Ulster v Saints Fri Dec 17th 8pm KO BT Sport 2

[Dharper]

If the saints player went for the ball with both hands, there’s a reasonable chance he could have caught it as it wasn’t too far from his body - so as it happened I could understand BODs initial call. That said as soon as you see the replay it’s a clear deliberate knock on all day long, and although there was cover coming across I doubt it’d have stopped the try from so close out. The Ref made the right call. It’s a new pet hate of mine, don’t tell me players aren’t coached to do it/fake the intercept attempt.

As an aside to be fair we do predominantly play off 9, and Burns has been iffy to say the least recently. I just wonder whether the way we set up off 9, is potentially putting off a 10 sticking a hand up to come up North as there is clearly a gap there, and backlog in Munster and Leinster.

[germcevoy]

Why players aren’t attempting to intercept with an upward facing hand is beyond me. Reflexes I guess. If he goes for that ball with an upward faving palm he could potentially knock it upwards and fumble a catch. Yet for most of these yellow cards players are trying to catch a ball one handed with a downward facing palm. Surely an almost impossible task.

BOD claiming it shouldn’t even have been a penalty was ridiculous and Dan rightly put him down.

[rumncoke]

As a ref he wasn't in the obviously bad zone but one who fell into" the unless its obvious and easy forget it and let play continue only penalise if play stops" brigade

Thus when Henderson went off Lawes went to work in the line out jumping across on the ulster throw where as the Saints continue with the diagonal across the line out towards the tail of their own ie threw in line starting at the Ulster hooker towards their last man with ball aimed at man about 3 in front of the last man. ( rather common throw in actually seldom penalised for being crooked )

In my opinion the referees blind spot was the line line out which was exploited by the Saints once Henderson went off .

Other than that he was extremely even between the sides turning a blind eye on many occasions to players coming into rucks from the side.( both side did it to some extent both when in possession and when defending ) as I stated above the penalty depended upon play ceasing rather than the act its self. ie do it but don't stop play.

[rumncoke]

Re the penalty try it was the right call because the player out side was unmarked and was close to the line although 7 points for a try in the corner instead of a possible 5 is a bonus to be sure .

Re out half Doak has played out half and Ulster do have a few young options at scrum half with Burns Madigan and Lowry there is currently no need to expose Doak to the attentions of Professional back rows at the moment and playing him at scrum half allows him to gain experience of the pace . It is a similar mode of introduction to the Professional game as playing former centres on the wing as several have done in the past .

[UlsterNo9]

Re the penalty try it was the right call because the player out side was unmarked and was close to the line although 7 points for a try in the corner instead of a possible 5 is a bonus to be sure .

Re out half Doak has played out half and Ulster do have a few young options at scrum half with Burns Madigan and Lowry there is currently no need to expose Doak to the attentions of Professional back rows at the moment and playing him at scrum half allows him to gain experience of the pace . It is a similar mode of introduction to the Professional game as playing former centres on the wing as several have done in the past .

Fully agree Rum.

On a bit of a tangent I always wondered why it's customary to give an opportunity on the wing to someone as a means of cutting there cloth. Having played right across the back line I can confirm in my opinion one of the most difficult positions to play from a defensive and positioning point of view is the wing. I'm guessing the theory was that the ball doesn't get wide as much.