Positives and negatives: Ulster V Castres

[Rooster]

This changing from a positives/negatives thread to a stating the bleeding obvious thread, either that or some of the more intelligent folks on this forum are taking the opportunity to educate the less well informed.
Pienaar at 10 has worked very well before, just didn't work out today.

No he is not as good a 10 as he is a 9 but when he has played for 60 at 9 he seems to adapt to moving to 10 while p starts his mad 20 minutes of mayhem, p starting does not have the same effect as he has run out of crazy ideas after 20 mins.
Can't think when it has worked with Pienaar starting at 10 and p at 9, can't even remember it happening to be honest

Did he not play at 10 against the Dragons away earlier this season? Not saying one good game justifies it, I totally agree with you and Snipe. I just mean one poor half doesn't mean never do it again.

Doubt it will happen again unless injury problems, if PJ is away with Ireland squad I reckon we might see Olding in action over the next few matches or is he on some of the iIreland squads ?

[ruckover]

POSITIVES
+ First win in France, yadda yadda yadda heard it all before...
+ Scrum was absolutely phenomenal
+ Henry is by far the best back row we have. He must start for Ireland in the 6N, he is superb.
+ Diack put in another good showing with a few turnovers
+ Back three looked good - Trimble a potent threat, Allen slotted in nicely and Gilroy was fine at 15.
+ We won that game with 14 injuries to contend with. Impressive squad depth.

NEGATIVES
- Sloppy match
- Yet another slow start which allowed them into it
- Far too many basic errors
- Best's darts were terrible. Not sure what was going on.
- Defence was too ragged. Let them over the gain line far too much.
- Pienaar is a 9

[Snipe Watson]

As usual, I can see no wrong in St Ruan. He had a bad game and seemed out of sorts, but when he went to 9, everything clicked back into place.
I’ll not accept that he is a poor 10 based on a poor game at 10, because if he was playing there every week, he would be more natural in the role.

That may well have legs Snipe though I'd prefer it to be accompanied by the statement that 9 is unquestionably his best position AND that though not the twonk he once was p isn't within an asses roar of being fit to lace his boots.AND that RP/PJ is unquestionably the way to go.

Other than that, spot on.

That goes without saying.

[Nightsoil]

Doubt it will happen again unless injury problems, if PJ is away with Ireland squad I reckon we might see Olding in action over the next few matches or is he on some of the iIreland squads ?

Olding is still U20 eligible and if he isn't with the squad I'll consume the contents of a whole milinery, never mind my own hat! We could ask for him to be released though, its happened before - I wouldn't want to do it unless he was starting though.

I'm personally fine with Small P and Ruan as a back up option, it beats the spots off of back-up options in a lot of other places, but for me one of the big positives was how Jackson came on and showed exactly why he's our starting 10 and should remain so. Incredibly slick passing, attacks the line at real pace and his appetite for physicality is huge. To think he's only going to get better...

[BaggyTrousers]

This changing from a positives/negatives thread to a stating the bleeding obvious thread, either that or some of the more intelligent folks on this forum are taking the opportunity to educate the less well informed.
Pienaar at 10 has worked very well before, just didn't work out today.

No he is not as good a 10 as he is a 9 but when he has played for 60 at 9 he seems to adapt to moving to 10 while p starts his mad 20 minutes of mayhem, p starting does not have the same effect as he has run out of crazy ideas after 20 mins.
Can't think when it has worked with Pienaar starting at 10 and p at 9, can't even remember it happening to be honest

Did he not play at 10 against the Dragons away earlier this season? Not saying one good game justifies it, I totally agree with you and Snipe. I just mean one poor half doesn't mean never do it again.

What you should have added is that a good game at 10 against a team as patently awful as Dragons does not mean a thing.

I am staggered to see any remaining doubt about the issue, as soon as he went to 9 the result was assured.

Furthermore Castres were about as good as Dragons yesterday, very very poor. Hard to get too excited about that match, at a guess neutral viewers would have died in their droves from boredom.

[Joe Schmo]

No he is not as good a 10 as he is a 9 but when he has played for 60 at 9 he seems to adapt to moving to 10 while p starts his mad 20 minutes of mayhem, p starting does not have the same effect as he has run out of crazy ideas after 20 mins.
Can't think when it has worked with Pienaar starting at 10 and p at 9, can't even remember it happening to be honest

Did he not play at 10 against the Dragons away earlier this season? Not saying one good game justifies it, I totally agree with you and Snipe. I just mean one poor half doesn't mean never do it again.

What you should have added is that a good game at 10 against a team as patently awful as Dragons does not mean a thing.

I am staggered to see any remaining doubt about the issue, as soon as he went to 9 the result was assured.

Furthermore Castres were about as good as Dragons yesterday, very very poor. Hard to get too excited about that match, at a guess neutral viewers would have died in their droves from boredom.

That's true, as soon as I typed "against the dragons" I should have stopped there. But I remember his try in that game and his effectiveness at getting the back line moving, his running keeping dragons guessing (a bit like Payne seems to able to do) Also true there is no requirement to take the Pienaar at 10 discussion any further, case closed.

[bazzaj]

The result in my view was never in doubt despite the score line suggestion, against a weak Castres team who clearly had their next top 14 game on their minds.
Anyone who has any lingering doubts look at their subs coming off with 30 to go and they used their entire bench.

Disappointed we did not score tries due to inadequate scrum officiating and lack of precision.
I have a feeling that Edinburgh may do us a favour today as they are well overdue a performance and chasing 4 tries will hopefully not suit Saracens as their game is based on solidity.
Hopefully.

I think the absence of PJ showed what we are missing.
The 10 is the backs defence leader who brings up the line and closes down the space which he does brilliantly.
RP did not do this and they were getting joy down the 10 channel which no one else has this season.
Also PJ starts, they do not score and we do not have to chase the game early on when it was vital we needed to start well.
Note as well how our continuity clicked in to place when PJ came on due to his positioning and distribution.

Snipe made a good point that RP is not a bad 10 he just had a bad game there due to lack of game time.
However we are set up as a team to play with PJ at 10 so therefore he will fit into the set up as our team know how to defend and attack around him.
RP controls the game at 9 better than any other scrumhalf and his round the corner kick is one of the most potent weapons in the game which is nulified when he plays 10.
I feel sorry for beagle but the fact is he is most effective off the bench with his acceleration against tiring defences.
Surely an option for Ireland as well?!

Now I am off to cheer on sides I dont normally give a stuff about.

[Thelaw]

Much as I love beagle I have to agree that his best times recently have been as others have said a good 20 minutes of mayhem against tiring sides. I have to disagree with Baggy, the wee man has had some great games starting at 9 - Remember after the first round sky had him in their unofficial Lions thing. I think he brings such an extra dimension to the game a little like Big Nick that you have to look past the occasional brainfart to see the good that he does. Sadly I think he has too many strikes against him for people to give him the chance. I would say though that in a full game situation he plays better with Paddy than Ruan

[bazzaj]

Edinburgh are so bad its incredible.
I actually stupidly thought they might turn up today.
That cross field kick try just after half time was the death knoll.
So utterly shambolic to turn your backs like that against a team chasing tries.
They should withold payment for doing that as its anything other than professional.

That said I am not that worried about Saracens if we do get them away.
Extremely well organised and no frills but beatable as an average Munster side proved, home or away.

[Bart S]

Bazza - I think that's very unfair.

They're having a really poor seaason and in some ways have lost their way a bit like Ulster did a few seasons ago after we lost away to London Irish. They're in a real rut and can't get out of it. They're simply not good enough right now, like we weren't at that time.

They tried their best today but it wasn't good enough against a MUCH BETTER team who were highly motiviated. Look at the winger putting his body on the line to stop Barritt going over and tell me they didn't try.

If that was a disgrace to the competition then so was Castres initial team selection and raft of subs they made.

[bazzaj]

True Bart, apologisies for my rant I was just letting off steam at not getting the home qf.
All focused now for the task in hand taking on Small and his troops away.
Should be epic.

[Bart S]

Fair enough Bazza - I thought as much as IMHO you're a pretty sensible poster on here. I guessed you just got casrried away with the disappointment we all shared at not getting the ome QF after waiting so long. As you say, onwards and upwards to a winnable QF

[bazzaj]

Fair enough Bazza - I thought as much as IMHO you're a pretty sensible poster on here. I guessed you just got casrried away with the disappointment we all shared at not getting the ome QF after waiting so long. As you say, onwards and upwards to a winnable QF

Amen to that Bart

[fuzzylogic]

by bazzaj » Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:16 am

The 10 is the backs defence leader

[Russ]

by bazzaj » Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:16 am

The 10 is the backs defence leader

If Darren Cave could be bothered leaving his Latte he would come over to you and slap you square in your gubber Bazz. Drico too