Positives:
Same as most others - Clinton, Rory, and the scrum - not destructive but solid - and the appearance of Botha in an Ulster shirt
Defence - other thanTrimbles mistake. That was a shame not just for the team but for the individual - I thought he looked pretty sharp until then and I think the try knocked his confidence a bit.
Negatives:
- Lineout is dysfuctional - still
- I thought they were going through the motions. For all the pre-season talk of running lines, skills etc Ulster won (slow) ball, passed it to another (Static) forward who set up another (slow) ruck. Turgid.
- No ambition in attack and the poor execution of basic skills such as catching and passing meant that we never looked like scoring a try. We looked clueless and predictable.
- Fitness. Ulster can play for 80 minutes but they looked under-powered and under-paced. I think this contributes to the missed tackles, lack of line breaks and slow ruck ball.
- Mentally. Ulster showed that they could play for about 2 minutes at the end. Why wait so long? Do they have a sport psychologist working with the squad? If not, I think they need one pronto to get the boys firing from the off!! not when the game has gone from the grasp.
At this rate we will be scrappers who might make life awkward at Ravenhill but will threaten no-one.