Williams looks on the bright side

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Williams looks on the bright side for Ulster

By Ciaran Donaghy
Friday, 29 August 2008

Two defeats and one victory from their pre-season campaign may not be the ideal preparation for Ulster before the Magners League kicks off against Llanelli next Friday night but coach Matt Williams believes there is plenty to be optimistic about.

Defeat by Bath was followed by a comprehensive victory over Super 14 side the Queensland Reds and the sparing was wrapped up with a defeat against a virtually full strength Worcester side.

The Premiership side had their star names like Chris Latham and Rico Gear but Williams felt Ulster were the masters of their own downfall and if they had taken their chances they could have won it.

“I was disappointed with the execution of our attack (against Worcester) and we roughly turned over 14 balls and you can’t give away an ocean of possession like that. Playing a good team like that if you give them that amount of ball eventually they will score,” stated Williams.

“Generally we defended well and their tries were pretty soft, they scored from the base of a scrum and should never have scored that try at the start of the second half that was just poor play from us.

“Chris Henry dropped the ball over the line, if Tomoci Nagusa (above) hits Bryn he scores and right at the end Tomoci was physically over the line and just had to fall and we would have won the game.”

While the Australian feels Ulster are moving in the right direction he knows it’s going to take time to turn the former European champions into challenges for major honours again.

“We had three hard quality games and they have shown us where we are weak and what we have got to do,” he explained.

“When we have got our attack going its work a lot better but we are dropping the ball early and we’d done that consistently since I’ve been here but the boys are learning.

“It’s not all solved yet, it’s a long process but in the medium term this is going to be some place to be as this will be a bloody good side,” enthused the coach.”

Williams has been in the Ravenhill hot seat since February but this summer has been his chance to stamp his mark on the team.

There have been plenty of new faces both on the pitch and in his backroom staff and he is looking forward to the new season but admits he has a pleasant selection headache for the match day squad.

“Our new blokes have fitted in brilliantly, Ed (O’Donoghue) is playing great, Clinton (Schifcofske) showed a great turn of pace the other day (Queensland). Ian Humphreys has done well so there is competition.

“The young guys have done well and that has created competition and those young blokes are not going to be happy with sitting on the bench and they are going to be pushing. How we start is really important, if we start well the guys get their confidence up,” concluded Williams.

[ding dong2u]

If we could play anywhere near as well as he can talk .........

[WhiteKnightoftheWeld]

If we could play anywhere near as well as he can talk .........

There's every reason to be optomistic this year, some of our new signings are going to be really quality players for ulster - clinton, o'donoghue, baby humph, timmy, diack - and bj is world class

also dewey has shown great form in pre-season - good to have him back after injuries last year. boss looked sharp in pre-season - his head was up his chuter a bit last year but if we can see some of the form he showed the previous year which played him into ireland set-up, we'll be strong all over the park. some of the fringe guys like cave and pollock also look ready for bigger role this year...

THERE IS EVERY REASON TO GET BEHIND ULSTER THIS YEAR AND CUT OUT THE NEGATIVE CRAP!!!!!!

was also good to see a noisy crowd on wednesday vs worcester - granted we were handing out well deserved abuse to a very poor referee, but nevertheless a good vocal crowd at ravenhill can really drive the team on.

I'd like to see/hear a lot more of the same this season - bit of effort from the supporters to get behind the team instead of just cheering/groaning when something happens??? a large element of the crowd are always going to be that way, but i would imagine that most of the folk who contribute to this forum are actually passionate about ulster rugby and are hopefully prepared to join in when someone tries to start a cheer or a chorus?

How about going to every game with the mindset of getting behind the boys, rather than waiting for somebody on the pitch to spark the crowd into life

BRING BACK THE FORTRESS IN FORTRESS RAVENHILL!!!!!!!!!!

[Cap'n Grumpy]

boss looked sharp in pre-season - his head was up his chuter a bit last year

Is it any wonder? Does anyone know if his "issue" has been resolved?

... was also good to see a noisy crowd on wednesday vs worcester - granted we were handing out well deserved abuse to a very poor referee,...

Surely you mean "correction" or "disapproval", but certainly not "abuse"????

THERE IS EVERY REASON TO GET BEHIND ULSTER THIS YEAR

How about going to every game with the mindset of getting behind the boys, rather than waiting for somebody on the pitch to spark the crowd into life

BRING BACK THE FORTRESS IN FORTRESS RAVENHILL!!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't agree more!