Ulster v Edinburgh Positives and Negatives

[Lurgan Lad]

To me is was clear a good few things were done to take the pressure off Jackson. Pienaar did all the place kicking, a few times it was Terblanche clearing from the 22, Pienaar did take the responsibility a good load of the times. This is why it is an ideal scenario to have Ruan inside him and Wallace outside him.
Semis are always nervy affairs, in light of that to be 10 points up just before they scored the try at the death was ideal.
Concerns are still ball retention and being able to be as productive with it as other the likes of Leinster can be, defence overall was pretty good although Edinburgh had their fair share of opportunities where they should have done better.

[shamalicious]

+ We are going to Twickers. Who'd have thought this time last year when the groups were announced that we'd get this far?
+ Our first up defence on the whole looked very good. PW and DC were especially impressive there.
+ PJ wasn't fazed by the occasion. Played it safe but he's our future 10.
+ Ru's boot.
+ My first experience at the very impressive Aviva stadium. The atmosphere was unbelievable.

- The grumpy aul fart sitting behind us whingeing about EVERY mistake Ulster made, even gurned when they were going forward, calling Gilroy "a liability" and criticising PW for crabbing "all the time". Bleugh.
- Possible injuries to Ru, 1F and P3.

[big mervyn]

Enjoyed the bear though was slightly disappointed he didn't ape the Twickenham dance ensemble - no doubt that would have incurred a lifetime ERC ban

Loved Ulster Ulster! drowning out the Embra team announcement - bit cheeky but set the tone.

No point in nit picking the performance. This team seems to have the knack of finding a way to win the really big games. I reckon with a fit team they can do it again, regardless of todays outcome.

The "Stand Ups" were fantastic but I hate the fekkin seats. I wanted to stand up for the 80 mins, not be up and down like a hoors knickers all afternoon.

[breakdown]

I thought Deccy Fitz, Faloon and Cave were all excellent. I still think that if Henry was playing, we would have beaten them a lot more confortably. Seen Henry before the game and he really seemed gutted he couldnt play when I spoke to him, understandably.

[Big-al]

You thought Faloon was excellant?

I don't want to be harsh on the lad, but we missed Henry big time. Faloon missed tackles at will and offered nothing in the ruck.

[Meg The Lab]

We won this game. Doesn't matter how or by how many. We are in the final, Edinburgh aren't.

Another positive was the half time entertainment beside me. Two drunken gougers beside me who did nothing but abuse people throughout the first half were taken from the stadium by the Garda. One of them had a busted nose and mouth as a result of a punch which put him on his back. Poetic justice.

Was that behind the posts in the lower tier at the big end of the ground during the second half? Wondered what was going on.

Not quite LastKnight - ours was at half time right at the beginning of the interval. I think someone else got ejected later on in the game.. The one beside us was about 5 rows from the front.

[Dave]

Thought Falloon had a decent game only missed one tackle that I could see and made as many as anyone else. I think overall there were too many turnovers against us but that wouldn't be one players fault.

[eoinsy96]

another con for me was the pa announcer and that dancing before, what was that about?

[shamalicious]

I thought the dance/ choreographed bit was alright actually. Would've liked them to play SUFTUM but as the teams came out together it probably wasn't possible.

[rumncoke]

The game only proves the truth that it is a good defence that wins matches.

There are those who will of course blame Edinburghs handling but many of those errors are made because of the pressure from the defending side .

I never thought it was going to be an easy win but knew Ulster would win just after Ruan made it 16-12 -- Ulster took the ball at the kick off -- Ruan lobbed the ball along the touch line with Ulster regaining the possession with a quick recycle and Ruan kicked into the Edinburgh 22 puttin them on the defensive having been on the defensive for the best part of five minutes before the penalty.

That kick in the corner was a real morale sapper for the Edinburgh forwards.

The Ulster tactics in the first half miscued . The kicks out of defence being to long or Ulster losing out in 50/50 situations meant Ulster kicked away possession and were being forced to defend mostly within their own half -- but you could sense that Edinburgh feared the Ulster backline of Wallace/Cave/Terblanche .

The scoreline 22- 19 is a true reflection of the game but not the halfs Edinburgh deserved more from their first half performance but the try at the end flattered their second half performance when in truth Ulster seldom looked under pressure.

[Rooster]

ffs we won the match so who gives a toss about the rest, it's cup rugby, long time since we have been there and 1 point wins the match.

[monkee]

positives:
Won
Won without possession or territory
Kicking - Pienaar has some cajones
Line out
Scrum - Huge credit to Deccie Fitzpatrick
Defence (Paddy Wallace, Ferris & Muller exceptional)
Flights previously booked for the final
Sat in the splendid sunshine in the Lower East Stand
Sat by the trumpeter (mostly great for starting us off but his timing needs working on, particularly when someone's about to take a kick)
The noise was awesome. I was at the Leinster v Cardiff match & it was like a library in contrast. To be fair 'twas over after 20 mins tho. We were never going to have that luxury. I hope they are that blasé if they get to the final.


negatives:
Can Ferris get through one more?
Lack of possession & territory.
Dublin is feking expensive.
So is London.

[Starsky]

Positives

+Set piece was great, I'm sure plenty of us feared the worst with Afoa out but the guys were magnificent.
+RP's kicking - where would we be without him?
+defence was strong throughout.
+wonderful atmosphere, better than any Ireland match I've attended, even though there were empty seats.
+won though not at our best.

- should have done better with possession in second half
- really miss Henry's presence
- idiots at the game and on the trains. Horrible atmosphere on the 8.50 Enterprise. A couple of drunk morons in our carriage. I had to break up one incident and then ended up getting threatened. Gave up our seats when it started up again - someone was being elbowed in the throat. Even worse in the carriage behind us with police waiting for the train at Central. Put a bit of a dampener on the day.

[The Boo Radleys]

Pros:

Winning when we had so little of the ball.
Winning when we didn't concede when we down to 14 men.
Winning full stop!

Negs:

Old geezers behind the young lad in the stand continually complaining when he stood up to sign SUFTU etc. SU is for stand up - its not SDFTU....

[rakem]

Positives

+Set piece was great, I'm sure plenty of us feared the worst with Afoa out but the guys were magnificent.
+RP's kicking - where would we be without him?
+defence was strong throughout.
+wonderful atmosphere, better than any Ireland match I've attended, even though there were empty seats.
+won though not at our best.

- should have done better with possession in second half
- really miss Henry's presence
- idiots at the game and on the trains. Horrible atmosphere on the 8.50 Enterprise. A couple of drunk morons in our carriage. I had to break up one incident and then ended up getting threatened. Gave up our seats when it started up again - someone was being elbowed in the throat. Even worse in the carriage behind us with police waiting for the train at Central. Put a bit of a dampener on the day.

starsky that sounds like a fairly grim return to northern ireland! we were on the 9.10 and it was fine. the only problem we had was an elderly lady who had bought and paid for her ticket for that train, but was told it was full, so got bumped on to our train, and she was determined to let all and sundry know about it!

the only pr*cks i saw where some scots in garish blazers who were pished and tried to start on a family member of mine! passed relatively quickly though, thankfully.