Positives and Negatives: Ulster v Glasgow

[ardsrugbyards]

+1

[Snipe Watson]

Positive, we won and are in the quarter finals
Negative it was a wet miserable night answer shipped a few more injuries

Exactly

I think we are losing the plot here.
What exactly do we expect; on a disgusting night, playing a type of attritional rugby that does not suit us, with a half fit fullback, in a really high pressure match against a streetwise pack?

Some of the criticism of players is total kack and the level of expectation is totally unrealistic.

We won the match and our group.

[big mervyn]

Time we had an 80 minute hooter

... or at least one clock that works

Don't like the idea of hooters. Playing in the red zone adds a bit of excitement.

Thought the reaction to the sinbinning was good - players and crowd. It seemed to do more for ulster than Glasgae.

We seem to have developed into a team that is very strong in the last quarter which may be very useful in the coming months.

Keen to watch the match again. There was quite a few very frenetic errror strewn phases which are not easy to analyse from the terraces.

[Setanta]

Thought they all deserved medals. It was a fiolthy horrendous evening with pouring, freezing cold rain; an absolute deluge at times. Yet we played the rugby, handled exceptionally well in those conditions and won the game. Let me see, first through to the European quarter finals and eleven points clear in the league. What do I read here, a few scuffed drop-outs, an unlucky yellow card, ball kicked out instead of going for the bonus point. Ach, ye poor wee diddums, doubt most of ye could catch a cold in those conditions. Away and straighten your knickers!

[ardsrugbyards]

NEGATIVE - got soaked to the skin and 'IN THE HOLE' guy was beside me, he is such a bieber the first time he shouted it he turned to his wife and said 'did you hear what i said there in the hole hahahaha' considering he shouted it and she wasn't wearing a hearing aid that could have been turned off how the hell did he expect her to not hear it, half the prom at the memorial end heard him

[Setanta]

Sorry Snipe, I posted here before reading your post. You said it so much nicer than I did.

[Setanta]

Thought they all deserved medals. It was a filthy horrendous evening with pouring, freezing cold rain; an absolute deluge at times. Yet we played the rugby, handled exceptionally well in those conditions and won the game. Let me see, first through to the European quarter finals and eleven points clear in the league. What do I read here, a few scuffed drop-outs, an unlucky yellow card, ball kicked out instead of going for the bonus point. Ach, ye poor wee diddums, doubt most of ye could catch a cold in those conditions. Away and straighten your knickers!

[Snipe Watson]

Sorry Snipe, I posted here before reading your post. You said it so much nicer than I did.

It was worth saying twice.............

[ruckover]

People will be writing us off now as well which is good. Although I was watching SSN this morning and we're still third favourites on 6/1 and the betting expert was saying that those odds still seem a bit too high.

Agree about beagle. Thought he did very well when he came on. His pass for Payne's try was sheer class, took out two Glasgow defenders and was straight into Jared's hands. Should he start next week? Only if Jacko's still got a bit of a knock in my opinion. Marshall's still a far better impact sub in my opinion and he should always be that, even when Pienaar leaves, because that's where he's most effective.

Am I right in saying that's the first time we've ever topped our pool?

[bazzaj]

From memory we topped it in 99 ruck as that meant we played Toulouse at home in the qfs.
Hopefully Castres will be disinterested in the next game as 5 days later they will be playing Bayonne away and will be prioritising the consolidation of their 4th spot in the top 14.
We could beat them anyway regardless I feel but it would be nice if it was made easier.
We want that home qf now.

[ruckover]

You're right Bazz, we did top it in 99. Thanks

[FRB]

Positives: a win & Qualification for QF with a much below par performance and absences though injuries.

Negatives:

Bazzaj hit on the biggest negative for me was that, in the absence of Muller, at times we are rudderless. For the amount of experience and quality on the pitch (Best, Afoa, Pineaar, Wallace (v.subdued last night), Payne, Trimble etc) the leadership is lacking. For the 2nd match as captain Henry hardly talked to the ref. I am not a fan of players constantly pointing out things to the ref but it is part and parcel of the game now. The big names are playing well but they really need to step up and take additional responsibility on the pitch - issuing b*ll*ckings when needed, urging calm and reminding people what the plan is. At times last night it was shambolic.

Anyway - onwards and upwards. I just hope we didn't peak at Franklins Gardens.

[stickinout]

There was a ten-minute spell at the start of the second half, from about 42 minutes on, where the referee totally lost control of the game. I think the best example came in the Ulster 22; a Glasgow player was, I think, offside. The referee went to whistle for a penalty but stopped short of doing so because the ball went to Ulster. Either way, it was still a penalty and it should have been called. To be honest, he looked a little out of his depth and seemed to penalise, literally, everything in that ten minute spell.

He was poor around the breakdown, especially in the second half when the teams had worked out what they'd get away with. There was a moment i thought he was going to do a Munster to us and start whistling us off the pitch and give nothing against Glasgow. At the start of the second half i think it was 5 penos to one given to Glasgow in the first 10 or so minutes. I wonder if that stat evened itself out?

[big mervyn]

I think we'll edge it next week.

4th seeds and a home tie against Sarries would probably be the reward.

[ruckover]

I think we'll edge it next week.

4th seeds and a home tie against Sarries would probably be the reward.

The Sarries game today will decide that. If they win, we need 5 points next week because Sarries will thrash Edinburgh at Vicarage. Or we need to hope the game today is a low scoring affair so we beat them on try count. Neither seems very likely, I'd say we'll need to head to Castres in a bonus point mindset unfortunately.