Positives and Negatives: Munster V Ulster

[againstthehead]

The south terrace probably isn't the best place to view the game and I'm sure I missed some big performances but here's my take on this afternoons events:

Positives
- Defensive display was quite incredible. The ferocity of some of the hits was on another level - something I don't think I've ever seen an Ulster side display - certainly not for an entire 80 minutes. Ferris was going mental when Zebo ran in the try, which just typified Ulster's resolve. No-one was crossing that white line again. Ultimately, the defence won the game.
- We took our chances. We didn't create a huge pile, but pienaar bagged his penalties, Gilroy scored a scorcher and the Humph pulled a drop goal out of the bag (where the heck did that come from?? )
- set-piece provided a very good platform. Lineout was absolutely outstanding. The Munster fans were putting Rory under a fair bit of pressure but he coped admirably. I thought we looked dominent in the scrum where I was standing and that Munster just couldn't take the hit - but maybe I'm just biased?
- individual performances: everyone performed heroically in defence but of course Ferris stood out as a man possessed. I thought henry and wallace were also putting their bodies on the line big style but I guess everyone did. And didn't terblanche look the part at 15? - so calm it's unreal.

Negatives
- thought humph had a mare kicking from hand. Kicks going down people's throats, going dead etc etc. Defensively, he had a much better game and his passing bang on I thought.
- silly mistakes. Missing touch from penalties, fumbling restarts, fumbling around the back of the scrum, loose box kicks... A lot of the Munster pressure came from us making silly little errors which gave away possession and field position.
- i thought we should have closed the game in the last 5 mins. Between the missed drop goal attempt from Humph and Pienaar's penalty, we should have been 9 points clear.

Overall, an exceptional result. One I thought we had to potential to win but to be honest I thought we would fall just short. The resolve to fight for the 80 minutes was absolutely outstanding. Proud to be an Ulster fan.

[damianmcr]

When the Ulster fans were walking up around the South Terrace it was great to see the players so happy. The grin Rory had on his face said it all. The team were amazing. How is Ferris still walking!

The Ulster fans were great.

What a great day!!

[Wee Woman]

Hard to disagree wth what ATH said, to say I'm proud to be an Ulsterwoman is an understatement. I don't think I came as close to feeling that sick today as when I did when I went into labour with Wee Girly - no joke.

Loving being an Ulster fan in Limerick tonight - SUFTUM - nearly feckin reckin recked um!

[damianmcr]

Just a big negative. Im in London for the fecking semi!!!

[brick]

Just back and watched the TG4 highlights.

Agree with above but would add to positives..

Support sounded phenomenal in stadium and on TV
Pienaar was worth his weight in gold not just for his distribution/kicking but was in Poite's ear all match. Playing the referee at its best. Murray looked like a lost boy in comparison
Is Chris Henry becoming the best 7 in Ireland? certainly slowed the Munster ball down significantly and was in their faces all game (well, except for the 10min either side of half time )
PW and DC are a great centre pairing. solid defensively and creative when the opportunity arises.
I don't think Afoa's tackle merits a ban. No intent, not driven towards the ground and he did not let go of the player.

Negative
We may lose a few more players to Ireland during 6N next season. Tuohy, Cave, Henry, Gilroy cannot remain under the radar of even the most one-eyed coach.

Now wrap 1F up in cotton wool for 3 weeks and look forward to a big day out in Dublin

[Big-al]

Negatives - Some basic errors could have cost us the game today. Pienaar missed 2 simple kicks to touch that led to Musnter coming back and getting the penalty. Henry got an idiotic yellow card and then we fecked up a couple of times in the last 5 minutes.

[Harold7]

Positives - loads but most of all we won at Thomond Park in a HEC Q/F

Negatives - yeah right...after a day like that...nada

[mikerob]

+VE was putting 19 points on Munster without reply. If only Ulster could really have gone for the jugular and got another score in the first half then it would have saved my blood pressure.

-VE was some unforced errors making things more difficult than they needed to be. Henry's yellow was a bit dumb... he was the only person in a ruck in a not very threatening position by the touchline at half way and the rest of the team in a good defensive position... no need to do anything silly. Ruan's missed touch finders also not good, particularly the first one. All he needed to do was get the ball out and Chris Henry could have come back on again. As it was, he missed, Ulster played on with a man down and conceded a penalty to narrow the gap to 6 points.

I don't know what the possession stats were but they must be hugely in Munster's favour. As it was, Munster's attack was pretty toothless, and Ulster's defence was heroic, but if a team like Clermont or Leinster had the same amount of possession as Munster, Ulster will get slaughtered. Some poor kicking gave what little possession away and Ulster still don't seem to be able to keep and retain the ball for periods of time.

[King Ding]

Positive:
The reaction on turnipfans.com- Blaming the ref(personally i thought he was dodgey to both sides), saying they deserved to win that game, Struggling to accept being beatin at their own game.
Heart Warming Stuff

[mikerob]

Match stats on ESPN http://www.espnscrum.com/heineken-cup-2 ... 44344.html

These can't always be trusted but they say Munster had 72% possession and 79% territory... just imagine how much possession and territory they would have had if the ref hadn't been dodgy

It doesn't matter if it is Ulster fans whining about the ref (as happens plenty of times on this website) or Munster fans whining about the ref... it's all the same. It's just a convenient excuse to avoid fronting up to shortcomings in your team.

[Tenyarder]

Agree with everything above.

The pivotal phase for me was 20-30 minutes. Munster had 10 minutes of possession on our line and we held out to then come back for iH to kick the drop for 19.0. That was the moment Ulster Rugby came of age and joined the top table.

The fans were brilliant.

Embra is a potential bananaskin so we have to keep focused but I can't see JM and the boys dropping their guard.

Another positive is reading Moansterfans Forum!!!

SUFTUM down way

[againstthehead]

To win this game in the land of the purple turnip we needed to take our chances when they appeared, to defend likes our lives depended on it and to get a wee bit of luck... We were ruthless in terms of picking up points in the first half. We defended for the full 80 and with the Afoa spear tackle we got the wee bit of luck.

Anyone watch the scrums on TV - what was the story there?

[bigchiefally]

You know, whilst this was possibly our best ever result outside of 1999, I think it was miles away from our best performance.

We were so clinical for the first 30 minutes, and we defended really really well but some aspects of our play offensively after the first 1/4 or so were pretty poor, you wouldnt think we are by far the best scorers in the ML.

So

+ve
Clinical finishing at the start
Good organisation and great
Ferris a monster, Best and Afoa great
Henry and Tuohy showing they should have been in the Ireland 22
Great lineout
The atmosphere at the game best I think I have ever been to, Munster fans were generous, stadium great, Ulstermen very very loud - soooooo tense

-ve
WIth ball in hand we were hopeless
Awful kicking from hand from Humph and Pienaar
Afoa may well miss a few games as a result of a possible spear tackle, still havent made up my mind on it
Scrum wasnt great
The 4 hour headache I got from shouting so much
I though we should have brought a few subs on, we might not have a deep squad but there are a few who can do a job, but given the result maybe my old PE teacher knew better

[breakdown]

+ Winning at Thomand
+ taking our chances, first quarter especially
+ defence was outstanding
+ Henry was class, best 7 in Ireland
+ people havent said here but Wannenburg was exceptional today, just unoticed.
+ PW & Cave are the best centre pairing in Ireland
+ Ferris was a man possesed, all the pack where brilliant

- Afoa possible ban
- kicking from hand
- more money needing to be spent to Dublin!

DK has some real selection problems. If Gilroy, cave, Wallace, Tuohy and Henry don't your something is seriously wrong

[Lurgan Lad]

Agree with all of the above. We seriously hurt them at the breakdowns giving slow and poor ball when they kept it. Agree on Wannenburg, for every big match he stands up to be counted and will be sorely missed. Hard to single out players but if I'm honest all but IH had great games, yes there were errors aplenty in terms of retaining the ball and making touch etc., but when you have 15 men willing to put their bodies on the line like that it's as good as it gets. Don't think Ferris was 100% but hopefully a few weeks off will do him good.