Ulster v Leinster Saturday May 18 7:35pm TG4 / Premier Sports (UK) 1 / Premier Sports (Ireland) 1 / Super Sport / URC TV

[Columbo]

Well tf for that… I’m going to watch it back to see for sure, but I think that was actually a cracking performance - absolutely cursed to be somehow trailing at ht, we were dominant and yes you can say again we lacked composure in the red zone with the held-ups etc, but I thought Lowry was robbed that try, I’ve never seen benefit of the doubt given to the defender and thought on balance the replays favoured Lowry. Inevitably things were going to tighten up as the game went on but I thought we wanted it so much which was great to see, and kept the physicality ramped up, and deserved the win.

Nobody played poorly (asterisk for the scrum - if you’re being out-scrummaged by Alalaatoa it’s a very bad sign, and unfortunately EOS, for all he’s great in the loose, is not a strong scrummager) but I thought Cooney, Stu, Jacob, McCann, Timoney were superb - Timoney outshining all of the Leinster back row IMO - and big shout out for Izzy who was superb. Somehow Izzy at 6 in retrospect seems like a really obvious good fit, but I had never really thought of it. His ball carrying is so good, and I really rate his work rate. And obviously he’s such an athlete if things open up his feet are really good, and he always stays alive to look for an offload. Really impressed by him, he could lock that spot down.

We look like we’re playing with more freedom, and enjoying it which is great. And the crowd sounded fantastic on the tv happy days!

[Jetstream]

Good game. How Leinster could have done with a young Tony O'Reilly tonight. Two legends gone from rugby. AJ and Sid Going. RIP.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Issy was good. The starting FR bar Herring poor. Stewart one turnover aside, unreliable. Treadwell a waste of a lock. McCann excellent, Timotee ok but no way better than Conan or Penny. Sheridan made a difference for 12 min. Burns anonymous. Centre pair of Addison and Stu good but against Leinster 3rd choice remember. Stockers and Lowry steady- Lowry unlucky with his pick up and score. McIroy anonymous. Rea- why?

Cooney good but not great versus second/ third choices.
Let's remember that and not kid ourselves. Some of our calls in their 22 were nothing short of comedic and amateurish.
Leo really did throw us a bone.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Good game. How Leinster could have done with a young Tony O'Reilly tonight. Two legends gone from rugby. AJ and Sid Going. RIP.

Both would've been superstars with today's conditioning. Going was as tough as Pinetree lol

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Issy was good. The starting FR bar Herring poor. Stewart one turnover aside, unreliable. Treadwell a waste of a lock. McCann excellent, Timotee ok but no way better than Conan or Penny. Sheridan made a difference for 12 min. Burns anonymous. Centre pair of Addison and Stu good but against Leinster 3rd choice remember. Stockers and Lowry steady- Lowry unlucky with his pick up and score. McIroy anonymous. Rea- why?

Cooney good but not great versus second/ third choices.
Let's remember that and not kid ourselves. Some of our calls in their 22 were nothing short of comedic and amateurish.
Leo really did throw us a bone.

And next time we go to Dublin, they'll give us a good humping, but tonight we celebrate.

Twice we've beaten them this season - whether 1st XV or 21st XV - there's no bad Leinster team.

Tonight the beer tastes nicer. Take it and be happy.

Tomorrow we can go back to gloom and doom.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

PS -The recent Northern Lights were an omen

[solidarity]

That was a good night's sport. Looking forward to watching it again to see what the disallowed tries and a few other decisions looked like. I try to be friendly to refs but tonight, I'll suspend judgement until I see the replays.
Nice to have a bit of crowd noise again, Anybody know what was behind the drummers in the Memorial Stand?

[Bart S]

Issy was good. The starting FR bar Herring poor. Stewart one turnover aside, unreliable. Treadwell a waste of a lock. McCann excellent, Timotee ok but no way better than Conan or Penny. Sheridan made a difference for 12 min. Burns anonymous. Centre pair of Addison and Stu good but against Leinster 3rd choice remember. Stockers and Lowry steady- Lowry unlucky with his pick up and score. McIroy anonymous. Rea- why?

Cooney good but not great versus second/ third choices.
Let's remember that and not kid ourselves. Some of our calls in their 22 were nothing short of comedic and amateurish.
Leo really did throw us a bone.

We've suffered enough defeats to understrength leinster teams so I'll take the win right now. Leinster were very poor and a better side than ulster would have been well ahead at ht. Still, at least we are creating decent chances which we weren't before and the attitude and effort was there.

Top 8 plus heiny would do me and then give Murphy a full pre-season to work with these guys. There's lots more positivity around although a lot of that is more getting rid of negativity rather than excellence on the pitch.

But steps in the right direction it seems.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Issy was good. The starting FR bar Herring poor. Stewart one turnover aside, unreliable. Treadwell a waste of a lock. McCann excellent, Timotee ok but no way better than Conan or Penny. Sheridan made a difference for 12 min. Burns anonymous. Centre pair of Addison and Stu good but against Leinster 3rd choice remember. Stockers and Lowry steady- Lowry unlucky with his pick up and score. McIroy anonymous. Rea- why?

Cooney good but not great versus second/ third choices.
Let's remember that and not kid ourselves. Some of our calls in their 22 were nothing short of comedic and amateurish.
Leo really did throw us a bone.

And next time we go to Dublin, they'll give us a good humping, but tonight we celebrate.

Twice we've beaten them this season - whether 1st XV or 21st XV - there's no bad Leinster team.

Tonight the beer tastes nicer. Take it and be happy.

Tomorrow we can go back to gloom and doom.

The voice of sanity Cap'n . just remember there ain't no Sanity Clause

[CIMANFOREVER]

That was a good night's sport. Looking forward to watching it again to see what the disallowed tries and a few other decisions looked like. I try to be friendly to refs but tonight, I'll suspend judgement until I see the replays.
Nice to have a bit of crowd noise again, Anybody know what was behind the drummers in the Memorial Stand?

Lowry's second "try" disallowed was dodgy imo. First one he was never getting with that level of doubt but fair play- he created those opportunities.

[Columbo]

Just rewatched the last quarter - we made hard enough work of it, but some really impressive stuff. Check out defensive set from 66 mins, Leinster 5m scrum (poor lineout throw from Stewart…) 1 minute of superb defence with successive big shots from Stu, Timoney and Wilson have them back on the 22 with no momentum before the comically daft pen from Stewart

As an aside, criminal game management from Leinster to go to the corner, if they kick the 3 there I think they win the game.

Then very cagey, mostly an exchange of box kicks, and without exception every single one from Cooney is immaculate and on the money, and from Leinster every one a yard or two too long (and Stockdale superb under a couple of them, and Moore under one).

Cracking ding dong of a match, great pressure to win the pen, great kick and just as important, great receipt of the kick off, and playing out of the last 60 secs

[Dharper]

Some thoughts no real order:

Slightly strange reffing performance for me:
Almost like any type of counter ruck was banned. Ryan in particular no rolling away from the ruck was ridiculous. My major gripe was Leinster players on their own line clearly not supporting their body weight and even off their feet, slowing the ball down.

We murdered some try opportunities out there in the first half, 3mths ago we wouldn’t have created them. A full pre season time and prep and I’m hopeful re executing depending on the 10 situation.

Back 3 were strong in the air, and the wings big on the kick chase. Centres were excellent as a pair tonight.

I was particularly interested to see how our BR went tonight against an int BR. Conan had some hard carries, I think our backrow more than held their own. McCann was excellent. Really happy for Izzy. He’s here to stay, very very raw, but physically a different level to what the others can offer.

I was surprised the length of time before Wilson Sheridan used. Ultimately it was a disjointed Leinster side but even so a really entertaining game. Lovely read for the intercept by Stockdale. Apart from the knock on, he was excellent, fully concentrated.

Hmm Harry Byrne……decidedly mweh. I don’t really get the hype about him. The guy needs a real run of games, I think there are a number of those players that their careers are now actively stalling/stagnating due to a lack of regular consistent gametime.

Delighted for Cooney. A real throwback with that kick.

Far from perfect, a scratch Leinster side, with an injury imbalance. That said UR needed a result and they did the business.

As an aside, spare a thought for those whallopers on off the ball rugby. It’s gonna hurt giving some credit to UR.

Great to see the crowd really getting back into it too.

Been a long time since UR were smashing people back in the tackle. Real scrambling forcing Leinster knock ons. I wanted to see some bite, and I saw it.

Nice to see can can kick for posts when given a pen!!

That squad seem far far happier.

[Dharper]

Some thoughts no real order:

Slightly strange reffing performance for me:
Almost like any type of counter ruck was banned. Ryan in particular no rolling away from the ruck was ridiculous. My major gripe was Leinster players on their own line clearly not supporting their body weight and even off their feet, slowing the ball down.

We murdered some try opportunities out there in the first half, 3mths ago we wouldn’t have created them. A full pre season time and prep and I’m hopeful re executing depending on the 10 situation.

Back 3 were strong in the air, and the wings big on the kick chase. Centres were excellent as a pair tonight.

I was particularly interested to see how our BR went tonight against an int BR. Conan had some hard carries, I think our backrow more than held their own. McCann was excellent. Really happy for Izzy. He’s here to stay, very very raw, but physically a different level to what the others can offer.

I was surprised the length of time before Wilson Sheridan used. Ultimately it was a disjointed Leinster side but even so a really entertaining game. Lovely read for the intercept by Stockdale. Apart from the knock on, he was excellent, fully concentrated.

Hmm Harry Byrne……decidedly mweh. I don’t really get the hype about him. The guy needs a real run of games, I think there are a number of those players that their careers are now actively stalling/stagnating due to a lack of regular consistent gametime.

Delighted for Cooney. A real throwback with that kick.

Far from perfect, a scratch Leinster side, with an injury imbalance. That said UR needed a result and they did the business.

As an aside, spare a thought for those whallopers on off the ball rugby. It’s gonna hurt giving some credit to UR.

Great to see the crowd really getting back into it too.

Been a long time since UR were smashing people back in the tackle. Real scrambling forcing Leinster knock ons. I wanted to see some bite, and I saw it.

Nice to see can can kick for posts when given a pen!!

That squad seem far far happier.

[Dharper]

Some thoughts no real order:

Slightly strange reffing performance for me:
Almost like any type of counter ruck was banned. Ryan in particular no rolling away from the ruck was ridiculous. My major gripe was Leinster players on their own line clearly not supporting their body weight and even off their feet, slowing the ball down.

We murdered some try opportunities out there in the first half, 3mths ago we wouldn’t have created them. A full pre season time and prep and I’m hopeful re executing depending on the 10 situation.

Back 3 were strong in the air, and the wings big on the kick chase. Centres were excellent as a pair tonight.

I was particularly interested to see how our BR went tonight against an int BR. Conan had some hard carries, I think our backrow more than held their own. McCann was excellent. Really happy for Izzy. He’s here to stay, very very raw, but physically a different level to what the others can offer.

I was surprised the length of time before Wilson Sheridan used. Ultimately it was a disjointed Leinster side but even so a really entertaining game. Lovely read for the intercept by Stockdale. Apart from the knock on, he was excellent, fully concentrated.

Hmm Harry Byrne……decidedly mweh. I don’t really get the hype about him. The guy needs a real run of games, I think there are a number of those players that their careers are now actively stalling/stagnating due to a lack of regular consistent gametime.

Delighted for Cooney. A real throwback with that kick.

Far from perfect, a scratch Leinster side, with an injury imbalance. That said UR needed a result and they did the business.

As an aside, spare a thought for those whallopers on off the ball rugby. It’s gonna hurt giving some credit to UR.

Great to see the crowd really getting back into it too.

Been a long time since UR were smashing people back in the tackle. Real scrambling forcing Leinster knock ons. I wanted to see some bite, and I saw it.

Nice to see can can kick for posts when given a pen!!

That squad seem far far happier.

[big mervyn]

That was a good night's sport. Looking forward to watching it again to see what the disallowed tries and a few other decisions looked like. I try to be friendly to refs but tonight, I'll suspend judgement until I see the replays.
Nice to have a bit of crowd noise again, Anybody know what was behind the drummers in the Memorial Stand?

Lowry's second "try" disallowed was dodgy imo. First one he was never getting with that level of doubt but fair play- he created those opportunities.

I thought the good angle on the first one deserved a more careful frame by frame inspection from the officials. For my money Lowry looked as if he got downward pressure a fraction earlier.