Ulster Vs Harlequins Sat 7th Dec @ 15.15 BT Sport

[big mervyn]

Has any team won their first 3 group games with a combined points difference of +7 or less? I strongly suspect not.

[UlsterNo9]

Has any team won their first 3 group games with a combined points difference of +7 or less? I strongly suspect not.

Whilst on stats we are now undefeated at home in 17 games. Or have lost just once in 20 home games with McFarland at the helm.

[Jackie Brown]

Brilliant statistics, Dan is doing excellent work. Love his post match interviews too. He comes across like a decent spud.

[damianmcr]

https://youtu.be/j1Nocy6LsEk

Full game.

Still processing so quality will get better.

[Bart S]

Good stats indeed although even under the fateful last Kiss/Gibbes season, the hone record was ok i think. Kiss only lost 1 home game that season iirc (Leinster) and Gibbes lost one of his first at home to Edinbrugh (mind you, his mind was jet lagged in the build up, what with the short refuelling stop at waikato he had just booked, on his way to france....).

For me it is the away form which has shone through a lot more. Under Kiss we would go behind and then get smashed...physically and on the scoreboard. We are now a much tougher proposition away from home and whilst the odd Cheetahs, Glasgow/Munster last season results can still occur, they are more rare and Dan has built up a much more mentally tough and physical side. Certainly more physical than the forwards were under Gibbes.

[big mervyn]

Why dìd the ref stop the clock for 18 seconds at 78:47 following Cooney's pen? The Ulster players had retreated behind the 10,and nobody was injured. Surely the time taken for Quins to gather the ball and restart is a normal part of the game?

[Dharper]

Dan McF has driven standards, across the board on and off pitch. Squad clear out (not quite complete, prob not his squad til next season). I’d say it’s pretty clear he is a seriously competitive guy with high standards of detail & focus....if you don’t meet them you’re out the door - huge shift in culture - no freebies based on past performance, or drop in standards accepted. Great for young players to experience, and develop. Hopefully he stays beyond his initial 3 yr contract, as I think it’ll be 21/22 when we will benefit from the young players being established.

[Sybarite]

I think last season we won five pool matches out of six for a positive points difference of three.

[pip14]

[solidarity]

Just watched the match again.
Three wee points of interest.
Their first try, Marler clearly in from the wrong side at the ruck before the try.
Marler at 47:3 holding Herring's foot while on the ground.
Fair play on the third try, Dombrandt was onside or as near as makes no difference.

[GLENN CORNICK]

Neil Patterson is from N Ireland but he left in the mid or late 80s and is an official of the SRU. He is a dentist in Edinburgh.

So he's qualified, just like all the officials by Union, not by place of birth.

Unless quims4life is suggesting Patterson is a corrupt official?

Marius Mitrea was born in Romania and has Italian citizenship; so he could end up reffing an England v Romania game if one was proposed.

JP Doyle from Dublin. Doyle started his refereeing career with the Association of Referees Leinster Branch of the IRFU is now reffing out of the English RFU so he could ref Leinster v any none English side; potentially dodgy eh? Better warn the Scots, French, Welsh and the other Irish provinces

[rocky]

Just watched the match again.
Three wee points of interest.
Their first try, Marler clearly in from the wrong side at the ruck before the try.
Marler at 47:3 holding Herring's foot while on the ground.
Fair play on the third try, Dombrandt was onside or as near as makes no difference.

Fair play - NOT!!!
Watch at 59:35 (score 15 - 17) - after their No 8 breaks from their line, there are a couple of offloads and then there is a ruck. The No 8 comes right round the ruck and takes Cooney to the ground with a forearm smash to his head - a very clear red card offence. Missed by all the officials and the TMO. Mind you, given everything else they missed, it's not a terrible surprise. Still, it should have been no try and them down to 14 men for the rest of the match.
In addition, Robshaw took out Cooney at the back of rucks at least three times and they got away with several high tackles and persistent offsides at rucks - the officials reffed this for about the first ten minutes and then forgot about it.
All in all, I thought we did very well to win against a very cynical team and an incompetent bunch of officials.

[rumncoke]

Playing the man and not the ball is very much part of the modern game especially at rucks . with the attacking side normally taking out defenders beyond the point of the ruckor breakdown .

Similarly the "hold down" or "block' when attacking within 5 metres of the line. Referees spend to much time refereeing the defending team looking for the off side to penalise the offending attackers.

It is part of the reason why leinster are successful -- they are an attacking team thus benefit from the modern referee who only referees against the defending team. Most of the offences an attacking team are penalised for is failure to release after the tackle -- not "taking men out" or" coming in from the side", "over the top off your feet" "blocking" or other wise inhibiting a defenders.

Of course referees will say they are being consistent by applying the same blindness when both sides are attacking -- but the fact is if you have a team like Leinster who may attack for 70 % of the match then the referee is actually refereeing against the defending side for 70% of the match.

[Dharper]

Cheers for the link Damian - good man.

Robshaw was sent out specifically to go after & disrupt Cooney....some of it wasn’t very subtle.
Harlequins could have been pinged another dozen times for pretty clear offsides.
Only real concern for me was the scrum, options pretty thin for this weekend. EOS did the full 80, does DMcF trust TOT for more than a 15 min cameo? Is Kane a better option re scrum time? On basis MM must be a bit battered?

......defo looks like it could kick off Sat, it was simmering. We definitely left points out there. I’d swap in Balacoune for Gilroy.

[justinr73]

Tried to force it a few times, especially in the corner that Reidy eventually scored in.

The tactic of getting Stu out wide obviously worked very well. Great kick again by Billy.

Do we actually know that Gilroy was selected ahead of Balacoune for tactical reasons? I'd be amazed if injury wasn't a factor.