Leinster vs Ulster, 06/01/18, 17.35pm (Sky, BBC & TG4)

[CiaranIrl]

Lots of aimless kicking by Jamison - particularly in the first half - unless his intention was to give unchallenged possession back to Ulster. Ulster are running on empty and are a hugely expensive flop for theIRFU etc. So expensive are they that perhaps Ulster and Connacht should combine and we would save a lot while having a third competitive side here. Also it might dilute the Unionist influence and widen the playing population considerably.

You are off your rocker man.

[joooooe]

Provincial Slam Baby!

Still have to play Connacht away on the last day of the regular season.

[paddyor]

Depressing to see a good Ulster side play so badly.
Seeing Ferg back on top form is great

It's not a good Ulster side.

[RoboProp]

Provincial Slam Baby!

Still have to play Connacht away on the last day of the regular season.

Awh man

[wixfjord]

18 tackles and 0 missed for Josh Murphy. Another good outing by him. Looks like he could be a handy blindside.

Thought Ross Byrne was poor in first half but really came into it in the 2nd. His pass to Fardy for Fergie's try was a beauty.

Fardy is a fantastic player. Such a good signing.

Hopefully Tracy is ok. We could probably cope without Furlong and Ringrose for next week but our hooker depth isn't great.

[COYBIB]

18 tackles and 0 missed for Josh Murphy. Another good outing by him. Looks like he could be a handy blindside.

Thought Ross Byrne was poor in first half but really came into it in the 2nd. His pass to Fardy for Fergie's try was a beauty.

Fardy is a fantastic player. Such a good signing.

Hopefully Tracy is ok. We could probably cope without Furlong and Ringrose for next week but our hooker depth isn't great.

With Cronin supposedly off to Bristol next season also, I wonder will it be we Scannell or Marshall we're sent for the good of Irish rugby.

[CiaranIrl]

Any word on Furlong & Ringrose yet? I'm hoping Furlong is fine, but Ringrose didn't look good going off. Could be gone for a while unfortunately. Might mean Nacewa & Henshaw in Europe?

[Experimental]

Fantastic, well oiled machine rugby from us again, Ulster looked like a team that hadn't played together (which a good few of them hadn't), they are a better team than that scoreline, few good moments from Stockdale, Cooney made a huge difference when he came on, Ulster looked a different team although the game was lost at that stage, why did he not start? Thought Henshaw and the second row were outstanding again and all three in really good form at the moment. Schmidt going to find it hard to leave larmour out of the 6n squad after that.

[wixfjord]

With Cronin supposedly off to Bristol next season also

Talk of Cronin leaving has stopped for the moment. Have you heard anything different?

[mildlyinterested]

With Cronin supposedly off to Bristol next season also

Talk of Cronin leaving has stopped for the moment. Have you heard anything different?

i think he is staying now

[Gearzbox2]

Super super performance from 1-23 really
Loved the way we flew out of the traps and put them under pressure
Some super scores..Larmour could beat people in a phone box his feet are incredible( imo he has to start next week for me)
Ferg and Daly really good but my hat tip to Henshaw, he really is the lynch pin to everything we do well

Pack were very good in every department, really impressed with josh Murphy tonight( first time I've really seen him)
Pity about Tracy, looked in bad shape but Cronin played well when he came on
Porters run!!!...not suprised ulster players were jumping out of the way!!!

Johnny had good moments when on along with Reid
Still think our D can be better to be honest but that's nit picking tbh

[LeRouxIsPHat]

That was great to watch. What impressed me most was that it doesn't seem to matter what selection we put out, everyone is on the same page and trying to make things happen. We relied heavily on Lowe the other day, but today it was probably Larmour. To be able to chop and change but still keep the same sort of style is great. We also weren't too distracted by how sh!t Ulster were, and kept going until the last play of the game.

Really good lines and aggression from our pack kept us on the front foot, and I thought JGP and Ross Byrne were both excellent. Henshaw was great in every respect and is oozing confidence at the moment. Great to see Ferg playing so well again and obviously Larmour was exceptional. There were some annoying turnovers but Ulster did well for some of them and I can understand how we would lower our guard the odd time when we were so dominant.

Thought Josh Murphy, Stewart, and McPhillips were all good. The reason I mention them together is because I didn't expect much from any of them from seeing them at underage level and Murphy at A level too. I thought Murphy could be a solid squad player but he was really excellent today, great aggression. Stewart looked comfortable despite his team being dominated, and McPhillips looked really confident and lively. The latter two could be really good back up options for Ulster next season. I thought they were in real trouble there but if they continue to improve then they could be massive additions for them.

I couldn't believe how poor Ulster were. I wasn't expecting much from them but they even fell well short of that, just a total lack of energy off the line, it was embarrassing. They'll be a different animal next week but it was a shocking performance, something deeply wrong there.

[Oldschool]

We tend to forget that we live in an isolated little bubble on here, and what fans say on a forum has got literally no relevance to how players perform on a pitch.

I'm not sure the point that's being made though?

Should we be less bullish because it might come across as hubris to say we should be looking to win well against an underperforming provincial rival at home?

It's logical to expect that. It would be illogical to artificially temper our expectations in the worry that it might somehow impact on the psychology of team surely?

We may lose today, but whether we win lose or draw won't be because of the expectations of the fans!

The bubble is not butterfly proof.

[Oldschool]

JGP starting v Ulster, cover by Nic Mac, Lowe not in the 23 - I'm reading too much into this, but it could result in Lowe and Fardy in the European 23 v Glasgow

Think the discussion re JGP/Lowe in Euro squad now settled. JGP very sound game today.

Not sure what logic you are applying.

[curates_egg]

Depressing to see a good Ulster side play so badly.
Seeing Ferg back on top form is great

It's not a good Ulster side.

Good backline (that didn't tackle). Best and Henderson: class. Couple of other Irish internationals in the pack. The players are not as bad as they're playing. Something is rotten in Denmark.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

It really was a token effort. Best did get stuck in but obviously he struggled to make much of an impact because of his lay off and because we were so dominant. Henderson did brilliantly to get back to Larmour but even then it was almost a lazy option to tackle him early, and he didn't really do much else at all. That might be harsh to say that bit of play was lazy, but honestly I don't think he'd have done that in an Irish jersey and would have gone for the ball or tried to make a legal tackle.

[curates_egg]

Thought Ross Byrne was poor in first half but really came into it in the 2nd. His pass to Fardy for Fergie's try was a beauty.

That sums it up well. Surprised to see another poster bigging his performance up.

Fardy is a fantastic player. Such a good signing.

Don't recall him having a game for us where he wasn't excellent. Always in the top three performers. Whoever signed him needs a raise.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

The intercept was very poor but I thought he was excellent aside from that.

[curates_egg]

Speaking of bubbles: I, and everyone I watch Leinster games with, have pretty consistently thought JGP was a good player for us: a zippy 9 with serious skill. Another class display. Really, really don't understand the negativity he gets on here. Really is like jumping between two different bubbles.

[artaneboy]

JGP starting v Ulster, cover by Nic Mac, Lowe not in the 23 - I'm reading too much into this, but it could result in Lowe and Fardy in the European 23 v Glasgow

Think the discussion re JGP/Lowe in Euro squad now settled. JGP very sound game today.

Not sure what logic you are applying.

Have to agree. The point of this whole debate is how to accommodate Lowe. Jamison is not really in danger from his own performances. It’s which two of the three non-Kolpack antipodeans get picked in the match day squad.

JGP was very good today. But that’s not the issue, it’s whether we need to have him in the bench- or can Nick McCarthy do the last 20.

Nick’s is the performance the one that actually matters; unless we get to the stage where we say that JGP starts over Luke.


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