Positives & Negatives: Ulster V Cardif

[againstthehead]

Positives
- welcome to the house of Payne. Cracking debut. Strong under the high ball, straightens the attacking line, good distribution. The man's a player lads.
- Humph. Upped his distribution and kicking out of hand since the glasgow game. Decent showing.
- Intensity. I love that word and the pack bossed the game all night. Great hunger from 1-8.
- set-piece. Tuohy ruled the air tonight. Outstanding display in the lineout. Won everything. AK nifty with the darts too. Scrum pretty solid for most of the night.
- game management. Tactics fairly spot on in both halves. Kicked when required but kept the ball in hand too.
- handling - slippery ball but we kept it alive well with some decent back moves.
- a comfortable win over a very decent side. Well done lads - a big win tonight.
- I was critical of the Glock leaving out Faloon and barker from the squad but the fresh players coming in did the trick and nnow these guys are fresh for next week. Nice one Glock.


Negatives
- humph goal kicking was poor
- injuries to Humph and Cave?
- probably should have scored another try or two. Lacked composure in the final third - again!!!
-
Overall, a very good performance and a very good result. i'll have more of that please...

[gannonman]

+
Payne very good
Set piece - excellent
Gilroy- absolutely superb
Cave - 2 very well taken tries
Kyricou- having a very good season so far

-
Goal kicking
handling
picking the ball up of the ground was awful. Spence seemed to be the only one who could slide to the ball.

[Big-al]

Overall it was a poor quality game, although we've 9 players to come back (Cardiff have so things look rosy for the season.

With the Cave injury we might see Marshall and Spence int he centres for next week!!!!

[againstthehead]

Flip, i thought it was a good game... I think my expectations have lowered somewhat... Compared to some of the tripe we put out last season that was good. Particuarly considering the conditions.

[gannonman]

Flip, i thought it was a good game... I think my expectations have lowered somewhat... Compared to some of the tripe we put out last season that was good. Particuarly considering the conditions.

I have to agree. I enjoyed it.

[Jackie Brown]

I hope Cave's alright, what a player. If only we had an Ireland coach who would give him a chance...

[Innocent]

I hope Cave's alright, what a player. If only we had an Ireland coach who would give him a chance...

And he stayed fit enough for long enough for them to notice!!

[Aird]

Agree very good night at Ravenhill with highlights two good scores from Cave,The arrival of Payne and what a start,
a very impressive Scrum and lineout demonstrating the depth of talent at Ulster at present,
Yes the lack of bonus point and the lower key second half were a disappointment but three wins out of three goes a long way to make up for any disappointment.

[Duckjnr]

+ A solid win in tough conditions
+ Set piece was good despite the scrum coming under pressure at times; Dan and AK ruled the lineouts all night
+ Great debut from Payne, looked composed and ran some nice lines
+ Gilroy was very lively
+ Cardiff didnt get a losing BP

- Injuries to Darren and Humph, hopefully nothing to serious (though we may now see L Marshall and Nev in the centres!)
- Small Paul was a bit erratic at times but not it a good way this time
- Not clinical enough in the final third, too many spilled chances
- Poor goalkicking from what we normally expect from Ian

Last but not least...
- The ref - but we all knew this would be the case

[scrum5]

Overall it was a poor quality game,

Yes the lack of bonus point

[Snipe Watson]

Defence was solid and some good attacking play on a wet night Cardiff never looked like scoring. Last five minutes were a bit mad.
3 wins out of 3 will do for me.

[Fly Half]

Two great tries
I actually thought Marshall passed as well as I've seen him. OTOH Porter didn't impress me with his passing at all.

Injury to Humph looked serious, but Jackson slotted in well.

[Big-al]

Overall it was a poor quality game,

Yes the lack of bonus point

Did you enjoy the 2nd half?

I bloody well didn't!!!

[fuzzylogic]

Positives
Another win in the bag.
We are 3/3 and have won our games with time to play, no last minute heroics needed is a sure sign we have improved.
Cave took his 2 trys well (however, Im not one of the Cave is slow brigade, but he was nearly caught on the second, another 5metres and I dont think he would have made it)
Who says Spence has poor distribution, it was his pass and offload that put Gilroy and Whitten through for Cave to finish.
The defence in general was good, there were a couple of lapses though.

Negatives
Injuries to IH and Cave
Second half handling (weather is part to blame here)
IH's place kicking
P Marshall in general im afraid to say.

[scrum5]

Did you enjoy the 2nd half?

Yes thanks, defence was superb, game over by half time, played into a strong breeze 2nd half, only disappointment was Humphs injury....