solidarity wrote:Cap'n Grumpy wrote:Despite all that, I firmly believe that if it had been Ulster v Connacht yesterday, we would have won.
For all that Ulster choke against other teams, especially Leinster, I think Connacht don't believe they can beat us, especially away from the Sportsground. Ulster expect to beat Connacht, and Connacht expect to lose agin us.
Sometimes that's just the way it is, ..... and it's time Ulster got past that mentality.
Exactly Cap'n. It's all in the mind. I also believe we would have beaten them because our game is better suited to beat them than Leinster's. How do we change our big game choke / Leinster choke mental frailty? Might we have to wait until the majority of the team doesn't have the history of choking that most of our senior players have?
Gentlemen, I use your conversation only as a joining point of some relevance, not to chastise you, however ........
Almost everyone is missing the point, the incredibly vital point that you MUST finish in the top Two. It is not a freak set of results these past 6 years, it's as clear as day, home advantage is a huge plus in knockout games.
If the Pro12 still had the no 1 seeds hosting the final I have no doubt whatsoever that that Mexico would have beaten Connacht at home.
The other issue & topic of this thread is the pack. It appears to me that folk are judging Ulster's pack on the personnel who played the last few matches. That pack was not good enough but there is sufficient scope for change that it is currently impossible to say what might be good enough next year.
Purely for illustration, a pack of:
McCall, a year on, Big Licence Or perhaps even Black with more grunt behind him than Super could provide
Rory, still, Herring pushing him
Herbst, perhaps. Big Licence, perhaps, Dave Ah Feck ?
Tuohy/Treadwell
Franco
Hendy
Coetzee
Henry/Reidy
Might well give Ulster a considerable improvement. It could be better, of course it could, much better but it will hardly be worse than the front 5 that finished this year.
a little.
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