Positives and Negatives: Ulster Vs Cardiff

[againstthehead]

Should I just save time and cut and paste the ones from the Glasgow game?

Positives
- Firstly, it was great to see the humph in the white shirt. He received an excellent reception and it was a decent farewell to an outstanding servant to Ulster rugby.
- We looked reasonably clinical. Every time we reached their 22 we looked like creating oppertunities and we finished off a couple of tries quite nicely.
- I thought the backrow had a nice balance. I thought Pollock was outstanding - tackled like a man possessed. Ferris was brutal and wilson solid enough.
- Rory was excellent around the park.
- superb driving maul - becoming a real threat in this area
- bart put in some excellent kicks - seems to be finally settling into the team. He's an extra option for PW and Isaac and gets genuine distance with the boot.
- PW did okay at 10. A few decent kicks, slick passing - did okay.
- great turn out by the fans

Negatives
- the eejit behind me F'in and blinding and talking/shouting the most utter CRAP I've ever heard - did my head in: arrrrgggghhhhhh (anyone else hear him? - just left of half way on the terrace!)
- Set pieces have went really down hill in recent weeks. Lineout predictable and we look shakey at scrum time.
- Our ball carriers don;t seem to take the ball with any real pace/momentum. All very sluggish and very indecisive at the back of the ruck,
- Too much slow ball. The ball to isaac is too slow and the ball from isaac to 10 is too slow. slow slow slow. grrrrrrrrrrrr
- Lack direction at 10.
- The loss. I think this game went down to which side wanted it more and who believed they could win. We got back in the game with 20 to go. 2 years ago we would have won from that position.

Probably a fitting end to a shambles of a season. A real shame the guys couldn't ralley around the Humph but confidence and belief are low. On a positive note, we've a couple of decent young guys coming through, a few new signings and Mat Williams is still to instill his philosophy into the side. There is hope for next season. Not a lot - but a little...


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[Big-al]

sums our season up, I don't i have witnessed a worse season for ball retention. McCullagh and dawson are not the answer to our quick ball next season

[scrum5]

The 2 big positives that came out of the game were David Pollock and Stephen Ferris both were excellent in attack and defence with some massive hits. Simon Danielli's try tonight was superb, he broke at least 4 tackles to cross the line. The negatives are the same as they have been all season, the break down area is a real concern we are not committing enough men to the ruck therefore Boss is struggling to get quick ball to release the backs, both Bowe and Danielli have proved that they can score tries but the slow ball is allowing the opposition defences to get organised. When players do make breaks the support is so slow getting to the man that he is forced to hold on to the ball resulting in us getting pinged by the ref. Two other negatives worth mentioning are that Tommy is leaving and the other is that the Humph's will never wear the white shirt again as a player. We wish them well

[rugbymunchkin]

boss's slow release is a problem... but so are the big loopy passes he generally gives when he's finally ready! he needs to fizz them out to at least give the boys a half chance!

[shamalicious]

Positives:
Being able to see this match
Seeing Humph on his last game & the reception he got (I must say I was a little teary eyed!)
Danielli played pretty well I thought & scored a good try
Less silly kicking from Boss (although he didn't stop completely!)
Tommy did well under the high ball
They seemed to have a little more imagination

Negatives:
How devastated Humph looked in the dugout after coming off (I think he was pressured into playing)
Paddy seems to have lost all confidence in his place kicking.. even before the game he was missing them
A lot of the good play was from guys who are leaving
We conceded such soft tries again, they were just either falling off tackles or missing them completely.
Ulster lost again at home when they should have won
I'm sure there are many more that I can't think of right now

[bigchiefally]

Positives - Thats one terrible season over...

Negatives - We were awful this season, a load of our best players are leaving us next season, we have signed no one of consequence, the ones we are rumoured to be bringing in dont seem to be world class.

I suppose the good points are Ferris looking good. Caldwell occasionally looking good. Hmmm. Maybe Danielli and Trimble looking good when given the ball in some space.

Too many negatives to count. Lineout cack. 9 and 10 looking useless and directionless respectively.

I really hope next year is better, but i am not holding my breath.

[Rooster]

Don't think you can take anything from last night due to fact that a third of the team will not be there next year and another third would not have taken too many risks as there are the Irish tours at the back of their minds and the end results of all this weekends games mean nothing but perhaps a bit of pride.
Expect a totally different team and tactics start of the season as if Matt has any game plan ideas they would not have been tried this past couple of weeks, also a new defence coach must be on the cards with Neils retirement from Ulster.
Biggest negative we have lost Tommy

[Big-al]

Don't think you can take anything from last night due to fact that a third of the team will not be there next year and another third would not have taken too many risks as there are the Irish tours at the back of their minds and the end results of all this weekends games mean nothing but perhaps a bit of pride.

WTF, I Bloody hope the team give it their all, if they were treating it as a run out before the summer tour they shouldn't have been wearing the red hand.

[browner]

Negatives....................too many to mention, but here are a few.

Still playing like 15 individuals and for periods of the game in touch rugby mode.

U/R still treating the one of the best supports with contempt..........see Cables latest post.

Worst season i can remember, ie...........performances on the pitch, gaps in the fixture list etc.

M/W has his work cut out.

Positives.............

the season is over..........(never thought i'd say that)

i'm still off the smokes and drink.

[Bart S]

From what I've seen recently, the 1st signing Ulster need to make is a decent new defence coach. We simply can't afford to ship 2 or 3 tries per game due to very weak defence and still expect to compete.

[Big-al]

A new defence coach will be needed but we need a better backrow and halfbacks who can direct a game

[ding dong2u]

last night's performance was just totally unacceptable ......... we were played off the pitch at times by Cardiff 2nds defence again was pi$h poor, set pieces mostly a shambles and we turned over way to much ball ..... MW has a serious amount of work to do during the summer ....... because if this shambles continues then god help us next season.

[mikerob]

Williams blasts Ulster defence

Ulster coach Matt Williams says his side's poor defence cost them victory in Friday night's Magners League game against Cardiff Blues at Ravenhill.

"We missed some horrific tackles that cost us the game," said Williams.

"We were creative, exciting and did a lot with the ball but our error rate was awful. We should have won the game.
"I have never coached a team that is so fatigued. The players were very tired all week and have had a hard season both internationally and with Ulster."

"The whole night kind of exemplified our year, with Kieron Dwson getting injured during the warm-up and then David Humphreys lasting less than 10 minutes.

"In the lead up to the game, we had to cut one training session short and cancel another altogether because the players were so tired.

"I think we are all happy that the season is over, so we can now draw a line in the sand and come back next September and start again."

Williams added that he could not confirm the names of new signings for next season but said that "media reports were pretty accurate".

"Players have signed contracts but we have been asked by other parties not to reveal the names so we have to respect their confidentiality."

Williams warned Ulster supporters not to expect miracles next season but wants to see an improvement in performances and results.

"We just lost two games in a row in which we were the better team but have the worst defensive record in the league, so we have to fix that.

"Week in, week out, we are missing more tackles than any other team in the league and when that is the case you are going to lose games that you should win."

The Ulster coach also thinks the new laws to be introduced next season will benefit his squad.

"The new laws that will come into place will really suit us as we are not a big team, but we are a very fit team, aerobically strong and that's what the new laws will produce.

"The big guys will lose a lot of weight because there will be a lot of running involved so I think we will be in pretty good shape in that regard.

"The new guys I am bringing in will give us plenty of professionalism and there will be some changes in the staff too. It will be good to have some new blood on board," concluded Williams.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_u ... 393849.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[King Ding]

I dont think all hope is lost for next year, pollock and ferris both looked good last night, except ferris missed a few tackles when he would normally smash the guy. so a backrow of 8-Diack 7-Pollock 6-Ferris, would look very promising, but another addition wouldnt do any harm. Matt Mc should just be fighting it out with Calwell and Carlo next year for the 2nd row spots and if injury is bad he can move to cover backrow, although that shouldn't be necessary providing MW gives the likes of Henry, Anderson and to a lesser extent Faloon a go in the pre-season. The Pack as a whole should be good next year and Botha will undoubtedly teach D Fitz and Court alot that will do them well in the future.
Back to last nights game, it was a awful result against a very young and inexperienced Cardiff team, on paper we really should have slaughtered them and given Humphreys a real send off, but as UTV said the result wasn't that important in the context of the night so i would say not all the players hearts were really in it and most were thinking of the summer tours and their Holidays

Of the topic; it is good to see court being recognised for a good season with being in the squad to play the Ba Bas.

[Big-al]

A backrow of Diack, pollock and ferris will be very powerful and should be giving next season to develop as a unit as they will be all under 23.

We have a good pack and if Matt moves back to lock it will be very quick. Boss needs to up his games as he has nhad a very poor season. We need to get Trimble back to top form and if are team looks like this i'll be optimistic
1)young/court (can he play loosehead)
2)best capt
3)Botha
4)del fava
5)Caldwell
6)ferris
7)pollock
8)diack
9)marshell/boss
10)humphreys (should siut the ELV's with his running style)
11)daniellie
12)wallace/dewey
13)trimble
14)Big Name winger/McCrea
15)Shifty
16)brady
17)court
18)McCullagh
19)Anderson/Dawson
20)marshell/boss
21)o'connor (should play haf of the games next season)
22)Cunningham/McCrea/Dewey/Cave