Ulster v Bath

[Hapax Legomenon]

Going nowhere without a scrum and with half a line out.

[Lurgan Lad]

Gritty win, big issue was scrum penalties which isn't easily solved unfortunately. Some decent play but not quite the accuracy required against the big teams.

[germcevoy]

Scrum and line out still massive problems that need sorted if there are any aspirations to get beyond a quarter final.

[Bart S]

Well at least ulster know what they have to work on....

[Bart S]

The set piece without Marty Moore and Sam Carter is struggling. It was tough for Ross Kane but the sad reality is that he has not progressed since he first came on the scene. There were high hopes for him and Kyle McCall but neither looks like they have it at this level these days.

To win a game with little set piece was an achievement, even against a half strength Bath side. This is becoming a worry.

[solidarity]

I guess it's called grinding out a win. We were really not good enough but at least the defence looked pretty sound. The first try was a bounce of the ball hing and the second was a fine piece of mauling by Bath. They didn't look like scoring, due as much to our good defence as to their weakness. As we've said many times, we really have to do something about our set pieces. Still a win's a win. Onward and upward!

[Shan]

I only listened to the match on RTE Radio. Paddy Wallace was the co-commentator and he wasn't hugely impressed.

Still who cares.....Ulster is in the 1/4 final and have plenty of time to correct the issues to give themselves some kind of chance.

[Hapax Legomenon]

I only listened to the match on RTE Radio. Paddy Wallace was the co-commentator and he wasn't hugely impressed.

Still who cares.....Ulster is in the 1/4 final and have plenty of time to correct the issues to give themselves some kind of chance.

Line out may be fixable in the short term. However the chronic lack of props isn’t so easy to sort out.
Every team will target our scrum.

[ladyboy696969]

Bravo Ulster, bravo.
2 brilliant tries in the 2nd half, Addison is the man.
Scrum and lineouts? Very dodgy. But ye did the biz.
Best of luck in France.

[Dharper]

We were 3rd gear today. Handling was poor at times. I wasn’t too concerned re the lineout today however a few worrying points. The scrum was dire. TOT is 18mths short, without MM we are in big trouble. The injury to G Milo is hurting us. R Kane isn’t really the answer unfortunately at this level. I was v disappointed the amount of soak tackles, and general lack of physicality at the breakdown. We had 2or3 5 min periods where we sped the ball up, and hit the ball at pace - when we did we looked good, but generally far too ponderous, running from a standstill. We are a TH prop short, and a backrow. Balacoune is our sharpest back, we don’t get him enough decent ball. We are a decent side, but v little squad depth at this level.

[promsandwich]

I only listened to the match on RTE Radio. Paddy Wallace was the co-commentator and he wasn't hugely impressed.

Still who cares.....Ulster is in the 1/4 final and have plenty of time to correct the issues to give themselves some kind of chance.

Line out may be fixable in the short term. However the chronic lack of props isn’t so easy to sort out.
Every team will target our scrum.

We have four front line props who are good enough - McGrath, Moore, O'Toole and Sullivan. Milosonevich ( is that the correct spelling ) would undoubtedly have helped. We just need a couple of younger props to emerge and we would actually be reasonably well stocked. The problem is we probably always compare ourselves with Leinsters never ending production line.

[promsandwich]

We were 3rd gear today. Handling was poor at times. I wasn’t too concerned re the lineout today however a few worrying points. The scrum was dire. TOT is 18mths short, without MM we are in big trouble. The injury to G Milo is hurting us. R Kane isn’t really the answer unfortunately at this level. I was v disappointed the amount of soak tackles, and general lack of physicality at the breakdown. We had 2or3 5 min periods where we sped the ball up, and hit the ball at pace - when we did we looked good, but generally far too ponderous, running from a standstill. We are a TH prop short, and a backrow. Balacoune is our sharpest back, we don’t get him enough decent ball. We are a decent side, but v little squad depth at this level.

I agree that there was a distinct lack of aggressive tackling in this game. Contrast it to Clermont when we were brutal at stopping them at the gainline and/or driving them back. Maybe not capable to two big performances in two weeks when we essentially have to play the same 15?

[big mervyn]

We were 3rd gear today. Handling was poor at times. I wasn’t too concerned re the lineout today however a few worrying points. The scrum was dire. TOT is 18mths short, without MM we are in big trouble. The injury to G Milo is hurting us. R Kane isn’t really the answer unfortunately at this level. I was v disappointed the amount of soak tackles, and general lack of physicality at the breakdown. We had 2or3 5 min periods where we sped the ball up, and hit the ball at pace - when we did we looked good, but generally far too ponderous, running from a standstill. We are a TH prop short, and a backrow. Balacoune is our sharpest back, we don’t get him enough decent ball. We are a decent side, but v little squad depth at this level.

I agree that there was a distinct lack of aggressive tackling in this game. Contrast it to Clermont when we were brutal at stopping them at the gainline and/or driving them back. Maybe not capable to two big performances in two weeks when we essentially have to play the same 15?

Subconsciously, they probably felt this one was in the bag. Felt like that on thw terraces too. Nowhere near the atmosphere of the interpros.

[HammerTime]

I only listened to the match on RTE Radio. Paddy Wallace was the co-commentator and he wasn't hugely impressed.

Still who cares.....Ulster is in the 1/4 final and have plenty of time to correct the issues to give themselves some kind of chance.

Line out may be fixable in the short term. However the chronic lack of props isn’t so easy to sort out.
Every team will target our scrum.

We have four front line props who are good enough - McGrath, Moore, O'Toole and Sullivan. Milosonevich ( is that the correct spelling ) would undoubtedly have helped. We just need a couple of younger props to emerge and we would actually be reasonably well stocked. The problem is we probably always compare ourselves with Leinsters never ending production line.

And so we should be. The population of Ulster and Leinster are practically the same so the potential numbers are there. Obviously we are miles behind in rugby playing infrastructure but the raw materials should be there. In theory anyway.

[promsandwich]

I only listened to the match on RTE Radio. Paddy Wallace was the co-commentator and he wasn't hugely impressed.

Still who cares.....Ulster is in the 1/4 final and have plenty of time to correct the issues to give themselves some kind of chance.

Line out may be fixable in the short term. However the chronic lack of props isn’t so easy to sort out.
Every team will target our scrum.

We have four front line props who are good enough - McGrath, Moore, O'Toole and Sullivan. Milosonevich ( is that the correct spelling ) would undoubtedly have helped. We just need a couple of younger props to emerge and we would actually be reasonably well stocked. The problem is we probably always compare ourselves with Leinsters never ending production line.

And so we should be. The population of Ulster and Leinster are practically the same so the potential numbers are there. Obviously we are miles behind in rugby playing infrastructure but the raw materials should be there. In theory anyway.

I agree we should aspire to their level. As I understand it Bryn and Ulster have been seeking to address this after Logan went but the fruits of that development will take a few years to really show. At least they are putting the correct effort into identifying and nurturing the correct talent.