The UAFC

Big-al wrote:Still not convince about Billy Burns.

I'm convinced. He's not good enough.

Dave wrote:*Baloucoune

Ludick
Balocoune
Kave
McCluskey
Little
Bums
Coony
O'Sulivan
Herron
More
O'Conor
Tredwell
Russ
Murray
Timothy

Lucks week

Really solid performance, I enjoyed that one - yes we could have been more clinical (tbh I think mostly down to a big off day by Cooney, and a very rusty Burns), and the 15 min lapse in concentration / fit of head staggers with the 2 yellows was disappointing, but a really good outing for the pack.

Hats off to McFarland for the work he’s done on the set piece, more to do but it’s now really solid. We also look much better on the carry IMO - we don’t have absolutely massive guys, but we’re much better at using footwork to enter contact on better terms, and the speed of arrival and clear-out technique is much improved. Again more to do but we’re seeing less of guys running down blind alleys, support taking ages to arrive, turnover.. which has had me tearing my hair out for what feels like years. Add to the mix improved ball skills with some nice tip-ons and offloads, definite signs of improvement

The final try was just superb - firstly playing exactly the right gameplan in the circumstances (yes it’s obvious to keep it tight down to 13, but how many times over recent years have we seen Ulster make daft decisions and play absolute braindead rugby??) secondly the composure, the skills held up well, I thought Shanahan directed play very well, and thirdly the consistent gainline success. It’s the kind of thing that Leinster do so well

Great to see Timoney come out of his shell a bit, and once again Ross was impressive, in fact I had him as a MOTM contender - although EOS was a deserving winner. Interesting nugget from Cave in the programme, in the GPS review after the Ospreys game, he had clocked 79 ‘accelerations’ which is one of their metrics, Cave said it’s about twice the amount that you’d expect on average for a front rower. Amazing the progress he has made this season.

I thought the subs did well too, notably Rea who looked in great shape and carried well, and Warwick who has been making a good impact off the bench recently..

Some slightly odd marking from Sadlier.

6 for Ross and 5 for Wee D. 4 for Cave.

Only Eric was deemed worthy of a score above 7. He must have eaten an extra banana before the game.

IMHO the fourth try was Ulster try (to date) of the season, hats off to a pack at least four shy of full strength. Cooney looked and played like a seriously frustrated man and you could sense the coaches losing patience, I think he deserves a place on the bench this week against France but doubt he’ll get it with Marmion playing again, hopefully will all add to the performance on 30 March!

No doubt the irony of the 9 being subbed off after having a poor game was not lost on Cooney.

It was a good decision by a coaching team beginning to look dangerously like they know what they're doing.

Add that to Baggy's hiatus (not a hernia so far as I'm aware) and you get a quiet forum....

The forum is dying.

Dave wrote:The forum is dying.

No more signing announcements to keep us entertained KOTH?

pip14 wrote:

Dave wrote:The forum is dying.

No more signing announcements to keep us entertained KOTH?

Are we expecting any?

KOTH has already hinted at Faddes which is more reliable than any newspaper.

Jack McGrath?

Other than that I would say we are done and dusted it terms of new additions for next season.

justinr73 wrote:Some slightly odd marking from Sadlier.

6 for Ross and 5 for Wee D. 4 for Cave.

Only Eric was deemed worthy of a score above 7. He must have eaten an extra banana before the game.

Slightly odd doesn't start to describe that nonsense from Sadlier. I would give him a score of 2 for his perceptive analysis.
On the Faddes thing, I understand he has signed for us. Having not heard anything about McGrath for a few days, I suspect it may not happen. I'm sure Leinster will be going blue(r) in the face trying to get him to stay there.

Mick Rathbone (who I used to watch at Preston North End 30 years ago – jeez….) tells a very good story about the time when marks began to be awarded to players in the Sunday People and how it affected him.

He couldn’t sleep after a match apparently and used to rock up to Birmingham station to get the paper off the first train up from London.

He said he was very proud to get 8 in a League Cup tie, albeit that was his aggregate score over the two legs.

justinr73 wrote:He said he was very proud to get 8 in a League Cup tie, albeit that was his aggregate score over the two legs.

How many legs did he normally play on?





(I know, I know)

One leg over is usually enough


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rocky wrote:

justinr73 wrote:Some slightly odd marking from Sadlier.

6 for Ross and 5 for Wee D. 4 for Cave.

Only Eric was deemed worthy of a score above 7. He must have eaten an extra banana before the game.

Slightly odd doesn't start to describe that nonsense from Sadlier. I would give him a score of 2 for his perceptive analysis.
On the Faddes thing, I understand he has signed for us. Having not heard anything about McGrath for a few days, I suspect it may not happen. I'm sure Leinster will be going blue(r) in the face trying to get him to stay there.

Sadlier’s ratings are completely leftfield... it’s like he just writes numbers on a wall and throws darts at them

On the McGrath signing, I’d imagine if it happens the IRFU will leave it a few weeks to let the hubbub die down, also potentially get the other side of the 6n