The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

[BaggyTrousers]

Just to thow the cat amongst the pigeons. Has anyone watched Leinster's first try closely?

Strauss throws the ball in and it is caught and quickly snaffled to the back to the maul that are setting up. Strauss runs across and joins the maul, forget about the back foot - he actually joins in front of the ball carrier. The ball carrier then completely detaches from the maul to better position himself and re-binds. Then it surges forward over the line.

That try cost us dearly and could have been ruled illegal on those two counts alone.

I thought that at the time myself ...

Ye's will have Baggy on to you in no time...

Wrong again Yin, though I will say that it happen right in front of me as I stood on that godforsaken terrace. I admit to not having spotted the illegalities "as it happened" so much going on, its a tough gig for a ref, most do their best barring of course, the bigot Clancy.

[pwrmoore]

Tough for a ref to spot But I think the TJ might have spotted Strauss running towards the maul from the point directly in front of him where he had just thrown the ball and not bothering to join from behind the back foot.

[BuckRogers]

Was it Lacey's fault that Diack cut inside Sexton instead of going like a bull for the corner? No

Was it Lacey's fault that Henry made two stupid and cynical fouls whilst on the ground that led to 6 points from the boot of Sexton? No.

Was it Lacey's fault that Ulster had no support runners when Jacko made the break that Lacey subsequently binned Nacewa for? No

I would also suggest that for the avoidance of doubt that Maak's less than complimentary review of the referee to the papers/tv was as much as to deflect criticism from his players as it was to have a real gripe about Lacey's performance. Management 101.

Personally I would have had no more confidence in Owens or Poite to have come down 'harder' on Leinster than Lacey did. Let us not forget that Owens ignored Plug tackling Cave and then whilst on the ground taking the ball Cave had 'squeezed' and Nigel played on. If Poite's interpretation of the breakdown against Sarries was anything to go by then would have done us no favours either.

The only thing that Lacey might have been guilty off, is the curse of nearly every rugby referee around, is that he gave some marginal calls the way of the 'favourites'. The AB's have long enjoyed this against almost every test side.

[pwrmoore]

Buck - It was the Ulster team's fault that they lost the match. But you have to forgive folks for analysing all the might-have-beens as a form of grief counselling/recovery process. It helps us to feel that things could have been different and gives us hope.

[BuckRogers]

Indeed Paul but personally speaking what has given me hope was rewatching the match and thinking that we were actually a lot closer to bating them than I had initially thought. In the immediate aftermath i'd a few too many and had simply thought whilst Lacey was sh1t, so were we. We were unlucky to a degree and as someone else has said in another thread it is the small margins that count. We have been on the wrong side of these small margins at times this season but in the future I expect us to get the benefit of tight calls or whatever you want to call them.

We have a very good team, with some very good young players coming through. Where we might actually be lacking at this stage is in the coaching department-are we making enough of what is currently there? Yes I am referring to McLaughlin and i may be accused of however he is widely recognised as a continuity and breakdown specialist yet is, potentially, being underused sniffing out schoolboy talent. Same logic applies as those who were calling for Schmidt to be brought into the irish set up alongside Kidney and the same logic may well dictate that Brian will not be brought back into the fold.

[BaggyTrousers]

Big problem Buck as far as I know Maaaaaaaak sees himself as a forwards coach, is he likely to go to the man he replaced and say, I may be head coach but you are a better breakdown man than me? I very much doubt that would happen, Maaaaaaaaaak would need to be incredibly comfortable in his own skin to even contemplate that step.

[ruckover]

If Maak is indeed a forward oriented coach then I'd like to think it's in the forwards that we dominate teams. However, in the two big games (Sarries and Leinster) we have been bullied by smarter back row players and haven't managed to make our scrum dominance count. That needs addressed.

In my opinion, we are nearly there. I reckon we simply need a few more big games to give the team experience and then we'll be there as the best. I think to a certain extent we bottled it on Saturday, although definitely not to the extent of last season's humiliation, so another Heiny quarter-final and a Rabo final next year would give us that experience, whether we win or lose them.

[BuckRogers]

Big problem Buck as far as I know Maaaaaaaak sees himself as a forwards coach, is he likely to go to the man he replaced and say, I may be head coach but you are a better breakdown man than me? I very much doubt that would happen, Maaaaaaaaaak would need to be incredibly comfortable in his own skin to even contemplate that step.

He would indeed Baggy and as I said I doubt he will. We are currently however working with the proverbial runt of the litter-Clarke as a quasi scrum/forwards coach ahead of a coach who has actually delivered results...Of course McLaughs may have politely declined it.

[The Boo Radleys]

Interestingly, Owens was in Bewleys about 3pm talking to Lacey before the game - must have been giving him handy hints on how to ping Ulster and ignore Leinster from previous experience....