seemly innocuous position close to the half that resulted in Phil John scoring his second try. The heart and the soul of the Ulster side was sucked right out of it. The lifeblood of the entire season was haemorrhaging right before our very eyes in what seemed to be and endless drive that surely would be stopped. It was horrific to watch. In rugby terms it was your worst nightmare come true in a very clear and graphic apparition. Ulster was made to look like amateurs in that long long minute of horror. It was a sucker punch. It could have been the catalyst of a lot worse. But to their credit and said a lot about the character of the Ulster side they stuck to the task. Although it brought the score to all square at Scarlets 12 Ulster 12 it should have been the opening of the floodgates, the submergence of Ulster and the end of any Celtic League title hopes. But it never came to pass. For that was the end of the scoring and although both sides tried with some creative play by the Ulster backs and a missed dropped goal by David Humphries that was on its way between the sticks only to be taken wide by the breath of the dragon otherwise known as a wicked swirling wind.

And so the league goes right down to the wire. One or two points last night are irrelevant in terms of points required with Ulster needing a win to be champions. Any sort of a win will do. Leinster needs to score the winning bonus and Ulster to fall flat on their noses. It could be a likely scenario. Certainly there were those leaving Strady thinking it a probability. Scarlets officials’ graciously told me that Ulster earned the draw because of their Herculean defensive efforts especially the line out. The league title is Ulster’s to loose. Scarlets were well fired up with the departure of Gareth Jenkins. Ulster I suspect were title happy. The Scarlets were jubilant at the result while Ulster were dismayed. Mark McCall managed a smile but underneath he must have been crumbling with disappointment. Scarlets came together last night in a magnificent way playing the conditions better than Ulster. But such are the advances made by Ulster that this is seen as a game lost and not as a point gained. Logically the team that should be dismayed were the Scarlets as Ulster were lucky to come away with the draw and but for a swirl could have snatched it. With Simon Best and Stephen Ferris due to miss the Ospreys game it will be a huge task for Ulster next Friday. Maybe that was the wake up call that these boys need to inject a bit of reality and perspective into proceedings. This is a real teat of character and squad depth. It is still there for the taking. Ulster need to step up and take it because noone is going to gift it ot them least of all the Ospreys.

ULSTER: 15 - Bryn Cunningham; 14 - Tommy Bowe; 13 - Andrew Trimble; 12 - Paddy Wallace; 11 - Andrew Maxwell; 10 - David Humphreys; 9 - Isaac Boss; 1 - Bryan Young; 2 - Rory Best; 3 - Simon Best (Captain); 4 - Justin Harrison; 5 - Matt McCullough; 6 - Neil Best; 7 - Stephen Ferris; 8 - Roger Wilson

Replacements: 16 - Nigel Brady; 17 - Justin Fitzpatrick; 18 - Ryan Caldwell; 19 - Neil McMillan; 20 - Kieran Campbell; 21 - Jonny Bell; 22 - Tyrone Howe

Scarlets:
15. Lee Byrne; 14. Mark Jones; 13. Matthew J Watkins; 12. Regan King; 11. Garan Evans; 10. Craig Evans; 9. Dwayne Peel; 1. Phil John; 2. Aled Gravelle; 3. Craig Dunlea; 4. Vernon Cooper (C); 5. Hottie Louw; 6. Inoke Afeaki; 7. Dafydd Jones;
8. Jonathan Mills;

Replacements:
16. John Davies; 17. Matthew Rees; 18. Chris Wyatt; 19. Jonathan Edwards; 20. Lee Williams;
21. Gareth Bowen; 22. Gavin Evans

Referee: Graeme Hannah (SRU). Touch Judges: Jon Mason (WRU), Ken Bowen (WRU).

Your comments
Name			Your comments
	Brehon		Exactly what bearing does an incident instigated by Harrison have on the result? What incident was instigated? Who killed Roger Rabbit?
	FrankOz		I would say that this incident was used by coaching staff to give the kick up the backside the Scarlets needed to fuel their 2nd half revival, as the push on Moriarty was completely unjustified; similar to the incident a fortnight ago on Mike Phillips for Cardiff Blues. He was shouldered into the hoardings as he tried to jog past Harrison into the tunnel!!