Ulster v Edinburgh Positives and Negatives

[Snipe Watson]

The northbound services on the M1 were like Beirut last night. Drunks standing urinating in the middle of the car parks in front of women and children.

The pride of Ulster.

[Starsky]

Rakem, worst bit was when a woman ran into our carriage asking for help. The staff were nowhere to be seen unfortunately.

[big mervyn]

Positive

Getting to go to Twickers without having to listen to "Swing low ...."

[fuzzylogic]

by Big-al » Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:37 pm

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.

According to the stats (from ESPN Scrum.com so not sure how reliable) but Faloon made 14 tackles and missed 1. Only Muller was better making 14 and missing 0. They have Ferris as 14/2

[fuzzylogic]

by big mervyn » Sun Apr 29, 2012 4:12 pm

Positive

Getting to go to Twickers without having to listen to "Swing low ...."

Sure we sing it at Fortress Ravenhill now anyway!

[big mervyn]

by big mervyn » Sun Apr 29, 2012 4:12 pm

Positive

Getting to go to Twickers without having to listen to "Swing low ...."

Sure we sing it at Fortress Ravenhill now anyway!

Sure, if we're 10 up with 5 mins to go on the 19th we might even give it a blast

[Big-al]

Negative - We have played feck all rugby in the knockout stages and will be hammered unless things improved. For example, yesterday Cave butchered a 3 on 1 by throwing out a poor pass that would have been a cert for a try.

Our attack outwide has been very disappointing.

[UIBF]

Good enough to beat Edinburgh - Yes, just about.

Good enough to beat our Southern chums - not without improvement.

[baldeagle09]

Defence (Paddy Wallace, Ferris & Muller exceptional)

I thought Paddy missed a few tackles including one for their try at the end....but could be wrong!

Can't wait for the final though!

[Gary]

The singing. The flags. meeting friendly faces again and for the first time. Having a brilliant day and night with so many and we going all the way. & The singing! EPIC!

Hope I was one of those friendly faces old chap. Good to see yourself and the wife again. Now on to Twickenham......

No cons.....only pros. It was a semi-final. Result was paramount and nothing else mattered.

[Bart S]

Negative - We have played feck all rugby in the knockout stages and will be hammered unless things improved. For example, yesterday Cave butchered a 3 on 1 by throwing out a poor pass that would have been a cert for a try.

Our attack outwide has been very disappointing.

Big Al - Might not be quite as forthright as you have been on this BUT I think you have raised a very valid point here. The defence in Thomond and the way things worked out was great, but yesterday was more of a concern. I was thinking back to when this team really hit its straps in late December/Jan and for a while beyond and we were putting teams to the sword playing some aggressive tough rugby, taking them on up front and putting pressure on by playing the game in the opposition's half. That side of our game seems to have gone and we appear to have regressed again to a team which prefers to defend than commit numbers to the breakdown. It's been working but I do worry that if a fumble, slip or missed tackle in our defensive organisation means a leaked try, where are we going to come back from. Give a team like Leinster that much ball and they will punish us..no question. With their players and style of play they will be breaking the gain line on occasions and those final passes will go to hand. Leinster showed today that their defence is as good as ours when it has to be and we simply need to hang on to the ball if we are to compete against them.

I'm hoping that being huge underdogs in the final will mean that we need to be creative about how we approach this one tactically - a bit like Bradley did with Edinbrugh yesterday.

[Bart S]

A positive is probably the fact that the performance gives us plenty of things to work on and I'd imagine there will be less pressure in a sense than before the semi. In fact in a strange way, an edgy win with lots to work on is probably the best kind in terms of helping to raise levels for the next performance.

A bit like the Munster game there'll be huge incentives for the Irish guys to outplay their international counterparts and show they should be serious options for international selection.

[brick]

Having watched the game on TV without the benefit of flegs and beer a few thoughts;
RP superb - particularly the marshallesque break from the base and kick to the corner with a magnificent tackle to gain the lineout.
Cave's defence again excellent.
Main positive for me is that we are not discussing how much we missed Afoa.
Also that the ref is not the main topic of discussion. A few questionable decisions eg ball out back of scrum and yellow card of ST but these evened out over the course of the game.
I disagree with a few of the more seasoned voices on here that Faloon had a poor game - he was steady if unspectacular. He was not a penalty machine but made a nuisance of himself which is probably all he was asked to do. His defence was reasonable - he is never going to knock opponents back like 1F.
Let's hope we have a first choice 15 for May 19.

[breakdown]

Why did STB get carded?

[bangorboy]

Ford has his arm arounf TBs head in the ruck and Stefan gave him a few slaps - right in front of the TJ.

Wasn't all out punching or anything but should not have done it ( so blatantly )