Ulster v Edinburgh Positives and Negatives

[Koonak]

Fantastic game - should have been a great experience for the family. Ruined by three munters in the row in front of us (who were from East Belfast because they never stopped singing about it! ). They were the second row in and they still managed to stand up for most of the game and our kids literally saw nothing of the game. They were foul mouthed, steaming and when asked to sit down created absolute mayhem! Managed to stay in their seats only just when the Garda came along - went back to being pricks when Garda moved on though! A shame that they call themselves Ulster Rugby fans - they would have been better watching it in the pub! Anyway looking forward to Twickenham where we at least have front row seats (middle tier!). Hope those that spend the money going act like proper supporters - enjoy their drink without acting like total morons!

[Loki]

sorry to hear that Koonak. as an aside though at the biggest events there's a huge onus to get stewarding right and a lot of places just don't bother, using outside contractors who either don't know how to steward or think it's an easy way to see games for free. repeat infringement like that should be a stewarding issue and they have the power to boot out if needs be.

[mikerob]

Disappointing to see large blocks of empty seats at a semi-final.Did the Scots not turn up

A better supported away team would have made a bit of difference, but the empty blocks were for general sale and could be bought by anyone.

The simple answer is that Ulster doesn't quite have the level of support yet to sell out the Aviva.

Give it a couple of years and we'll be there, I hope.

[mikerob]

Yeah, the one incident I saw of poor behaviour I'd put down to the people involved being on the lash all afternoon and in that condition, some people cross the line from a happy and boisterous drunk to anti-social and obnoxious behaviour.

[Jackie Brown]

We've been kack for 13years, hard to generate the same level of one off support that Munster and Leinster can after the drivel we've served up for more than a decade!

[UIBF]

We've been kack for 13years, hard to generate the same level of one off support that Munster and Leinster can after the drivel we've served up for more than a decade!

Harsh there Jack. 13 years?

Vicious circle. Can't get quality players due to lack of success, and lack of success due to not recruiting quality players.

Is the IRFU link a good thing? Not sure, with their NIQ limit. I think they're much more interested in their representative side than some club side based in Belfast.

[tighthead]

One positive for me was the smiles on the security staff lining the pitch after we had won. They really looked to be enjoying the craic.

[bazzaj]

The game reinforced my view that we simply need our strongest 15 out there to compete with the best.
We got away with it as we were against an opposition who were not of the highest quality.
Was talking to an Edinburgh follower before the game who reckoned their handling had let them down throughout the season and so when they dropped the ball in key positions it was little shock.
A better team would be more clinical.

Unlike Baggy I was not surprised on any aspect of the game.
The difference was our front 5 particularly Muller who was immense.
The back rows cancelled each other out and our defensive work in the backs was sufficent to keep them at bay.

Comments about PJ are a little harsh but he does need to threaten more to keep the oppo back rows interested, however it will come and I thought he did little else wrong.
RP kicked for corners and we applied the pressure which was always going to be enough with our dominant front 5.
We know it will not be in the final.
We simply now must not risk any unreplaceable player for the Munster game as we must surely have learnt our lesson from the last Leinster game.

[Jackie Brown]

Fair enough we had 2 blips with the Celtic League and the Celtic Cup. But on a whole, yeah we've been kack for over a decade. The branch sat on their hands and allowed the 99 triumph to count for nothing. We were poorly marketed, poorly managed off the field and recruitment was generally poor on it. Only in the past 3 seasons has the good Dr. turned the ship around. We are comfortably the 2nd best Irish province with a point to prove in Twickers.

I couldn't care less about the summer tour or autumn internationals however Ulster representation should be high. We've always been told the Heiney Knock Out rugby is where it's at and we had poor Irish representation due to not being involved for over 10 yrs. I wonder will Kidders move the goal posts again. POM over Henry, TOL over Marshall, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZebo over Gilroy, DOC over Tuohy... wouldn't be surprised to be honest.

[AyeYerMa]

It's not so much an IRFU "link" as the fact that the team, ground and everything else belongs to the IRFU.

Might be a bit tricky to cut off relations, eh?

[mikerob]

The success of the provinces in this year's HEC will bring a healthy chunk of money for the IRFU but the provinces aren't financially self-sufficient and still rely on the IRFU to top up their budgets, and this comes from the international game. No different from other countries - all pro teams rely on money from their unions to a greater or lesser extent.

[Scranner]

The success of the provinces in this year's HEC will bring a healthy chunk of money for the IRFU but the provinces aren't financially self-sufficient and still rely on the IRFU to top up their budgets, and this comes from the international game. No different from other countries - all pro teams rely on money from their unions to a greater or lesser extent.

Is that true in England?

[mikerob]

The success of the provinces in this year's HEC will bring a healthy chunk of money for the IRFU but the provinces aren't financially self-sufficient and still rely on the IRFU to top up their budgets, and this comes from the international game. No different from other countries - all pro teams rely on money from their unions to a greater or lesser extent.

Is that true in England?

Yup, the RFU provide money to all AP pro clubs for academies, elite players and the like. The difference is these clubs are privately owned so if they go bust, the RFU won't do anything, but they wouldn't be able to continue running the teams in the same way if the RFU money disappeared.

Same as Ulster, if there was no IRFU money, it would need to be run as a much smaller, possibly semi-pro team.

[UIBF]

It's not so much an IRFU "link" as the fact that the team, ground and everything else belongs to the IRFU.

Might be a bit tricky to cut off relations, eh?

Correctomundo.

Player recruitment also belongs to the IRFU to a degree. That has to potential to handcuff progress. That's the issue in the link. That's not good for Ulster.

[damianmcr]

But all the provinces are branches of the IRFU.