Positive and Negatives: Ulster vs Munster

[ulster_heroes]

positives

a great win for ulster

negatives

these stupid postive and negative threads

[Ringer]

Paddy's try should have been given by Rolland if the TMO didnt have an angle and hopefully the missed point wont cost us later in the year.

Setanta werent allowed to erect two of their cameras at either end of the ground for Health and Safety reasons due to the high winds in the hours prior to kick off

[GLENN CORNICK]

Enjoyed the game. Impressed by centres and by Bryn. The 5 metre element good for Boss? We've been critical, but he's a hard runner from the base given the right circumstances ie a progressive scrum. Ruck protection is a tad dodgy, underloading or wrong angles perhaps?

[Rooster]

Paddy's try should have been given by Rolland if the TMO didnt have an angle and hopefully the missed point wont cost us later in the year.

Setanta werent allowed to erect two of their cameras at either end of the ground for Health and Safety reasons due to the high winds in the hours prior to kick off

They had the cameras on the lifts at the terrace side, they were not high but if they had been on prom side would have picked up that Paddy did not go into touch, only thing I thought that TMO was being used for was the grounding but that was clear on camera, the angle though did not show that the try was ok and the clampit of a linesman saw nothing, now there was a surprise

[Jackie Brown]

Anthony Horgan almost took the first tentative step in that ascent when he showed good control and even better pace only to be just beaten to the touchdown by Bryn Cunningham before half-time

Haha, is this sarcasim? Bryn beat him to it from the other side of the pitch, he was actually in danger of Rory beating him to it!!

How the hell does A.Horgan have a professional rugby contract?

[Dogsd]

Anthony Horgan almost took the first tentative step in that ascent when he showed good control and even better pace only to be just beaten to the touchdown by Bryn Cunningham before half-time

Haha, is this sarcasim? Bryn beat him to it from the other side of the pitch, he was actually in danger of Rory beating him to it!!

How the hell does A.Horgan have a professional rugby contract?

Horgan did well to get into that position, you would have put your house on him to touch down... fortunately for us Bryn came from the angle to save the day ... Just read the clip will be posted

[AndyB]

Anthony Horgan - the slowest winger in professional rugby.

[King Ding]

Anthony Horgan - the slowest winger in professional rugby.

No doubt, bryn wouldn't be the fastest player and still torched him, horgan was never good, still got a few ireland caps under EOS though

[Bart S]

Positives (based on table on the ML website) (i) we're off the bottom (ii) we're only 2 points behind Leinster (iii) we're only 4 points off 3rd place!!!!

Early days, but still seems hard to believe that we're right there in the mix. Pre-season, I'd have said that a top half finish would represent decent progress this season, particularly if we started building a solid home record again.

Negaitves

The fixture does appear to have given Ulster a fairly gentle start and though we're now improving, I only hope that we don't live to regret the missed opportunities at home to Llanelli and the Dragons. Given recent imrpvoements I reckon we could well have beaten both of those teams had we played them at Ravers later on in the season, but those were valuable home points down the drain.

Given we've got Connacht at home next up, the 2nd half of the season must be looking pretty scary fixtures-wise?? Think we'll have to sart hoping that the likes of the Ospreys and Cardiff keep progressing in the Heiny so that they send out weakened sides against us.

[bogboy]

Positives

No negative postings on I Boss being too slow
Rolland forgot to bring his whistle ( but with the wind Penalties were never a certain 3 points)
A nice little unexpected win

Negatives
I'm not going to go over board on a win against a depleted Munster team ( deemed it beforehand that the Munster backs lacked any punch since the pace in their backs is provided by Howell and Earls and the match control by RoG)
The game is an unsound base to assess IH since the Ulster pack were on top from the first set scrum and Munster failed to get near him

Willis failed to wise up to Rolland who being an ex scrum half deems the ball to be out as soon as it is touched by the scrum half and therefore did not penalise munster coming round the ruck

The game was much more open than I expected as thankfully the rain didn't happen but Cables the wind theory is still intact

Ulster played against it in the first half and were therefore under no pressure to ensure a points margin before half time but lacking that pressure gave them freedom and confidence to run in a couple of trys

I think the rest did Timmy a power of good although he did stutter once under the high ball and held it firmly on the second bite and he caught it before the bounce which is a good improvement

[scrum5]

Overall a good result even though it was against a weaken Munster side but that is their problem, wither they thought their second string were good enough to beat Ulster ( obviously not ) or they were resting players for later on in the season but with a break now for the Autumn Internationals that also seems a bit ludicrous. Thought the team collectively and individually were good with special praise going to the pack, the first scrum of the game when they totally destroyed Munster set the tone for the rest off the game which gave the centres and backs the freedom to express themselves resulting in three ( four? ) tries. If we can continue as we did last night with improved performances for the rest of the season this team is going to be very good in another two seasons. Unfortunate to see NOC going off injured but Humph jnr stepped up to the mark and for the first time this season we had a fly-half who was actually controlling the game and telling both forwards and backs what to do. He also looked as though he was revelling in the challenge and was setting down a marker to MW that he has what it takes to be the number 1 fly-half for Ulster. As already has been said i think Paddy Wallace has played himself into the number 12 jersey for the upcoming internationals he was brilliant in defence and attack, both Paddy and Matt Williams are to be congratulated in the renaissance that Paddy is experiencing. The back row of Pollock, Ferris and Diack are beginning to work together as a team and will undoubtly get better ( is there any other backrow in the Magners league as good as them ). One question which is not a criticism is how can Tommy Anderson be in the squad ahead of Matt McCullough and even more so Chris Henry??? On a different note Philo no longer looks like this but more like this as he is sporting a rather short haircut... All in all a much improved performance by the entire team with little or no complaints except for not getting a bonus point..Also a big thank you to all the Munster supporters who ventured up north and hope you enjoyed the game but not the result...

[Jackie Brown]

Positives:
The collective hunger from the guys. Every tackle and break the players were supporting each other, patting each other on the back. It was a true team performance.
The crowd responded to the passion on the pitch with possibly the best vocal support of the season. Ravenhill was rocking.
Away support, the guys in front of us were great crack.
Timmy/Jimmy coming of age
iHumph came on and showed he can do a job at outhalf. NO'C will need to up his game.
Cave played a blinder can anyone see Trimble moving back to 13 with Danelli returns?
Both Willis and Boss played well, tough call now in this position
We destroyed Munster at their own game. If Buckley earns another Ireland cap before Court it'll be a joke.
Rory Best having the pace of an international winger

Negatives:
It was a second string Munster team. Not really on for the fans who travelled up. We can only play who's put in front of us and I would have loved to have seen Ulster play the way they did against a Munster side with a few more 'big names' involved.
Not much protection for the scrum half at ruck time.
Still missing some first up tackles
Inept touchjudges, what is the point in them? All they do is call when the ball is out and as shown last night they can't even do that right.
Poor turn out from the supposed Munster faithful. Saw a few of them about, but a 7.30pm kick off on a Saturday night surely a few more could have got off their arses to support their team.

[Rooster]

After watching a recording of the game one thing that really stood out last night was the understanding of Cave and Pollock in each others moves, if Pollock had the ball Cave went looking and when Cave was on the run Pollock was on his tail to take the heat when he went to ground, once the rest of the backline get the same understanding we will go places.
I never was a knocker of Jim, always thought there was some raw talent hidden somewhere, but last night he showed a bit of similarity to Tommy in that he was coming in looking for the ball instead of staying wide and also hitting rucks like a back row when required, give him to the end of the season and I think we have a real game breaker on our books.
If Paddy does not start for Ireland Deccy needs glasses, and if Matt williams ever makes him start anywhere but 12 I'll give him a bollocking on the way to my seat.
TC for Irish bench prop, he's the only combo prop in Ireland worth his money at present.
Rory showed yet again that he is best hooker in Ireland, both in the scrum and sticking his head where no heads should go in rucks.
Mr BJ Botha, best buy here in years
Alain Rolland as reff can we have him more often, reffed 2 won 2 this year

[ali c]

I never was a knocker of Jim, always thought there was some raw talent hidden somewhere, but last night he showed a bit of similarity to Tommy in that he was coming in looking for the ball instead of staying wide and also hitting rucks like a back row when required, give him to the end of the season and I think we have a real game breaker on our books.

me too Rooster. I think his confidence got a real boost when he scored the first, his first, try at the Stoop and we saw the dividends from that last night.

The only way is up!

[fuzzylogic]

After watching a recording of the game one thing that really stood out last night was the understanding of Cave and Pollock in each others moves, if Pollock had the ball Cave went looking and when Cave was on the run Pollock was on his tail to take the heat when he went to ground, once the rest of the backline get the same understanding we will go places.

Id like to think they have an understanding, they've both been playing in the same Ulster and Ireland age group sides since 16/17 years old! Lets just hope it doesnt take the rest of the backline the same 3 or 4 years to forge that understanding!!