Leinster v Ulster Sat NYE 3pm Sky

[Peg Leg]

So we have proved that with Adam Byrne and Rory O'Loughlin in our sides over the last while we can score tries.
Question is if/when Ferg and DK come back do we stick with the positivity or revert to non scoring defensive wings?

They may make for a better kicking game.... By which I mean, they be able to tidy/fix some of the shite coming off the boot of our half backs, by at least reading the intent and putting pressure on the catcher or actually compete. That said, I think there are tries in the lads with this type of game. DK in particular has been screaming to play in a system that creates space for wingers.

[blockhead]

Inexplicabe 2nd half, our poss and terr stats must have been in single digits.
Great try from ROL.
Got home before the rain so cant really complain.

[rooster]

Lacey has donned a white jersey in the 2nd half

You could say though he had a blue jersey on in the first half.
Overall he got vast majority of calls correct though he was pretty lenient on offside and in from the side early on in the match, I would say it was one of his better games and we'll assisted by his assistants, won't be long till we see Joy Neville as ref in a match.

[Ruckedtobits]

This performance was like watching a F1 car which had not been serviced doing laps with a practice driver. Nothing was in perfect sync but individual parts worked brilliantly.

No shortage of effort but low emotional energy i.e. motivation as a team, on the day. Nobody in camp will be happy with this. Luke McGrath did some lovely parts. SO'B ran hard lines, mostly a couple of degrees off ideal vector. Josh again looked tired, or rusty to use Leo's word. Rory O'L and Isa looked sharp but Byrne's attempts to circumvent their banana shaped mid-field defence in the first half were extracted from a game of J3 pre-training tip rugby. On the other hand, his execution of the grubber kick for RO'Ls second try was top quality.

All in all a day to analyse and file. Work on our maul and then work on our maul and then do some more work on our maul. If we can't find where the formula has been mislaid, we will be minced by Montpellier and Castres.

[Cianostays]

Lacey has donned a white jersey in the 2nd half

You could say though he had a blue jersey on in the first half.
Overall he got vast majority of calls correct though he was pretty lenient on offside and in from the side early on in the match, I would say it was one of his better games and we'll assisted by his assistants, won't be long till we see Joy Neville as ref in a match.

Lacey seemed to have an issue communicating with the players. More so than with most referee's, you could clearly see both sets of players getting very frustrated with his decision making. This would most likely stem from, as you put, being lenient on something at the start of the match but becoming pedantic on it by the end.

Anyway, their are some positives coming out of the game also for us so one dropped point is perhaps clouding people's judgement of the performance as a whole. Need the full 5 points from Zebre on Friday.

[All Blacks nil]

I can't work out why Jack was binned. He was the first man in to the ruck and entitled to go for the ball. Utterly Maddening call.

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Looked alright but replays showed his knee on the ground while playing the ball.
Penalty was the correct decision.
Had just tuned in so not quite sure of context regarding yellow card.
Might have been deemed a pro foul.
Had no sound (sh!t stream in Germany) so did not hear explanation.

[simonokeeffe]

think we got dragged down a little bit; if Ulster had scored earlier that might have refocused minds

[Hippo]

Rory O'L and Isa looked sharp but Byrne's attempts to circumvent their banana shaped mid-field defence in the first half were extracted from a game of J3 pre-training tip rugby. On the other hand, his execution of the grubber kick for RO'Ls second try was top quality.

Completely agree, couldn't believe what I was seeing with a couple of those passes. Very disappointing 2nd half, especially on a day when Munster got away with sending their reserves up to Galway. 4 points out of 10 over the Christmas is not a great return.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Just watched the game again and thought Ross Byrne was really good. Aside from the ill advised loopy pass that he was blessed not to have intercepted I thought he had a really good game. His defence is good, his restarts and kicks to touch were brilliant, couple of lovely kicks from hand, put ROL away for his first try and then again for his second. He has a lovely flat skip pass in midfield and we gained some nice yards from it. I think he loses his scrumhalf at times and can be a bit lateral (think the two are linked a bit) but his performance was still overwhelmingly positive and very encouraging.

Thought Luke was brilliant overall too. Couple of ropey passes as usual and got caught badly at the base once but his service was usually top notch and his kicking game and defence were excellent, plus his try was brilliant. Great work from Jack too but can't be easy to run that line expecting to be smashed by a front five forward.

To continue the Michael's appreciation, ROL really is the business. Think his only mistake was the blocked kick and even then he mopped that up and started an attack. Great workrate and great athlete. Reads the game superbly well and just oozes confidence, very excited to see how he develops.

Isa and Ringrose were both incredible in defence. The reads and the workrates for both were amazing. Ringrose is often very unlucky with his support lines. He always runs them brilliantly but seems to rarely be given the pass. His ability to tidy up messy ball and make yards in heavy traffic is amazing too, and I also love how he knows when to get stuck in and pick and go when needed. He just reads the game so well. I feel like we don't use him enough of set moves though. Same with Henshaw when he plays.

Triggs was also really good. I said before the game that I don't see how he's first choice but he was very good.

Up until the 50th minute or so I thought it was an excellent performance. The lack of a bonus point taints it hugely though. We lost our shape entirely and there was a real lack of intensity. I know we had lost our shape and the wind became more of a factor, but can't understand why we kicked the ball away late on. Yeah it was hard to make ground at times, but we seemed to give up on it way too easily.

[simonokeeffe]

Twas interesting how much (and how well) Triggs was used as a carrier

[Laighin Break]

I can't work out why Jack was binned. He was the first man in to the ruck and entitled to go for the ball. Utterly Maddening call.

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Looked alright but replays showed his knee on the ground while playing the ball.
Penalty was the correct decision.
Had just tuned in so not quite sure of context regarding yellow card.
Might have been deemed a pro foul.
Had no sound (sh!t stream in Germany) so did not hear explanation.

Someone earlier mentioned Lacey's poor communication. Usually the ref would shout something like "you're off your feet now blue/1" but Lacey didn't say a thing, despite standing right beside the ruck. Was a bit harsh in that sense.

[Laighin Break]

Two or three turnovers after Jamo GP came in and immediately kicked it back up to Piatowe (?) i mean we had the beating of their back line wtf were we giving it back to them for?


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Is that the supercouple nickname for Piatau and Bowe?

[Oldschool]

Two or three turnovers after Jamo GP came in and immediately kicked it back up to Piatowe (?) i mean we had the beating of their back line wtf were we giving it back to them for?


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Is that the supercouple nickname for Piatau and Bowe?

Works for me.

[johng]

If you are going to correct someone at least spell Piutau correctly.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Two or three turnovers after Jamo GP came in and immediately kicked it back up to Piatowe (?) i mean we had the beating of their back line wtf were we giving it back to them for?


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Is that the supercouple nickname for Piatau and Bowe?

You can't deny the children would be just gawgeous


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[simonokeeffe]

Two or three turnovers after Jamo GP came in and immediately kicked it back up to Piatowe (?) i mean we had the beating of their back line wtf were we giving it back to them for?


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Is that the supercouple nickname for Piatau and Bowe?

Charles and camp filla?

[wixfjord]

Anyone else notice the move that ROL scored his first off is one that we've been consistently brilliant at for the last few weeks. It's normally called on A Byrne much closer in, but this time from much further out it worked.

ROL v. Ulster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyxgfHA ... u.be&t=12s

Byrne v. Scarlets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhdZFi ... be&t=2m27s

Byrne v. Saints: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLfXu4D ... .be&t=3m7s

Very tasty, and relies on the 12 hitting a very flat diagonal line back across the ball taking out two men, and the 13 being open for a pass out the door, then winger comes in through the middle and uses the gap. With such speedy wingers you can do that sort of thing.

[johng]

mmmmmm speedy wingers.

[simonokeeffe]

mmmmmm speedy wingers.

and indeed centres especially 13s

[Flash Gordon]

Lacey has donned a white jersey in the 2nd half

You could say though he had a blue jersey on in the first half.
Overall he got vast majority of calls correct though he was pretty lenient on offside and in from the side early on in the match, I would say it was one of his better games and we'll assisted by his assistants, won't be long till we see Joy Neville as ref in a match.

Awful lot of penalties but most of them looked ok to me. I'd really worry about Ulster's failure to break us down though - we looked comfortable even with 14 and a bunch of kids defending 70% second half possession for Ulster. Think our backline had 4 caps in it compared to the stack amassed in a backline including Pienaar, McCloskey, Cave, Piutau, Trimble and Bowe and we looked comfortable enough. Sending McCloskey up the centre was easy enough to defend given that he didn't have an offload and Ulster didn't seem to have much in terms of backline moves - when they did try something it wasn't entirely clear that the players had understood the call (Bowe's ball in the face being anobvious example). You'd also wonder about attitude, this was a derby game infront of a full house and the players (Piataa excepted) didn't look like they wanted to be there.

Think it all starts with Marshall, there has to be someone in the province more capable than him and he's a defensive liability (he got absolutely skinned by O'Loughlin for the try) but you'd have to look at the coaches- both technically and attitdunally they didn't look right. I just hope for Ulster's sake that somebody doesn't answer the question with David Humphreys......