Ulster v Toulouse Friday December 11th 8pm KO

[jean valjean]

Its hard not to feel disappointed given we right in the game till the death. If 2 years ago you were asked could ulster compete against a top European side with a team containing EOS, O'toole, O'connor jnr, rea, hume, Moore, Jones, Andrew and lowry you'd have said no way. Let's be grateful for the progress shown. tbh I wouldn't mind a run in the challenge Cup as this season will be a right off for getting to games. Didn't do leinster any harm in 2013.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

[Dave]

I felt the forward pass by Cooney, criticized by some ,was deliberate to milk the penalty from a French offside at the scrum. Ref ignored it penalised forward pass the rest is history. I think that's why our coach was annoyed and great to see he's got emotion and doesn't like losing.

It was a reckless move by Cooney. The net result was a try for them.

[Dave]

Thoughts on last night are overall coming away a bit disappointed. Yet we showed some good signs. But ultimately we missed Henderson and Burns from the start and simply couldn't then afford to lose Coetzee and Carter to injury. After that it look inevitable we were going to lose. The missed conversion and penalty cost us as those points at those times would have changed the way Toulouse would have had to play and put them under pressure more. We showed great spirit and a lot of dawg but ultimately we're not at the top table yet and never will be unless the IRFU opens its cheque book and allows us to sign match winners eg Kolbe, Dupont, Arnold, Faumuina

Players ratings
Lowry 5 - started well but should have done better with Dupont try and when he went to 10 he got turned over too easily a few times.
Stockdale 5 - some good runs but his penalty for the arm in the face lead to their try where he once again missed Kolbe.
Faddes 7 - tried hard all game and key to our second try.
Hume 4 - Game sort of passed him by.
McCloskey 7 - carried well but his limited skill set on show again last night.
Madigan 7 - OK ish but he has to stop crabbing across the pitch before passing as this is taking away for the rest of the backs.
Cooney 6 - looks to have lost confidence and his two missed kicks were game changing. Outshone by his opposite number.
O'Sullivan 8 - My MoM. Scrummed well. Carried well. Always involved. Never stopped working.
Herring 8 - solid performance. Finished his two trys well. Great decision to go for the corner.
Moore 6 - Schooled at scrum time. Worst game for a long time. One of those nights or why he's not near international selection?
Carter 7 - Better performance. Good lineout play. Badly missed when he went off.
O'Connor 6 - Grafter. But we needed more impact from him as the game went on.
Rea 6 - another to start well. But he needs good players around him and when Coetzee left and Reidy tired he was less effective.
Reidy 6 - looking like an impact player from the bench rather than a starter but never gives up.
Coetzee 6 - Wasn't spectacular with carries but dependable. Badly missed his grunt when he went off.

That's us out of the Champions cup. Would fancy us for the micky mouse cup if we can get there? Big ask and probably dependent on other groups now. More of a worry we don't have the squad to ship more injuries and any European involvement is now going to be detrimental to the league campaign.

Marty Moore had his worst game for a while but still better than Stockdale???
I thought Stockdale had a great game. Did the basics well, which we have all been crying out for. Kolbe is virtually unplayable that close to the line in the corner.

[rumncoke]

That was an experimental selection by Toulouse . Based on the weather forecast of a wet night at "Ravers" instead of playing their 'playmaker at 10" they shifted him to 12. and played a similar game to both Saracens and England when Farrell plays at 12.

Anything behind the 10 meter line was cleared by the half-backs , beyond the 10 meter line the ball and call was to made by the 12 using the forwards to create the time and space. The 12 options were basically 'kick and chase' using the pace on the wings or pass quickly to the wing.

Inside the opposition 22 the ball was the property of the '3 - 5 Metre heavies ' who were guaranteed to get beyond the gain line to make the try line.

Because the ball was wet Toulouse possibly kicked more often than usual which is why they might have appeared to be playing half heartedly and had more to give .

Ulster had a good opening 15 minutes but the turning point was the quick try Toulouse got after Ulsters second try which provided the Toulouse players with confidence that the game was winnable, the icing on the cake then for them was the try before half time.

With key players missing and then the injuries during the game it was always a big ask for Ulster.

Stockdale must learn to hand off rather run forearm up. Once 'binged' every referee will look for use of the forearm and he may not get the benefit of the doubt and end up with a RED card. ( especially in the Derby games with southern referees)

[launish116]

Its hard not to feel disappointed given we right in the game till the death. If 2 years ago you were asked could ulster compete against a top European side with a team containing EOS, O'toole, O'connor jnr, rea, hume, Moore, Jones, Andrew and lowry you'd have said no way. Let's be grateful for the progress shown. tbh I wouldn't mind a run in the challenge Cup as this season will be a right off for getting to games. Didn't do leinster any harm in 2013.

Couldn’t agree more with the injuries before the game and during the match to play as well as we did. That was a star studded Toulouse with most of there forwards 5-10kgs heavier than ours.

Some perspective needed! With what we had we punched well above our weight.

[Snipe Watson]

Is this the first season we've had a star on our European Jersey?

[big mervyn]

Is this the first season we've had a star on our European Jersey?

Yep. Unfortunately we've finally succumbed to the crass wendyball populism that it represents. The Bakebookers love it. Much classier without them imho.

[Dublin4]

That silly Cooney forward pass was the moment you lost the game. Up to then Ulster had played well against a top class side.

[Cornerfleg]

What an honour to have Janny Sexton giving his input on this forum...

[justinr73]

That was an experimental selection by Toulouse . Based on the weather forecast of a wet night at "Ravers" instead of playing their 'playmaker at 10" they shifted him to 12. and played a similar game to both Saracens and England when Farrell plays at 12.

Anything behind the 10 meter line was cleared by the half-backs , beyond the 10 meter line the ball and call was to made by the 12 using the forwards to create the time and space. The 12 options were basically 'kick and chase' using the pace on the wings or pass quickly to the wing.

Inside the opposition 22 the ball was the property of the '3 - 5 Metre heavies ' who were guaranteed to get beyond the gain line to make the try line.

Because the ball was wet Toulouse possibly kicked more often than usual which is why they might have appeared to be playing half heartedly and had more to give .

Ulster had a good opening 15 minutes but the turning point was the quick try Toulouse got after Ulsters second try which provided the Toulouse players with confidence that the game was winnable, the icing on the cake then for them was the try before half time.

With key players missing and then the injuries during the game it was always a big ask for Ulster.

Stockdale must learn to hand off rather run forearm up. Once 'binged' every referee will look for use of the forearm and he may not get the benefit of the doubt and end up with a RED card. ( especially in the Derby games with southern referees)

I hope he doesn’t get binged for trying a grupper.

[Dharper]

Against a pack that size you need to have a pack that can at least physically hold their own come set piece, breakdown & good footwork to get over the gain line, with a good bench.
Injuries McGrath, IH, to a lesser extent Murphy already put the pressure on. The in game injuries to Carter & Coetzee cooked our goose. There just isn’t the depth of top class backup options to start or off the bench (against top euro teams). Fully loaded with a crowd Id back us to turnover everyone bar 2/3 sides in Europe.....including Toulouse.

As an aside at that level we really are missing Addisons X factor. IF we get him fit, Stockdale will definitely benefit.

Ulster have an issue brewing in the 2nd row - they’re a good 1 short.

I’d back us in the challenge cup. Target wise This is another final yr.

[TopPoster]

Tbh, a run at the Parker pen challenge cup mightn’t be a bad thing as it could just be the opportunity to get some silverware again.

[solidarity]

Tbh, a run at the Parker pen challenge cup mightn’t be a bad thing as it could just be the opportunity to get some silverware again.

Agreed. Any silverware is better than none. And, to be fair, winning the challenge cup would be no mean feat.