Positives & Negatives: Ulster V Embra

[againstthehead]

Overall, an excellent performance. With 14 men and only 2 points in it I thought Embra were going to do us over again but the lads killed the game off really well in the final 15 mins.

Positives
- First half performance. Just like against Leinster (h), we played the conditions magnificently. Kept posession of the ball and frustrated the life out of embra. Great ball carrying, great recycling and patience too. In those conditions, it was pretty much a perfect 40 mins of rugby.
- Lineout. Outstnding. Great variation at the front secured safe and effective ball all night. Add to that a couple of killer driving mauls in the first half - superb. Obviously the coaches trained the lads all week to play in those conditions and it paid off big style.
- Scrum
- Defence: Very solid for the majority of the gane, Embra kept possession for long periods but rarely threatened. Patient and aggressive defence from the men in white.
Individuals
- Boss man. An outstanding display in defence and attack. Bubbling with confidence, aggression and spirit. Back to his old self .
- Trimble. Never seen him run with such aggression. Very hard to bring down and looks very confident this season.
- Cave. Defensively sound and took the try very well.
- Ferris. I thought he was crocked early on but the man with the big heart put in a big performance. Ball carrying, big hits, he has it all.
- BJ. Carried a lot of ball in the 1st 40.
- Court: better each game.
- 2nd row - these guys don't get noticed but do the basics well and work tirelessly.
- killing out the game at the end. Nice kicks from NOC and PW kept Embra pinned in their own 22 for the last 5 mins. Nice.

Negatives
- Yellow for Ferris. Harsh? At that stage a winning bonus was in sight but the yellow changed the game. Shame.
- Would liked to have seen a little more aggesssion at the embra ruck. That said, the ref liked his whistle so he probably would just have pinged us.
- Weather. Was it just me or did the conditions improve dramatically at half time?

Overall an excellent display and a well deserved win. Great credit goes to the coaches who played the conditions to absolute perfection and executed very well from every man in a white shirt. The team is unrecognisable from last season and with this young side and driven coaching staff you can only belive that they will get better! The dream lives on.

[aarons]

positives : everything you said

negatives: as with practically every game this season, no indication that the team or coaching staff understand the importance of a bonus point

[The Boo Radleys]

Agree with all mentioned above. You could see Ferris and the physio motioning to the bench from the terrace after 5 mins and it looked dodgy. Thought BJ was immense especially seeing he was still on after 73 mins (think he saw the clock when he went down with cramp and had a bit of a shock!).

Think a mention (as in McLaughlins notes) should be made of the efforts obviously put in by the ground staff to get the pitch playing so well

On the negative side, though the crowd was pretty quiet for a Friday Heinekin night but the terrace hardcore was still in good voice.

Comedy moment had to be when the physio was blown over by the wind - this has to make the video highlights

Hopefully Bath can do something tomorrow and its still all to play for.

Cmonn Ulllsstttaaarrrrrrr

[AndyB]

Positives - making sure Edinburgh didn't get a bonus point.

[Jackie Brown]

Dan Tuohy.... enough said

[Harold7]

positives : everything you said

negatives: as with practically every game this season, no indication that the team or coaching staff understand the importance of a bonus point

I don't think a bonus point was ever really on the cards in those conditions, maybe if we hadn't lost Ferris when we did it might have been but once 1F went to the bin it was all about holding on and securing the win.

McLaughlin has faith in his squad and he's not afraid to throw players into pressure situations. When I saw Young and Andy K come on with 20 mins to go tonight I wondered why we were changing it, but Ulster must have put in dozens of tackles in that second half so the changes were probably needed.

[againstthehead]

positives : everything you said

negatives: as with practically every game this season, no indication that the team or coaching staff understand the importance of a bonus point

I don't think a bonus point was ever really on the cards in those conditions, maybe if we hadn't lost Ferris when we did it might have been but once 1F went to the bin it was all about holding on and securing the win.

McLaughlin has faith in his squad and he's not afraid to throw players into pressure situations. When I saw Young and Andy K come on with 20 mins to go tonight I wondered why we were changing it, but Ulster must have put in dozens of tackles in that second half so the changes were probably needed.

agree 100% haraldo

[Red Hand Hero]

positives : everything you said

negatives: as with practically every game this season, no indication that the team or coaching staff understand the importance of a bonus point

McLaughlin is naturally a very conservative coach, always has always will be. You can be sure when the pressure comes on whats going to happen. That said it worked this evening and we're still alive and kicking in Europe for another week and if it wins us matches I don't really care. If Ulster had pushed on quickly after Boss' try then things could have been different with Edinburgh really having to chase the game and not be content to try and trudge their way up the pitch but Ferris' unfortunate carding meant it was never really going to happen.

[stickinout]

Positives

Same as above.

Boss really comes to the fore on a crap night on a heavy pitch. Would love to see him take it on more and get his back row linking with him. His try had a bit of the cheeky Doak look about it i thought.

Scrum looked solid, especially so that the ground was brutal underfoot.

First half display of keeping it in the forwards was textbook but prob wasn't appealing to the champagne rugby enthusiasts. Very streetwise and probably won us the match. Edinburgh did nothing with the ball in the first half.

Great to see Trimble getting back into form but sometimes takes it back into traffic when there's space elsewhere? Luckily, he's strong and has worked on not losing it going into contact.


Negatives

We seemed to go to ground very easily in the first half but i guess it made the ball safe, nobody got isolated.

gave away a soft try, flat slow ball, he was always coming back inside.

1F's yella meant the end of the bonus point hunt which was definitely on.


Overall, a very savvy win, well deserved. Another try at 60 mins would have made it very interesting. Pity.

[The Boo Radleys]

When O'Connor came on you could see what the plan was - kick to the corner. Problem was the first kick went out on the full and the second had to be sucked back in by the crowd as it seemed to be floating long. I agree with what other have said, McLaughlin is conservative, but compared to what has gone before, 4 point wins are better than -5 point defeats. Think we have to get realistic about this - we are sitting here after 5 matches still with a chance for the Heinekin quarter finals or the Amblin's as a back up. Most on here will remember shipping goodness knows how many points in a similar match at this time to Llanelli not so long ago...

[brianc]

+ves

Rory McIlroy in Dubai so Cave not out clubbing every night

[cables]

Any possibility of a bonus point win never came into my mind either before or while at the game. The yellow in no way deprived us of a bonus point win.

We required to win and preferably deny a LB to Edinburgh. It may not be enough but we achieved that and we will just have to await the future.

[brianc]

Any possibility of a bonus point win never came into my mind either before or while at the game. The yellow in no way deprived us of a bonus point win.

Well thank the good lord for some common sense!! Did the eejits crowing about bonus points notice that the weather was just a tad inclement???

[againstthehead]

Any possibility of a bonus point win never came into my mind either before or while at the game. The yellow in no way deprived us of a bonus point win.

We required to win and preferably deny a LB to Edinburgh. It may not be enough but we achieved that and we will just have to await the future.

nope, don't agree. WIth a 9 point gap and a gale behind us we looked pretty comfortable. How long was to go? 20-25 mins? Once they got the try then it back to 2 points and we had to build a safe margin again. i.e. play conservative and go back to square 1. With a 9 point lead against 15 men, embra would have had to open a bit and take some chances - bit like llanelli earlier in the season. I'm not saying that we would definitely have got a BP, but if we could have sneaked another try with 5-10 mins to go then we'd have had a real chance.

[stickinout]

Any possibility of a bonus point win never came into my mind either before or while at the game. The yellow in no way deprived us of a bonus point win.

Well thank the good lord for some common sense!! Did the eejits crowing about bonus points notice that the weather was just a tad inclement???

Common sense? Who's crowing? Who's whinging? It's just a comment on the game at that point in time. To say that you thought there was a possibility of getting 4 tries in kitty weather shows how well Ulster played it. Anyway, what does bad weather have to do with getting 4 tries? I saw Scarlets getting the four try bonus against us in atrocious weather at Ravenhill a few years back.

What this smacks of is that before the game, you would have been happy with the win and that's it. Am i right?

What I said is that after Ulster scored the second try, we were going places. If you've recorded the game, watch it again and come back to correct me if you didn't think Ulster were in the ascendancy. Little moments turn games.