Ulster v Racing 92 Saturday 8pm KO TNT Sports 3

[justinr73]

I have now seen this game twice. How we won surprises me . Racing were very fluent at stages . I was talking to a few of them afterwards and they found the referees interpretations a little puzzling. Still we mustn’t gripe .

Well they would, wouldn’t they?

6 pens v 12 helped, but so did 12 line breaks to their 6 and 21 defenders beaten to their 11.

See what you pick up on a third viewing.

[Big-al]

How did Cooney not get MOM?

Racing phoned it in, including Kolisi and their galacticos apart from Fickou. Very poor. Only played when they sniffed a BP.Their 9 and 15 were their best players.

Because McCloskey was better.

Good not better Al

That’s your opinion.

McCloskey was our best player IMO, An absolute beast. Dominated collisions and made big carries anytimw Racing give him space, accurate passing to put others in space and running into the ball.

Henderson was our 2nd best player, IMO.

[Marco]

Credit where credit due, like old times out there and, guessing crowd was 12,000 ish, great noise (imagine with 18,000 for Toulouse?), players to a man turned up. Very hard to raise such levels of emotion every game, not sustainable, but you have to doff the cap every now and again and, if they are close to clicking, as they say, this season will be interesting.

On a separate note, had family up from Cavan and James Hume made my two young nephews evening by taking a photo with them, the long drive home was worth it, and thanks James!

[Cap'n Grumpy]

I have now seen this game twice. How we won surprises me . Racing were very fluent at stages . I was talking to a few of them afterwards and they found the referees interpretations a little puzzling. Still we mustn’t gripe .

Not so much interpretations as translations.

Now leessen very car-fully, I shall zay zis onle wance -

They say Luke Pierce speaks fluent French, but what they don't tell is that he was self-taught watching repeat episodes of 'Allo 'Allo.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Checked out why?

They got two points last week and will have to let Cardiff beat them in Paris to avoid ending up in the Challenge Cup.

Justin, no way that team on top of the top 14 was firing on all cylinders last two weeks. That's the great nonsense of the current format that 1 win and a couple of BPs can still get you through. Lets see how Racing go.

Ulster were fired up for once; we've seen worse Ulster teams spank the French at Ravenhill, by just getting stuck in. When they decided to chase the BP they were different gravy.

Our lineout remains lamentable and TOT should've been subbed earlier- he was extremely lucky in the final penalty as his sub loosehead forced him to collapse- it shouldve went to Racing. But overall it shows what a bit of extra scrummaging practice and beasting can do.

Burns is a walking cripple, Balacoune unfortunately now a total defensive liability.
We got some soft calls, but overall for once we were fired up which was the difference.
Reas try was right place right time. Offered nothing else; Sheridan should be starting.
AOC seems worryingly out of sorts- he looks a shadow of his former self.
Ewers matched their back row for power allowing Timoney to maraud. The value of Herring is immense but should've been subbed after his horrendous ankle twist in the tackle. Stewarts issues were a combination of poor throwing AND timing. Not once did Hendo look to shorten or call flat to 2 to help settle his nerves during his first cameo.
An imperfect improvement.
Special Mention to Stockers, whose resurrection continues. Confidence is back.
Total kudos to Hume and Cooney for their fire. That's the reaction I want to see and f#ck DF.

[thecrouch]

I thought it was our best performance in a long time, the key thing is now backing it up and not reverting to the same old Ulster.

But honestly I was very surprised at how poor Racing were. They didn't look interested for most of that game. Whatever Lancaster said in his team talk didn't work.

[So It Is]

Hume was excellent. Great to see him getting back to his 21/22 form, after what was a very forgettable season last year.

[jean valjean]

Hume performs when he has a point to prove against supposed superior opposition. When he plays with pace instead of trying to side step everyone he is a much better player. His issue is consistency much like the rest of the team. As said before we can't keep that level up every week, but our weekly efforts need to closer to this performance than what we have seen before. The connacht match is huge now as they won't be lacking in fight, can we back it up?

[Horse15]

It was great to see the win and a much improved and hungry performance. Some ‘about time’ standout performances from Kitschoff, Hume, Lowry. BUT Let’s not forget Racing were poor and we have much to work on; lineout poor, not convinced on backrow mix, Ballacoune hasn’t a clue in defence, Stockdale good in attack but likewise poor in defence. Cooney was MoM by a distance but its clear his face dosent fit this accolade, the difference he makes at 9 to Doak is unreal.

[justinr73]

Hume was excellent. Great to see him getting back to his 21/22 form, after what was a very forgettable season last year.

The smart money was always on him needing time to fully recover from the injury. He’s certainly a big, strong lad these days.

Hard to judge the Racing performance. They’ve got the same 6 3 record in France as a bunch of other teams including Pau and Castres, and have one winger who is at least 5 years past his best and another who is at least five years off his.

They were certainly looking good last week until Quins pulled off one of their great, Smith-inspired comebacks.

The surprise wasn’t that they were poor (which they weren’t) but that Ulster managed to put in a 60 minute or so performance for the first time in ages.

[Bart S]

Still absolutely convinced Bobby B will come good. He's a brilliant asset when on form. It's going to click for him soon.

[CIMANFOREVER]

He was only on for about 40 minutes in total, but though Rob Herring put in an incredible shift in the loose. Last year I was expecting Stewart to be first choice by now, but Herring has found another level.

Agreed. Still miles ahead in all facets bar open play. By far the best Irish set piece and defensive hooker

[big mervyn]

I have now seen this game twice. How we won surprises me . Racing were very fluent at stages . I was talking to a few of them afterwards and they found the referees interpretations a little puzzling. Still we mustn’t gripe .

Not so much interpretations as translations.

Now leessen very car-fully, I shall zay zis onle wance -

They say Luke Pierce speaks fluent French, but what they don't tell is that he was self-taught watching repeat episodes of 'Allo 'Allo.

The game flowed very nicely and finished not much later than some 19:35 starts

[Bart S]

It takes a lot dir ulster players to be rated as even decent by certain southern brethren and the fact Herring has achieved this shows how good he has been.

He was 3rd choice at the world cup but way better than Rory Best was as 1st choice in 2019. He's unlucky to have Sheahan and Kelleher as competition but can hold his own when called upon at the highest level.

[Bart S]

Interesting that Dan not only switched from starting Stewart and Doak to backing Herring and Cooney when a big game was needed.

Cooney has suffered from fitful starts. Class players should be given time