Montpellier v Ulster, Sunday April 7 12:30pm KO (UK Time), Viaplay Sports

[UlsterNo9]

I thought we had a very good chance of winning.

Not sure I can remember a team scoring that many points whilst looking so singularly unimpressive though.

I just don't see it Justin.

If we somehow manage to beat Clermont away, we'll likely face the Sharks away in the semis, and then Glaws/Benneton/Connacht in the final. Ironically on paper the final looks to be the most winnable game

I'd love to be proven wrong, but I don't think we are at the level required based on ability, and certainly not in terms of mentality. Unless Murphy has a stormer of a few months in charge once we finally get back to Belfast for a few weeks.

A cloud with a "semi" silver lining, South African teams have to play their European Semi Final matches in Europe, would give us a better chance versus Sharks...... but I'm not banking on us beating Clermont, that would be silly of me.

[jean valjean]

The sharks will host in somewhere they have a direct flight connection, so either Paris or London. You'd be hopeful they want to attract a crowd so perhaps a London game would suit them the best. Didn't the lions base themselves in Italy for a while back?

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[So It Is]

Ah right, fair enough. Makes things a bit more positive tbf.
But still, I don't see it.

[Neill_M]

The sharks will host in somewhere they have a direct flight connection, so either Paris or London. You'd be hopeful they want to attract a crowd so perhaps a London game would suit them the best. Didn't the lions base themselves in Italy for a while back?

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The Cheetahs as they are a non URC side, had to play their home pool games in recent seasons in Europe and have used Parma and Amsterdam.

The Ospreys Sharks game earlier in the season was played at the Stoop.

[solidarity]

I listened to the second half of the match on the radio so I've only Gusher's commentary to go on. His most frequent comment was something like, 'Oh no, he's dropped it.' If Montpellier hadn't imploded, we'd have been stuffed and all because we conistently fail to do the simple things correctly. It's not rocket science so why oh why can't we do the simple things well?

All the same, bring on Clermont!

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Making it embarrassingly easy for 14 MP. How many scrum pens is that now Shytehouse?

Is 14MP Two-Metre Peter's 12m taller cousin?

He stretched on puberty. Trust you to focus on that and not the scrum pens

I've given up on Whitehouse Junior. He's not even half as good as his da, and he was useless.

I was amazed when he awarded the Addison try today - I wa sconvinced he would find something to disallow it for.

Only after the red card did he change sides from being a homer - and even then he still refused to give as many cards as he should.

He did his best to overrule the Addison score. A mind-bending entirely fictional interpretation of the replay was quite entertaining but ultimately the tmo didn't buy it.

yep he tried - knocked it on to his leg and the ball came back off the leg. Images didn't back up his attempted fiction.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

I listened to the second half of the match on the radio so I've only Gusher's commentary to go on. His most frequent comment was something like, 'Oh no, he's dropped it.' If Montpellier hadn't imploded, we'd have been stuffed and all because we conistently fail to do the simple things correctly. It's not rocket science so why oh why can't we do the simple things well?

All the same, bring on Clermont!

What I couldn't understand when playing against 12 men, we still tried loop moves, miss-passes etc as if we were trying to create an extra man or space against 15. (Maybe why we scored against 14 when we couldn't against 12?)

Surely management should have been able to get a message onto the pitch if the players can't work it out for themselves, KEEP IT SIMPLE STOOPID, yes, the old (Les?) KISS formula. With 15 versus 12, the gaps will appear by themselves if you move the ball quickly enough and don't drop it. Repeat a couple of times if necessary, just don't try to force it and remember, DON'T DROP THE BALL!!!!!!!
,

[rumncoke]

Ref watch In the first half the penalty count was Ulster 8 Montpellier 0

The true count should have been Ulster 7, Montpellier 3

Note I don't accuse him of making up Penalties against Ulster on every occasion just once for what he termed a high tackle when in actual fact the player being tackled was virtually at ground level when tackled, and was immediately released.

The penalty count reversed in the second half mainly because Montpellier imploded and the fact is referee had every right to have awarded 2 reds instead of 2 yellows.

In the such circumstances it becomes extremely difficult to attempt to win turn overs and in fact Ulster didn't try to in the first half similarly in order to retain possession Ulster had to commit players to the ruck thus any one man advantage is lost and it results in slow ball against an organised defence.

I have long recognised Whitehouse as a "homer " a ref who waves play on for the home side and penalises the away thus I expected Ulster to have a hard game to win and in the end the win is down to the fact that Montpellier imploded "big time " and Henderson had the good sense as captain to tell Ulster to cool it without any need for words from Whitehouse who made a show of talking to BOTH Captains .

" The one player in Ulster who has to learn to shut up is Hume 'mouthing" and getting in the opposition's face is a practice which can backfire very quickly . ( unless your Leinster )

[justinr73]

The high tackle by Cooney? Looked like a pen to me.

Montpellier plainly decided at half-time that the only way they were going to lose a game they didn’t want to win was by racking up a few cards.

I would suggest that the fact that Clermont could have let the Cheetahs sneak past them but didn’t does not augur well for us.

[solidarity]

Just watched the highlights. On another day, two of our tries could have been ruled out for forward passes. Had to love Big Stu's utter disdain for the attempted tackle, both as it happened and in his looks of contempt after.

[jean valjean]

Hopefully TOT is being told how to tackle close the ruck without throwing a lazy arm over the shoulder. He got pinged for it in the 1st half and did the exact same early in the 2nd. If an armchair fan can see this issue, then I would hope our esteemed video analyst did also.

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[rumncoke]

Justin Cooney’s tackle was high it was the tackle by ToT which was a harsh call

My point is basically that a referee and his known disposition can effect how a team play and players performance and imo Ulster were trying to play within that frame work although Cooney was getting a little frustrated at the lenience being given to Montpellier at the breakdown not rolling away and coming in from the side taking players out before they had joined the ruck which made obtaining turnovers easier.

Which went on unpenalised for the first 40 minutes

[justinr73]

Justin Cooney’s tackle was high it was the tackle by ToT which was a harsh call

My point is basically that a referee and his known disposition can effect how a team play and players performance and imo Ulster were trying to play within that frame work although Cooney was getting a little frustrated at the lenience being given to Montpellier at the breakdown not rolling away and coming in from the side taking players out before they had joined the ruck which made obtaining turnovers easier.

Which went on unpenalised for the first 40 minutes

Thanks Rum. Can’t remember the TOT one - I could have been taking a lengthy gulp of my Black Heart stout at the time. Worth trying if you haven’t already.

Cooney was indeed looking frustrated - may or may not have been about out Whitehouse!

[jean valjean]

The point about TOT is that it is an easy pen for the tmo or assistant ref to give, especially when he holds his arm in around the shoulder / neck area.

[big mervyn]

Justin Cooney’s tackle was high it was the tackle by ToT which was a harsh call

My point is basically that a referee and his known disposition can effect how a team play and players performance and imo Ulster were trying to play within that frame work although Cooney was getting a little frustrated at the lenience being given to Montpellier at the breakdown not rolling away and coming in from the side taking players out before they had joined the ruck which made obtaining turnovers easier.

Which went on unpenalised for the first 40 minutes

Thanks Rum. Can’t remember the TOT one - I could have been taking a lengthy gulp of my Black Heart stout at the time. Worth trying if you haven’t already.

Cooney was indeed looking frustrated - may or may not have been about out Whitehouse!

It's a decent drop. Did you get that in France?

Drinking Sainsbury's winter porter ( on sale @£1.50 for 500ml) at the moment. Stout with a hint of cinnamon. Rather nice.