Kofi, you're never going to much sense out of Agen-le-tete but if he is not right he's not too far wrong on a lot of it. With not very much different, we could be girding our loins for a dig at silverware today. However what poor ould Agen misses is not the fact of being close but no cigar, what counts is WHY.
You also have to ask, had that wee cheating turd not milked his penalty (penalty though it most certainly was) and we hadn't found another way to lose the game, even if we had gone in to win a tin pot, would we have had a good season. Many would say winning something would have made it a good season but the reality is it would be an attempt to polish a turd. I believe BR may have been the first to correctly identify that we deserved nothing this season and managed to pull off exactly that with some considerable alacrity.
So whilst I have a day out to arrange, just thought I'd give my first hint at The Definitive View of Season 2014-15 - a failure.
More details over the silly season, after some mature reflection.
NEVER MOVE ON. Years on, I cannot ever watch Ireland with anything but indifference, I continue to wish for the imminent death of Donal Spring, the FIRFUC's executioner of Wee Paddy & Wee Stu, and I hate the FIRFUCs with undiminished passion.
againstthehead wrote:In terms of being a HEC finalist.... we had a relatively easy group, a great away QF win against a limited Munster side. A home SF win over a tom kite Embra side and then got smoked in the final. Let's not get carried away - we were not the invincible. We had a nice run. Since then we have consistently come top 4 and reached the euro knock outs so yes, we have challenged come the business end relative to where we were before Glock. Perhaps you jumped on the bandwagon when we went to twickenham but I can assure you that prior to that, I'd have been pretty chuffed to get knock-out rugby at Ravenhill...
Pitiful.
NEVER MOVE ON. Years on, I cannot ever watch Ireland with anything but indifference, I continue to wish for the imminent death of Donal Spring, the FIRFUC's executioner of Wee Paddy & Wee Stu, and I hate the FIRFUCs with undiminished passion.
The HEC final season was an odd one. IIRC we were pretty hopeless at the start - we may even have lost at home to Treviso at one stage? ; Somehow got a home win against Clermont (thanks to Adam Darcy and I Humps, plus a boost from Afoa coming over early); went through a purple patch from New Year through to the QF at Thomond, including thumping Embra away, Tigers at home and giving Clermont a run for their money over there and then faded again, including failure to make the top 4 in the Rabo and getting thumped in the Heiny final. I would agree with ATH that effectively a home semi against Edinburgh was about as good as you could ever hope for.
Apart from Payne (ably replaced by Stefan) the key thing we had that season was a relatively free run injury wise. We've certainly made up for that since though.....
This is the first season where I feel we have genuinely regressed from the Heiny final year. Still think that with an rwc year we could be contenders in the league if we can down the injuries and suspensions.
Just watched the highlanders being disallowed the best try of the game due to the TMO slowing down and down again until he could justify calling it a knock-on - ridiculous but somehow cheered me that it isn't only Ulster.
From the rolling glens of Antrim through the hills of Donegal we will stand and shout for Ulster as we win both scrum and maul from the lovely lakes of Fermanagh tae the shores of ould Lough Gall we will scream and shout for Ulster as we beat them one and all!
Setanta wrote:Just watched the highlanders being disallowed the best try of the game due to the TMO slowing down and down again until he could justify calling it a knock-on - ridiculous but somehow cheered me that it isn't only Ulster.
I know. It's a bit like the low catch in cricket - gets analysed to the point where there's nearly always doubt. If a knock-on isn't obvious in real time, then play on ffs.
Volunteer at an animal sanctuary; it will fill you with joy , despair, but most of all love, unconditional love of the animals.
Big Neville Southall
Bart S wrote:The HEC final season was an odd one. IIRC we were pretty hopeless at the start - we may even have lost at home to Treviso at one stage? ; Somehow got a home win against Clermont (thanks to Adam Darcy and I Humps, plus a boost from Afoa coming over early); went through a purple patch from New Year through to the QF at Thomond, including thumping Embra away, Tigers at home and giving Clermont a run for their money over there and then faded again, including failure to make the top 4 in the Rabo and getting thumped in the Heiny final. I would agree with ATH that effectively a home semi against Edinburgh was about as good as you could ever hope for.
Apart from Payne (ably replaced by Stefan) the key thing we had that season was a relatively free run injury wise. We've certainly made up for that since though.....
This is the first season where I feel we have genuinely regressed from the Heiny final year. Still think that with an rwc year we could be contenders in the league if we can down the injuries and suspensions.
How the memories fade at not too long a distance. We had Payne for 2.189361 games and we were held together with string and stickybacked plastic in the HC Final. Both Ferris & Henry were unfit but we had no options so both played. Late in the game both suffered the agonies of the damned and were barely hobbling.
Furthermore, though the final score is the worst in HC final history, it it does not tell the story. The game was close until the last 10 minutes but when Stefan was carded we were swamped with a barrage of late tries, we were a team running on empty with no bench to speak of against the best team in Europe at that time.
It boils my pish when people write off that final performance, the majority of a wounded team did themselves & us proud.
NEVER MOVE ON. Years on, I cannot ever watch Ireland with anything but indifference, I continue to wish for the imminent death of Donal Spring, the FIRFUC's executioner of Wee Paddy & Wee Stu, and I hate the FIRFUCs with undiminished passion.
Setanta wrote:Twelve leaving; four coming, surely this reduces our SID?
Only if the S stands for shíte.
NEVER MOVE ON. Years on, I cannot ever watch Ireland with anything but indifference, I continue to wish for the imminent death of Donal Spring, the FIRFUC's executioner of Wee Paddy & Wee Stu, and I hate the FIRFUCs with undiminished passion.
Setanta wrote:Just watched the highlanders being disallowed the best try of the game due to the TMO slowing down and down again until he could justify calling it a knock-on - ridiculous but somehow cheered me that it isn't only Ulster.
I saw it too, it was a try. There was an angle almost sideways on where the ball was not seen for about a metre of his slide, there is no question that the ball was grounded by his body - not sure which part but the torso makes it a try as far as I am aware. Ludicrous decision & illustrates that TMOs go to extremes that are not required. Somebody once said something about giving the advantage to the attacking side.
What that was was actually an example of, was the TMO not giving the try when rather than not being sure it it had been scored, he could not be certain that it wasn't scored. Try all day long.
NEVER MOVE ON. Years on, I cannot ever watch Ireland with anything but indifference, I continue to wish for the imminent death of Donal Spring, the FIRFUC's executioner of Wee Paddy & Wee Stu, and I hate the FIRFUCs with undiminished passion.
Agree wholeheartedly with big merv and co.
I feel the TMO is getting overused and out of hand.
Even with the benefit of slow motion they still get it wrong as with the recent Hendo red.
How often do you hear the term, `its looks a lot worse in slow motion` and there is a reason for that.
Its beginning to get on my nerves the amount of times in holds up play for a minutes at a time while an official laboriously plunders his way through footage to find the `right angle` for a slight knock on at the base of a scrum.
The reason it should be used is for try or no try in terms of grounding as that's why it was brought in but I don`t suppose Munster fans would agree because they wouldn`t be in the pro 12 final otherwise.
Leave the unseen dirty play for the citing officers where they have more time and not as much pressure to come up with a decision and just let the game flow.
Its now up there with the 10 minute advantage rule to come back for a scrum or penalty as the most annoying aspect of the game.
Oh and along Ulster winning sweet fa again.
againstthehead wrote:Been a tough season. Loss of Humph, no set coach, loss of Afoa, Muller and 1F last season. Usual injury hit list, tough European group and the odd spot of indiscipline.
It comes down to small margins. A bit of patience against Glasgow and we'd be looking forward to a home final and odds on for some silverware. Bit like last season, when a red card cost us a HEC SF. I think we're all getting a bit fed up of Ulster being the nearly men and whilst we can draft a long list of excuses, it's incredibly disappointing that we haven't something tangible for the progress we have made in recent seasons.
Having said all that, we've now consistently challenged come the business end over the last few seasons which is pretty cool compared to where we were a few years back. Attendances are excellent and we continue to attract decent players.
A decent coach, a couple of quality players and a touch of lady luck might get us over the line next time round.... well, we can dream...
Yea should have just copy and pasted Doakys interview rather than bar steward it into your own ramblings
“For the liespotter who knows how to listen well, the random words, sounds, and phrases in a person's speech are never as random as they seem. They offer a clear sightline into the liar's psyche.”
Bart S wrote:The HEC final season was an odd one. IIRC we were pretty hopeless at the start - we may even have lost at home to Treviso at one stage? ; Somehow got a home win against Clermont (thanks to Adam Darcy and I Humps, plus a boost from Afoa coming over early); went through a purple patch from New Year through to the QF at Thomond, including thumping Embra away, Tigers at home and giving Clermont a run for their money over there and then faded again, including failure to make the top 4 in the Rabo and getting thumped in the Heiny final. I would agree with ATH that effectively a home semi against Edinburgh was about as good as you could ever hope for.
Apart from Payne (ably replaced by Stefan) the key thing we had that season was a relatively free run injury wise. We've certainly made up for that since though.....
This is the first season where I feel we have genuinely regressed from the Heiny final year. Still think that with an rwc year we could be contenders in the league if we can down the injuries and suspensions.
How the memories fade at not too long a distance. We had Payne for 2.189361 games and we were held together with string and stickybacked plastic in the HC Final. Both Ferris & Henry were unfit but we had no options so both played. Late in the game both suffered the agonies of the damned and were barely hobbling.
Furthermore, though the final score is the worst in HC final history, it it does not tell the story. The game was close until the last 10 minutes but when Stefan was carded we were swamped with a barrage of late tries, we were a team running on empty with no bench to speak of against the best team in Europe at that time.
It boils my pish when people write off that final performance, the majority of a wounded team did themselves & us proud.
Baggy - i didn't mean to denigrate the performance in the final as Leinster were on top of their game, but what i would say was that bar Jared, we had a fairly decent run injury wise that year and that his replacement was by some distance better than some of the more recent shirt term contract players we've brought in....(well just by staying fit Stefan would have been better than them but that's another story). Now the Ferris and Henry injuries were undoubtedly significant contributors, but i do think we'd already dropped off from the peaks of earlier in the season.
Ultimately i don't think we regressed overall under MA post McGlock, albeit whether another coach could have done better is a different matter (in the same way people would say about Eddie o'Sullivan's tenure in charge of Ireland, which results wise was pretty good compared to previous ireland coaches). Winning our heiny group, 6/6, home QF, winning in england, top of the league standings......smacks of creating great opportunities and then failing to follow through on them.
; Somehow got a home win against Clermont (thanks to Adam Darcy and I Humps, plus a boost from Afoa coming over early); went through a purple patch from New Year through to the QF at Thomond, including thumping Embra away, Tigers at home and giving Clermont a run for their money over there and then faded again, including failure to make the top 4 in the Rabo and getting thumped in the Heiny final. I would agree with ATH that effectively a home semi against Edinburgh was about as good as you could ever hope for. 
