Ulster v Connacht Friday February 4 8:15pm KO BBC2NI / TG4 / Premier Sports 1

[BR]

Who is making the decisions at penalty time?

Also do we not have anyone who can drop a goal? Our points per minute of possession around the 22 must be awful.

I thought the decisions were OK (unlike last week). We took 2 pens when it was necessary to make the game more secure but otherwise were chasing a TBP.

You dont think the last penalty to the corner (albeit ultimately successful ) was very foolish?

There was a very minor risk of Connacht running the length and busting my handicap bet but I gave them my blessing.

Why even give connacht a chance of getting a hand near the ball?

15 v 14, unconrested scrums, big enough blind side - surely a no-brainer, or am i missing something?

[big mervyn]

Even. If Connacht had scored they were 15 pts behind at that stage so no chance of a LBP..

Oh sorry. You mean we should have scrummaged. Yeah that was my feeling too.

[StandUp]

How have we run out of hookers? It was the one thing we had plenty of.

I thought they binned the rockettes

[big mervyn]

How have we run out of hookers? It was the one thing we had plenty of.

I thought they binned the rockettes

This will come back to haunt you if you ever become leader of the Unionist Party

[StandUp]

How have we run out of hookers? It was the one thing we had plenty of.

I thought they binned the rockettes

This will come back to haunt you if you ever become leader of the Unionist Party

My morals aren’t THAT twisted…

[jean valjean]

Who is making the decisions at penalty time?

Also do we not have anyone who can drop a goal? Our points per minute of possession around the 22 must be awful.

I thought the decisions were OK (unlike last week). We took 2 pens when it was necessary to make the game more secure but otherwise were chasing a TBP.

You dont think the last penalty to the corner (albeit ultimately successful ) was very foolish?

There was a very minor risk of Connacht running the length and busting my handicap bet but I gave them my blessing.

Why even give connacht a chance of getting a hand near the ball?

15 v 14, unconrested scrums, big enough blind side - surely a no-brainer, or am i missing something?

The line gives 2 possible chances of scoring; a drive over or if it is stopped the option remains to go wide. An uncontested scrum means you can't drive over so the only option is to spin it wide. If you are willing the small risk of losing a line out then it is the one that gives the greater opportunity to score.

[big mervyn]

Normally I wouId agree but I think on the evidence of our previous linouts at the memorial end and the quality of our backline a scrum probably did offer a higher percentage if success last night.

[BR]

The man in the bin guarantees an overlap though. And at 80'+ you can even afford to leave the back field uncovered.

[Dave]

Scrums appeared very solid which was pleasing against a fairly destructive Buckley. He has panned a few of our tight heads over the years. Lineout had a few yips but understandable with a new hooker. Moore looked solid enough. Vermeulen was the hard man we needed at times and have missed. I loved to see his rage come out a bit. Rea jnr was outstanding. Multiple turnovers and always a nuisance. He goes into contact remaining on his feet then pumps the legs eeking out a few extra yards.
Very Chad like. A fair bit of work for Jordi and big bro when they resume training.

The half backs are combining well. Doak again is quality. Great off the tee. That box kick to allow the Timoney smash on Marmion was a beauty. I was impressed again with Billy. There I said it and it felt good. Big Stu was excellent. His standard of performance has been so consistent now. You couldn't pay me to watch Bundee. Curtis did a fair attempt at 13. Defended better than Moxham last week. Lowry and Rob are just magic. Two absolutely wonderful players. Add in Stockdale, Addison, Cooney etc. We have the best backline in Europe again.

In conclusion, we are brill. Bye.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Who is making the decisions at penalty time?

Also do we not have anyone who can drop a goal? Our points per minute of possession around the 22 must be awful.

I thought the decisions were OK (unlike last week). We took 2 pens when it was necessary to make the game more secure but otherwise were chasing a TBP.

You dont think the last penalty to the corner (albeit ultimately successful ) was very foolish?

There was a very minor risk of Connacht running the length and busting my handicap bet but I gave them my blessing.

Not much of a risk as Burns knew we were playing another penalty advantage. If it didn't come good, we still had another go at it.

I believe EOS was covering 16 last night as much in practice if absolutely necessary, as in number.

Our shortage of hookers simply came down to a perfect storm - Rob retained by Ireland, Mullet with Wales, John Andrew unfortunate late injury, so suddenly our 4th place hired gun has to start and play a full 80 minutes.

A few throws clearly not right, but given he's not used to our jumpers and lifters, he'll need time to overcome that. If he does, he'll do alright. Was useful around the park, and I'm not sure the maul's failure was all down to him last night. To come into a strange team at short notice and play a full 80 and score a try , it wasn't the worst of debuts, not by a long way.

[eeyore]

Lowry and Rob are just magic. Two absolutely wonderful players. Add in Stockdale, Addison, Cooney etc. We have the best backline in Europe again.

In conclusion, we are brill. Bye.

Imagine if we had Paddy and Stu in that back line. I can only dream

[Dave]

Lowry and Rob are just magic. Two absolutely wonderful players. Add in Stockdale, Addison, Cooney etc. We have the best backline in Europe again.

In conclusion, we are brill. Bye.

Imagine if we had Paddy and Stu in that back line. I can only dream

[big mervyn]

Almost forgot. What about the pre game "light show"?For those of youse who won't get off your collective holes and go to the games', this seems to involve somebody flicking the light swiches on an off for 20 seconds before the teams run out. Totally underwhelming even in the context of Ravers pre match excitement.

[WestDr]

Almost forgot. What about the pre game "light show"?For those of youse who won't get off your collective holes and go to the games', this seems to involve somebody flicking the light swiches on an off for 20 seconds before the teams run out. Totally underwhelming even in the context of Ravers pre match excitement.

Underwhelming indeed but 'low impact' apparently.

Other thoughts:

• Here's something I thought I'd never say..... Andrew Brace didn't have a bad game. I'm not hanging out for the Peter Sullivan citing though....

• Great team-work between Lyttle and Timoney on ?two? occasions - the first one was Lyttle's tackle and Timoney over the ball, and the second was the reverse ? Two lovely box kicks from Nathan Doak to identify the isolated player too....

• Seems Nathan's nailed the touch-line right footers too. Excellent news. He's adding the confidence of experience to the confidence of youth. He seems to have secured the confidence of his team mates too. As for Andeh F's ? Well, he can wait a bit... Thank goodness Nathan doesn't wear a blue shirt perhaps ?

• Loved the immediate insight from Burns, Shanahan and Baloucoune for the fourth try. Think Shanahan almost had to wrestle that ball off Moore who seemed to have seen the opportunity to get a second try. The odds of scoring though were so much greater with the cross-field kick but kudos to Moore for wanting to do so.

• Dan McF right to look at how pitiful we can be when 5m out. Is it poor ball protection, players making incorrect choices, great defence or slow clear-outs ?

• Every team that plays us knows they can score against us. Often more than once in very quick succession too.

• To end on a positive though - wtih Stu McC back, I was half-expecting less variety as we reverted to what we knew, but we saw even more....

[Marco]

Enjoyed the evening and, for the first time ever (ST holder since 2001), with 79 mins and 39 seconds on the clock, I said to my mate we would duke out, regretting it for the next four minutes as the noise from stadium made clear. Great to get the BP, my only concern was the ease with which Connacht still scored the tries, but sure I'm never happy!