Peter Bills Report

[Tevez]

Whether or not you agree with Peter Bills's assessment, he was at the match on Saturday....I saw him.

[backawaygoonahead]

Whether or not you agree with Peter Bills's assessment, he was at the match on Saturday....I saw him.

I don't doubt you at all but that just makes it even more incredible -was he red about the bake, smelling of drink and staggering by any chance ?

[OneMore]

I think, if we qualify, iHumph's 78th minute kick will be regarded as great partly BECAUSE of the importance it held. Likewise I think the performance should be regarded as great, not only because we kept the error count down, retained the ball well, and handled very well in the conditions, but also because of the importance of the game, and the team's ability to hold it's nerve.

Gordon Banks' save from Pele's header probably wasn't the greatest of all time, but it was at the world cup, it was against Pele, and it had a certain level of necessary goalkeeping ability attached. I am quite sure there have been better saves made in the course of history, but because they've been in amateur football, non-league, and made by people you've never heard of, against strikers you've never heard of, they won't be regarded as the greatest.

They were lucky to be in front at half time - I thought the pen given against us for sealing the ball was dubious at best. And last week we endured a second half against Treviso, with a lot of time spent defending our goal line - I honestly think that has done us no harm preparing for yesterday.

OM

[backawaygoonahead]

Watched from home. As I said that explains a lot, you neither had any understanding of the conditions nor were in a position to judge the ferocity of impacts.

How about answering some of my questions now? Certainly since you have had the manners to answer mine.

Do you think we played the wind correctly in the second half? Yes

Do you think we were clinical enough when close to their line? No, but you won't get perfect handling in those conditions

Could allowing Biaritz a BP not stop us getting a home qf? Completely irrelevant to the report of the match

I've been at Ravenhill in bad conditions many times over the years and the fact I wasn't standing in the cold and wind but instead watching at home doesnt mean any comment about a 3 point victory over a good but not stellar French team at home is automatically irrelevant. Wow look I'm even commenting on your comments!! Hows that for service ? No it doesn't make your comments irrelevant, just substantially less well informed.

It was a very good performance no doubt. The fact it was pishing down and blowing on both teams cant hide the fact it wasnt a perfect performance. Ah now you're just making sh1t up, who said it was perfect?

Do others really think this was Ulster Rugbys best performance in years? Maybe it was our most important game in years, but was it really the best we have played in say 5 years? I don't give a flying feck, it was clearly the best since winning the ML in terms of everything that matters. Sure we may have played some semi-sparkling rugby against some bunch of lemons, you might even plump for the great victory against a weakened team in Turnipstan but you would be wrong by any reasonable yardstick - Saturday was getting the job done against a quality side when it mattered most and in conditions which despite what some buffoons might say favoured the bigger pack of Biarritz (idiots who still feel Ulster or Irish Rugby is best served by wet weather just haven't been paying attention over recent years)

I hope this reply meets with your approval. Feel free to question me at any time - hope this helps you come to a greater understanding of what really happened on Saturday.

[lovesthehardground]

Watched from home. As I said that explains a lot, you neither had any understanding of the conditions nor were in a position to judge the ferocity of impacts.

How about answering some of my questions now? Certainly since you have had the manners to answer mine.

Do you think we played the wind correctly in the second half? Yes

Do you think we were clinical enough when close to their line? No, but you won't get perfect handling in those conditions

Could allowing Biaritz a BP not stop us getting a home qf? Completely irrelevant to the report of the match

I've been at Ravenhill in bad conditions many times over the years and the fact I wasn't standing in the cold and wind but instead watching at home doesnt mean any comment about a 3 point victory over a good but not stellar French team at home is automatically irrelevant. Wow look I'm even commenting on your comments!! Hows that for service ? No it doesn't make your comments irrelevant, just substantially less well informed.

It was a very good performance no doubt. The fact it was pishing down and blowing on both teams cant hide the fact it wasnt a perfect performance. Ah now you're just making sh1t up, who said it was perfect?

Do others really think this was Ulster Rugbys best performance in years? Maybe it was our most important game in years, but was it really the best we have played in say 5 years? I don't give a flying feck, it was clearly the best since winning the ML in terms of everything that matters. Sure we may have played some semi-sparkling rugby against some bunch of lemons, you might even plump for the great victory against a weakened team in Turnipstan but you would be wrong by any reasonable yardstick - Saturday was getting the job done against a quality side when it mattered most and in conditions which despite what some buffoons might say favoured the bigger pack of Biarritz (idiots who still feel Ulster or Irish Rugby is best served by wet weather just haven't been paying attention over recent years)

I hope this reply meets with your approval. Feel free to question me at any time - hope this helps you come to a greater understanding of what really happened on Saturday.

Cant agree with your comments more Backaway. The facts are simple. Biarritz came here knowing a win would g'tee them qualification and probably a home tie. We knew we had to win to stand any chance of going thru. Result = two teams facing each other with everything to go for. Massive head to head. then factor in the weather. Saturday's weather no longer favours Ulster especially when out weighed by the opponents pack. we want to play a more expansive game. Saturday's weather suited Biarritz more, especially when they were trying to close the match out by stuffing it up their jumpers.

Now reference Mr Bills - absolute . Since when does only scoring tries constitute playing well. Our defence was outstanding! Lund knocking the ball on when on our line was as much to do with our successful defence holding them out for 10 minutes than an error on his part. Bills refers to Ulster failing to score when camped on the Biarritz line in the first half as a failure on our part. We tried to "knock down the wall instead of going wide". No mention of their defence. Again it was Lund's error, nothing to do with Ulster's defence. Perhaps Bills has watched too much Super 14 CRAP!!!! Rugby is about defence as well as attack.

Anybody who thinks Saturday's performance wasn't our best for some time knows very little about rugby. About playing under pressure. About playing with so much desire to win that it the game is played in seconds with each victory in every individual facet of play culminating in the overall result.

This was a Herculean effort. I know for I WAS THERE!!

[Bart S]

A great win for Ulster and supporters like us but to be honest was it any better than several of the wins from the past few years against high flying teams like Leicester, Glaws, Toulouse, Stade Francais and even Biarritz? Winning your home games to progress in the Heiny is a given. Winning a meaningful away game (like at Bath, were it mattered to both teams) was more impressive to me.

The mighty Aironi beat Biarritz so let's get a bit of perspective here.

At half time we had a great chance to win and deny BO a lising BP. We ended up scraping a win (good win though it was) and left ourselves relying on others. All Bills is doing is saying how far from the finished article we are and that it could have been better. Don't have a problem with that.

Goon - for someone who enjoys trying to offend everyone else I find it amusing that you take umbrage when someone dares to say something not ultra positive about your beloved Ulster.

We're making progress, but I'm sure the (hopefully) 7 other teams who qualify for the Heiny QF's are all hoping to draw us in the next round.

[lovesthehardground]

A great win for Ulster and supporters like us but to be honest was it any better than several of the wins from the past few years against high flying teams like Leicester, Glaws, Toulouse, Stade Francais and even Biarritz? Winning your home games to progress in the Heiny is a given. Winning a meaningful away game (like at Bath, were it mattered to both teams) was more impressive to me.

The mighty Aironi beat Biarritz so let's get a bit of perspective here.

At half time we had a great chance to win and deny BO a lising BP. We ended up scraping a win (good win though it was) and left ourselves relying on others. All Bills is doing is saying how far from the finished article we are and that it could have been better. Don't have a problem with that.

Goon - for someone who enjoys trying to offend everyone else I find it amusing that you take umbrage when someone dares to say something not ultra positive about your beloved Ulster.

We're making progress, but I'm sure the (hopefully) 7 other teams who qualify for the Heiny QF's are all hoping to draw us in the next round.

Ar*e!! Ask Bath if winning your home games is a given. Seem to remember Biarritz turned them over at the REC. No one is saying we're the finnished article but credit where credit is due, Saturady was a great victory and a performance to match! Bills totally ignored the positives from Saturday choosing to slag the team off. I thought a journalist was supposed to be impartial not incompetent

[Cornerfleg]

Just a thought ... the pressure of expectation on the team last weekend must have been almost unbearable. Though not McL's biggest fan whatever way he managed the team he did a great job - in warming up they were joking and laughing ... almost too much I thought at the time, but it was what was needed. They were missing kicks and dropping balls, but the spirit was there.

However every player was fully aware of how much they needed to win that game, I'm sure they could sense from the pitch how much we were wishing them to win. I can't think of any other team last weekend who was under that level of expectation who came through on the winning side.

If we do get through next week - and it's not a given, but if we do ... I think whoever hopes to draw us in the q/fs as an easy touch continues to think that way. We're far from being a finished team who can score the points that go along with the territory. But with the pressure off and a licence to go out and give it a lash in the q/fs I could see us looking a hell of a lot better than we 'looked' to some critics on Saturday.

If any of you still have the match on telly - just look at the sheer gut wrenching faces of the BO boys - they wanted that win or draw and I'm sure they were playing like 2 men and a wee lad to get it. Alas for them we won!

[Neil F]

A great win for Ulster and supporters like us but to be honest was it any better than several of the wins from the past few years against high flying teams like Leicester, Glaws, Toulouse, Stade Francais and even Biarritz?

Short answer: Yes. It was a better win for a number of reasons.

Ulster have turned over big name teams at Ravenhill in the past. They have done so with teams that would have been expected to be uncompetitive on an average day with the opposition they defeated. These wins weren't necessarily 'freak' results but they were also not results and performances that any team could repeat week after week. They were impressive and enjoyable at the time but were, ultimately, meaningless in the long-term development of the side.

A few years ago, when Ulster defeated Harlequins at Ravenhill, we saw what, to me at least, was the first reasonably major scalp taken in Belfast by a performance that could be repeated. The conditions that day meant a lot, however, and the steps weren't taken. The attritional victories over Bath home and away and Biarritz are performances that can be replicated, and that will need to be replicated, in the future.

You're right - perhaps the performance yesterday wasn't as good as the one against, say, Toulouse in 2006 or even Stade last year but this was still a better victory. In terms of what it means, it was a better victory, in terms of the fact that it's a performance that could be repeated, it's a better victory and in terms of where it could lead, it is certainly a better victory. There's a difference between getting a team geared up to put in a proud performance at home against a major European player, it's more difficult to get that kind of performance when much more is a stake.

[HammerTime]

Watched from home. As I said that explains a lot, you neither had any understanding of the conditions nor were in a position to judge the ferocity of impacts.

How about answering some of my questions now? Certainly since you have had the manners to answer mine.

Do you think we played the wind correctly in the second half? Yes

Do you think we were clinical enough when close to their line? No, but you won't get perfect handling in those conditions

Could allowing Biaritz a BP not stop us getting a home qf? Completely irrelevant to the report of the match

I've been at Ravenhill in bad conditions many times over the years and the fact I wasn't standing in the cold and wind but instead watching at home doesnt mean any comment about a 3 point victory over a good but not stellar French team at home is automatically irrelevant. Wow look I'm even commenting on your comments!! Hows that for service ? No it doesn't make your comments irrelevant, just substantially less well informed.

It was a very good performance no doubt. The fact it was pishing down and blowing on both teams cant hide the fact it wasnt a perfect performance. Ah now you're just making sh1t up, who said it was perfect?

Do others really think this was Ulster Rugbys best performance in years? Maybe it was our most important game in years, but was it really the best we have played in say 5 years? I don't give a flying feck, it was clearly the best since winning the ML in terms of everything that matters. Sure we may have played some semi-sparkling rugby against some bunch of lemons, you might even plump for the great victory against a weakened team in Turnipstan but you would be wrong by any reasonable yardstick - Saturday was getting the job done against a quality side when it mattered most and in conditions which despite what some buffoons might say favoured the bigger pack of Biarritz (idiots who still feel Ulster or Irish Rugby is best served by wet weather just haven't been paying attention over recent years)

I hope this reply meets with your approval. Feel free to question me at any time - hope this helps you come to a greater understanding of what really happened on Saturday.

TBH Bigchief you had to really be there to understand what the conditions were like. I've watched the game back now a couple of times (like a sad bast*rd) and the first thing I noticed when watching it again was how good the conditions looked through sky. Can assure you it was 3 times as bad as it looked through the tv. I personally thought it was a super performance considering the wind/rain. You could tell they were up for it. I genuinely believe that if the playing conditions were perfect we would have won the game by more. Certainly if we were playing with the wind in the first half we would have as the penalty count against BO was shocking.

Back to Bills. Just read his tele report. More of the same brad pitt. Just gives me the impression that it pains him to comment on the positive things about Ulster and concentrates on the negs. One or two valid points about not passing out wide when on their line 2nd half (they had NO wide defence at all) and kicks in 2nd half going to high and central but other than that all rubbish I think.

[backawaygoonahead]

A great win for Ulster and supporters like us but to be honest was it any better than several of the wins from the past few years against high flying teams like Leicester, Glaws, Toulouse, Stade Francais and even Biarritz? Winning your home games to progress in the Heiny is a given. Winning a meaningful away game (like at Bath, were it mattered to both teams) was more impressive to me.

The mighty Aironi beat Biarritz so let's get a bit of perspective here.

At half time we had a great chance to win and deny BO a lising BP. We ended up scraping a win (good win though it was) and left ourselves relying on others. All Bills is doing is saying how far from the finished article we are and that it could have been better. Don't have a problem with that.

Goon - for someone who enjoys trying to offend everyone else I find it amusing that you take umbrage when someone dares to say something not ultra positive about your beloved Ulster.

We're making progress, but I'm sure the (hopefully) 7 other teams who qualify for the Heiny QF's are all hoping to draw us in the next round.

Ar*e!! Ask Bath if winning your home games is a given. Seem to remember Biarritz turned them over at the REC. No one is saying we're the finnished article but credit where credit is due, Saturady was a great victory and a performance to match! Bills totally ignored the positives from Saturday choosing to slag the team off. I thought a journalist was supposed to be impartial not incompetent

You'll do for me, Hard. That ought to pin Bart into his box as a person of little or no meaningful judgment -Brennan indeed, although to be rather more fair to him than he perhaps deserves, I don't recall his judgement being quite so poor previously. There, now that was nice , wasn't it ?

Actually strike that, he is the back end of a goat. Listen Fool - I don't TRY to offend people, people can be offended by the strangest things and often are by things that either jar with their beliefs or they are just so narrow-minded with so little experience of life that they just can't cope with anything that hasn't been beaten into them from birth. If I wanted to offend you or anyone else, for that matter, I could do so a lot more easily than with what I have posted today.

I am simply commenting on the lazy journalism that Bills is renowned for. The fool ends his piece saying " And the brutal fact is, but for Humphreys’ exceptional goal kicks, it would have been even worse for Ulster." Sound factual Bart ? Yes? Wouldn't it have been equally factual to have concluded "But for Yachvilli's beautifully struck penalties, Biarritz would have gone home without so much as a bonus point" Equally based in fact you will concede I'm sure. Do either statement come remotely close to summing up what happened for 80 minutes - do they feck ?

Bills make Stephen Jones look like a proper rugby journalist and that takes some doing, now catch yourself on.

Finally your little jibes about "your beloved Ulster" & how we will be seen as the team to get in the draw mark you down as an oaf , a buffoon , an arsewipe, a feckwit and above all -

arseclown.jpg (2.97 KiB) Viewed 288 times

[Rule13b]

i agree that Bills is a very poor Journalist.
His comments inthe B.Telegraph were away off the mark.
I too was standing on the Terrace last Saturday and have no doubt tat this was Ulsters best performance at home this Season.

I too have been critical of RP during the season but I thought that he was a class act last Sat. Both Muller and Botha were immense and totally committed to to the cause. Whilst Pedrie showed committment I had some doubts about his effectiveness at times. I freely admit to being a big fan of Diack and would have liked to have seen him on the bench at least but of course he was injured. How he can say that the Boks haven't been worth their salt after saturday beggers belief.

I can understand how an armchair TV watcher would not perhaps been impressed by Saturday but any one at the game was impressed.
Yes Biaritz got a bonus point but this was last years beaten finalists, and a side who ran in 10 tries the previous week so I Think that not only does Bills be litle the Ulster performance but also that of Biarritz.
I dont see how side with Yaschvillee and Hairy Donkey and the clatter of othe internationals in the starting line up can be dismissed so lightly.
It was a great cup win under difficult conditions , it was no exhibition match.
Yes it would have been great to get 5 points but the 4pts were well justified.

[Bart S]

Goon - for someone who enjoys trying to offend everyone else I find it amusing that you take umbrage when someone dares to say something not ultra positive about your beloved Ulster.

We're making progress, but I'm sure the (hopefully) 7 other teams who qualify for the Heiny QF's are all hoping to draw us in the next round.[/quote]

Ar*e!! Ask Bath if winning your home games is a given. Seem to remember Biarritz turned them over at the REC. No one is saying we're the finnished article but credit where credit is due, Saturady was a great victory and a performance to match! Bills totally ignored the positives from Saturday choosing to slag the team off. I thought a journalist was supposed to be impartial not incompetent[/quote]


If you read what I wrote you'd see that I said winning home games was "a given" IN ORDER TO PROGRESS. That's part of the reason why Bath are highly unlikely to do so, so your argument doesn't really stand up.

[againstthehead]

i agree that Bills is a very poor Journalist.
His comments inthe B.Telegraph were away off the mark.
I too was standing on the Terrace last Saturday and have no doubt tat this was Ulsters best performance at home this Season.

I too have been critical of RP during the season but I thought that he was a class act last Sat. Both Muller and Botha were immense and totally committed to to the cause. Whilst Pedrie showed committment I had some doubts about his effectiveness at times. I freely admit to being a big fan of Diack and would have liked to have seen him on the bench at least but of course he was injured. How he can say that the Boks haven't been worth their salt after saturday beggers belief.

I can understand how an armchair TV watcher would not perhaps been impressed by Saturday but any one at the game was impressed.
Yes Biaritz got a bonus point but this was last years beaten finalists, and a side who ran in 10 tries the previous week so I Think that not only does Bills be litle the Ulster performance but also that of Biarritz.
I dont see how side with Yaschvillee and Hairy Donkey and the clatter of othe internationals in the starting line up can be dismissed so lightly.
It was a great cup win under difficult conditions , it was no exhibition match.
Yes it would have been great to get 5 points but the 4pts were well justified.

sums things up perfectly. For those conditions we were darn near perfection in the first half. Second half, we were average in attack but excellent in defence. My major gripe would be that we'd didn't sneak a try when camped on their 5m line for 5 mins. Then again, Biarritz were camped on our line for 10-15 mins and they didn't score either...

Saturday was by far our best performance all season and let's not forget, this side has only played a handful of games together this season. If we stay injury-free, the side has potential and we can give any side a game at home. But we can't get too ahead of ourselves either. Whilst we have a handful of what I would call exceptional players, we also have a handful of very very average players. They guys are doing well, but we just need to keep things in perspective.

[The Boo Radleys]

Spent today working in Limerick - great fun!!!

By the way, the Exmainer had the kicker as David Humpheys - maybe Bills isn't the worst...