Positives & Negatives: Ulster V Llanelli

[GerryO']

I thought Ed was big physical and aggressive last night. Caldwell gave away another needless penalty last night. If Ferris is fit, he starts.

[rosetintedgoggles]

Got home last night having received a rather large dose of deja vu! Hoever after several tinnies and a few hours kip am now seeing things a little more clearly.

We were picked apart by a world class number 10. He tormented our two wingers with some wonderful crossfield kicks on a howler of a night. Timmy didn't have a good game but then the conditions simply were not suitable for his game (or is that vikki versa?). Trimby...dear oh dear!

On the positive side I thought BJ was excellent. His scrummaging technique was a joy to behold and his play in the loose was textbook. Shifty looks good under the high ball and at last we appear to have got ourselves a kicker. The other new guys all had solid games.

NOC made a real difference when he came on. MW will have to go with NOC and IHumph at 10. Rory Best never leaves anything out on the pitch. Immense

Oh and this bloke Easterbunny drives me nuts with his sly trips, blocks and niggles off the ball. Perhaps Specsavers should provide the officials with vision aids rather than simply plaster their corporate logo all over their shirts!

Roll on next week....

[Ball Boy]

Caldwell gave away another needless penalty last night.

Caldy really can be a tube. He knew he was offside and was looking all around himself like a wee boy with his hand in the sweetie jar.

[bogboy]

I would never start a game with Paddy at 12 esp against Cardiff away --sorry folks the prime objective is a secure defence

once you start chasing the score line the the mistakes multipy quickly as does the pressure on the team

Yes Paddy is possibly our best attacking option but he unfortunately is also our weakest link in defence and Cardiff possess a strong midfield it may not be the fastest but as sure as hell it is one of the most powerfull .

[Muddy Bless]

I would have gone home last night a lot more depressed if I hadnt stayed for the last 3 minutes.

All in all it was a depressing night weather and rugby related. there is no doubt that the weater had a knock on effect on the quality of rugby, but as others have mentioned, the scarlets played the weather better. A world calss no.10 helped in that regard.

Positive from last night... the team acknowledged the crowd after the match, and it was the whole,if not, the majority of the team, including those who had been subbed that raised their hads to the supporters on both sides of the pitch.

how often last year was it only big justin that did the rounds. its not that we want to see them milk the applause but its good to see them shoing that they value folks paying money to watch them play, folks that were still able to get behind the team in those last few minutes after watching a pretty dire match.

[scrum5]

Left Ravers last night drenched, cold, dejected and as someone else said earlier a severe sense of 'Deja Vu' ...to many penalties conceded, lineout misfunctioning, to many dropped passes, so much slow ball both from the base of the scrum and getting the ball out wide, too many missed tackles and Paddy playing at flyhalf. I'm not knocking Paddy, he is not a flyhalf but a very good 12, so why not play him there enough negatives we could spend hours talking about them and probably all been covered. There were some positives i thought the team give their all, last season heads would have dropped and we would have condeded a bucket load of points at least the team played for 80 minutes and maybe just maybe if NOC had been brought on earlier or even started things could have been different, based on the 10 or so minutes that he got he was by far the biggest threat that we had all night. Stand out players were Rory (no surprise there then always gives his all) Shifty looks comfortable under the high ball even in the worst conditions, knows when to kick and when to run with the ball and can also tackle (great signing). Robbie another good game made plenty of hard yards at first receiver, put himself around the pitch and made plenty of tackles, can't wait to see him and Ferris in tandem along side Pollock who has to play more regularily as he seems to be the only player who can win the ball on the ground legally. Botha is a world class player but didn't see it last night, given a few weeks to bed in and what a difference he will make another great signing. Finally thought the supporters were excellent and really lifted the team especially when NOC sparked a bit of life into the team. Now that the dust has settled and on reflection there were a lot of positives and as MW has already said it will take 2-3 years for Ulster to get back to their best and as long as there is improvement in the performances MW will have my full support, I hope the rest of the Ulster fans will do the same.... ULSTER TILL I DIE

[Big-al]

Paddy's defence has improved a lot and is our best 12. He should start

[TheElephantMan]

come on lads,lets just blame the weather and get on with it..........tough night..

[Jackie Brown]

Let's not drop the heads too quickly - you could say the game was won and lost on the toss of the coin as the evening deteriorated and we had much the worse of it.

You could say that but in my opinion it wasn't true.

When I look around for why we lost one man must stand up and admit fundamental errors - Matt Williams

Why didn't the first team play against Worcester
Wallace is a 12 not a 10
Trimble is a centre not a Wing
McCullough is not a 6
Without Pollock the back row lacked balance
Line outs were a shambles - what has been going on in the summer
Registering McKenzie instead of Cochrane for thr Magners League squad - without Danielli we are the wingless wonders (Nagusa will spend the first six or seven matches getting to grips with the role)

As I have no doubt my Scottish friends will tell me Williams talks the talk but he doesn't walk the walk - depressing

Where has this talk of Scotland come from? The problem with Scotland during William's reign in charge was they had no talent. Still don't. Williams has brought in some talented players, i have faith, only way is up!

[Ardglass2]

Where has this talk of Scotland come from? The problem with Scotland during William's reign in charge was they had no talent. Still don't. Williams has brought in some talented players, i have faith, only way is up!

From Scotland perhaps

The feeling amongst all the Scottish fans I know is that Williams was an awful coach, the same feeling persists in NSW.

not sayings its right or wrong but it is a widely held opinion.

[notj]

On the other hand, Leinster fans tend to rate him as someone who did a good job.

[Big-al]

Where has this talk of Scotland come from? The problem with Scotland during William's reign in charge was they had no talent. Still don't. Williams has brought in some talented players, i have faith, only way is up!

Well after last nights performance i hope the only way is up. Apart from Rory and Pollock (whe he cam on) the players lacked any sort of pride/passion for the jersey. If they don't improve and show passion we should give it to players who want to be there and play for the red hand and not just a big pay check each week

[Glynncommando]

Hugely deflated. Too many tackles missed. Too few line breaks. Inability to retain ball in contact. Lineout shambolic at times. Paddy at 10 (Dear God - how many times do we persist with that??) Zero cutting edge in backline. Isolated ball carriers. Rucking technique? What rucking technique?? Fijian winger who looks totally at a loss - thought they were all born with ball in hand??
Positives? Shifty. Botha finally appearing in an Ulster shirt. Tomorrow's another day...& Matt has a lot to work on.
GC

[Ardglass2]

Where has this talk of Scotland come from? The problem with Scotland during William's reign in charge was they had no talent. Still don't. Williams has brought in some talented players, i have faith, only way is up!

Well after last nights performance i hope the only way is up. Apart from Rory and Pollock (whe he cam on) the players lacked any sort of pride/passion for the jersey. If they don't improve and show passion we should give it to players who want to be there and play for the red hand and not just a big pay check each week

Hugely unfair there were plenty of players who played with pride - organization, players being played out of position and a lack of ideas were the problems.

[The Cove]

Big-al

That is the sort of negative rubbish that has made this message board into a farce and the main reason it is not taken seriously by anyone involved with Ulster Rugby

Last night the boys stuck at it right to the last minute, last year we wouldn't have gotten a losing bonus point.

The conditions were horrendous and the boys played badly in the first 20 minutes, 10 - 0 down on a night that was always going to be won by the boot.

They never - said - die, as a supporter thats all i'll ever ask, and stuck at it.

Last night, although disappointed i can honestly say that i was proud of the players and proud to be an Ulsterman

This hasn't been the case for the last 18 months and as MW said on setanta we "won't jump from the basement to the penthouse in one jump but we will keep working hard"

Big-al if you just want to cry and whine then go somewhere else. Last night i saw plenty of pride and passion, and i'm proud to have been their to watch this new Ulster team that showed last night that they cared about the Jersey