Ulster Vs. London Irish - Post match reaction

[Wacko Winger]

Deceided to create a new thread for post match comments. Good game from Ulster. Still wasn't perfect but muck better than last week. We are still in with a chance of getting into the knock outs with that Bonus Point.

[fermain]

It'll take a lot more than that bonus point, not least the results of LLanelli away to Toulouse, and at home to us. We would need a winning bonus point in our remaining games as well, and we would still only have an outside chance of making it, regardless of our winning ways. This racist slur is a cloud over our win.

[cjp]

Crap performance. Turning points were all in and around half time. Catt going off helped, while Humph gave us a moment of magic but I honestly don't know whats gone wrong he seems so indecisive. There was no pattern in the first half and very little creation in the backline. 2nd half McMillan came on and again showed why he should be our starting openside, absolutely superb as always. Rory Best was everywhere in defence as was his brother and Neil, thought Wilson was poor. Still alot of missed tackles in that 10/12 channell and I think Maggs needs brought in to sew it up, if we are not going/allowed to play Trimby in the centre.

Missed Ferris big time tonight, not only in defence but his ball carrying and phsyical presence as well. Win and a bonus point are good but we need a big win from Toulose tomorrow to give us a chance, although I would fancy us to beat Llanelli at home. The more you look at it, the disallowed try v Toulose is really going to cost us.

[Red Hand Supporter]

2nd half McMillan came on and again showed why he should be our starting openside, absolutely superb as always.

Definately, Dawson was invisible tonight and McMillan was impressive as soon as he came on.

Poor performance, but we got what we needed without doing well. So hopefully come Toulouse and Llanelli we will be playing well. Bonus points are needed!

[colinh]

Have to agree McMillan made a big difference. I thought Dawson should have gone off instead of playing the hero when he was obviously injured.

[Harold7]

I still wasn't entirely convinced by the performance, Humph got man of the match but to be honest i think he mixed the good with the ugly, still his try was genius and anyone who talks about poor sportsmanship are wrong IMO! I was impressed by Fitzpatrick in the loose (i'll leave it to others to disect his scrummaging performance), McCullough and Wilson deserve honourable mentions.

However the backs lack something, i think we're crying out for either Trimble or Maggs in the midfield to give us a real punch. Trimble gets one half opportunity in the game and scores, let's get him the ball in space be it on the wing or in midfield!

[colinh]

ASye but we had 2 try scoring opportunity and Maggsy dropped the ball. We still are not ruthless enough. It was ugly at times and we still have a long way to go but tonight for the first time we stood up for ourselves and were there to be counted. John O'Sullivan of the IT last week said to me that Ulster were not physical enough. Tonight we say some of that physicality come to the fore.

[aarons]

I'm sorry to dampen the spirits but I thought we were absolutely crap in the first half redeemed by some hard work and luck in the second.

We are no where near rugged or physical enough in the pack. We had scrums pushed all over the park. We stole lineout but didn't dominate. We picked but didn't break the gain line.

To be honest - I was expecting more.

well said. some of our players are shown up badly playing against the more physical packs.

[jackthelad]

I'm sorry to dampen the spirits but I thought we were absolutely crap in the first half redeemed by some hard work and luck in the second.

We are no where near rugged or physical enough in the pack. We had scrums pushed all over the park. We stole lineout but didn't dominate. We picked but didn't break the gain line.

To be honest - I was expecting more.

More importantly - start a thread about who is selling who short. Please explain to me why a team that can beat LI 29-13 at home loses 29-13 away?

This is the report on the game from the L.I. website.

"Humphries still the king of Ravenhill as Irish discover to their cost
Paddy Lennon reports from Ravenhill
David Humphries proved that he remains king of Ravenhill with a second half performance that tipped what was an evenly balanced game at half-time decisively in favour of the home team.

The Ireland fly-half produced an indifferent display in the first half, his only creative contribution was a cross-field kick that Andrew Trimble caught and beat Justin Bishop's tackle for the Ulster's opening try in the11th minute. In the build-up to the game there were mutterings in the Belfast media that Humphries was losing his touch following his indifferent display at Madejski Stadium.

In the opening 11 minutes of the second half, the former London Irish player confounded his critics by scoring ten points that proved to be the turning point of the game. The first five came from a try in the 44th minute when he caught the Exiles off guard. The referee had awarded a penalty against Irish for offside. Humphries shaped up to take the kick at goal, including going so far as to call for his kicking tee and bending down on one knee as if to tighten his bootlace. Instead he took a quick tap penalty to himself and beat Steffon Armitage to touch down on the left. Not very sporting but what the heck the game is professional now!

He added the conversion and a penalty in the 51st minute to give his team a 15-6 lead from which Irish were never to recover.

On a clear, bitterly cold Belfast evening in front of a capacity, hostile home crowd Ulster had dominated territory in the opening period but a well organised Irish defence and the home team's lack of creativity meant that they failed to capitalise on the advantage.

It has been some time in this correspondent's experience since he encountered such a hostile and poorly behaved crowd at a rugby match. Not only were many of the referee's decisions greeted with derision, the usual courtesy of quiet afforded to visiting kickers was not given to Shane Geraghty who was loudly booed when he was taking place kicks.

This aggressive attitude sat uncomfortably with the happy Christmas ambiance that preceded kick-off. In a timely, seasonal gesture Ulster had distributed 10,000 Father Christmas hats to supporters as they arrived resulting in a sea of red and white colour around the ground.

The opening skirmishes on a heavy rain-sodden pitch were uncompromising as the home side made its intention clear. In the seventh minute Matt McCullough followed through with a tackle on Mike Catt after the centre had cleared the ball. While the tackle was not blatant enough to catch the referee's attention it jarred Catt's shoulder crucially.

Three minutes later Paul Hodgson had the chance of a breakaway try but he kicked ahead too hard and sent the ball over the dead ball line. In a series of scrappy exchanges Irish dominated the scrum but only had a Geraghty penalty in the 15th minute to show for their efforts. That was followed by the well rehearsed Humphries-Trimble try off the back of a scrum.

At the end of the first quarter the Irish lineout wobbled under pressure from Justin Harrison. A high tackle in the 26th minute on Delon Armitage by Isaac Boss saw the scrum half sent to the sin-bin. Geraghty sent the resulting penalty left of the left upright, the 20 year old fly half was successful with his third penalty attempt in the 32nd minute to give his team a 6-5 lead.

Ulster continued to pressure the Irish defence but it held firm, Humphires missed with a long range penalty in the 36th minute to leave the score 5-6 to the Exiles at the interval.

The third quarter was dominated by the Humphries masterclass in taking control of the game by playing the conditions to telling effect. By contrast with the opening period his tactical kicking consistently forced Irish to turn in retreat or found touch deep in the Exiles' half. The Ulster pack hustled and harried Bob Casey and his colleagues sufficiently at the lineout to add to the pressure.

Ulster's third try came from a Justin Bishop fumble on the left that Neil McMillan punished by touching down just left of the posts. Humphries added the extras to give his team a decisive lead going into the final quarter.

Given the conditions and the physical nature of the game both teams introduced a series of replacements to refresh tired bodies. Two of Irish's replacements were to feature in a rare, multi-phase, error-free move in the 62nd minute that involved David Paice and Seilala Mapusua, the latter sent Gonzalo Tiesi over for what was the visitors' only try. Geraghty kicked the conversion before giving way to Barry Everitt in the 69th minute.

Spurred on by the home crowd Humphries continued to orchestrate Ulster pressure. A period of sustained attack down the left wing resulted in Bob Casey being sin-binned for collapsing a maul. Ulster opted for the scrum which they won; the ball was moved to the right where they used their numerical advantage to telling effect as Paul Steinmetz crossed for the bonus point-winning try in the 77th minute. Humphries' conversion was successful.

The concluding stages of the game were marred by a number of physical exchanges, one of which resulted in Delon Armitage and Andrew Trimble being sin-binned. The behaviour of some members of the Ulster touchline staff in this incident was questionable. The game drew to a close in an unfriendly and unsatisfactory manner which did little credit to those involved."

Glad to see at least one eye was working.

[cables]

"Please explain to me why a team that can beat LI 29-13 at home loses 29-13 away?"

LKOTP, Please explain to me why a team that beat Ulster 29-13 at home loses 29-13 away.

[colinh]

Welcome to Ravenhill the bear pit of European rugby Mr Lennon.

Have to admit I have never heard the crowd in such vociferous or hostile mood in my puff. LI were offside most of the game even Gusher was bemoaning it but thankfully for the first time Ulster took the situation by the scruff of the neck and were not cotent with never taking a step back but always wanted to go forward. In the words of the perceptive John O'Sullivan that Ulster are not physical enough ... they are now.

[Gary]

Apart from the inaccuracies in the LI article (for goodness sake you'd have thought they'd have researched the name of their man of the match). I was interested to hear that the Ulster touchline staff were wearing LI outfits. Very strange.

[colinh]

poor loosers Gary. At least people wil now shut up about Bob Casey being ready to play for Ireland after the last 2 weeks.

[colin_m]

Pish!

I'm not evn sure Casey should play for LI sometimes, never mind about Ireland.

[Solid Air]

Great result, great to be there, no better reply to last weeks game, however if I was a teacher I’d be saying “good work, but can do better”

I still felt Ulster lacked a certain degree of composure and shape in the first half, still too many basic errors, handling and defence, and wrong options taken at times.

There has been much use of the word physical around the various threads, and I think that’s what made the difference in the second half, first forty minutes Ulster seemed reluctant to take it to them, second half became much more physical in actually taking the game to Irish, giving a bit more space and time to take decisions.

I thought Humph still had a bit of a nightmare in the first half, but again started playing his OWN game in the second, much better use of the ball and smarter options.

As for Humph’s try, Smith says it wasn’t in the spirit of the game, BELLIX!! Any sport is about taking chances and opportunities when they arise, for fifteen LI players to walk back to their own line on the sound of a ref’s whistle for a penalty, that’s schoolboy stuff, were they waiting for Raker to announce what Humph was doing over the PA??

It’s a wonder Catt didn’t go to the ref and ask for an explanation of the rules in relation to penalties, shots at goal, tap and run or red zone quick takes, dry yer eyes Smith!

And finally, the crowd, they made Ravenhill what it has been in the past, all the clichés that have been used in the media were back in full force, ‘the fortress’, ‘the cauldron’ etc etc.

Fair play to the sixteenth man, the voices were heard, the atmosphere was back, it needs to be like that for every home game, this isn’t dominoes we are playing here, it’s rugby, that tough, physical, in your face battle of the strongest, and anybody who has played the game will know that after eighty minutes you should be as hospitable and as friendly to your opposition as you can be. But for eighty minutes your opposition becomes ‘the enemy’, after that he’s yer best mate (depending on how many pints you have they might even become your beshtest mate ever, honesht, mate)

Wise up LI, Ulster took it to you, you weren’t up for it, you beat us fair and square last week, but when it came to the real test you bottled it, offside blitz defences fool some of the people some of the time, some of the people……………………………….etc!