Ulster Vs Benetton Fri 25th @ 7.35pm Live Freesports

[big mervyn]

When was the last time that we didn't play shyte in the 6N window?..................... nothing new here

Seem to remember another tie with Treviso when they sored a try at the death. Luckily Nige wasn't reffing and they missed the conversion. Twenty something all.

[kingofthehill]

I see Rhys O'Donnell scored a try today

Class act,one can only hope.


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[damianmcr]

Is he in the academy or sub academy?

[kingofthehill]

Is he in the academy or sub academy?

No Jonny Stewart,Michael Stronge and Graham Curtis in the set up


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[Gary]

O'Donnell and Lowry seem a logical combination at half-back.

[Dave]

Is he in the academy or sub academy?

Sub. Well stocked else where.

[shamalicious]

When was the last time that we didn't play shyte in the 6N window?..................... nothing new here

It's not just the 6N window. Basically we get a handful of games when we have our first choice 15 and get a performance. Any game which doesn't include Rory, Hendo and Stockdale, it all goes to $hit.

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[Deraless]

Ruan's on-going holding up of local talent!

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[UlsterNo9]

McKinley kicks a penalty it hits the post and goes over, Lowry kicks a conversion hits the post and comes back out.
Those are the margins.

Half a dozen with a dozen caps or less each at a guess.......

We have a long way to go, we know this, expectation getting silly already.

[Fortyniner]

And in our realistic expectation, are we content to accept non qualification for Champions cup next season, enter Challenge Cup, continue to rebuild, ........and try to win it?
We need 6 or 7 cover players to slot in and provide adequate cover for our internationals. Even Benetton can manage to do that.
Their south sea islanders are key.

[Tender]

Ok, so we need more guys wearing hula skirts.

We should all know we’re three years away from World Domination and that turgid shyte just helped illustrate it to all the Ulster Are Brill Bakebook Brigade.

Shanahan is shyte.
Billy Burns is shyte.

Without Rory on the pitch, the cubs haven’t a clue what to do, but the amount of missed tackles was frightening. The missed passes all seemed to come from sheer panic, as nobody wanted to take responsibility.

I expect a lot more of the same.

[222toHounslow]

If it can be compared Stephen Larkham played international rugby for Australia with 10% vision in his left eye and 50% in his right. He wasn't a bad player either.

Really? That I did not know!

Little known fact that Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles made a formidable half-back pairing for an unbeaten Los Angeles Rugby Club during the early 60s.

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I didn’t see that coming

[skiboo]

Friday night's debacle has confirmed unless we get a strong axis and back up at 9 and 10 we are wasting our time.
Shannahan just doesn't cut it. He is not a threat anywhere in the pitch which makes him predictable and with a weak out half it puts pressure on the centers unless of course you aimlessly kick away possession.
Burns was carrying an injury from early on but is Lowry so dreadful he cannot be risked in that position or is it thought the combination of Shannahan light weight and frame and Lowrys similar shape is to big a risk. During the second half Lowry stepped into the out half slot and on both occasions Ulster gained ground and put Benneton onto the back foot. Burns tackling is non existent and makes Ian Humphries defence capabilities look like Andrew Trimble at his best.
Although it was a difficult night for kickers i thought Lowrys kick from hand on the last penalty gave was ballsy and sublime

[Dave]

According to the stats, Burns missed 8 tackles. Is that a new record?

[rumncoke]

Having scored in the first 2 minutes --was basically the undoing of the game Benetton defended the first and second carrier thereafter . From reading post of the posts on this message board I had the impression Benetton stuck the ball up their jerseys --
They actually played a fairly open game getting the ball wide to a couple of useful wings, and supporting the ball carrier very well.
WITHOUT a decent box kicker or someone to kick long into the spaces Ulster couldn't get into the Benetton half of the pitch when they obtained possession in the first half. And this inability was not helped by Nigel waving play on after a couple of high tackles enabling Ulster to kick for touch and out of their own half.

In the second half Ulster got into the Benetton half who defended well , frustrating the Ulster back line who in their frustration started to throw hope passes into empty space .

It wasn't' "a lack of leadership " it was frustration and the inability to score was the problem, an early try to restore the confidence was what was absent.

Typical of the problem was Caves knock-on when Little made his break - mistimed attempt at pick up -- possibly due to lack of match time on the pitch which was something shared by both centres playing in the second half.

Timing is not acquired on the training ground -- its acquired by experience and practice in a match environment by people playing together frequently. Mistiming leads to frustration and errors .


Ulster's cause was not help by the make up of the bench -- a scrum half -- centre and wing and the injure which occurred

my reading would be that Little was meant to replace Ludic who would move to full back and allow Lowry to come forward to outhalf in the second half-- didn't happen.