Ulster v Cardiff Friday April 19, 7:35pm - BBC2 NI / BBC2 Wales / TG4 / Premier Sports (UK) 2 / Premier Sports (Ireland)

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Chad talking more sense than Tommy

[ulster32]

Doak is pants.
Flannery is pants.

[SUFTUM_19]

That feels like a bit like a robbery, but we often are on the other end so we’ll take it! Poor performance and would’ve been a disaster if we’d lost, so take the points and move on.

Positives was Sheridan was excellent + unbelievable tackle from Izzy at the end. Lowry looked sharp, and Cooney made a big difference. However, again our 22 defence was absolutely woeful, 2 incredibly soft tries and could’ve (should’ve?) been 3.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Doak is pants.
Flannery is pants.

Doak might - just might make it, but he's a long way off. Seems a shame to take a prospective good 9 and try to change him to a 10.

Flannery as you say, is pants.

Both a long way behind Burns level. I know some won't agree, but it's how I see it.

Tommy said beforehand - Burns is URC level, but comes up short in Europe. Nailed it in 1.

[Cap'n Grumpy]

Chad was very much saying what I was that the ref let them off with murder at the breakdown.

They were infringing with impunity and not just getting away with it, but winning penalties with it.

If I never see Adamson again, it will still be too soon.

[Columbo]

You can argue we got lucky there, I would say Cardiff got pretty lucky too - poor start let off the hook by two (really uncharacteristic) Doak pen misses to touch. And also yes Adamson’s late show definitely broke for us, but he didn’t give us a thing the rest of the match, and as Cap’n Grumpy says allowed them to completely mess up the breakdown.

Strangely enough I actually think the last few matches haven’t worked out too badly for us in the long run - I think the two away games in SA were free hits for Murphy, we got the win in Montpellier, second half Clermont was ugly, so we definitely needed the result here tonight, and got it which is all that counts.

But I think Murphy has played a blinder, intentionally or not, with the selections at 10. First of all Doak, who just looked not remotely up to speed at 10, understandably; and then giving Flannery 40 mins, where once again he’s not near the grade, and into the bargain Doak has one of his worst games at 9 for quite some time. And then slings on Billy, who is so obviously a cut above. This is in the context of the frantic horse-trading ongoing behind the scenes between the IRFU and provinces. The point has been very clearly made over the last 4 matches that if Ulster go into the next season with Doak and Flannery at 10, we will start holed below the water line, and into the bargain Doak’s game at 9 will suffer (and he will also be unhappy). I was watching Doak missing those kicks to touch early doors and thinking to myself, you couldn’t have planned this better…

As for the performance, it wasn’t good, sloppy, error-strewn etc - however part of that is down to the injuries / selection chops and changes, and part down to the messing about at half-back. And it’s also down to the players being given more freedom to play what’s in front of them. There has to be a balance, previously it was too much the other way, now we’re over-playing and haven’t yet landed on the sweet spot. We have good ball players, and I think it will come.

I also think the last few performances are giving Richie a strong argument with the IRFU for a coaching clear out. Grant and Bell notably. Our breakdown work has been appalling, and defence not much better.

What I think he’ll do now is stick Cooney and Burns in against Benetton, hopefully get a few other guys back, and go full noise… get a good win so he can say ‘see, this is what we can do with proper half-backs…’

Ulster have been absolutely cursed with bad luck so many times over the last couple of years, I’m not going to feel in the least bad for catching a break tonight!

Onwards and upwards

[big mervyn]

Just back and had a look at the closing mins. The Cardiff knock on just before that also looked pretty deliberate in the ground and on TV.

What's this "full house" they're all banging on about? Less than 2/3 full from my perspective.

[Bart S]

Thought McIlroy had a fairly decent game and whilst not spectacular, also thought Will Addison had his best game back from injury. He was very solid, carried well and put in a lot of good tackles.

[justinr73]

You can argue we got lucky there, I would say Cardiff got pretty lucky too - poor start let off the hook by two (really uncharacteristic) Doak pen misses to touch. And also yes Adamson’s late show definitely broke for us, but he didn’t give us a thing the rest of the match, and as Cap’n Grumpy says allowed them to completely mess up the breakdown.

Strangely enough I actually think the last few matches haven’t worked out too badly for us in the long run - I think the two away games in SA were free hits for Murphy, we got the win in Montpellier, second half Clermont was ugly, so we definitely needed the result here tonight, and got it which is all that counts.

But I think Murphy has played a blinder, intentionally or not, with the selections at 10. First of all Doak, who just looked not remotely up to speed at 10, understandably; and then giving Flannery 40 mins, where once again he’s not near the grade, and into the bargain Doak has one of his worst games at 9 for quite some time. And then slings on Billy, who is so obviously a cut above. This is in the context of the frantic horse-trading ongoing behind the scenes between the IRFU and provinces. The point has been very clearly made over the last 4 matches that if Ulster go into the next season with Doak and Flannery at 10, we will start holed below the water line, and into the bargain Doak’s game at 9 will suffer (and he will also be unhappy). I was watching Doak missing those kicks to touch early doors and thinking to myself, you couldn’t have planned this better…

As for the performance, it wasn’t good, sloppy, error-strewn etc - however part of that is down to the injuries / selection chops and changes, and part down to the messing about at half-back. And it’s also down to the players being given more freedom to play what’s in front of them. There has to be a balance, previously it was too much the other way, now we’re over-playing and haven’t yet landed on the sweet spot. We have good ball players, and I think it will come.

I also think the last few performances are giving Richie a strong argument with the IRFU for a coaching clear out. Grant and Bell notably. Our breakdown work has been appalling, and defence not much better.

What I think he’ll do now is stick Cooney and Burns in against Benetton, hopefully get a few other guys back, and go full noise… get a good win so he can say ‘see, this is what we can do with proper half-backs…’

Ulster have been absolutely cursed with bad luck so many times over the last couple of years, I’m not going to feel in the least bad for catching a break tonight!

Onwards and upwards

Murphy was extremely close to giving the IRFU a very strong argument to look for another head coach.

Who’d give Payne a go?

[jean valjean]

Glad to get the win and who knows what a shot in the arm it will be for the team. Credit to Sheridan and mccann who both look like becoming stalwarts of this side for the next 10 years. Bar AOC and ewers that was a fairly inexperienced pack we had out and a backline with more years ahead than behind. We will need bolstered for next week, hopefully we get some back, hendo, Kitscoff and Herring are much needed. As said before our conditioning seems to be poor, Stewart needs a good summer gym programme if he has any inkling of remaining near the ireland set up.

[twiglet]

I'm in favour of getting Jared back.
Also would love to see Ruan back as a skills coach - we really need to improve our skills on tonight's performance

[Bart S]

I wouldn't write off Murphy after 5 games. Lucky tonight but let's see if they can build some confidence from this.

He walked into a total mess. CEO going, star player going and unlikely to be replaced and a squad where all was not well.

When you see what Sheridan is delivering it's a mystery as to what Dan was doing with him this season.

[Dave]

I wouldn't write off Murphy after 5 games. Lucky tonight but let's see if they can build some confidence from this.

He walked into a total mess. CEO going, star player going and unlikely to be replaced and a squad where all was not well.

When you see what Sheridan is delivering it's a mystery as to what Dan was doing with him this season.

Trying his best to get sacked? Matty Rea was his golden child.

[CIMANFOREVER]

Thought McIlroy had a fairly decent game and whilst not spectacular, also thought Will Addison had his best game back from injury. He was very solid, carried well and put in a lot of good tackles.

Personally, I'd keep Addison. He has innate class and if he has a good preseason and can keep fit, I'd have him at centre.

[CIMANFOREVER]

I'm in favour of getting Jared back.
Also would love to see Ruan back as a skills coach - we really need to improve our skills on tonight's performance

He might also teach Doak to speed up his game. My beef is he always seems too pedestrian- thinks he has more time than he really has. Ruan had this as an art, and it's a sign of true class. Doak, like many of the cubs, need mentors to round off their potential.
Wilson will have benefitted by going up against gnarly old internationals without a big 5 around him.