I thought I perhaps ought to dispense some Christmas cheer, just as one off you understand, as my parting gift to you all.
I have been lurking from time to time, appalled at some rubbish, entertained by other opinions & gladdened to see the odd pearl of wisdom amongst so much dross.
The forum is currently keeping pace with the Ulster team, mainly crap but the odd bright moment hear & there.
Three things particularly interest or concern me at present. The team, the coaches and this forum.
The Team
There is nothing much that can be done about injuries, other than I wish some clowns would not try to palm it off on methods of training, the pitch or any number of imagined nonsense such as the medical staff, so passing swiftly along, selection.
Thankfully Payne was injured debuting for Ireland.
This has had two main benefits: 1) the best centre at Ulster has shown beyond doubt that he is just that 2) it has allowed Robbie Henshaw to demonstrate his potential to fill the green 13 into the future. Result for both province and country. I suppose there is no guarantee that JoeFibber, the Irish coach, who with a straight face has spoken with forked tongue about not influencing provincial selection, may yet again insist that Payneinthehole plays 13, we can only hope the current incumbent at Ulster allegedly in charge of selection grows a set of reproductive tackle and does the right thing.
I am heartily sorry for Louis Ludik, he simply never should have been bought, is a very decent player but sadly little more than a wholehearted player who gives of his not quite good enough best. Payneinthehole has been badly missed at 15 this season.
Had we more spots available I’d be content enough with Louis but buying him has left us bereft in the back row, a joke shop waste of an NIQ when a back row was essential to try to replace the irreplaceable legend.
The big lump at centre in the SDC was as flawed a selection as you will see in a long days march. It did him no favours let alone the team.
That apart not too many options have been squandered given the injury toll. Just when you think you must be due a half decent injury run, you plumb new depths. Our legendary SID has been demonstrated to be wafer thin but I do congratulate the coaches for not so far having had to resort to MaCoooomash, a waster of oxygen to rival our 9 back up.
Leadership has been a major issue, especially in Ruan’s absence. Nobody appears to direct the team without him, the lack of direction on the pitch a mirror image of the inaction apparent week after we in the coaching box.
The Coaches
My understanding of the set-up is as follows:
Doak – head coach and attack genius
Clark – forwards coach
Bell – defence coach
Malone – not entirely sure, video analyst??? All round jobsworth? Skill?
My assessment is that Doak appears to have certain talent in coaching the attack, take the SDC two weeks, Cave’s try away was a peach of a training ground move beautifully executed. The previous week, Ruan’s move with Cave to put Tommy in was similar, again needing perfect execution & timing.
Where Doakie fails is that I see absolutely no evidence of him reacting to events on the pitch. Any fool on this forum could have told you that Fat Declan was a scrum away from a yellow card, on the coaching bench nobody appeared to move never mind break wind or actually show signs of understanding what was happening in front of their eyes.
Doak appears to have his talents, by all accounts is valued by the players but its abundantly clear, early as it is in his tenure that he isn’t calling the shots during games.
Clark is a man many appear to have a strong distaste for but I will tell you two things, 1) he has brought back use of the maul to good very good effect, something Anscombe had apparently banished 2) Despite the personnel changes, the scrum has looked solid when Black, Warwick & Herbst have been available. Not an area of expertise for me but I don’t buy into him being useless.
Very difficult too to find much fault with Dinger’s work either, our defence has been miserly barring the propensity for “own tries”, 3 in 4 SDC matches and a couple more in the league, unsurprisingly p leading the way in these brainfarts.
Malone – really have no idea or opinion but I’ll make one point. If he is a wizard on video, I assume he is capable of listening to the ref’s microphone. I have no idea if anyone does listen to it, if not I really wonder why not and the yellow card to Fat Deccie makes me wonder does anybody actually listen to what a ref is saying, on or off the pitch?
My presumption is that each may have some strength in their roles but clearly nobody is commanding the stage and making decisions as games unfold.
We are set for a season of directionless crap on the pitch, the hope being that when he gets back next autumn, Kiss shows the ability to coordinate things and understand what is happening on the pitch and make decisions appropriately.
Hope that a returning player or seven will turn us into Pro12 champs I feel is super-optimism on speed. Not going to happen unless Doak has a Road to Damascus moment as a leader and on the playing side, Herbst is a significant loss given that Fat Deccie is either a) injured b) on the wrong side of the ref and unable to take instruction. For him to be utterly incapable of changing things when on the wrong side of a ref and to adapt his game is not good enough for a 9 year veteran. I’m disappointed Big Licence has not been entrusted with the TH job.
The Forum
Mac’s superb contribution with WTPS is my main interest in opening the forum. A huge effort daily for which I am grateful.
Of course in my absence it’s been entertaining to see some chubes coming out of the woodwork to resume their output of ballix, no names however, tis the season to be charitable.
A mention for Rum’n, I’m constantly amazed by the man’s fortitude, he is the object of too much ridicule for his badly composed unpunctuated offerings, yet Rum’n is not invariably wrong. If enough time is taken to ascertain his actual meaning, it’s quite often worth a read.
The main development that pleases me since I ceased posting is the fact that Buck is regularly posting. It’s not that I always agree, just usually and he does talk a lot more sense than most.
The thing that has worried me most recently is the number of old hands who are disgruntled with the match night offering, not simply the on field games but the nannying and lack of atmosphere. Some questioning if they will renew their season tickets.
To them I urge you to stick with it. I recall Fit saying pre-season that we are “growing into the new stadium”. Trite business ballix as it sounds I believe there is plenty in it, the crowd too are finding their feet. Many, myself included, have moved and find ourselves away from the usual faces around us with whom we may simply have exchanged a nod or a smile, maybe a few words here and there.
Change is always a slight spanner in the works, but I’ll cite you a relevant example, The Aviva. The first few seasons showed a drop off in the atmosphere from Lansdowne Road, that appears to have changed in 2014 especially after the last AI game of 2013 when it was raucous for the NZ game, through the 6Ns & AIs this year.
No reason that Ravenhill can’t get back to it’s intimidating best, just stick with it guys, ignore the irritating nannying of the 7 commandments every game and make your own craic as always.
Anyway, to every one of you, whether I hate your guts, can tolerate you or even quite like you, compliments of the season and farewell. I'm currently eating like thee men and a wee fella, about to hibernate, do not fecking disturb as a shot in the face often upsets.
