Rainbow Cup

[Snipe Watson]

Papaali'l is just the type of player Ulster should be signing.

He's an absolute liability.
Wouldn't want him about the place. He's Nick Williams without the upside.

[Snipe Watson]

There should be nothing surprising about last night. Connacht have nothing else to play for this season and played like they wanted the win which is fair enough. We have bigger fish to fry and played like we wanted to get ready for next Friday.
Connacht are not a side to be taken lightly. They came fully loaded for the win and we weren't really up for it in either selection or attitude.

[rumncoke]

I can understand the you Captain Sir and I did say that ripping the ball would be the same as playing the ball while on the ground in a ruck except no ruck had formed and Lowry had started the rip while on his feet and the ball came with him as he rolled out of the tackle and his arm came in contact with the ball while rolling away.

Me thought it was a harsh decision and see below also wrong

I didn't realise the Ulster Capt's challenge was the tackle review I thought that was initiated by the TMO as the Ulster player had stayed down and needed a sponge or two after it.

Considering the Laws Law 9 (7c) states a player must do " anything that may lead the match officials to consider an opponent has committed and infringement.

Of course a Captains Challenge could be a total contradiction of this law of the game -- if the Captain's Challenge is used not to reverse a decision by the referee but require a decision to be made about an unpenalised infringement which would be contrary to law ( (7c)

But back to the Lowry alleged penalty , the basis for the penalty was the Connaught Player's insistence that lowry had infringed before him thus instead of a penalty to Connaught under the laws of the game Law 9( 7c) it should have been a penalty to Ulster.

If there is a Captains Challenge exactly how is this signalled to the crowd and deleted .It use should be recorded on the score board to ensure a referee does not allow a second .

[Dave]

I wouldn't start Lowry at out half sorry --- but to big (?) a target for a bullying brutish English back row they would run at him all night and isolate him in the tackle .

Still playing that same old record Rumn?

Secondly did Lowry rip the ball and since when was ripping a ball in the tackle an offence

I'm assuming there should have been a question mark at the end of that bit, and on the assumption you are asking that question, I shall endeavour to answer from my limited knowledge.

Ripping a ball in a tackle is not an offence. As you went on to point out, Henderson is very good at it. Henderson is very tall. He tends to do it much higher off the ground, but if the player has got his knee to the ground, Henderson too would be penalised, as instead of ripping the ball, he's meant to let go of the tackled player.

Therein lies the answer, I think, to your question. Lowry was (a) on the floor himself - at least partially (both knees), and (b) the tackled player was on the floor so instead of ripping the ball, Lowry should have released him. You are correct though, in my opinion, that the pass to that player was indeed forward. Again, a decision that Brace skipped over too easily without closer inspection.

But hey, we are getting too irked about a match that mattered very little in the greater scheme of things. Had it mattered more, I have no doubt the outcome would have been different.

Well done to Connacht though - I hope they can make something of this tournament, but my lack of interest means I may never find out.

Lowry's linespeed in defence doesn't give them a chance to run at him. He sets the tone for the defensive line. I think we are weaker defensively when he is not playing. It isn't as if Burns or Mads are exactly reliable defenders.

[Dave]

There should be nothing surprising about last night. Connacht have nothing else to play for this season and played like they wanted the win which is fair enough. We have bigger fish to fry and played like we wanted to get ready for next Friday.
Connacht are not a side to be taken lightly. They came fully loaded for the win and we weren't really up for it in either selection or attitude.

Exactly Snipe. The win clearly meant a lot to Connacht. The Rainbow Cup is a non starter. It isn't even a rainbow anymore. Just a black and white semi circle.

[rumncoke]

my point is that lowry because of his size is an identifiable weakness Madigan is less obvious and so is Burns less obvious

When i am right in my opinion why the hell would I change it . As I have stated it is not a question of guts or technique it is a question of size and the fact that his size makes him a target and the bigger the player coming at him the more assured that player is of getting over the gainline once the gain line has been broken the forwards are playing going backwards without momentum.

Having read McFarland'scomments I assume that he doesn't think much of Brace as a Referee and while he only identified one questionable decision there were several 50/50 calls which did not go Ulster's way . The fact is that Connaught' second touch down if it had been awarded was an obvious Captain's Challenge and the one thing he definitely didn't want to be seen doing was having a try awarded reversed -- the bias would then have been obvious.

Welcome to the Ulster problem DAN Irish referees with" a mother.s milk"bias.

[Lurgan Lad]

I would like to think that any team playing Ulster would identify weaknesses defensively in our backline not just based on size. Lowry is a far superior tackler to Madigan and Burns both I would suspect in % of tackles completed and the yards the ball carrier makes in the tackle. The concern I have with Lowry's tackling is that it will be more susceptible to offloads than say McCloskey but it is up to the people around Lowry to be aware of that. If there is no influence from the IRFU I would have Lowry starting at OH against Leicester.

[Jackie Brown]

Never forget, Madigan is a graduate of the Ian Humphreys school of defending

[rumncoke]

Lurgan Lad grow up the game is played by" wantobebullies" when it comes to winning big guys pick on small ones every time.

Last night Connaught set ou to soften up the Ulster centres early and the ulster forwards stepped in and Brace had a few words with the players.

In the second half the Connaught forwards were running straight at people who they thought were weaker --its the nature of the game.

The fact is that in every game if you have the ball more than 50% of the time your lucky thus 50% of the time you will be defending --- the secret of success is to ensure you are defending in the opposition half.

That game play can be sunk quickly by a referee awarding a penalty.

[rumncoke]

Nobody is a graduate from the Ian Humphries school of defending and I would rank Madigan's defence better than Burns to be honest on last nights display.

[Bobbievee]

I would say that the Forum has collectively excelled itself in contributing to Rumn's Care in the Community today. But we must not get him oo excited before his tea.

[Lurgan Lad]

Lurgan Lad grow up the game is played by" wantobebullies" when it comes to winning big guys pick on small ones every time.

I've enough experience to know that teams are going to target weaknesses, Lowry is most certainly not a weakness if compares to Ian Humphreys, David Humphreys, Ronan O'Gara, Billy Burns, Ian Madigan etc. etc. While Lowry is smaller than the others, to suggest that he is the weakness to target in our backline is ridiculous.

[SparkyClarky]

We were the masters of our own downfall ably assisted by Brace who rides us every chance he gets.
Yes it’s a brad pitt competition but I don’t want to look at a table with us below teams we are better than.

I am raging at a home loss and it hurts the team.
Regards Lowry, looking forward to seeing him for years when Billy & Mads have gone.

Now bring on the Tigers and get back on the horse.


Table for the tom kite cup.
https://www.ultimaterugby.com/rainbow-cup-2021/table

[solidarity]

I get that we didn't care too much about the result last night and that we were keen to avoid injuries but the basic skill of catching and holding on to a ball really needs to be fully mastered! Far too many knock-ons.

[Dave]

Thought we had a skills coach.