Leinster v Ulster Saturday Nov 27th 8pm KO

[justinr73]

Without the absolutely shocking pass, I’d wager that Henshaw and Leinster would not have scored all night.

Credit to Connors though - that was one of the most impressive returns after a long term injury that I’ve seen in any sport.

[Snipe Watson]

they thought Ringrose was the next bod, but that was ridiculous thinking and pressure. He's a very good player, but Henshaw is way ahead of him.

[BR]

they thought Ringrose was the next bod, but that was ridiculous thinking and pressure. He's a very good player, but Henshaw is way ahead of him.

To clarify - I think Ringrose is a very good provincial player. He just rarely impresses me in green.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

......and make no mistake Murphy would have continued the game until they had worn down the Ulster defence.

Your continued rant about Murphy is becoming tiresome. Had he wanted to do what you continually insinuate, he had plenty of opportunity to do it in the preceding 75 minutes. He wasn't going to change how he refereed the game in the last 5. If he gave a penalty against Ulster in that period, I have no doubt it would have been because Ulster did something to deserve it.

Let's give our team credit for beating Leinster in Dublin - there's no need to give credit for beating Leinster and the referee.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

The thing that Ringrose and Henshaw have in common is self belief and attitude evidenced in Henshaw's try -- a bad ly delivered pass a couple of players to beat and he still scored that is attitude in spades .

The badly delivered pass was the reason he easily beat the defenders. Once he had picked up the ball - a very good piece of handling, but could also just as easily have been knocked on - beating the defence was easy as he was so low in collecting the ball that there was very little chance of anyone putting in an effective tackle. He simply reacted quicker than the defence.

Had the pass gone to hand the way it was intended, the tackles would have been easier. Henshaw may well still have evaded them as he does have that skill, and the self-confident "can-do" attitude, but the big credit he should receive for Saturday's try was in picking the ball up cleanly in the first instance. That is down to reaction time and innate ability more than attitude.

[Amiga500]

For me the negatives were: Carter's lack of carrying prowess;

Carter's lack of carrying prowess and our lack of lethality in the red zone are still not acceptable.

Carter always looks surprised when someone passes the ball to him.

He's worse than that.

A few line shoots do not make up for his crap tackling in the line.

The big burst by Maloney into our 22 was through a shockingly weak Carter arm. Wasn't even a speed bump. Then he just trotted back - not 2 f**ks could he give.

[rumncoke]

Captain

Murphy is a terrible ref even the Leinsterfans are complaining about him --- that said if you asked me --" Do i trust him to be impartial refereeing an Interprovincial game involving Ulster" . I'll let others answer that question . Rugby is a game were a penalty decision is a 50/50 call,requently referees favour the attacking side and in the last 3 minutes of the game leinster were in possession.

My major point being Captain -- Ulster were basically one penalty kick into the corner away from defeat despite dominating Leinster for most of the match.

[rumncoke]

Rugby is a game were it is easy to appear exceptional at lower levels and yet be unable to move up from one level to the next . In football if you have the skill the set is easier but skill itself is insufficient when playing rugby.

While Ringrose frequently fails to star at International level in the same manner as BoD the fact is the Bod was seen as a Star player and therefore was played to and used as such , Ringrose on the other hand is a team player and not seen as a "Play to and Use " and in the capacity seldom receives the ball as frequently as BoD would have done .
That said when playing for Ireland he has seldom been faulted in defence or been seen as source of defeat.

[rumncoke]

Carter is not a ball carrier and should not be consider as one because he lacks initial speed to make and break the gain line his role as a first receiver should be seen not so much as a means of attack but to consolidate and retain possession when under pressure. And I submit to you that it is an equally important task as attacking,since frequently attacking ball carriers become isolated and provide penalties to the opposition .

[Dublin4]

Belated congratulations to Ulster on a superb performance last Saturday. I have been away for the last few days.
From our perspective, it is a great wake up call.

[allezlesverres]

I re watched the game again yesterday and even knowing the result I was on the edge of my seat from 70 minutes until the intercept. Ulster were massively under the cosh for large parts of the last period with Leinster camped in or around our 22 for long spells. Watching it first time around I felt certain Leinster were going to sneak a late try and deny us the victory and I still can't quite believe they didn't. The game might not have been close in terms of possession, territory and dominance but it was far too close on the scoreline and Ulster so nearly lost it, it was on a knife edge right up until the intercept.

And, as others have pointed out, I was screaming at Doak for the box kick with a knock on advantage at 78 or so minutes. All we needed at that point was a scrum with a soft bind, step back, reset, quick ball out route 1 and hoof it out.

The leinster guys are criticising O'Brien for the late intercept but Frawley is almost as much to blame - his pass to O'Brien was a hospital pass in the first place that should never have been sent. Once O'Brien had the ball he was in trouble whether he threw the pass or not.

[justinr73]

I dunno how many times Jackman and EOS watched the game but the former was under the impression we box-kicked relentlessly and the latter thought our defence was “all over the place” in the first half, with repeated Leinster line breaks falling victim to their own inaccuracy.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Captain

Murphy is a terrible ref even the Leinsterfans are complaining about him --- that said if you asked me --" Do i trust him to be impartial refereeing an Interprovincial game involving Ulster" . I'll let others answer that question . Rugby is a game were a penalty decision is a 50/50 call,requently referees favour the attacking side and in the last 3 minutes of the game leinster were in possession.

My major point being Captain -- Ulster were basically one penalty kick into the corner away from defeat despite dominating Leinster for most of the match.

I accept your last point, as I think I have stated already, but your insinuations were that Murphy was looking for a way to give Leinster that penalty, not that Ulster might infringe to hand it to them.

As I also stated, if Murphy was looking to penalise Ulster (the inference being that he wanted Leinster to win), he had the previous 75 minutes to do so, so why wait until the last few minutes.

There were times Leinster were inside our 5m line and in possession, but he penalised them. If he was going to do what you keep thinking, he could just as easily give one of yer 50/50s the other way. Just as he gave Ulster penalties when inside the Leinster 5m line - but those were probably just our turn wrt yer 50/50s???

Cut the man some slack - I have criticised him in the past, but when he actually has a decent game, it's not heresy on here to say so.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Belated congratulations to Ulster on a superb performance last Saturday.
I have been away for the last few days. From our perspective, it is a great wake up call.

So you slept all of the last few days while away?

Glad the wake up call worked eventually.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Congratulations Ulster. We were well beaten. You kept the ball very well and controlled the game.

In light of your subsequent post offering belated congrats, would I be right in thinking that someone else must have hacked your account to offer congrats very promptly after the game?