Ulster in the Challenge Cup

[ravinghill]

Anyone any ideas for selling two tickets for the final ?? Was feeling optimistic before hand so went ahead and bought them. Sorry … jinxed things. But now how the hell do I get rid of them ?

[turko]

The facts are: stiff arm to the head, therefore red card.

Non facts: unfortunate, not malicious, not deliberate.

No duty of care was shown by Nadolo. He stiffens his arm as Cooney approached, THAT is wreckless. There was no attempt to play the ball with his arm stiff like that. Player welfare has taken a backseat as usual. The longterm effects are now for Cooney to live with. A sad state of affairs.

I whole heartedly agreed Dave. It was a stiff arm to the head. My view is that Nadolo absolutely knew where Cooney’s head was. If you listen to what they are saying was discussed at half time (win the collisions) it makes you even more suspicious.
Either way, intentional or not, it was reckless at best and led to a potentially serious injury. That therefore cannot be rugby collision. Describing it as that doesn’t say much for our game. What happened to a player most be responsible for their actions...
What’s worse is that moment changed the game and decided the winner. ( for many different reasons) I think that’s why I am struggling to recover from the intense disappointment and feeling that our season just ended in the most frustrating way. If you are beaten by the better team then fair enough., but ...... anyway hey ho...
We must now let the youngsters play in the rainbow cup nonsense
Next season we need to apply what we have learned

[Yoda]

Next season we need to apply what we have learned

Fed up with this being our strap line

[justinr73]

Anyone any ideas for selling two tickets for the final ?? Was feeling optimistic before hand so went ahead and bought them. Sorry … jinxed things. But now how the hell do I get rid of them ?

Tough titties.

Wasn’t a red card in a million years.

Cooney put up as many box kicks as Alby did.

Game swung on Borthwick’s obvious half-time team-talk of do it for the dead guy (RIP btw).

He was assisted by Addison kicking it out on the full (although it was otherwise encouraging to see Will looking in good shape).

Roll on next season.

[Dave]

Anyone any ideas for selling two tickets for the final ?? Was feeling optimistic before hand so went ahead and bought them. Sorry … jinxed things. But now how the hell do I get rid of them ?

Tough titties.

Wasn’t a red card in a million years.

Cooney put up as many box kicks as Alby did.

Game swung on Borthwick’s obvious half-time team-talk of do it for the dead guy (RIP btw).

He was assisted by Addison kicking it out on the full (although it was otherwise encouraging to see Will looking in good shape).

Roll on next season.

It was a stiff arm challenge that was extremely wreckless as evidenced by knocking a player unconscious. Explain how it wasn't a red card.

[justinr73]

I didn’t perceive it as reckless and viewed it exactly as the match officials did.

It was the equivalent of a fifty/fifty challenge in footy and, having bust my leg winning one, I know that brad pitt happens.

[germcevoy]

Anyone any ideas for selling two tickets for the final ?? Was feeling optimistic before hand so went ahead and bought them. Sorry … jinxed things. But now how the hell do I get rid of them ?

Tough titties.

Wasn’t a red card in a million years.

Cooney put up as many box kicks as Alby did.

Game swung on Borthwick’s obvious half-time team-talk of do it for the dead guy (RIP btw).

He was assisted by Addison kicking it out on the full (although it was otherwise encouraging to see Will looking in good shape).

Roll on next season.

It was a stiff arm challenge that was extremely wreckless as evidenced by knocking a player unconscious. Explain how it wasn't a red card.

Mitigating factor of Cooney dipping and secondary the fact that Leicester chap had his arms practically by his side when he made the challenge. Not sure what else he could do? I’m not a fan of punishing the outcome. If Cooney goes to ground and recycled the ball then there’s nothing to discuss. Just a freakish one.

[Marco]

In the third quarter we shipped a point a minute, game over. I’m pretty sure we did similar against Leinster in the RDS in January. You can be sure the coaches banged on at HT about this, that the opposition would come out smoking, so the players simply couldn’t handle it. Is hard to understand, what with all the incentives of a trophy, of Irish and Lions coaches watching, of killing the monkey on our backs, even of having 5,000 Ulster fans at the final. I’m genuinely lost for any insightful conclusion, nothing, nada, it is the Ulster way!

[lovesthehardground]

Well what do you say? The players must be absolutely gutted and it will take a bit of time for them to recover from this. What, they've lost 4 times this season (?) and come away with nothing. The manner they lost that second half will haunt them for a while. Bit like the HC final in Twickenham against Leinster, we simply disappeared in the second half. Why?
Alby was shocking. Absolutely shocking. Too slow to the breakdown. Pass too slow. And kicked the ball away. Tell me when you have stuffed a team in the first half by playing high intensity running rugby do you start to kick away every piece of possession in the second half? Question marks over Burns not stopping this from happening and dare I say it over Dan as well. Surely he had to see what was happening and get a message out for it to stop?
Another factor in the loss was we showed their pack too much respect. Even in the first half we started to let them bully us at scrum time. Thought Rea showed a bit of character after that scrum penalty. When you're up against a bigger pack you need to unsettle them and distract them and that's what he did. Problem was it was only the once.
End of the day the better team won on the night. Its distasteful because the bish bash style once again overcame a team playing with a bit of flair. But that's where rugby is at at the moment. The laws make for the bigger team winning. And before someone says its always been that way think back. Before if you were getting bullied up front you could try and sort it (someone) out. Big incident, things settle down and then running rugby played. Think Lions in SA. Think the decade of Welsh dominance in the 5 Nations. Even think of Ulster's dominance in the 70's & early 80's. Back then rugby was a great sport where flair was valued and rewarded. Now its collisions and bullying.
Last night had an air of finality about it. If this was football, that squad would be broken up and a new one reassembled. I know it doesn't work that way in rugby but if Dan stays his next three year tenure should be based on EOS, Herring (back up needed), O'Toole, Henderson, Ichy?, McCann, Rea, Timoney, Cooney (until a youngster comes thru), Lowry, Jacob, Hume, More, Balacoune, McIlroy.

[lovesthehardground]

As an afterthought. At halftime Henderson, Stockdale and possibly Cooney had got a seat on the plane to SA. By full time those three and the rest of the Ulster players can book a fortnight in a caravan in Portrush. They've been replaced by Genge, Youngs and Ford. No Ulster representation on the Lions this tour. Shocking statistic if it happens but kinda shows how bad Ulster and the ProXX are in relative terms in todays world.

[TopPoster]

Bottlers. Folded like a busted deckchair. Leicester are 8th in the Premiership, fcuking 8th. Shows how tom kite the Pro whatever is.

Aye, not like they're first in the posting stakes like some, eh?

Quite.

[TopPoster]

Trying to think about what ifs and who was missing and whether they would make a differnece:

McGrath - maybe would have
Carter - nope. So he’s not value for NIQ.
Marcel - yes but now irrelevant. Would Leona? Open minded on him.
Luke - I think he would have.

Will they be enough to make a difference next season - probably enough to get to the knockout stages again before the inevitable Leinster tanking (which doesn’t frustrate me as much as last night as totally expected) or now the Bulls.

This was it. Can’t see any sign of silverware with this squad for next few years unless similar European format and opportunity to drop into Bic Biro again.

PS. What is going on with Milowhatshisbake? Is he still in the country, squad, payroll?

[Dave]

I didn’t perceive it as reckless and viewed it exactly as the match officials did.

It was the equivalent of a fifty/fifty challenge in footy and, having bust my leg winning one, I know that brad pitt happens.

Not sure how you can perceive it as wreckless considering the outcome. Cooney is knocked out cold. It was an awful challenge. Really dangerous. The game is fcuked because of terrible refereeing and concussions. It certainly wasn't a 50/50 as Cooney played the ball first.

[Dave]

Anyone any ideas for selling two tickets for the final ?? Was feeling optimistic before hand so went ahead and bought them. Sorry … jinxed things. But now how the hell do I get rid of them ?

Tough titties.

Wasn’t a red card in a million years.

Cooney put up as many box kicks as Alby did.

Game swung on Borthwick’s obvious half-time team-talk of do it for the dead guy (RIP btw).

He was assisted by Addison kicking it out on the full (although it was otherwise encouraging to see Will looking in good shape).

Roll on next season.

It was a stiff arm challenge that was extremely wreckless as evidenced by knocking a player unconscious. Explain how it wasn't a red card.

Mitigating factor of Cooney dipping and secondary the fact that Leicester chap had his arms practically by his side when he made the challenge. Not sure what else he could do? I’m not a fan of punishing the outcome. If Cooney goes to ground and recycled the ball then there’s nothing to discuss. Just a freakish one.

His arm was not down by his side. It was away from his body. He moves his body away but leaves a stiff arm exactly where Cooney is going for the ball. That is wreckless. Nadolo is in control of his arms and legs. It was his choice. Cooney goes for the ball with his hands open. Nadolo goes for the ball with a stiff arm. Fact. By definition that is an wreckless action. Cooney dipping is not a mitigation because it was not a tackle. Cooney was going for the ball which he is entitled to do. If Cooney isn't hit in the head there is nothing to discuss. Just like the fresh air slap that Matty Rea didn't get.

When you have 130kg monster's running around the pitch every step must be taken to ensure player welfare.

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[jean valjean]

Lets say it was nadolo's leg that caught cooney on the head. Would people say it was a rugby incident and no sanction required?