Positives & Negatives: Ulster V Aironi

[darkside lightside]

(iHumph in his own little section)

+ves

* result, BP etc
* scrum good, lineout mostly good, though I agree with tenyarder about rory's darts (chris white tidied one up immaculately at the tail though )
* our back row was good, wannenberg did a good 1F impression, henry got through a load of work, and diack was outstanding
* we generally showed more attacking intent, with some success - the passage of play from the kick-off was pretty exhilirating. humphreys was on the front foot all night and smith came into the line well (hardly kicked the ball all night, which was good to see after the aimless kick-fests of the last 2 matches). however there was a flip side to this - see -ves..
* first try - a thing of beauty.. starting from an aironi scrum, we got a squeeze on and marched them back a good 5-10, robbie controlled it well at the back before picking up and surging forwards, he delayed his offload to draw another defender in, gave it to pienaar who had the last defender right on top of him but instantly offloaded to trimble out of the back of his hand (and the pass was even spinning! pure class) who ran it in... Danielli's try was nice as well, we had an overlap and straightened the line, put it through the hands and gave him a run in...

-ves

* they were rubbish, and the BP should have been in the bag (and then some) by half-time... we were incredibly wasteful, taking silly quick pens and turning ball over, getting pinged for stupid penalties on their line, and our handling error stats would be pretty hair-raising.. it looks a bit like we go out and mindlessly do whatever the last thing the coach has told us - and against Connacht and Glasgow that has been 'keep it tight boys' and we have done so to a fault, this time it was 'let's throw it around and try to carve them up' and again we have tried to do so from start to finish... the hallmark of a good team is one that does the right things at the right times - so they run out from their 22, and throw it around when it's on, but sometime sthe right thing to do is stick the ball down the field, or pick and drive 10 times.. anyway, some of it was good to watch, and at least we showed that our backs can be dangerous (which you wouldn't have known from the last two games..)

iHumph - there was good and bad about his display, he looked super-keen which was good, and hungry for the ball. he did some good things, a few nice dancing half-breaks, some good distribution, and in the second half a few nice territorial kicks. On the flip side, he tried too much sometimes, ran down a few blind alleys, tried a few low-percentage offloads... it looked like the kind of performance you'd put in in pre-season, before you have to settle down and play real rugby matches - with another few matches outside Pienaar, I'm sure he could tidy his game up. I don't care what the McL boosters say, this being his first gametime of the season was BAD MANAGEMENT!!!

[backawaygoonahead]

+++
the guy in the new stand who saw the ball coming his way, lodged his beer between his teeth and calmly gathered the ball into his chest

-ve
no tv cameras to pick out his moment and replay it over the weekend.
i mean, if matty burrows backheeled volley from the edge of the box into the top corner for the glens can become a youtube sensation, this would surely go stratospheric...

another +ve - the kid who yelled "get in the hole" after a place kick. this thing could take on a life of its own!!!

Hats off to the best catch of the night with not a drop spilt

Apart from one pathetic effort from a child we were free of the half-wit bellowing "get in the hole." I would like to think that he has read the opprobrium directed at him from these pages and taken heed but suspect he was just on vacation at Windsor Park, the natural home of his variety of idiot.

Welder's offer of a "Boom Baby" vuvuzela prize thankfully went unclaimed so bringing the KY Jelly turned out to be unnecessary

[promsandwich]

Head is just starting to clear so here goes. Delighted with last nights game, a lot of positives for me.

Positives:

- we had a back line. Great to see us actually running the ball. iHumph really does bring the outside runners into the game. His pass is so much quicker than NOC, but he also has the rugby brain to see when it is not on to not give it.

- iHumph. He made a few mistakes eg crap kick that led to his try and similarly appalling kick to nowhere in the dead ball zone in the first half. But the sense of excitement was back when we moved the ball. His tackling wasn't exposed last night. A terrific performance for his first game of the season. Ought to retain his place.

- scrum. Outstanding effort from the pack against what was supposed to be a strong Aironi front 5. Fair play to Bryan Young and the boys, the scrum is starting to look like a weapon. Great to be able to leave BJ out of the squad and still dominate. Great to see Paddy Mac get some more game.

- Muller. Another big performance from the big man.

- Diack. Always liked him. Think some people are forgetting he was out for a chunk of last season. He must be close to the most improved player of this season. Really seems to be benefitting from the competition within the back row. Awesome last night.

- Smith. Great lines last night. Good strength in contact too.

- Pienaar. Awesome player. How fast does he play the game? Hopefully the other players will get up to his speed soon. He made a couple of breaks last night and no-one was on his shoulder.

- a bonus point.

- Danielli and Trimble. Get ball carrying from these 2. Great to have them getting up to full speed.

- Best. Another stormer. i'll forgive a couple of throws, it was windy last night.

Negatives:

- Pienaar's kicking for the posts was poor.

- too many basic handling errors

- too many points left on the park

- the game plan. Is there no chance that we can manage the game like a top team? I'm all for running the ball and attacking teams, just don't think that we should be doing it from our own 22 or every time we get possession. Why can't we kick for field possession and then have a go? It almost appears that the team talk up until last night was "Ok, let's just batter teams up front and see if we can kick our penalties" whereas last night it was "Ok, no kicking whatsoever, never, not from anywhere, just run the ball from wherever you are, whatever the risks". Need to find a balance.

Don't read too much in to the -ves, overall I was delighted. We appear to be moving in the right direction. Our signings look terrific and they seem to have lifted a lot of our other players to higher levels. Still unbeaten. Very happy.

[Yoda]

4 tries was the very minimum required but we needed as many as possible. Having scored 4 by the 65th minute we to all intents and purposes collapsed into a ragged shambles in the final 15 when there should have been the chance to run in another couple at least. Sure injuries played a part but I have to wonder were our management as ignorant as you appear to be of the need to add to the 4 tries.

Plenty to be positive about last night - indeed a bit more composure and we'd have had 8 - that comes with a bit more experience - things are improving and we'll get there. But agree with the above - was disappointed that having got the 4 tries which should have allowed us to relax a bit that we didn't take them to the cleaners. Largely I think due to 6/7 subs in quick succession in the last 15. The strangest of which I thought was Marshall for Pienarr - not strange in itself as I can understand the need to give RP a little break in advance of next week but more because it was clear that Paddy W wasn't comfortable for a few minutes before hand and seemed to be suggesting he should come off - forcing through the Marshall sub left us with Willy at centre and Rory at No 8 when PW was eventually taken off. Maybe the sub details had already been given to the 4th official but if not strange.

However much happier that the general complaining is cos we 'only' got 4 tries rather than that we didn't get them!

[backawaygoonahead]

However much happier that the general complaining is cos we 'only' got 4 tries rather than that we didn't get them!

Absolutely Yoda but given that every team has taken a home bonus point against Aironi we should not fool ourselves that we acheived anything but the absolute bare minimum.

[Rooster]

Kicking last night was a real lottery, wind gusting and swirling was leaving it to real chance no matter who kicked, other matches were just as bad.

[notj]

You know, Chris Henry is really growing into his role at 7. In the build-up to Danielli's try he did some excellent classic openside linking work as well as everything he usually brings. The decision to put him there is starting to pay off.

[Bart S]

Didn't see game but sounds like we should have put a lot more on them. I can understand why people are frustrated about the lack of tries and potential implications at the death, but at the end of the day, we did the minimum required by securing the BP. My main concern was making sure that we took 10 points of Aironi and whilst the away game will be tougher, it's our last one and knowing what's required hopefully we'll be able to do it. To be honest, I reckon other groups will struggle to have similar opportunities so the chance is there for Ulster. The likes of Treviso and the Dragons won't be conceding too many 4 try defeats at home (I know Treviso did today but they almost won the game), so whilst not ideal, I'm still happy with what we took away. Getting at least a losing BP next week will be key and if we can do this, 6 points after 2 games will leave us in a reasonable position going into the key Bath games.

Ulster have never been huge try scorers in the H Cup so even getting the BP is a decent start.

[bootlaced]

So another game with positive and negatives,but the Caveman seems to avoid the analysis in most matches, not trying to pick on him, but there has been posting re every position having players to challenge the position,and a lot of concern was expressed that the only position to not have players challenging or a rotation was 10 now maybe the same could be applied to the 13 shirt,we have seen Emerick play on the wing but is it now time to put a little pressure on the 13 jersey and let Emerick have a run out or are we just giving a favour to EOS in getting one of his players fit,

[notj]

Well if the news of Cave is negative on Monday, it could be a moot point. He was solid if unspectacular, if my recollection is right? Made a few breaks.

[BR]

Negatives:

- Pienaar's kicking for the posts was poor.

His kicking for the posts has been second to none - it's when he tries to kick it between them the trouble starts.

OK, we could all tell what the instructions were in the 1st half and while the ideas were there, the execution was woeful at times. At HT, I presume, BMcL explained that he didn't literally mean don't kick the ball, and things improved. Still a hell of a lot of work done to get the ball into their territory at times - With our domination at set piece I wonder how necessary it was.

Last week we saw no invention from the backline, occasionally shifting the ball out wide was as exciting as it got. This week it went too far the other direction; trying to force inside passes at every opportunity whether the man was prepared for it or not (still not a great deal of invention beyond that though). Aironically (you see what I did there?), the simpler style of schoolboy rugby we payed against Glasgow would IMHO probably have been enough this week. My worry is that neither will suffice against BO next week, we'll need both more invention and better execution of the basics if we want to contest that one.

[Rooster]

Cave had quite a few decent breaks last night but looked to have been injured early in the match.
Emerick played centre for Dragons if I remember correctly.

[bootlaced]

Just to keep the conversation going,what sort of player should a 13 be,Wallace Trimble and Danielli,seem to be our first choice for their positions,when Paddy goes Whitten comes in so maybe he could be added into the mix,are our centres good solid players who are hard in defence but maybe lack that extra to carry them into the next Level,Mc Fadden showed an amazing burst of speed down the right wing to score a try today ,should'nt Cave be showing that as well or is he being held back by coaching?or am I am missing something?

[HammerTime]

+++
Apart from one pathetic effort from a child we were free of the half-wit bellowing "get in the hole." I would like to think that he has read the opprobrium directed at him from these pages and taken heed but suspect he was just on vacation at Windsor Park, the natural home of his variety of idiot.

:

Have you ever been to Windsor Park for a match?

[Rooster]

+ was talking to a dog pissing up against a lampost outside Ravenhill gates and he was barking something about good news on the contract front, suppose we will have to wait till the start of the week and see who the topic was centered on.