Ulster v Benetton Friday Oct 8 7:35pm KO

[Dave]

We need a skillz coach.

[Snipe Watson]

Very poor level of accuracy in the back line. Lacked leadership and power in the pack.

[Dave]

Job done. Doak is a bit good.

[germcevoy]

That wasn’t a great match to be at. Job done and all that but such a lack of cohesion during a lot of it. There’s still a lot of strength to bring back in and three from three is spoiled rotten bit hopefully there’s bigger and better to come.

[rumncoke]

Backline to night was fine defensively but subject to a few skittery moments in attack

While I was surprised at Doaks MoTM last week it was well deserved this week passing maybe still a bit slow but an improvement on last week .

A bit of Knowhow and bulk lacking in the forwards a lot of effort for little reward ie in contact Ulster are inclined to bounce backwards.

[Aird]

Bottom line is played 3 won 3 & 3 bots.
Read the injury list and look at the ages of the players out there to night. A 19 year old scrum half produced a top class game at scrum half and threw in a couple of tries as well. Not to mention his goal kicking. Two forwards one a prop brought on from the bench because of a second minute injury and lasted the pace to the end. Our No 8 just promoted from the Academy produce a great break to allow Doak in for his first of two tries but McCann didn’t look out of. Place in the team.

The team did take the foot off the pedal in the third quarter but that is nothing new but they came back to fight their way to the line and the bonus pt try.

It is not going to be the beautiful game every week and we will have to grind out a result some times but you saw commitment to night and with that you can build.
Remember not only are they fighting for a place in the league as a whole but the Irish shield could guarantee us a place in Europe.
Leinster struggled to a 6 - 7 win at Dragons leaving behind a bonus pt.
Munster have made massive changes in their team to play at the Par y Scarlets on Sunday and are far from guaranteed 5 pts.
Connacht have chose to foresake the death pit where so many sides have perished at the Showgrounds and have handed an oppurtunity to a ulster at the Aviva.
Yes Ulster could do better but these wins should build their confidence and you could see them knitting together more to night.
Our injury list may in fact be a blessing in disguise as younger players are being brought to the fore and at least one older player has been rejuvenated Out on the wing.

[justinr73]

I’m with Aird on this.

It was a bit flat because the game was over as a contest fairly early doors.

Equally, and as shown last week, this particular bunch of Italians don’t lie down.

The ref didn’t help by stringing out the scrums and we struggled a bit in that area.

However, we didn’t panic and turned up the heat in the last ten minutes such that the bonus point was coming.

Doak was much more key to the win than he was last week and he keeps knocking over difficult kicks with ease.

[UlsterNo9]

Bottom line is played 3 won 3 & 3 bots.
Read the injury list and look at the ages of the players out there to night. A 19 year old scrum half produced a top class game at scrum half and threw in a couple of tries as well. Not to mention his goal kicking. Two forwards one a prop brought on from the bench because of a second minute injury and lasted the pace to the end. Our No 8 just promoted from the Academy produce a great break to allow Doak in for his first of two tries but McCann didn’t look out of. Place in the team.

The team did take the foot off the pedal in the third quarter but that is nothing new but they came back to fight their way to the line and the bonus pt try.

It is not going to be the beautiful game every week and we will have to grind out a result some times but you saw commitment to night and with that you can build.
Remember not only are they fighting for a place in the league as a whole but the Irish shield could guarantee us a place in Europe.
Leinster struggled to a 6 - 7 win at Dragons leaving behind a bonus pt.
Munster have made massive changes in their team to play at the Par y Scarlets on Sunday and are far from guaranteed 5 pts.
Connacht have chose to foresake the death pit where so many sides have perished at the Showgrounds and have handed an oppurtunity to a ulster at the Aviva.
Yes Ulster could do better but these wins should build their confidence and you could see them knitting together more to night.
Our injury list may in fact be a blessing in disguise as younger players are being brought to the fore and at least one older player has been rejuvenated Out on the wing.

100% agree

If Leinster had of done the same we would all be saying typical Leinster dogged it out.

[rumncoke]

3 from 3 with bonus points is a nice to be with a make shift XV but the reality is that -- that against better sides the the slap-happy attitude in the backs and a light weight pack won't pass the test .

Leinster against the Dragons had a bad night yet despite the errors in their game never looked like giving easy trys away nor did the pack look weak -- it was more like a collective case of minor errors at critical moments causing a failure to put points on the board against a side which seldom found themselves in a position to put points on the board and put sustained pressure on the Leinster pack.

On the Other hand Ulster, in a couple of occasions against Glasgow and Benetton, have been contained in their own half of the pitch with the opposition in possession --- where better sides would have capitalised on the pressure being applied.

There is still a lot of work to be done and experience to gained before the current crop of young players attain the consistency of leinster and the attitude of Munster.

[UlsterNo9]

Against a well drilled Benetton side we played most of the 2nd half with more than half the team 23 years old or younger - Reid, O'Toole, McCann, Doak, Lowry, McIlroy, Moore, Hume. We were always comfortable albeit not the most pleasing on the eye.

Thought our best player last night was our oldest.... Sam Carter, often comes in for a lot of critiscism (including my own) he carried very well in the tight when yards weren't really an option. Threw himself viciously into defensive mauls and rucks. Our scrum suffered when he departed, he most definately made a difference to the sum of the parts.

[Dave]

Good post Aird. The nippers put in a shift having lost two senior players through injury. McCann I thought was very physical. He did the heavy lifting. Great break for Doak's first. Callum Reid put in a hard afternoon following a longer shift than expected. Doak was classy once again.

[Neill_M]

Good win given the injury situation. Benetton are no longer a soft touch, was disappointed by their performance mind.

[Snipe Watson]

I get all that. Young side, etc, but Benetton were nowhere near full strength either. Much as it's great to see Reid and Doak's progress, i thought Moore wasn't great, he has been better. We really miss Stu McCloskey creating space for Hume and the back three. We'll need to offer more next week.

[Dave]

Big Dan:

"I'm really happy with the result,"
"We had a lot of injuries, and were hosting a team who had won six on the bounce, a team that had always caused us trouble; keeping them to one try, getting our bonus point is a credit to the effort the lads they put in."

"It’s really funny in Ireland, the tendency for questions always seems to be about 'could it have been better?'"
"The bottom line is they were one of the other unbeaten teams, they've haven't lost six in a row, they're jam-packed with Italian internationals and we have a massive chunk of our starting team missing, we're disrupted by injury.
"Was I expecting better performance? Probably not. Would I have like a better performance? Definitely.

"There was a lot in inaccuracy at the start of the first half and the start of the second half.
"We were struggling a little bit for cohesion. The focus for me is we had a bonus-point win over a tough team who we have struggled to get past in games that were really tight.
"We had a lot of young guys on the pitch, experiencing that for the first time.
"If you’d asked me at the beginning of the day would I have taken that result, then 100%, I would."

[UlsterNo9]

I get all that. Young side, etc, but Benetton were nowhere near full strength either. Much as it's great to see Reid and Doak's progress, i thought Moore wasn't great, he has been better. We really miss Stu McCloskey creating space for Hume and the back three. We'll need to offer more next week.

How far were Benetton off full strength? Rewatching I heard commentary making that very comment (Dan then contradicted), but bar Ioane and Gharbisi who is now plying his trade in France I didn't think they had too many missing. Having said that there are not too many Bennetton players that are house hold names with me.