Leinster v Ulster

[Cockatrice]

Just picking up on their first half try in the corner from the line out and was wondering where was Trimble covering when they cut back down the line.

[Russ]

Just saw that try again

Fitzgerald's hands went forward, and the ball crossed forward over the 22m line.

It was a forward pass

[Snipe Watson]

Just saw that try again

Fitzgerald's hands went forward, and the ball crossed forward over the 22m line.

It was a forward pass

Don't think so Russ.

[Cockatrice]

Not forward in my opinion but where was Trimble ??

[Dave]

If that was the tactics then surely Paddy Wallace should have started at 12 rather than Luke Marshall. I too would like to see someone other than Paul Marshall and Ricky Andrews starting and someone else on the bench other than McComish, now the question is who?

Scholes, Nelson or Gilroy over Andrews
Heaney or Porter over Beagle
Now the difficult one, Conor Joyce has had limited exposure and hasn't had ample opportunity to impress, Faloon should never have been allowed to leave but worse still, after rave reviews out West he should have been brought back but instead signed for another 2 years. We also missed out on Robin Copeland to Munster who have more depth in the backrow than we do. Also noticed that in the academy set up on UR that Conor Joyce is the only back row forward and it doesn't appear that this on-going problem is being addressed.

There are some others. Frank Taggart and Lorcan Dow are two I've heard of. Both English schooled but highly rated I believe.

[BR]

I thought I heard (mau have been Gusher) that Wallace was injured.

[bazzaj]

No offence but that's a load of nonsense. When you play a quality side you need to be playing in the right part of the park - i.e. their half. Their backrow was savaging us at the breakdown and to go through phases in our half would have been suicidal. i.e. a penalty fest and they probably would have been out of sight at half-time. In saying that, our kicking game was pretty ineffective in terms of putting pressure on the catcher. In contrast Leinster themselves hoofed a fair bit of ball in the 1st half, put pressure on our young full-back and acquired possession in our half and subsequently went through the phases. So the tactics were about right, but the execution as you have highlighted was abysmal. So I wouldn't blame the coaches, rather the players.

PS those kicking tactics by Ireland won a 6N... albeit the rules were different back then.

Was that what happened when we countered in our own half and scored after 11 minutes against Montpellier away?
Thanks for clearing that up ATH.

Leinster pressured our full back which you correctly identified as they sought to exploit our weakness which worked for them and is the reason they kept doing it.
They had an all international back 3 who we were never getting change from in a kicking duel yet we persisted to try.
My beef isnt so much the tactic itself but the the lack of intelligence to acknowledge that the tactics arent working and to try something different which until Paynes introduction we did not do.
It wasnt our offensive tactics that kept us in the game it was our defence and Leinster spurning opportunities.

PS The key to a good kicking game is the variation of kick like a grubber,chip ,wiper, garryowen, crossfield to name but a few and in that slam team ROG did the lot.
As with all parts of rugby, variation is what counts.
To do the same thing over and over becomes predictable and thats what I am levelling at us the other night and Ireland v Falou.
The issue for me is this managerial or player lead or worse both?