The UAFC

LegsLikeSausages wrote:

UlsterNo9 wrote:

Snipe Watson wrote:

Tender wrote:Ok so he had the stones to slot that final one over, but FFS aimlessly kicking away possession to a team who thrive on returning such arsefoonery....

Yes, Billy's kicking from hand is not good enough and his dropouts are particularly dirt.
That final kick was one he should have slotted if he aspires to be an international flyhalf.

I like his attacking attitude and for the most part, he makes his tackles. 6.5 out of 10

I'd agree with that Snipe, at 24 he would appear to have certain qualities can the kicking game be coached?

Not related to you Snipe but the level of expectation is already beginning to become a little heightened amongst some.I had us winning one of our first five before the season kicked off, that was a victory against the Kings.

We went to SA without Best, Moore, Henderson, Murphy, Stockdale, L Marshall, Ludik..... Addison (didn't play) whilst new on the Ulster scene has been around the block. That's a hell of a lot of experience.

We are definately punchin at the moment as the man says. I feel we're heading in the right direction but the standard required is not going to come to fruition as quickly as the building expectation.

Top six finish is still the objective or 14 league wins. Europe.... enjoy the beer and the away weekends.

Agree with this. We have 8 more league points than I expected at this stage and importantly we denied Edinburgh 3. This is a transition season and the only expectation should be getting into the 19-20 Heineken Cup. Some clever recruitment for next season is also required to plug the gaps which don’t get filled by Academy players stepping up.

I'm joining Legs in liking that 9. Let's be very clear, we all thought this was going to be a very tricky season and it has got off to a much better start than expected, had things have gone just a little differently we could be on 6/7 points rather than 15.

We have not been brill except in one very important department: moxy. This young team with a few ould growlers has shown a superfluity of MOXY, will to win, never say die, whatever label you want to hang on it.

First game out and we were beaten and possibly badly had Timoney not made a fabulous try-saving tackle when for all money it looked like Scarlets were scoring just after halftime, many players would have given it up, Timoney made the once in twenty desperate tackles and jarred the ball loose. That was as crucial a moment as you could imagine and since then, the team has never looked like giving up.

Seventeen points adrift of Embra, they came back from the dead, took the lead, lost it, and with another key moment, O'Connor made our first win of a kickoff in a long long time and we sneaked the win. Last night we were adrift at 29-20 with all factors against, short turnaround & altitude, came back to lead, lost the lead again and snatched the draw in the red zone.

MOXY, it's a crucial component for any team, I haven't seen it too much in evidence in recent seasons, the thought that you aren't beaten until the final whistle. Sure there is plenty wrong, a very porous defence more reminiscent of the FOLK reign of terror and Payne will doubtless be mortifuckingfied to concede 5 tries, but having fight in a team can cover a multitude of problems.

Gives a fighting chance of getting the minimum requirements out of the season and again, all done when losing two important players before KO & two more not long into the game. By hook or by crook, the youngun's are getting experience and are doing rightly.

BUZZIN' but realistic, my expectations have been surpassed up to yet. Oh yeah, Snipe, I prefer the notion of "fight" rather than "luck" getting us over the line.

Cockatrice wrote:Over the past years I have been at odds with many as I predicted our season ahead would be worse than the one before as we continued on a downward spiral ... last year was confounded by the court case that added to our woes and the exit of the clown Prince (Kiss not Paddy) followed by the further exit of Gibbes... a man that actually had his get out clause in before he came with his I can stay pending my visit back to NZ at Xmas pre-condition.

I don't expect much this year and I have stated elsewhere that whether Dan the Man is the right man he is at least the man in the right place. He isn't expected to win anything so building from the bottom and giving youth a chance will suffice for many of us dire hards if not so much for the missing snowflakes..

To date I am please more than anything by the fact that instead of our heads dropping we have picked ourselves up and won some very close games that could have slipped away from us.. under Kiss I don't think that would have happened and both the players and supporters would now be subjected to words of wisdom that none of us could understand and we would all be heading into the next game more confused than what had been said before..

ps.. on another subject Carberry is some player.

We scraped home in plenty of September/October games under both Kiss and Doak. It's been the Ulster way for some time now.

It will be interesting to see if the pressure associated with just winning (albeit a little less ugly than previous years) will mount on DMcF, and if that pressure forces him into micromanage mode. With very few exceptions, I don't think coaches who micromanage get the best from their teams.

We dodged a bullet with Carberry. Can you imagine his fragility trying to steer this side home? Ditto Keatley. Billy has cojones but his kicking from hand is either gash or hes being poorly coached. Just make touch fs. Treadwell is a major disappointment. I d rather see Deysel or Rea at lock to add more guts. Treadwell has the physical attributes but not the technique or guts of an AOC. Sadly he also doesnt even have Diacks handling skills. Give Thompson a go when fit.

Carbery is brutal

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BR wrote:
We scraped home in plenty of September/October games under both Kiss and Doak. It's been the Ulster way for some time now.

It will be interesting to see if the pressure associated with just winning (albeit a little less ugly than previous years) will mount on DMcF, and if that pressure forces him into micromanage mode. With very few exceptions, I don't think coaches who micromanage get the best from their teams.

Very true BR, and if you were looking at solely win and loss stats this season would look no different. Except as you well know without me telling you, you skitter, this season is very different to the recent past.

I'm taking great satisfaction in our wins this season and how we are going about our business and trying to do things. The last three years yes we were in a similar league position but it was a hollow winning feeling. Some of our "Ulster way" wins were so frustrating a loss would have made me feel better. Maybe that's the saddist in me.....

UlsterNo9 wrote:

BR wrote:
We scraped home in plenty of September/October games under both Kiss and Doak. It's been the Ulster way for some time now.

It will be interesting to see if the pressure associated with just winning (albeit a little less ugly than previous years) will mount on DMcF, and if that pressure forces him into micromanage mode. With very few exceptions, I don't think coaches who micromanage get the best from their teams.

Very true BR, and if you were looking at solely win and loss stats this season would look no different. Except as you well know without me telling you, you skitter, this season is very different to the recent past.

I'm taking great satisfaction in our wins this season and how we are going about our business and trying to do things. The last three years yes we were in a similar league position but it was a hollow winning feeling. Some of our "Ulster way" wins were so frustrating a loss would have made me feel better. Maybe that's the saddist in me.....

Unfair on me! I am still waiting for the evidence to mount in order to decide if it is very* different from the recent past. Of course, the fact that I'm not paying it as much attention will make any evidence gathering a little more difficult.

* I have already conceded it may have been a more entertaining spectacle.

When Tredders arrived he was a beanpole with a reasonable 400m pace. Now he's bulked up he has lost that but still hasn't managed to become a big beast.

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So Carbery has been written off and Billy is King. Let’s hope people are still saying that after next weekend

BR wrote:

UlsterNo9 wrote:

BR wrote:
We scraped home in plenty of September/October games under both Kiss and Doak. It's been the Ulster way for some time now.

It will be interesting to see if the pressure associated with just winning (albeit a little less ugly than previous years) will mount on DMcF, and if that pressure forces him into micromanage mode. With very few exceptions, I don't think coaches who micromanage get the best from their teams.

Very true BR, and if you were looking at solely win and loss stats this season would look no different. Except as you well know without me telling you, you skitter, this season is very different to the recent past.

I'm taking great satisfaction in our wins this season and how we are going about our business and trying to do things. The last three years yes we were in a similar league position but it was a hollow winning feeling. Some of our "Ulster way" wins were so frustrating a loss would have made me feel better. Maybe that's the saddist in me.....

Unfair on me! I am still waiting for the evidence to mount in order to decide if it is very* different from the recent past. Of course, the fact that I'm not paying it as much attention will make any evidence gathering a little more difficult.

* I have already conceded it may have been a more entertaining spectacle.

In our first 4 matches last season we beat the Cheetahs and Dragons by more than 20 points, scoring 6 and 8 tries respectively, came back in the last 5minutes to beat a Scarlets team which was much stronger than the one we faced this year and had a scrappy win at Treviso. Difficult on that basis to say that things are definitiely better this season, although I think there are grounds for some optimism.

2 important things for me :-

- even if we lose, if we don’t capitulate at Munster next week then i will see that as real evidence of improvement. The ritual capitulations away from home under Les Kiss were our downfall which he did not address. With him in charge you know we would ne getting thrashed next weekend.

- how do we react after a loss. Do we learn lessons and come back stronger or is the same old same old, particularly away from home.

Finally, people need to be realistic about this season. We have made a decent start but the real tests are to come. wr have a real lack of any depth in the 2nd row, our back row isn’t really firing, we are reliant on one scrum half (despite Shanners comendable showing last night), we have a mediocre 10 and currently no real back up centres. As some have said, not having to go into a play off for europe this season would represent some progress, particularly if some young guns also establish themselves.

found the game a bit too tense for enjoyment, perhaps showing I still need to temper my hopes for UR somewhat.

However...I did come away from it feeling entertained, and fairly pleased with the lads in the end. a lot to overcome in a short space of time, and a reminder of how bad a position we're coming off the back of. something about the attitude seems right, though it has to be matched by a similar desire to deny scores, as well as a sense of when to play smart. Hard things to teach I'm sure, and the last thereof almost certainly comes only from painful experience.

At this stage I'd be happy enough with a close loss to Munster and a bounce-back v Connacht pre-Europe. Interested to see the team for next week.

Bart S wrote:
Finally, people need to be realistic about this season. We have made a decent start but the real tests are to come. wr have a real lack of any depth in the 2nd row, our back row isn’t really firing, we are reliant on one scrum half (despite Shanners comendable showing last night), we have a mediocre 10 and currently no real back up centres.

Correct, however whilst realism is fine there is great satisfaction to be had in the way the points have been gained, and that is 100% down to attitude. Could be sitting on 6/7 points rather than 15 and that is all due to attitude.

Lots of things to improve on but the fight in the team has been exemplary and after all, many of us here have said we could put up with a few dodgy seasons if the team played for the shirt.

A good reason to be very enthused by the start but with no ridiculous expectations. A few key injuries and were fûcked.

I haved significantly reduced my expectations from two trophies down to just a miserly one.

Cheer up chaps.

We’re the only unbeaten team in the competition and results went very well for us yesterday.

Deraless wrote:When Tredders arrived he was a beanpole with a reasonable 400m pace. Now he's bulked up he has lost that but still hasn't managed to become a big beast.

When Tredders arrived he at least looked to have the beast in him. In his first season, if anyone as much as raised a finger to one of our players, he was the first in there to square up to said individual. He looked after his team mates.

It laid down a marker, saying "take on one of us, you take on all of us!"

I liked that, in that no one took us for a soft touch.

Tredders seems to have forgotten that.

BR wrote:

Dave wrote:You never see low no-arms tackles given as a pen.

Chop tackles were the IRB's cause celebre 2 seasons ago. It's all about nipples this year.

Tackle on Angus just before the end?

I hate them. They look extremely dangerous.