I blame the fans (and the coach)

[WhiteKnightoftheWeld]

All these red cards and citings.... Why always us?

1) Because every fecking week in life Ulster fans boo and bay the referee.

Refs subconsciously will - in a split decision - think "F%%% you lot" and things frequently don't go our way. Easy, kickable penalties given away time and time again. Opportunities wasted when we're attacking.

Maybe if the people on the sidelines stopped being so ignorant of the rules and disrespectful towards the opposition and officials, more might go our way. Ravenhill is often referred to as a passionate crowd; I've never noticed it being called a knowledgeable crowd.

Maybe in their "7 things to know about the big match tonight" w4nk/spiel, Ulster Rugby could introduce a rules explanation... If I never have to hear a moron shouting "offside" during open play again, I'll rest content.

2) Because our players are stupid grunts or reckless fools - throwing punches, taking players out in the air, lifting players out of rucks and chucking them headfirst groundwards, trailing legs - all the rest of it.

Poor coaching. No discipline. After Jared Payne v Sarries, there should have been an effort made to sit down, and look at where and why we were falling foul of officiating. Get a ref in; make our players understand what refs look for and what they won't tolerate. If the emphasis is now on player safety above all else, and if the emphasis is on a player to be extremely careful, then learn from that and adapt your play.

Don't see a further 3 reds in 12 months, and countless yellows and citings, follow...

And it extends beyond discipline. Every match Ulster win comes not from patient, steady play. We don't go through phases. We don't stick to a gameplan. We win from individual moments of brilliance - case in point Gilroy last week. Losing at half time and he steps up.

The whole set-ups a joke.

[ColinM]

Amen to that

[Dave]

The boos only started after Tom Court was sent off and Rab Kearney tried to remove PJ's head from is shoulders. McCloskey got sent off in Edinburgh. Roger and Luke didn't get sent off, the ref actually reduced Nick's yellow to just a pen. The boos are annoying but not the cause of red cards. Unless there was ones booing the disciplinary panel.

[OneMore]

I think it's nonsense to say that referees are harsher on Ulster because they get abuse when things don't go our way at Ravenhill, as aptly stated by Dave.

I agree though that there's an element of coaching here. Were we not top of the fair play league for a couple of years while McLaughlin was in charge? I don't think anyone thinks we actually cheat any more than anyone else (I'm thinking particularly of Leinster here), our recent habit has though been of a lot of utter stupidity. The cheating, just like other aspects of the game needs to be well coached. We need disciplined cheats, who do lots of cheating, either not enough for the referee to ping it, or out of the sight of the officials - and certainly not stuff that's easy citing material (like kicking a guy in the face).

Our cheating needs to improve.

[OneMore]

In fact, furthermore, frankly I think we're more than decent to referees and opposition. I fully endorse the rights of those at Ravenhill to exert all the influence on the referees they possibly can. I think we should make a lot of noise, and make it as unpleasant as possible for referees to give decisions against Ulster at Ravenhill. If we make it easy for them, we're not doing our part.

[Russ]

I blame Cave

[BaggyTrousers]

Interesting take on things Welder, I don't buy the crowd thing, every crowd I have ever seen or heard treats refs the same, constantly on their backs and the usual moronic shouts of offside from those with no idea of the Law & that perennial favorite"forward" shouted from all parts of the ground most with a poor view of particular passes, we are no different in most respects.

I have said this very week within these pages that we are a team almost bereft of nous, there are very few Ulster players who you would say of admiringly "what a smart player", the sendings off bar that dumb effort from Fat Deccie have had high elements of stupidity, no guile whatsoever, we are not a dirty team, neither are we a clever team. That I would agree has elements of a lack of coaching & a lack of rugby intelligence.

The moronic fans are priceless, my cabal of experts now perch in the Memorial Stand and behind us there are seats that are clearly corpo freebies and when I tell you the least boring conversation heard from them was a group of weemen talking about knitting, you will feel my pain. Some call it progress, I call it a pain in the Brennan. We recently had 4 sad sack ballixes who talked about Manchester City at length. Last week we heard one ask a fellow, "Do you like rugby?" I'd happily machinegun most of them & the way Ulster are playing, its hard to engross yourself so much that these weltheads don't register on you consciousness.

Then again, nobody said it would be easy supporting Ulster.

[ScarletsMun]

1) Because every fecking week in life Ulster fans boo and bay the referee.
.

On Friday, the referee failed to act on the linesman's recommendation of a yellow for Nick Williams, and failed to spot the two red card incidents that have retrospectively been handed to Ulster players.

So I reckon you've got that a bit Brennan end up.

[Dave]

[Wee Woman]

1) Because every fecking week in life Ulster fans boo and bay the referee.
.

On Friday, the referee failed to act on the linesman's recommendation of a yellow for Nick Williams, and failed to spot the two red card incidents that have retrospectively been handed to Ulster players.

So I reckon you've got that a bit Brennan end up.

The Welsh clearly don't do irony

[BaggyTrousers]

1) Because every fecking week in life Ulster fans boo and bay the referee.
.

On Friday, the referee failed to act on the linesman's recommendation of a yellow for Nick Williams, and failed to spot the two red card incidents that have retrospectively been handed to Ulster players.

So I reckon you've got that a bit Brennan end up.

Oh dear, easy Welder, easy now.

Note to self: Buy popcorn and fizzy drinks.

Ready Fleg?

[Alister Scott]

Long way to go before they reach the Irony Age.

[Dave]

Gwan Welder!

[Meg The Lab]

What a load of ballix. Get over yer self.

[BaggyTrousers]

Gwan Welder!

Fat Nick would have killed the poor horse, I like horses.