Scarlets v Ulster Saturday May 11 3:05pm KO Premier Sports UK 1 / Premier Sports Ireland 2 / Super Sport / URC TV

[jean valjean]

Sheridan needs to come on with AOC benching. It's a fast track, and the scarlets aren't going to blow us away up front.

[Dave]

Cooney has a real issue with a complete lack of distance on his box kicks. Put the team under needless pressure.

[jean valjean]

Implode coming.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Imperfect/ patchy. Some guys need to look long and hard at themselves

[big mervyn]

Last gasp win by Benetton against Sharks.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Great result for them. They could stay the course

[Neill_M]

Great result for them. They could stay the course

Benetton have a trip to Pretoria then a potential "10 pointer" at home v Edinburgh in Round 18 who have Munster at home next week.

Stormers 50, Ulster 49, Edinburgh 48, Benetton 48.

[CIMANFOREVER]

I'd fancy Treviso at home to Embra

[rumncoke]

Dave box kicks are not meant to be long at best the kick should be 50/50 especially against a team like the scarlets who are dangerous on a counter ball in hand .

Any long kick should be into space finishing close to the touch line .

But most teams play a deep back three long kicking is no longer a tactic of first choice unless there is a strong wind which makes kick return difficult .

[Dave]

Dave box kicks are not meant to be long at best the kick should be 50/50 especially against a team like the scarlets who are dangerous on a counter ball in hand .

Any long kick should be into space finishing close to the touch line .

But most teams play a deep back three long kicking is no longer a tactic of first choice unless there is a strong wind which makes kick return difficult .

Agreed, but nor should they be too short. Particularly when kicking to touch from your own try line. Also in several recent matches I've seen a few barely go 10 metres.

[Sir Ivor]

I thought McCann, McCloskey, Stockdale, O’Sullivan and Timoney were our best performers. Herring, French, Izzy, Cooney, Burns, Lowry were OK. McIlroy needs to be shown how to kick and move to full back as he’s no winger.
McCloskey needs to try that hard every game - not at 75% as Shanklin said.
I watched the Reds v Rebels match at the weekend - the speed and fitness levels of those players was well above ours. Can anyone name our chief fitness coach? Do we have one?
I didn’t bother watching the other Irish teams - we'll be lucky to get a couple of points.
Where are Henderson, O’Toole and Marty Moore ?

[justinr73]

Dunno the fitness coach of the Reds either but the Head Coach is the great Les Kiss.

Bring him home.

Well, bring him to his second home.

[CIMANFOREVER]

With the fixtures as they are for the last two rounds we need results to go our way elsewhere and get at least 2 points. No guarantees of either, but Embra Bennetton and Connacht all have equally hard fixtures. I can see Embra get one or two vs Munster/ Bennetton.

I also cant see Sharks lose to Gloucester, so we need a miracle result from somewhere, ironically more likely at home to the Magoos than Away to Turnips. Both also contingent on having Hendo, TOT etc available.

[jean valjean]

I think a win on sat against leinster should secure a top 7 place, so that needs to be the target. All depends on how much Leo wants to risk the 23 for the euro final and even then we will need to be much better than yesterday. Hopefully munster can win in Edinburgh and the bulls turn over benetton. A Glasgow win at the lions would also be useful for a bit of breathing space.

[big mervyn]

I think a win on sat against leinster should secure a top 7 place, so that needs to be the target. All depends on how much Leo wants to risk the 23 for the euro final and even then we will need to be much better than yesterday. Hopefully munster can win in Edinburgh and the bulls turn over benetton. A Glasgow win at the lions would also be useful for a bit of breathing space.

Ringpiece, Ryan and Keenan could be playing if Leo is to be believed.