The UAFC

pwrmoore wrote:Muldoon was the pick of the bunch - well deserving of MOTM

Trimby was excellent and will have helped his case hugely with that performance

Disappointingly I hardly noticed that Ed O'D was on the pitch

Cronin has quite an impressive turn of speed for a hooker

Duffy showed up well in the centre for a player who is usually a FB

Paddy showed his class at centre once he came on

Agree with all of that and of the starting 2nd row Tuohy was the better. I know there are a lot of Ed fans but if it was a case of keeping only one of them I reckon we have the more promising guy. Tuohy's contribution tailed off when he was asked to play 6 for a while but he is a fine player.

Pity Paddy didn't get longer, he was looking the part but at least we know Deccie likes him and will probably have him on the bench next week.

Any news of Flannery - didn't look good. Looks like a summer at home would do him no harm.

Marcus Horan looks a big worry. He has never been destructive but always "managed" and often was able to get better as the game went on but he just looks shot to pieces and I wonder has the heart business got to him between the ears. Mushy Buckley managed to look accomplished by comparison

Bit of a waste of time really analysing performances in a match such as this IMO. That said Muldoon is an honest hard working guy. The question is can he offer anything at international level. Only one way to find out of course so I don't expect we'll have anymore of an answer on that in 10 days time

I think Horan was reffed out of the scrum so it is hard to judge whether he would have held up with a more sympathetic ref. The slow crouch.....touch....pause...engage was absolutely infuriating and he obviously didn't like something about horan's technique but I'm damned if I understand what it was and it was pretty obvious marcus didn't know what he was doing wrong either.

priority in Ireland has to be to properly develop the young props we have or to find some alternatives PDQ because Horan and Hayes are not holding up much longer

Snipe Watson wrote:

pwrmoore wrote: Disappointingly I hardly noticed that Ed O'D was on the pitch

I've been saying that for a year, but everyone on here seems to think he is some sort of superman.

I don't think I was rating him as a superman but it was very noticeable that Ulster's line-out only functioned last season when Ed was organising it. For Ulster I thought he did his fair share around the park in general without be conspicuous but last night he was conspicuous by his anonymity.

Did you watch on RTE, commentators seemed to keep getting Muldoon and Ed mixed up. Which was strange. Ed put in a lot of work in defense, just the commentators seemed to think it was Muldoon in two places at once

pwrmoore wrote:

Snipe Watson wrote:

pwrmoore wrote: Disappointingly I hardly noticed that Ed O'D was on the pitch

I've been saying that for a year, but everyone on here seems to think he is some sort of superman.

I don't think I was rating him as a superman but it was very noticeable that Ulster's line-out only functioned last season when Ed was organising it. For Ulster I thought he did his fair share around the park in general without be conspicuous but last night he was conspicuous by his anonymity.

You are right about the lineout. He is good, but the alternative was crap which also made him look good.

I think Ed played a lot better than people are giving him credit for. I didn't see much of Horan around the park either, except for constantly being pinged at scrum time. The ref was woefully inadequate. The pack was on the back foot for most of the first half and it is very difficult to stand out when you are under so much pressure. You need somebody to do the grafting and Ed and Marcus were there working their butts off with the rest of the pack. Second row forwards are generally not regarded as being high profile players and it's easy to underestimate their contribution in a match. Leinster obviously have seen someting in Ed, as has DK. I for one am gutted that we let him go.
Mum

mid ulster maestro wrote: Leinster obviously have seen someting in Ed, as has DK. IMum

Leinster have signed him because he is IQ and MOK is retiring
Kidney is taking him because POC, Cullen, Ryan and Toner are all injured. It was down to him or Caldwell

It was down to him or Caldwell

Now that would be a scary thought.

backawaygoonahead wrote:

It was down to him or Caldwell

Now that would be a scary thought.

and yet we picked Caldwell over Ed, which I find strange as Caldwell has played crap for a long long time

Basically since PO'C welcomed him to the Ireland set up Caldwell has been crap and worth 2 to 3 penalties a game.

Cardwell is a penalty magnet, but can play too. He does put himself in harms way, but can't keep his mitts off the ball when there.

I have been away awhile but with regards fridays game and the Ireland squad my take would be

That in the first half Mcfadden and Duffy didn't communicate/defend effectively as a unit or individually and the forwards were thus having to defend behind the gain line going backwards with an inexperienced selection ( hooker second rows and backrow forwards) not the best introduction for those involved.

Given that Mcfadden has a broken jaw from the game I don't want to single him out but to be honest I considered his selection to be DKs biggest gamble and surprise, in my opinion Cave has more experience and would be the better defender.

The lineout suffered from the game plan ( an open running game ) and a spear- chucker who couldn't hit the back of the line.

The scrum suffered from the ref who was more interested in the players obeying him than refereeing the scrum ie he was penalising player for engaging before the command but allowing any amount of boring and arm bending.Therefore a ego with a whistle.

Instead of trying to identify players who impressed in the circumstances the player who failed to impress was Imo Tol which on reflection might be harsh given the amount the BaBas were offside but to some extent that is down to nature of the game ie a pretour run out where the ref is trying to minimise the use of the whisle --- some times the approach is beneficial sometimes its not ---Friday in the second half it was the latter.

The squad has come in for some ??? especially with regards to front row selections and the lack of seeking the introduction of new blood but given the injuries in the second row and backrow DK requires experience in the front and to be honest I would hate to see players being introduced in the front row without experience behind them -- New Zealand is no place for trying out a front row.

This is a damage limitation tour

I did manage to get a word with Mr Rush on Friday, it was entertaining! I told him what I thought, hoped he would pay the compo himself and wished him the worst luck in the world with Cardiff next year, he toke it well! honest!

JRA are you by any chance eating your dinner through a straw?
Mum