Positives & Negatives: Ulster V Llanelli

[King Ding]

Glaring difference in the teams tonight, for me, was at number 10, the fact that Llanelli had a number 10 was maybe the biggest difference….?

Agreed, paddy was truly shocking, he just seemed to try and do it all by himself, its been said before but he is definitely not a 10, thought NOC made a big difference, mainly because he passed the ball and didn't try to do it all by himself. He should be dropped for cardiff, your meant to deserve your place in the team and he certainly doesn't.

Caldwells game has definitely improved over the summer, he passed for a change and linked up with the team instead of doing wat he did last year and wasting opportunitys by crashing up. Think the fact he didn't start gave him the kick up the ass he needed.

i fear it will take nagusa a while to adapt, but give the lad a chance, his catch at the end was unreal, so there is hope.

Trimble showed he isn't a winger, Start him at centre and judge him then.

IMO the team for cardiff should be
1)young
2)best
3)botha
4)del fava
5)caldwell
6)ferris
7)pollock
8)diack
9)Boss
10)NOC
11)Nagusa
12)dewey
13)trimble
14)Simon D/McCrea
15)Shifty

[ColinS]

I'd say I'm a member of the Paddy Brigade, but I reckon he's a better 12 than 10.

He's a 10 if there's injuries / defence tiring.

What the feck's gotten into you Colzo? I go away for a while and you're talking sense!?

Getting a little smarter when it comes to rugby

And does that mean I never talked sense before?!

[BPH]

I'd say I'm a member of the Paddy Brigade, but I reckon he's a better 12 than 10.

He's a 10 if there's injuries / defence tiring.

What the feck's gotten into you Colzo? I go away for a while and you're talking sense!?

Getting a little smarter when it comes to rugby

And does that mean I never talked sense before?!

Not that I recall

I'm impressed, you're growing up before my very eyes

[Jackie Brown]

Beware the Paddy Brigade. They'll hunt you out like witches and insist that he be given more time at 10.

WB

Think you're being a bit harsh wee bunz. I was a member of the give Paddy a chance over the last few seasons. He got his chance last season and proved that he was a very good player, possibly even a regular international, at inside center. The experiment of him as a ten is now hopefully dead and I hope Williams see's this sooner rather than later.

We have 2 exciting prospects at no.10 this year, both with contrasting styles and abilities and i hope to see both of them utilised correctly and possibly one step up to the mark. I feel O'Connor is going to have an interesting season.

[Ball Boy]

The weather was stinkin right enough but I don't think it entirely excuses jimmy Nagusa's game. He was at best tentative and at worst lacking in judgement - changed his mind about going for a high ball at the last moment and gifted them a lineout right on our try line.

Maybe Trimby needs a few games on the bench. Give him time to think about things and let him on to make an impact later in the match.

I loved BJ's attitude but even in the pre-match warm up I saw him asking Matt McC (I think) what they were supposed to be doing - so he needs time to fit in.

There's a definite sense of the team not having gelled yet so its very early days.

Best performances from Rory and Clinton.

[StevieD]

Shifty looks the business!! Rory Best led by example, playing for the shirt, looks like that defensive risk Dawson was talking about back fired!!

Both wingers had a mare! Paddy isn’t and shouldn’t be our number 10, different choice at 10 is a must in Cardiff, I’d like to see NOC get the nod.

Left ravers tonight deflated one hell of a reality check!

[browner]

Beware the Paddy Brigade. They'll hunt you out like witches and insist that he be given more time at 10.

Must be a witches convention tonight.....................plenty of broomsticks being dried out, and brains.

[Rooster]

Paddy is as good a 12 as there is around the league at present but not a 10, if iHumph or NOC do not get up to the level required we are stuffed this year and on the amount of basic errors will struggle at bottom of pile.
Positives pack plus Shifty.

[NogginTheNog]

Let's not drop the heads too quickly - you could say the game was won and lost on the toss of the coin as the evening deteriorated and we had much the worse of it. However Irrespective of the weather we did miss a lot of tackles, and that from the kick-off.

The team came alive when NOC came on, too late IMHO, as the match, and the 2nd half in particular was obviously going nowhere for us, and something had to be changed. NOC seemed to take a much flatter ball that PW, at pace, and managed to get some go forward. At last we actually looked quite threatening, but just ran out of time.

Action NOC and IH at 10 and PW to join Rob, Darren and Trimble (no. 4 in the pecking order until form / fitness improves) in the centre

[ali c]

To be positive, I think Sparky put in a better performance last night ...

[Ardglass2]

Let's not drop the heads too quickly - you could say the game was won and lost on the toss of the coin as the evening deteriorated and we had much the worse of it.

You could say that but in my opinion it wasn't true.

When I look around for why we lost one man must stand up and admit fundamental errors - Matt Williams

Why didn't the first team play against Worcester
Wallace is a 12 not a 10
Trimble is a centre not a Wing
McCullough is not a 6
Without Pollock the back row lacked balance
Line outs were a shambles - what has been going on in the summer
Registering McKenzie instead of Cochrane for thr Magners League squad - without Danielli we are the wingless wonders (Nagusa will spend the first six or seven matches getting to grips with the role)

As I have no doubt my Scottish friends will tell me Williams talks the talk but he doesn't walk the walk - depressing

[colwynvet]

This is my first post guys so go easy on me!

I started typing this before I saw Ardglass's last post. I agree with most of what he says.

Paddy is a classy player, but he's a 12, not a 10. He holds the ball for a fraction too long looking for the break which means the guys outside him (be it backs or forwards) always get "man & ball". This would be okay if he did it occasionally, but not every time. NoC gets the ball out wide quicker and I have seen him make the occasional break (element of surprise? ie. the opposition openside is focused on going wide so there's bound to be a bit of a gap, whereas with Paddy the openside can stay inside and have a look before committing himself knowing that Paddy'll either break or give slow ball)

Isaac's slow delivery doesn't help Paddy, although I'm not sure whose fault this is. Would any SH have a quick delivery with the quality of ball thats being presented to him? Yes, his step doesn't help but lots of SHs do this and if he was presented with better ball there is no denying that his break is a real weapon.

Are we sure that Trimble's a centre? Does he have the hands? I'm not sure! He's got most of the other attributes, power, speed etc. I'm not sure however that he shouldn't concentrate on trying to be a winger, rather than hankering after the unachievable. I actually think that in the long term Cave will be a much better all-round 13 than Trimble will ever be.

Pollock has to be our first choice openside. He made a real impact last night. KD was and still is a solid citizen but Pollock shades it at the minute and will improve with experience.

Justin again, like KD, is a solid citizen but does anyone believe he should have been on the pitch for the full 80 minutes!

Matt's a good 2nd row. He's an adequate blindside who won't let us down if he has to play there. He can do the job on a slow wet pitch but not if the game is at all fast.

The new boys looked good (not a good night to judge a Fijian winger!)

Botha was quiet around the pitch but lets face it he's just off the plane! I did notice however that in the scrums there were a few instances where the Scarlets' No8 tried to pick-up but got caught behind the gain line, I put this down to BJ putting pressure on and allowing our backrow to get away that wee bit quicker.

Penultimate point. When we were playing well 2-3 seasons ago my mate (a Welshman) was always in awe of our aggressive, offensive midfield tackling. Basically we always had two (or more) tacklers, one to stop the player and the other to knock him backwards! (imo this is largely what made Neil Best look so good, ie. it didn't matter if his big hit missed the target as the ball-carrier wasn't going anywhere anyway) Where has this disappeared to or has there been some subtle change in the game which makes this harder to achieve.

Final point. Rory was super last night but I can't figure out who's fault the creaking lineout is.

[colwynvet]

Future posts won't be so long!

[GerryO']

Has to be said, Schif was super last night. OK he missed a few kicks, but it was a mare for goal kicking. He took some major high balls and he is seriously quick of thought.

1. Young
2. Rory
3. BJ
4. Mr Ed
5. Carlo
6. Dawson
7. Pollock
8. Diack
9. Isaac
10. NOC
11. Tim
12. Paddy
13. Trims
14. McCrea
15. Schif

[Big-al]

Has to be said, Schif was super last night. OK he missed a few kicks, but it was a mare for goal kicking. He took some major high balls and he is seriously quick of thought.

1. Young
2. Rory
3. BJ
4. Mr Ed
5. Carlo
6. Dawson
7. Pollock
8. Diack
9. Isaac
10. NOC
11. Tim
12. Paddy
13. Trims
14. McCrea
15. Schif

Cadwell must start next week. Willis has to be given a chance but apart from that its a good looking team. My opnly worry is that when Williams was with scotland they couldn't defend either. Dewey will add a real ipact fro the bench. I have a feeling Ferris will be fit for next week. Matt said 2 weeks ago that he might be fit for the scarlets game so hopefully he'll either start or come of the bench. We need a win agaiest the blues to get back on track