The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

[EasternKnight]

The Good ... Steady progress on the pitch, young talent coming through, new stand on the way.
The Bad ... Pipped to the post again, Warren Gatland's Lions selection, standard of referees over the season
The Ugly ... George Clancy forgets the meaning of full time, Dylan Hartley's pitch banter, 2 old boys tearing lumps out of each other on the terrace
Already looking forward to next season

[big mervyn]

Good, bad, ugly?

[rosetintedgoggles]

Plug sure is one ugly fecker!

May be a really decent bloke BUT plays an ugly game of rugby and looks as if he has come straight out of The Beano. Definitely the leader of the Mexican Dirty Tricks Department!

[fuzzylogic]

by EasternKnight » Mon May 27, 2013 7:28 am

The Ugly ... , 2 old boys tearing lumps out of each other on the terrace

Whats the story here Eastern?

[BaggyTrousers]

Merv, where did you get the picture of Hartley assaulting himself & when did he grow the third arm?

[big mervyn]

Merv, where did you get the picture of Hartley assaulting himself & when did he grow the third arm?

From a webpage on Rugby Onslaught entitled Dylan Hartley the most hated man in rugby?. I thought the question mark was somewhat superfluous.

Self abuse is very apt in Dylan's case, don't you think? However, in this case, the assailant was ex-Cardiff lock, Paul Tito

[Tuco]

Plug sure is one ugly fecker!

May be a really decent bloke BUT plays an ugly game of rugby and looks as if he has come straight out of The Beano. Definitely the leader of the Mexican Dirty Tricks Department!

Leo may be a lot of things but most of all he is a leader of Men. That Brian O'Driscoll reveres him and loves going into battle with him should tell you all you need to know about our Captain. He won't take a backward step and soaks up an insane amount of punishment for Leinster.

Watch the match again from saturday if you have the time and home in on Leo. He is a warrior.

[rocky]

Leo may be a lot of things but most of all he is a leader of Men. That Brian O'Driscoll reveres him and loves going into battle with him should tell you all you need to know about our Captain. He won't take a backward step and soaks up an insane amount of punishment for Leinster.

Watch the match again from saturday if you have the time and home in on Leo. He is a warrior.

He has been a great servant to Leinster, no doubt about that, Tuco. And you don't get to captain Leicester without being a very good player as well as being a niggler-in-chief. Has he another season or two left in him?
But the man who continues to amaze me is O'Driscoll. Now there is a warrior, indeed a warrior chief. After his back trouble, I thought he would make a cameo appearance for half-an-hour or less and then go off to huge acclamation but he was there right to the end, still looking dangerous on the ball and putting the defensive work in. A true legend of rugby football.
Well done to your guys but, to misquote Big Arnie, "We'll be back!"

[OneMore]

Leo may be a lot of things but most of all he is a leader of Men.
...
Watch the match again from saturday if you have the time and home in on Leo. He is a warrior.

I'd say these things are a matter of perspective there big fella. I'd say, most of all, that Leo Cullen is a cheat. Before he leads anyone, before he takes any punishment, he's cheating. Call it unsporting, but honestly, he's pushing Dylan Hartley for most despised opposition player in my book.

I was there on Saturday. When Ulster were in possession I was trying to home in on Ruan Pienaar as he delivered the ball from the back of the ruck, but lo and behold, more often than not, I got an eyeful of Leo Cullen interfering, lying over the ball, wandering on the wrong side. It was consistent cheating of the worst kind. But credit to him, he's raising able deputies in Devin Toner and Cian Healy. Mind you, it's about the only thing Toner is able to do.

However, I digress. Call it sour grapes, I call it an honest assessment. They who cheated best won on Saturday.

(They also happened to keep the ball better and be more clinical, but no doubt they cheated better).

[Kofi Annan]

Sorry buy Leo Culen is an absolute gentleman, perceptions are an awful thing. Well except for some of the ganches on this forum.

[OneMore]

Sorry buy Leo Culen is an absolute gentleman, perceptions are an awful thing. Well except for some of the ganches on this forum.

That's fair.

I make no comment on him personally. My remarks are exclusively about his on-field behaviour.

Similarly, I've never met Dylan Hartley, and given his consistent good behaviour at disciplinary hearings, he must be a really nice guy too. Hard to say.

[AndyB]

Leo Cullen is the sort of guy who will always get the opposition fans annoyed. If he played for Ulster we would love him - look how well liked Justin Harrison was when he was one of us.
Cullen is nowhere near in the league of guys like Hartley.

[Russ]

Leo Cullen is the sort of guy who will always get the opposition fans annoyed. If he played for Ulster we would love him - look how well liked Justin Harrison was when he was one of us.
Cullen is nowhere near in the league of guys like Hartley.

If Cullen was an Ulsterman I would walk away from watching Ulster.

[WhiteKnightoftheWeld]

His ability to wind up opposition and simultaneously get the ref on his side is to be admired.

Whether or not he's the most motivational of guys doesn't matter for his style of captaincy - if one man is given the ref's ear, who better?

He went up a lot in my estimation after the quinlan 'gouge' - spoke pretty well of quinlan, believed it to be a genuine accident etc - when he could have either said nothing or alternatively stuck the knife right in.

not the most talented player to grace these shores but his ability to take a shoeing and win lineout ball is second to none

[BaggyTrousers]

Leo may be a lot of things but most of all he is a leader of Men.
...
Watch the match again from saturday if you have the time and home in on Leo. He is a warrior.

I'd say these things are a matter of perspective there big fella. I'd say, most of all, that Leo Cullen is a cheat. Before he leads anyone, before he takes any punishment, he's cheating. Call it unsporting, but honestly, he's pushing Dylan Hartley for most despised opposition player in my book.

I was there on Saturday. When Ulster were in possession I was trying to home in on Ruan Pienaar as he delivered the ball from the back of the ruck, but lo and behold, more often than not, I got an eyeful of Leo Cullen interfering, lying over the ball, wandering on the wrong side. It was consistent cheating of the worst kind. But credit to him, he's raising able deputies in Devin Toner and Cian Healy. Mind you, it's about the only thing Toner is able to do.

However, I digress. Call it sour grapes, I call it an honest assessment. They who cheated best won on Saturday.

(They also happened to keep the ball better and be more clinical, but no doubt they cheated better).

Sour bullshitting grapes Yin, Cullen was outstanding on Saturday, you need to be more circumspect about hurls of cheat, we have a brave few ourselves.

Leinster won not because they are miles better as a team, they won because they are outstandingly well coached - Johnno Gibbes is a guy Ulster could learn a lot from. They won because their discipline is much better where it counts and they won because we were profligate in not making the best of our opportunities. They also won because they have experienced the highs & lows throughout a very strong squad.