Basics.. backs and forwards

[bazzaj]

Someone earlier touched on the basic skills not being up to scratch and I agree.
Our close contact skills are appalling.
We carry the ball into contact with two hands.
I understand the need to retain possession but we are just recycling for recycling sake.
The view I sure is to play quick phases and move the ball with zero emphasis on yardage but to draw in defenders but all the oppo do is hit and spread.
Its not working.

[Tender]

Wee Dave looked gutted when he was caught behind the scrum, which gave the frogs an easy try. At the time I thought Reidy could have protected him, but I haven't seen any replays and I'm not really into Horror Movies.
What was needed was the Captain, or some of the senior players to have a quiet word and a pat on the back. Hooking him at halftime may well have shot any confidence the lad had. I didn't see Tremble or Rory talking to him and IMO that's pure p1sh. Just another bad decision from the Kiss regime.

[scrum5]

Rory, Hendo and Charlie all spoke to Shanners and I said at the time Reidy should have protected him a bit more, think Henry spoke to Reidy as well, Shanners also stopped a try when he almost intercepted the ball, taking him off at half time was a poor man management decision in my opinion though he may have been injured, as for Moe Simpson plays club rugby, hasn't come through the academy and presuming up to recently he also had a full time job other than rugby, thrown into top level competitive rugby against Steven Kitsoff who has 100 super rugby caps and 10 international caps

[Deraless]

Dave's first touch was a horlix and he struggled to recover. I think there was less pressure on him last week, not in front of a reasonably big home crowd.

Didn't help having a inexperienced 8 either.

[scrum5]

On the subject of Henderson, my choice for captain going forward, I'm assuming he was one of the younger players that Bryn spoke off, encouraged Shanners as Muller did when a young pup messed up and was in the refs ear quite a bit, he also played himself to a grinding stop also like Muller and as for any southern langer saying that Henderson wouldn't get in their team

[Tender]

Cheers Scrum, I was probably still holding my head in my hands and missed Rory & co having a word. I think Dave needed to stay on the pitch for his confidence, but if he was injured it didn't show. I know it's Granny's tinkies, but I can't help thinking wee D ( or anyone) wouldn't have been so stupid as p when he decided to pick up and go on the try line, up against two monsters.

[Bart S]

On our front row, losing Court and Afoa created a real void in terms of experience, particularly with Deccie Fitz also retiring not long after. Only Black was left and he has gone downhill in my opinion.

Also recall at the time when he was with us and contributing (ie first 2 seasons) that Afoa was doing some good work with our young props.

It's also amazing how quicky things can change. People thought Ireland would be screwed once Hayes and Ross were done, only for Healy and Marty Moore to start emenrging. Then when people thought we would need them for a long time McGrath and Furlong came around. As CI Man says, we really do need to invest in some serious expert to aid McCall, Simpson, Kane, Ah You and Herbst, as they are all still capable of developing into something half decent. Of course some won't but at least let's have the best tools we can to work with them before coming to that conclusion.

[stickinout]

Wee Dave looked gutted when he was caught behind the scrum, which gave the frogs an easy try. At the time I thought Reidy could have protected him, but I haven't seen any replays and I'm not really into Horror Movies.
What was needed was the Captain, or some of the senior players to have a quiet word and a pat on the back. Hooking him at halftime may well have shot any confidence the lad had. I didn't see Tremble or Rory talking to him and IMO that's pure p1sh. Just another bad decision from the Kiss regime.

I thought it was the flanker/8's responsibility when a ball is hooked in channel 1. Neither trapped the ball so IMO very tough to blame Shanners on it. His lack of experience shone through at Souper Douper level but his quality of passing seems more reliable than p.
The worst moment for me was when we were man shamed in that scrum between our posts. It was our ball wasn't it? Clarkey will be waking with sweats for the next few months on that one.

Coach clear out can't come quick enough, if only we could find some some rough diamonds in the Ail. We need to get rid of a few players if we want to compete at this level.

[Jackie Brown]

As an aside, over the last two weeks, we've had two young and very green tightheads being thrust into the furnace against two very powerful scrummaging sides. Ross Kane has shown potential beyond his years, and Johnny Simpson has finally broken through albeit in trying circumstances. Both have shown encouraging signs of actually being able to hold up the tight head side as well as good hands, grit, pride and mobility in the loose. Both have now found, in consecutive weeks, that honeymoons in pro rugby are short. Simpson was in trouble yesterday against an international springbok backed by one of the biggest packs in Europe. Ditto Kane the week before until he succumbed to injury.
Simpson was rightly hauled off, hopefully to spare him a potentially damaging collapse to his confidence. Kane may have been in the same boat a week earlier.
Possibly the same protection I hope for Shanners (altho little of it was his fault, and maybe should gave been allowed to continue).
Here's a thought- how about UR backing its young players and getting a scrummaging coach in, of the calibre Gert Small was? Kane, Simpson, McCall, Warwick ( a shadow of the player two years ago) McBurney and Andrew would all benefit from a top class scrum coach, and Ulster invests in its future.
Mexico have been excelling in bringing in short term expertise to support Cullen dig theselves out of a hole. Why not UR?
And while we're at it, RP to coach Shanners as he recuperates. I've seen enough of DS to believe he's head and shoulders above Small even now. Lets back our youth for once.
We are a f*cking stupid club..

I thought Shanners had an absolute mare and was clearly way out of his depth yesterday. p wasn't great either but he was a clear step up when he came on.

WTF Snipe? p was atrocious. When he first came on he whipped a few passes away. Then a few passes along the ground and one nearly removed PJs head. He then settled into his rhythm of pausing and waiting for a pass to a static forward. Kicked out on the full. Then butchered a try scoring opportunity through sheer idiocy.

Wee dave made a number of mistakes. He was clearly nervous. He hasn't been afforded 20 mins off the bench for the last 9 seasons like p. He started against Exeter last week and at home, in a climate of a fair bit of pressure to get a result, given our run. He may will turn out to be tom kite but from what I saw, the errors aside, he has a very good range of passing. It was fairly consistent too. The Shepherd's crook at halftime was cowardly from an inept coaching team. Wee dave the handy scapegoat. Well we scored more in the 1st half Lesley.

Damn right.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Blow in]

Young players hit the academy and any semblance of skill or individuality is quickly "trained" out of them. There is too much of a gap between club rugby and Ulster, instead of this B and i cup tom kite there should be a competitive Pro 12 A league, or more a higher quality AIL setup.

[justinr73]

Furthermore, rugby players should own pubs and not coffee shops.

[Cornerfleg]

Quick, remove that Justin ... if Mike reads that we'll get 38 pages of non stop Brennanballix

[justinr73]

I don't think even Mike could disagree with that statement!

(he's never drunk much coffee when I've seen him).

The beer should be decent mind...

[Cornerfleg]

Mike has never been sober enough to try coffee ....

[thecrouch]

Overhaul the schools cup.