Ulster vs Dragons Live updates

[dublane]

I understand many people saying that marshall had a good game, however for me the primary things you want from your scrum half is quick reliable service, and an ability to keep your pack moving forward and playing the game in the right areas. whatever comes on top of that is great, but the foundations need to be there.

Paul doesn't satisfy these criteria and has failed to season after season. His erratic service puts pressure on everyone outide him and people wonder why the backline looks laboured. I think we often take for granted how good Ruan is. we desperately need to find alternative options.

[eeyore]

Now get behind the team, show some empathy, and quit your moaning

Ah, sorry I forgot myself. Come on Ulster. SUFTUM. We're all brill. Great win. Great performance. Woohooo Sparky!!!

[Wee Woman]

Marshall was poor tonight. Few silly mistakes. Pity Ludik had to come of early.

Are you guys all on the soup tonight or what

That was the best game Small Paul has had in quite some time, if he was poor tonight I'd hate to think what he was last weekend!

p was as poor as he always is. Don't let a couple of decent breaks from the back of the scrum fool you. His decision making, speed of pass, accuracy of pass, time to get the ball from the ruck when it's presented to him on a plate is absolutely garbage. All of this does nothing for easing PJ back into form. Means that any aggressive defence is in the face of the first receiver (PJ). giving him no chance to get the backline going and leaves little alternative but to hoof it up the pitch. How the hell he got another contract continues to annoy me every week. In the first half, a Welsh guy behind me said, your scrumhalf looks a decent player. I told him to watch him for a while. Ten minutes later he was asking, what the hell is it with the step he takes before passing. We're screwed without Ruan

Agreed, but let's not lose sight of the fact that it was the Dragons we were playing and they too were missing a number of their 1st team players.

Last night was about his standard IMO and he played better than he has in any other game this season that was my point.

I can't wait until Ruan's back too..

[Cornerfleg]

Shut up Mike!!!!!

[Neil F]

Same old garbage being trawled out over and over again. Marshall,s crap, diack can't break a tackle, Payne is the worst 13 ever, Andrew can't catch/pass etc etc.
What did everyone expect? There were new combinations all over the park last night. A weird looking back row disrupted further very early on when Wilson went off. A back line with 3 full backs and the one playing 15 was not a regular fullback - go figure?? Then on top of that you had monsoon conditions just before kickoff.
Be happy with a win and relatively no injuries - Wilson and ludik hopefully will be OK. There were a few out there who have had 3/4 very hard matches in a row. Cut them some slack. Glasgow and Ospreys diudnt get bps either probably because of the sesame reasons.
A win was important. A bp would have been nice but hey I'm happy with 4.

Now get behind the team, show some empathy, and quit your moaning

LTHG; I'm usually in the mould of showing empathy, not moaning and getting behind the team. I don't like to moan about a performance or particular players (mostly because there are plenty of others who will do that for me) but Ulster's form this season has been deeply concerning. There are problems with the speed and quality of Marshall's service but this doesn't explain why Ulster seem to be putting down one in five passes, or why the ball is getting turned over by mediocre back rows on such a frequent basis. Maybe a lack of consistency in selection has something to do with it but a player with a new partner should still be able to hold onto the ball... Repeated basic errors have, in my view, been the major stumbling block for Ulster this season. But the season is now nine games old. In the first couple, some rustiness may be acceptable. Nine games in, it's embarrassing.

In this regard, I think it's a misnomer to blame the weather, the selections or the combinations. Those factors were present last night but Ulster's basic mistakes have been there all season. Frankly, the Dragons brought nothing to the game last night but Ulster created nothing. An even passable Ulster performance should have scored 40+ points last night. I'm glad for the win but it's disenchanting to see people settle for an inferior performance because the outcome wasn't all that bad... Ulster were rank and, frankly, have been fairly rank for most of the season.

[Russ]

So Reidy and Ross are officially better than McComish

[LegsLikeSausages]

Same old garbage being trawled out over and over again. Marshall,s crap, diack can't break a tackle, Payne is the worst 13 ever, Andrew can't catch/pass etc etc.
What did everyone expect? There were new combinations all over the park last night. A weird looking back row disrupted further very early on when Wilson went off. A back line with 3 full backs and the one playing 15 was not a regular fullback - go figure?? Then on top of that you had monsoon conditions just before kickoff.
Be happy with a win and relatively no injuries - Wilson and ludik hopefully will be OK. There were a few out there who have had 3/4 very hard matches in a row. Cut them some slack. Glasgow and Ospreys diudnt get bps either probably because of the sesame reasons.
A win was important. A bp would have been nice but hey I'm happy with 4.

Now get behind the team, show some empathy, and quit your moaning

LTHG; I'm usually in the mould of showing empathy, not moaning and getting behind the team. I don't like to moan about a performance or particular players (mostly because there are plenty of others who will do that for me) but Ulster's form this season has been deeply concerning. There are problems with the speed and quality of Marshall's service but this doesn't explain why Ulster seem to be putting down one in five passes, or why the ball is getting turned over by mediocre back rows on such a frequent basis. Maybe a lack of consistency in selection has something to do with it but a player with a new partner should still be able to hold onto the ball... Repeated basic errors have, in my view, been the major stumbling block for Ulster this season. But the season is now nine games old. In the first couple, some rustiness may be acceptable. Nine games in, it's embarrassing.

In this regard, I think it's a misnomer to blame the weather, the selections or the combinations. Those factors were present last night but Ulster's basic mistakes have been there all season. Frankly, the Dragons brought nothing to the game last night but Ulster created nothing. An even passable Ulster performance should have scored 40+ points last night. I'm glad for the win but it's disenchanting to see people settle for an inferior performance because the outcome wasn't all that bad... Ulster were rank and, frankly, have been fairly rank for most of the season.

I don't think anyone is 'settling' for the poor performance, Neil. We have been very poor for the first two months of a 9 month season. However, we are still 3rd in the league despite that.

Performances must improve, but very few sides in any sport are in top form all season. The important thing is staying in contention when you are playing badly. Leinster's league form has also been poor, but I doubt they are panicking.

[bazzaj]

Same old garbage being trawled out over and over again. Marshall,s crap, diack can't break a tackle, Payne is the worst 13 ever, Andrew can't catch/pass etc etc.
What did everyone expect? There were new combinations all over the park last night. A weird looking back row disrupted further very early on when Wilson went off. A back line with 3 full backs and the one playing 15 was not a regular fullback - go figure?? Then on top of that you had monsoon conditions just before kickoff.
Be happy with a win and relatively no injuries - Wilson and ludik hopefully will be OK. There were a few out there who have had 3/4 very hard matches in a row. Cut them some slack. Glasgow and Ospreys diudnt get bps either probably because of the sesame reasons.
A win was important. A bp would have been nice but hey I'm happy with 4.

Now get behind the team, show some empathy, and quit your moaning

LTHG; I'm usually in the mould of showing empathy, not moaning and getting behind the team. I don't like to moan about a performance or particular players (mostly because there are plenty of others who will do that for me) but Ulster's form this season has been deeply concerning. There are problems with the speed and quality of Marshall's service but this doesn't explain why Ulster seem to be putting down one in five passes, or why the ball is getting turned over by mediocre back rows on such a frequent basis. Maybe a lack of consistency in selection has something to do with it but a player with a new partner should still be able to hold onto the ball... Repeated basic errors have, in my view, been the major stumbling block for Ulster this season. But the season is now nine games old. In the first couple, some rustiness may be acceptable. Nine games in, it's embarrassing.

In this regard, I think it's a misnomer to blame the weather, the selections or the combinations. Those factors were present last night but Ulster's basic mistakes have been there all season. Frankly, the Dragons brought nothing to the game last night but Ulster created nothing. An even passable Ulster performance should have scored 40+ points last night. I'm glad for the win but it's disenchanting to see people settle for an inferior performance because the outcome wasn't all that bad... Ulster were rank and, frankly, have been fairly rank for most of the season.

Yes but Neil were you actually expecting anything other than that performance.
I for one wasnt as for me thats the reality of where we are right now.
The fact that we won the game is important as we have proved we can lose games to weaker sides this season, when we put out weakened teams.

[Lurgan Lad]

I don't know, last night to me was just a summation of where we are. I think certainly a few forwards are a bit on the tired side after the exertions of the past few weeks. We didn't have any forwards on show that are particularly great ball carriers, in the backs I was happy enough with Marshall, Jackson is clearly struggling for form, Cave in my drunken haze was quite noticeable, Nelson tried hard and did ok, Olding is clearly something a bit special.
The thing I love the most is that we are doing driving mauls more often and they are very effective, I like we have a few young backs coming through that are looking good, and was pretty happy with Ross and Reidy, Reidy got a few steals on the ground which was great.

[Red]

p was as poor as he always is. Don't let a couple of decent breaks from the back of the scrum fool you. His decision making, speed of pass, accuracy of pass, time to get the ball from the ruck when it's presented to him on a plate is absolutely garbage. All of this does nothing for easing PJ back into form. Means that any aggressive defence is in the face of the first receiver (PJ). giving him no chance to get the backline going and leaves little alternative but to hoof it up the pitch. How the hell he got another contract continues to annoy me every week. In the first half, a Welsh guy behind me said, your scrumhalf looks a decent player. I told him to watch him for a while. Ten minutes later he was asking, what the hell is it with the step he takes before passing. We're screwed without Ruan.
It took him 10 minutes to realise that !
He is far too slow at getting to rucks never mind getting the ball away, Ruan never breaks sweat as he can read the way things are going and heads for where he expects the next ruck to be and gets there as the ball is presented and generally can get it away before the opposition have time to compete, p is too slow to realise and it is a mess when he arrives then everything is a blind panic

I thought Marshall was fine last night. I thought the other parts of his game more than made up for this .... but only for last night.

I think this is a spot on assessment and is exactly what I've thought for a while about Pienaar. It's like he's got an invisible elastic band to the breakdown. Sometimes you see him walking, jogging, running or sprinting to the breakdown but he instinctively knows just when the ball will become available and times his arrival just for that moment.

Marshall in comparison has no such instinct for this and clearly ran out of steam in the 2nd half.

If anyone is going back to watch the game today can you please count how many times we had to have a stand in scrum half? Van Der Merwe had it do it at least 3 times just to keep the urgency in our game. Even Callum Black was acting 9 at some points.

Back to my earlier point though, none of that is new. Like Humphreys being a 10 for weaker Pro 12 teams, Marshall is an impact 9 who's skills are almost wholly suited to coming on at 60-65 mins and pushing tiring teams for a bonus point.

[LegsLikeSausages]

Look, we are dreadfully out of form and have been since April.

I personally think we will click back into form when our injuries start to clear up- as much because of the psychological lift that will give the squad as actually having the players back.

If that happens, we have a decent chance of seriously competing for the pro12. If it doesn't, we will probably still qualify for the SDC next season. Given all the upheaval, those are probably realistic expectations.

People seem to be quite emotionally labile since the Saracens game- sometimes I think I'm on a Newcastle United forum...

[bazzaj]

Look, we are dreadfully out of form and have been since April.

I personally think we will click back into form when our injuries start to clear up- as much because of the psychological lift that will give the squad as actually having the players back.

If that happens, we have a decent chance of seriously competing for the pro12. If it doesn't, we will probably still qualify for the SDC next season. Given all the upheaval, those are probably realistic expectations.

People seem to be quite emotionally labile since the Saracens game- sometimes I think I'm on a Newcastle United forum...

Till then legs its the upmost priority that we pick up as many points as we can regardless of how we come by them.
A little selection consistency wouldn't be a bad thing either.

[ruckover]

In my opinion the overall performance was not bad. We simply had no clinicality and far too many errors in attack (Ricky Andrew in particular), which ultimately cost us the TBP. Our cutting edge is non-existent.

This is what we're like every season during international periods and yet there appears to be no signs of any change. It is greatly concerning.

[Russ]

In my opinion the overall performance was not bad. We simply had no clinicality and far too many errors in attack (Ricky Andrew in particular), which ultimately cost us the TBP. Our cutting edge is non-existent.

This is what we're like every season during international periods and yet there appears to be no signs of any change. It is greatly concerning.

Ricky Andrew made a great break down the right and passed inside to Cave who had a clear run in

Cave dropped the ball as he was so shocked that Andrew passed the ball

[damianmcr]

Ludik tweeted he just rolled the ankle and is fine last night so good news there.