Scarlets v Ulster Sat 12th Sep 3pm Sky

[scrum5]

Because we are all in denial and we're hoping that Kiss is the saviour of Ulster Rugby, Kofi

[Snipe Watson]

What worries me slightly is that backache is Les Kiss's man

Why do people not think Kiss has day to day contact and direction with the team.

Because people don't listen by and large. That was an easy one Kofi. A harder question would be, why did I bother resurrecting the in fairness to Paul Marshall thread last week?

[Spiffsson]

Yes. Wee Paul looked just plain stupid today. Kicked away every ball in the first half right into the opposition hands. On song, he can be good , but has no consistency at all and is just confirming that he's a bit of a liability.
Likewise, Luke Marshall's fall from grace from promising international centre to a ho-hum player who currently is not worth his place on the Ulster team, is hard to fathom. Maybe those injuries have screwed him up lomg term?
Very disappointing game, and we are stuck with this squad, so it's hard to know what can be done since several of the players are not up to it and there's no one else.

[Master of None]

In fairness to Paul Marshall, he is very good at being Paul Marshall.

[Spiffsson]

In fairness to Paul Marshall, he is very good at being Paul Marshall.

Unfortunately, today several other players were very good at being Paul Marshall too. To be honest, I have a soft spot for the little fella but you never know what you're going to get, and he can play some howlers. Pity we did not snap up Peter Stringer, who at least will fire out a stream of fast accurate passes and not kick the ball away continuously.

[scrum5]

No we would rather sign someone with a win ratio off 0/52 but who can kick the ball in the air at halftime for the Ulster faithful to win a goodie bag step forward Paul Rowley.....

[scrum5]

We really must be skint.....

[namron]

In fairness to PM what with the Scarlets line speed and an inexperienced out half He was probably only doing what was bid.The execution of box kicks were awful and back up from the wingers intermittent.Could have pulled an undeserved draw out of the hat but for the mid field drop. jeez that was yuk

[againstthehead]

How things change in a week.... Didn't see the game but by the last 2 pages on here I might give it a miss...

Without the internationals we tend to do well enough at home but away from home the lads get found out. After last week, I had hoped maybe it would be a little different this season but from what you guys are saying it's the same sh***. How did the pack go?

[BuckRogers]

In fairness to PM the protection he got for taking his box kicks was non existent, had to get it up and clear of stray hands and very hard not to snap the kick in those situations.

As with most defeats the malaise started up front and spread like contagion to the rest of the team.

On paper that pack should have taken Scaalets to the cleaners but that would have been too simple.

[redadare]

Hate to say going backwards this last 4 years.Basic mistakes,forward passes.These are professionals aren't they? need a big shake up. burt baker at,go back to song writing ,Allen Clarke,don't know.Neil doak!!!!!!!

[Snipe Watson]

Hate to say going backwards this last 4 years.Basic mistakes,forward passes.These are professionals aren't they? need a big shake up. burt baker at,go back to song writing ,Allen Clarke,don't know.Neil doak!!!!!!!

Some of the blame for the forward passes must also go to the receiving player who over runs the pass. Pro players should be able to position themselves where they are available to receive a flat or backwards pass. Playing on the margin like that is not always necessary.

[scrum5]

Whilst coaches don't throw forward passes, drop balls, shoot out the line, butcher overlaps, give away stupid penalties and miss tackles etc, they are meant to provide the skill set to enable the players to not do the above or is my interpretation of a coach misguided.

[BaggyTrousers]

IN fairness to Paul Marshall, he was not the only Ulster player who kicked horrendously badly, to that add Ginger Too, Gilly, Ludik and just about every other person who had a go.

Today illustrated a few other bits & pieces:

- Going away from home is too much for most of our players

- Consistency is not for us

- Patience is not a virtue, we prefer to throw idiotic Hail Mary passes rather than retain the ball.

- We are lost at the breakdown without Rory Best and Chad a few others seem to be able to compete at home, away it's a different story

- Last week almost all the kicking was decent, today not one of the regular kickers could kick his own arseshillicks.

- Leadership, if the opposition have to stop themselves from tackling players before the ball arrives, there is a fair chance they are offside. We need to get better at gurning. I said the same last week about the lack of ability to sort out the scrums.

OK early days nobody died, things may get better but we need to get the heads around how not to freeze away from home or this is yet another season of crap with the odd decent performance.

[CIMANFOREVER]

SUPINE