Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Talk about the men in white, and everything Ulster!!

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againstthehead
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Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by againstthehead »

Positives,

- big improvements in the basics - scrum was solid, lineout superb (Rory's throwing was outstanding) and defence was good for long spells.
- Ferris is a beast and should be locked up
- I've slated the decision to play Mat at 6, but tonight it came off, a very solid display.
- Caldwell is turning into Mr Consistant
- Isaac had one of his better games in a while. Looked very lively.
- The rolling maul was a joy in the 1st half
- The old fortress ravenhill mentality to coming back. Crowd was fantastic again.
- I liked the the backs hit rucks and mauls when forwards are in short suppley - great stuff.

Negatives
- after an outstanding 1st half display against the wind I thought we made a little hard work in the 2nd. Nial struggled to take a grip of the game with the boot, albeit it was incredibly difficult to get the ball to him! Excellent learning experience for O'connor though.

Overall, an excellent performance and one to build on. To date, Williams, tactics have been superb. We almost played the perfect game tonight. Really impressive.

IMHO of course...
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Neil F
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by Neil F »

Nice to see the positives and negatives making a reappearance, ATH! I'll reserve full judgement until I've had a chance to watch the match on Setanta but, even through Gusher's, erm... gushing on the radio, it sounded like a very positive performance overall.
Last edited by Neil F on Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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mikerob
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by mikerob »

comment on the radio was that williams maybe was a bit late getting the replacements on as ulster were tiring when the scarlets scored their try...
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by for dog and ulcer »

The highlight for me was one F's hit on Popham. :bounce: Magnificent!! :salut: I was impressed that Popham got up again. I also was pleased to see the hands on commitment of Matt Williams-animated and active and clearly involved. Hope is returning. :D :D :D
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by for dog and ulcer »

I also thought the crowd played their part and enjoyed the explosion of 2BC flags and HWMikes's Japanese one when we scored. :P :P :P
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againstthehead
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by againstthehead »

aye - totally agree about the subs. Those guys needed to come on 10-15 mins earlier!! Made a big impression when they did appear though!
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by darkside lightside »

good showing in pretty awful conditions, hard to exaggerate how crap it was, nasty wind blowing diagonally across the pitch and intermittent rain.. defence was good except for a couple of poor missed tackles in the first 15 mins of the second half - NOC didn't do too badly given the conditions, but he missed a couple of tackles (including one for the try where he was skinned) he was going a bit high and falling off.

don't understand why scarlets were going for scrums when they had pens, when we were destroying them in the scrums!
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Muddy Bless
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by Muddy Bless »

the scrum was immense, hats off to the big lads, it was all about them tonight...... conditions ment that the backs were left out in the cold..... allong with the support

good show...
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by scrum5 »

First time posting so a big hello to everyone, was at the game tonight and even though we were soaked through it was well worth it. A fantastic display by the team and all involved. thought the pack where outstanding with the highlight of the game being Ferris' hit on Alix Popham( any footage of it would be much appreciated ) Good to see the players applauding the crowd after the match, Matt Williams seems to have restored some self belief in the players, on the whole loads of positives very few negatives. On the question of replacements coming on a bit to late, i was standing at the dugouts and the call for the replacements was being held up until the boys had cleared their line, which when they did Carlo and Justy came on ( just an observation ).......ONWARDS AND UPWARDS FOR THE ULSTERMEN
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by bootlace »

I think we are now getting into a roll,terrible conditions for the backs but the forwards seem to be getting stronger,ie;they seem to be playing as a unit.my only negative statement was why Rory [a star in my opinion] kicked twice in the first half,I'm sure he will have to buy a few beers :wink:
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by Rooster »

UR wrote:Matt Williams was delighted with the performance,

“I was much more pleased with that performance, it was very hard, very tough and the players were courageous against a tough opposition.

You can coach tactics and you can coach skills but you can’t coach heart and courage and tonight they showed heart and courage”


Man of the Match Matt McCullough spoke about the influence that former Ulster and Ireland player Paddy Johns on the team “Paddy Johns spoke to us before the game and presented the match jerseys to us, it was moving to see how much emotion there was when he was talking about the honour of the jersey. It is a privilege to play for Ulster and recently we have all been reminded of that.”

McCullough continued to talk about the change within the squad with the arrival of the new coach,

“From a squad point of view Matt has brought with him clarity and day to day we are having great fun. This is an exciting time for Ulster and there is no doubt that we are turning a corner”
“That made me feel very special and underlined to me that Ulster is more than a team, it is a community and a rugby family"
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by bootlace »

Whoops also thought that Tom Court had a good performance in the scrum.Anybody else think that Reggie Corrigan is having a good influence :bowdown:
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by shamalicious »

Was at the game tonight. FREEZING!
Good game, but very frustrating first half, although it was good to see us retaining most of the possession. Thought Steiner had a a bad day with the boot (those attempts at kicking through the gaps 3 TIMES in the 1st half!) Was great to see a lot more support after tackles and we completely dominated in the mauls. Hopefully this is a turning point for us and we'll be competing in the HC next year.
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by AintNothinButa »

Thought we were great tonight.. played the conditions perfectly. agree young niall will have learnt a lot tonight. he looked a bit lost at times but was pleased how he performed. i've never been a fan of matt playing blind side but he proved me wrong tonight. one f had another good game. you can see why roger decided to leave as he wouldn't be playing 8 too much next year with stephen playing like that. crowd was great again which was nice to see.
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Re: Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Scarlets

Post by ColinS »

Yeah! I've had a few pints!

Not a great match, but a win!
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