Positives&Negs: Ulster V Cardiff

[GLENN CORNICK]

[quote="Cap'n Grumpy"]
I thought I saw you talking to Crozier ......


Don't you have to have an archbishopric to have a crozier?

[Cap'n Grumpy]

I thought I saw you talking to Crozier ......


Don't you have to have an archbishopric to have a crozier?

So what you're saying is that if it wasn't Crozier, CT couldn't have heard what he claims to have heard?

BTW - I think a Bishopric is sufficient - you don't want to make an ARCH enemy of CT

[shamalicious]

Positives: 5 points, being at Ravers to enjoy the game for the first time in a year, Jared Payne is pure class, Dan Chewy getting 2 tries which were fully deserved.

Negatives: place kicking could've cost us against better teams, Rory, Johann and possibly Jared's injuries, performance overall wasn't great.

[againstthehead]

Allow me to clarify my considered opinion on Robbie, I have been critical & have said that I don't see him as a first choice player in big games & doubted that he is good enough for big games.

After last week in France, I'm reconsidering whether or not to change my mind on the big game aspect. What I don't in any way doubt is that Robbie is a very very good player to have in our squad and to call him just a squad player would undersell him. He is a very valuable squad member because he has some outstanding skills, great hands, good pace, excellent positional sense, excellent line-out operator, he is very versatile & I expect we may see him prove that in the 2nd row before long and of course he can play along the back-row.

I trust this may pacify Robbie's fan club.

Hard to argue with any of that. I'd add that his ball-carrying has improved a bit this season - looks to have added a kilo or two. Probably needs to have a few more steaks and improve his work at the breakdown. He certainly seems to be very focussed on competing for a starting berth so fair play to him.

[OldMan]

'I wish some could interpret a game accurately, too many just gush bullshit when the result looks good. Last night was at best a moderate performance.'

+1 Baggy

Friday night at times looked like it could be 'Glasgow Revisited'. Yes, we got the five points, btt IMHO, that game could/sholld have been wrapped up early in the 3rd quarter

[Dave]

No where did I compare Diack to any other back row player present or past and Ulster Rat even with my limited understanding of the back row I understand the need for balance and that ball carrying isn't the be all and end all but still don't get him. It will remain my belief that overseas players brought in need to be more than back up or at best average players as I would prefer to see local players given the exposure they need to prove themselves...

You are basically saying Diack should never have been signed? Who are these young players that didn't get the exposure they needed because of Robbie 'the foreigner' being here?

Diack was signed at a time when Roger had left, Neil Best had gone off to explore bigger and better gym monitors, Matt McCullagh retired, Neil McMillan left/was injured and there was a lack of backrow talent coming through. Diack is the benchmark now. Guys like McComish or Joyce to be better than Robbie to get a look in.

[Cockatrice]

'I wish some could interpret a game accurately, too many just gush bullshit when the result looks good. Last night was at best a moderate performance.'

+1 Baggy

Friday night at times looked like it could be 'Glasgow Revisited'. Yes, we got the five points, btt IMHO, that game could/sholld have been wrapped up early in the 3rd quarter

Agree with BT in many aspects of what he says... we could and should have had another 15 plus points on them and the performance lacked the killer instinct. We did indeed let them back in during both halves when they maybe could have been finished off much earlier.

so +1 more to BT

[Wee Woman]

'I wish some could interpret a game accurately, too many just gush bullshit when the result looks good. Last night was at best a moderate performance.'

+1 Baggy

Friday night at times looked like it could be 'Glasgow Revisited'. Yes, we got the five points, btt IMHO, that game could/sholld have been wrapped up early in the 3rd quarter

Totally agree with this, we really weren't that great and should have had the game in the bag much earlier.

[colwynvet]

In summary. We didn't play well but still managed to score 5 tries against a team containing several internationals and Lions. Someone's going to get a real hiding if we click.

Has anyone else noticed that at nearly every breakdown where Rory is the 2nd player to arrive we get the turnover. Amazing, back to pre-lions form.

[Bart S]

'I wish some could interpret a game accurately, too many just gush bullshit when the result looks good. Last night was at best a moderate performance.'

+1 Baggy

Friday night at times looked like it could be 'Glasgow Revisited'. Yes, we got the five points, btt IMHO, that game could/sholld have been wrapped up early in the 3rd quarter

Totally agree with this, we really weren't that great and should have had the game in the bag much earlier.

Agree, but maybe as a "glass half empty" man I couldn't help think back to how we reacted after the last big away win where we made a statement, at Northampton. We got caught cold the following week a paid the price. At least this time we started well and kept going for the 80 minutes. Undoubtedly there were sloppy periods and errors as we search towards perfection but we got the 5 points and got back to try scoring form.

We do need to look to put teams away though as Glasgow earlier in the season proved.

[ruckover]

Sean Payne was excellent.

You really are a chube sonny

It's not very often I back up mike or disagree with you Baggy, but I think mike was being sarcastic and referring to the commentators' constant referral to Sean Payne throughout the match. Or maybe mike is indeed a chube through and through.

I agree with you Baggy that Friday was a moderate performance (I think I referenced that in my first post, maybe not) - we never got beyond 70% in my opinion. On one hand that is bad because after such a good performance in France we were lacklustre and lethargical, only just managing to get the bonus point courtesy of the fact that our opposition were twenty times as poor as we were, and even then they were in the match for about 70 minutes. On the other hand it is good as we can still put five tries past sides with plenty to spare, although as I said, the opposition were less than average.

As for Diack, very good squad player, will never be a starting big match player. But he will step in and do an above average job if needed - he's the kind of players that you want coming on to your bench if there are injuries (in big games). I like him, glad to see him sticking round a while longer.

[UpAtSix]

As for Diack, very good squad player, will never be a starting big match player.

He started a big match last Saturday, and put in a good shift. I'm not saying he's a world beater but he ticks a lot of boxes for Ulster and rarely lets the team down (except when he can't ground the ball at the RDS...).

[TheElephantMan]

Just to pi$h off all u snobs on here, we should take a leaf out of our wee country the Northern Ireland FANS... Now they are what fans should look up too....................its called a great atmosphere.............we Ulster fans are a long way off.

[Jackie Brown]

Lol, yeah very welcoming...

[Russ]

The only thing I would take from Windsor is the want to make noise for the duration of the game.

This would need translated into tolerant language, and added respect for opposition teams.