Manshamed....

[BaggyTrousers]

Boys & Girls, we had a great chance to strengthen our position and blew it. In my wildest dreams I cannot see us winning this thing, yet I look at Mustard & Linseed, both of whom I watched in full on Saturday & I see nothing to fear, I look at Ospreys & think tricky away, I look at Weegies & think tricky away.

BUt I have not yet heard any fat ladies tuning up. There are weeks now to get Chad back, hopefully Paddy back, Rory, Tommy and so on.

UNtil the Fat Bitch sings a lament I will not slit my wrists in these abysmal season for the truth is, we are not playing well but I have yet to see us close to full strength, I'm not tearing up my docket just yet on the basis of one utterly shameful performance.

IN all honesty I'm more concerned with the bog standard crap we've played week in and week out than that fiasco yesterday.

[Cockatrice]

Boys & Girls, we had a great chance to strengthen our position and blew it. In my wildest dreams I cannot see us winning this thing, yet I look at Mustard & Linseed, both of whom I watched in full on Saturday & I see nothing to fear, I look at Ospreys & think tricky away, I look at Weegies & think tricky away.

BUt I have not yet heard any fat ladies tuning up. There are weeks now to get Chad back, hopefully Paddy back, Rory, Tommy and so on.

UNtil the Fat Bitch sings a lament I will not slit my wrists in these abysmal season for the truth is, we are not playing well but I have yet to see us close to full strength, I'm not tearing up my docket just yet on the basis of one utterly shameful performance.

IN all honesty I'm more concerned with the bog standard crap we've played week in and week out than that fiasco yesterday.

baggy…. UR is now all about product and branding with share of grovelling to DCAL for handouts..

In truth all I want to see is a rugby team with the pride to wear that shirt and frankly this team is fast becoming a disgrace…. Of course it will cost money importing that IQ Outhalf that someone in Esportif has decided that we must need.

I do agree that we have paid some very poor rugby this year.

[Cockatrice]

IN all honesty I'm more concerned with the bog standard crap we've played week in and week out than that fiasco yesterday.

I wholeheartedly agree.

As I think I've made clear, I see no real structure or system to our play other than kick badly as a default option. We seem totally lacking in maintaining phases to build pressure and will try low percentage off loads/flicks/tricks rather than trust ourselves to retain possession. In the absence of individual performances winning matches we lose.

That my friends is the key. That's why we get wins like Glasgow and Leicester - individuals perform well. It is also why we get very poor performances like yesterday - individuals don't perform.

Winning rugby is about having established systems and patterns that players know, trust and can execute. It produces consistency in performance.

I would love to know what/if any continuity work is done in training. Equally, I've noticed on units that the lineout seems to require a prop to run over and tell the hooker what the call is. Do we not have audibles? It would explain the 5 metre lineout where we threw to their lifting pod already in place.

I'm really no sure if there's any direction to what's happening during the week but I'm certain, other than individual performances, that there's no central direction to the way we play on the pitch.

As I said, it's sad to watch because there was the guts of a decent team on the pitch in Newport.

OAK…. I would loved to have been a fly on the wall and therefore grasp the extent that Kiss and Doak sat down and agreed on tactics for this coming year….. Did Kiss just say get on with it I will sort out any mess when I eventually get there, did he sit down with Doak and set out detailed plans of what he expected to be implemented by that time or indeed does he already feed in from afar…. I recall someone else saying that if KISS ups his own value at the RWC maybe a few other big teams will come knocking for his services….

[CIMANFOREVER]

Hold on a second here CIMAN, it was undoubtedly one of Henderson's poorer games in an Ulster shirt but lest not forget his hugely positive impact against Leicester and his excellent bench performances for Ireland.

Buckie, Just realised, in my original post I also had 6 down mistakenly instead of 7, when I meant Ross as the headless baby giraffe (as he's supposed to be a 6 ) so I suppose part of my post seemed to extend the critque of Hendo beyond the pale. Corrected original post, but, however, I still stand by the original statement; He should be way better consistenly. We can't afford a player of Hendo's calibre to go MIA.

[BuckRogers]

I don't disagree CI but he has consistently been a good player for Ulster when fit and available. He is also only 22 I think. There is a huge burden of expectation on him especially in the wake of Ferris' retirement. He's a good young player who, until yesterday, has rarely put in a bad showing for Ulster.

If truth be told he actually made two turnovers during the game and carried well if not excellently. If Ross and Williams had matched his efforts we would actually probably have won.

I take no pleasure in it but Clive Ross is so, so, bad it's hard to actually watch him. He's a poor 6 playing seven terribly. You don't need an out and out seven anymore to win games but you still need someone who is either quick or intelligent enough to secure or disrupt ruck possession. Ross has neither by the looks of it.


I do agree that he needs to up his intensity to that of a POC or Ferris to be the great he can undoubtedly be though but he does have time on his side.

[Russ]

IN all honesty I'm more concerned with the bog standard crap we've played week in and week out than that fiasco yesterday.

I wholeheartedly agree.

As I think I've made clear, I see no real structure or system to our play other than kick badly as a default option. We seem totally lacking in maintaining phases to build pressure and will try low percentage off loads/flicks/tricks rather than trust ourselves to retain possession. In the absence of individual performances winning matches we lose.

That my friends is the key. That's why we get wins like Glasgow and Leicester - individuals perform well. It is also why we get very poor performances like yesterday - individuals don't perform.

Winning rugby is about having established systems and patterns that players know, trust and can execute. It produces consistency in performance.

I would love to know what/if any continuity work is done in training. Equally, I've noticed on units that the lineout seems to require a prop to run over and tell the hooker what the call is. Do we not have audibles? It would explain the 5 metre lineout where we threw to their lifting pod already in place.

I'm really no sure if there's any direction to what's happening during the week but I'm certain, other than individual performances, that there's no central direction to the way we play on the pitch.

As I said, it's sad to watch because there was the guts of a decent team on the pitch in Newport.

Pretty sure mr j afoa formally of our parish held a lineout masterclass a few months back

So we now need to disguise our calls

[Spiffsson]

Several posts have been giving Hendo some flack in this thread. Since returing from injury, Hendo has played superbly well for Ulster and Ireland, and that was his first poorish game. I feel he is in a bit of a lose/lose situation. First, he doesn't know if he's a 6 or a lock. Then he's getting a bit of a game time here and there (including a measly five minute stint against France), with little chance to bed in and show his stuff consistently. Then yesterday's game - I think it was probably unfair to him and to the team to play him. He is obviously focused on next weekend's game against the Welsh, which is probably a 6N decider. I am sure he was taking extra care not to chance anything that could have crocked him. Moreover, I'm sure Schmidt had issued him strict instructions to look after himself. Not the best circumstances for a stellar performance. Meanwhile his Irish mates are wrapped in cotton wool in the training camp and assured of a game next week. The lad is an outstanding player and will be an Ireland regular. Meantime, he must be pisssed off with feeling that he is a bit player who cannot get a run of full games at international or provincial level. I think we should cut him some slack here. Expect a blinder against Wales.

GWANN HENDO !!

[BR]

Not sure how we separate yesterday's performance from the standard of rugby we have played all season*. Yesterday was simply the result that we have deserved on multiple occassions this year. Our luck just ran out yesterday (or didn't because we still ended up 2nd)

*1 or 2 matches excepted.

[Liam Williams]

Honestly. I hope we finish 5th

Finally we agree on something

[BuckRogers]

Not sure how we separate yesterday's performance from the standard of rugby we have played all season*. Yesterday was simply the result that we have deserved on multiple occassions this year. Our luck just ran out yesterday (or didn't because we still ended up 2nd)

*1 or 2 matches excepted.

Ain't that the truth. We have been fortunate that this has been far from a vintage year in terms of team performances in the Rabo.

Perhaps Doak, Clarke etc will tell you that you make your own luck and that yesterday's result was an aberration but we all know that's balderdash.

It's the fighting performances that nearly now upset me more than the crap ones because it shows that when we are good we really have no small dose of potential but then we revert to kick, crap chase, etc etc.

I remarked after the Tigers game that it could/should be a turning point in our season and that we could move beyond the atrocious kickfest that we had embarked on up to that point. Alas not.

[BaggyTrousers]

Not sure how we separate yesterday's performance from the standard of rugby we have played all season*. Yesterday was simply the result that we have deserved on multiple occassions this year. Our luck just ran out yesterday (or didn't because we still ended up 2nd)

*1 or 2 matches excepted.

There is no doubt that you have something there, but for me what was different from most other games, even many hugely insipid ones, was that the pack just looked a shambles. In many games, considering we haven't a breakdown backrow to our name, valiantly though Roger has toiled, the pack have produced enough ball to win games. Yesterday that was markedly missing, as poor an Ulster pack performance as I can remember, especially given the make up of it.

[Snipe Watson]

Overall looking at the Irish performance this weekend is the influence and the "dreams" of the IRFU diluting the strengths of the individual teams within union?

Been doing that for years just it is even worse this year and the first half of next season as well

Maybe they have finally woken up to what has been staring them in the face. Ireland need 4 strong provinces to be successful and the provinces are currently being screwed into the ground by the controls and parameters handed down from Dublin.

I said it at the start of this season that the only thing of interest to the IRFU this year is the RWC, not my own thoughts but fact.

Every other year it's the 6N. We are just a means to an end.

[BaggyTrousers]

Honestly. I hope we finish 5th

Finally we agree on something

Good to see you back Liam, thought you had become disenchanted. Suppose a first ever clean sweep for Welsh Regions as you back to check out who is slitting their wrists.

Actually with the exceptions of Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadiff, the Welsh teams all deserved their win, no question. Mind you old Leighton Hodges has a few answers to give on a few different things. FFS I thought he was decent until about a month ago.

Is he married? My guess is some Paddy nailed Leighton's wife to the bed with is gert big kidney wiper, & hell hath no fury like a Welsh ref scorned.


Anyway, welcome back ould haun'.

[Russ]

Honestly. I hope we finish 5th

Finally we agree on something

Welcome back

Missed you xx

[Snipe Watson]

IN all honesty I'm more concerned with the bog standard crap we've played week in and week out than that fiasco yesterday.

I wholeheartedly agree.

As I think I've made clear, I see no real structure or system to our play other than kick badly as a default option. We seem totally lacking in maintaining phases to build pressure and will try low percentage off loads/flicks/tricks rather than trust ourselves to retain possession. In the absence of individual performances winning matches we lose.

That my friends is the key. That's why we get wins like Glasgow and Leicester - individuals perform well. It is also why we get very poor performances like yesterday - individuals don't perform.

Winning rugby is about having established systems and patterns that players know, trust and can execute. It produces consistency in performance.

I would love to know what/if any continuity work is done in training. Equally, I've noticed on units that the lineout seems to require a prop to run over and tell the hooker what the call is. Do we not have audibles? It would explain the 5 metre lineout where we threw to their lifting pod already in place.

I'm really no sure if there's any direction to what's happening during the week but I'm certain, other than individual performances, that there's no central direction to the way we play on the pitch.

As I said, it's sad to watch because there was the guts of a decent team on the pitch in Newport.

I thought there was a plan to benchmark the Joe Schmidt approach across the provinces. Or did I imagine that
Ulster are about as far from the accurate, attention to detail, tailored approach of Schmidt as it's possible to get. Ireland play the kick chase game because Sexton can put the ball on a sixpence and Bowe, Kearney and Zebo can chase and catch. We play it badly with kicks that are either too long or too short and Gilroy aside, nobody has a notion. Ireland's rucking game is exceptional, ours is lamentable. Reggie Corrigan's commentary was making me cringe yesterday. Not because he was bad, but I was embarrassed that he was seeing how entirely abysmal we were pointing it out.