PRO12 R4: Away to Zebre - Live

[Cornerfleg]

Who's the wee ginger school boy midget from here who seems to ref out of Scotland ... he wasn't too bad when we got him.

I think you mean Lloyd Linton (ex RBAI). He certainly didn't seem overawed in the game he reffed at Ravenhill last season. Seems to be well thought of in Scottish referee circles. (mind you they haven't exactly a great history)

That's the chap, cheers Colin ... time will tell but he seemed to handle himself and the players well for a newbie.

[Setanta]

It certainly wasn't Mcmenemy - he was the gentleman who disallowed a perfectly good try by Treviso and otherwise referred every decision to the TMO.

[rugoval]

Who's the wee ginger school boy midget from here who seems to ref out of Scotland ... he wasn't too bad when we got him.

Lloyd Linton. You are quite right, he is operating out of Scotland and being groomed for great things.

[Rooster]

Something else that others might have brought up - but seemed to me there were a fair few guys who thought they just had to turn up until we went behind, even when down to 14 men. Minds elsewhere. So much for hoping that binning Cowboy would get rid of the complacency.

Who's the wee ginger school boy midget from here who seems to ref out of Scotland ... he wasn't too bad when we got him.

I think you mean Lloyd Linton (ex RBAI). He certainly didn't seem overawed in the game he reffed at Ravenhill last season. Seems to be well thought of in Scottish referee circles. (mind you they haven't exactly a great history)

That's the lad Colin, he looked pretty useful and let the game flow

[Kofi Annan]

Well, anyone cited for this mysterious non event on fatboy

[BR]

Unless there was a second-citing commissioner, I very much doubt it.

[Kofi Annan]

Unless there was a second-citing commissioner, I very much doubt it.

Why a second commissioner?? I hope Les Kiss was there and read them the riot act. Would not like to think think the kids were left unattended

[BR]

That's what I was thinking, no sign of Kiss.

(To clarify a second-cite/second-sight commissioner; not another commissioner. Sorry it's the way my mind works)

[Snipe Watson]

That's what I was thinking, no sign of Kiss.

(To clarify a second-cite/second-sight commissioner; not another commissioner. Sorry it's the way my mind works)

Did we not burn that witch months ago?

[Bangors]

We were very poor but playing with 14 men for most of the game against a team who made little or no attempt to play rugby being content simply to spoil was not easy
However I thought a ref was there to make decisions and not simply to abdicate his responsibility to the TMO
IMO the TMO actually made a couple of reasonable decisions (e.g. disallowing Zebre try for being 'held up)
However I believe he cost us a turnover of 14 points
Firstly I believe toe tap pass which led to their try was deflected and therefore was a forward
pass
Secondly the Zebre player who was 'blocked' by TB in fact turned his back on the play and attempted to body check Tommy Bowe
The odd thing is that we actually moved up to 3rd in the league table after all the round 4 games
Things can hopefully only get better

[justinr73]

Mr Gibbon asks the video ref whether or not his hole needs wiping.

I was hanging around that long on Saturday I got sunburn.

[Columbo]

Yes I thought you were mistakenly identifying me with that one.

Firstly welcome to the forum............ now then, suggest that you read my post again, most certainly I mentioned selection but your response would suggest that it was selection alone that lost the game. A reread will confirm that it was one of several issues I mentioned.

Thanks for the welcome! No mistake though, you said it was a selection that 'paid no respect to playing away' and a 'bullshit selection', and that you had no expectations, none of which I agree with - in fact beforehand if there had been a straw poll on here everyone but everyone would have called an away win - and if anyone is saying they can systematically call left-field results like this, get betting, you'll make a fortune! I wasn't referring to you alone, though, I have come across many people saying similar things after the match. It is absolutely impossible to ignore the red card in any assessment of the performance - it was a poor performance, but it will always be 'asterisked' due to the fact that it was 14 men for 70 mins.

The Ulster selectors (an interesting question in itself - is Kiss still around?? Or is it Doak now?) will draw no firm conclusions from the performance, aside from a few pointers (I thought Heaney was very poor, Williams missed tackle count was high, Bowe looked pretty rusty, on the other hand Black had a good game as an auxiliary openside and McCloskey did some good things). But the inescapable biggest factor in the loss was the red card.

[Columbo]

In 7 man scrums are you not better going without a flanker than a number 8, surely a number 8 strengthens the scrum more than a flanker? Also why would you go for mauls from lineouts when you are down to 7, doesn't make much sense to me. All in all a bad day at the office for many, we struggled at the lineout, struggled to keep possession and weren't that clinical when we had our chances.
Also is Alan O'Connor much of a prospect, 22 now so with the injuries is he going to get much game time?
As for the match the two worst players on the pitch were Deccie and the ref.

Haven't seen anything of him but I heard he was more of a flanker. Anyone have an opinion on him?

I head along to Malone games reasonably often (missed last week in order to watch the Ulster game albeit watching Malone lose to 'Quins wouldn't have been much fun either). I think O'Connor looks decent, but I'm not sure that he has the chops to make the leap through to the full squad - he looks much bigger this year, not the tallest second row (I'd guess 6'5") he's aggressive in contact and the tackle area, carries well - but doesn't have the kind of explosiveness of the likes of Tuohy. 22 is still young for a second row, but the jury's out for me..

I saw Donnan and Simpson play for 'Hinch the other week against Belvo, Donnan has clearly been no stranger the the weights room in the off season.. I thought he looked good, he called the lineouts well and looked strong about the park. Simpson was quieter but came into the line and sold a lovely dummy before releasing to Adair for a try.

[BaggyTrousers]

Yes I thought you were mistakenly identifying me with that one.

Firstly welcome to the forum............ now then, suggest that you read my post again, most certainly I mentioned selection but your response would suggest that it was selection alone that lost the game. A reread will confirm that it was one of several issues I mentioned.

Thanks for the welcome! No mistake though, you said it was a selection that 'paid no respect to playing away' and a 'bullshit selection', and that you had no expectations, none of which I agree with - in fact beforehand if there had been a straw poll on here everyone but everyone would have called an away win - and if anyone is saying they can systematically call left-field results like this, get betting, you'll make a fortune! I wasn't referring to you alone, though, I have come across many people saying similar things after the match. It is absolutely impossible to ignore the red card in any assessment of the performance - it was a poor performance, but it will always be 'asterisked' due to the fact that it was 14 men for 70 mins.

The Ulster selectors (an interesting question in itself - is Kiss still around?? Or is it Doak now?) will draw no firm conclusions from the performance, aside from a few pointers (I thought Heaney was very poor, Williams missed tackle count was high, Bowe looked pretty rusty, on the other hand Black had a good game as an auxiliary openside and McCloskey did some good things). But the inescapable biggest factor in the loss was the red card.

Columbo, now lets get things right, you refer to a post I made after the match, I mentioned three reasons not simply "selection", feel free to disagree with what I said but please do not try yet again to misrepresent what I said.

I had no expectations of this game, a selection that paid no respect to playing away from home against admittedly poor opposition, Deccie irresponsible- albeit when someone vandalises your bake its tough not to react - a former half-decent international referee, turns cheat as TMO & remarkably D Funkygibbon takes no blame for there was no big screen, just one wee cheat on his own in front of a TV screen.

Furthermore you say "I have come across many people saying similar things after the match", well good for you but I said it BEFORE the match.

My unease before the match was no gut feeling, it was entirely based on known fact, we select a crap side to go there and we struggle. I mistakenly said we have scored 2 tries in our last 3 games there, actually it is 3, I forgot the penalty try which got us out of jail two seasons back.

2 years ago we picked a side of similar strength & were very lucky to win, last year again, no lesson learned we go there very understrength 13-15 in another lucky win, this year we lose. Now I'm no professional rugby analyst but with what had happened the previous 2 games we played there, why did we take the same type of team again when surely we must have people in important roles with memories as sharp as my ageing fusebox?

Why we feel the need to play a strongish team against them at home & a much much weaker one away, beats me? Strikes me as dumb.

This was no freak result, it was an accident waiting to happen & we learned nothing from previous close shaves.

[justinr73]

Nevertheless, it's certainly a nice place to watch rugby.

Only one stout available but at least you can drink it resting on the advertising boards.

Got the bus with their number 9's dad.

Liked the fried bread all the restaurants seemed to do as well.