Ulster v Ospreys. Friday 24th February 2012 KO 7.05pm

First topic message reminder :

Ulster Match Day Squad to face Ospreys, Friday 24th February 2012, Ravenhill (kick-off 7.05pm):
(15-9): S Terblanche; C Gilroy, N Spence, P Wallace, I Whitten; R Pienaar, P Marshall;
(1-8): P McAllister, A Kyriacou, J Afoa, L Stevenson, D Tuohy, C Henry (capt), W Faloon, P Wannenburg;
Replacements (16-23): N Brady, C Black, A Macklin, T Barker, R Diack, I Humphreys, S Danielli, A D'Arcy
Unavailable due to injury:
Declan Fitzpatrick, Jared Payne, Johann Muller, Darren Cave, Ali Birch

Ospreys Team:
15 Richard Fussell
14 Hanno Dirksen
13 Andrew Bishop
12 Stefan Watermeyer
11 Eli Walker
10 Dan Biggar
9 Kahn Fotuali'i
1 Duncan Jones
2 Scott Baldwin
3 Joe Rees
4 Ian Gough
5 James King
6 Tom Smith (Capt)
7 Sam Lewis
8 Joe Bearman

Replacements:
16 Mefin Davies
17 Ryan Bevington
18 Will Taylor
19 Jonathan Thomas/Lloyd Peers
20 George Stowers
21 Rhys Webb
22 Matthew Morgan
23 Ashley Beck

Well done Eli

Ha hes awarded the try! Marshall Kilgore

Omg why did he kick it?

Welsh side in bottling drop goal shocker.

well how exciting was that ending????

Good win for the red hand gang SUFTUM

Absolute madness kicking to the corner. Should have dropped back into the pocket.

Holy Flip Flip Flip. Bloody hell. Frigging papping it. How the balls is Paddy Wallace not starting for Ireland.

Holey smokes what a finish!

Rubbish performance but a wins a win! .....

well played to the Ospreys

Not sure if that was a try or not but it was such a great run it deserved to be!

Phew is all I have to say!

Pffft.

Afoa's a strange call for motm? I thought Terblanche and Paddy Wallace stood out more, Whitten too.

Ulster deserved the win really, but it was a hard game to referee and the ref made a bloody awful mess of it at times.

Still I dont think anyone at the Ospreys expected anything out of this game so we'll take the losing bonus point.

yeah rodders Whtten or Wallace for me to, with Wallace edging it. Why is he not in the national squad at least?

Walker didn't score but then Ulster shouldn't have got the penalty try so it evened itself out.

The referee was pretty poor I thought.

yep right result though. Ulster deserved that win

What an end to the game, a win is a win i suppose! Some good performances up front and i thought Wallace was decent again!! Marshall was terrible at 9, passing all over the show all game long his worst for a while to be fair. the ref was awful for both teams and Ruan is far more effective for us a scrum half

Right outta here for now! Have a good one guys! Great weekend of rugby coming up! Good luck!

Someone please tell me EOS was only at Ravenhill to commentate?

Please????

MrsP - ignore the BBC's nonsense about O'Sullivan saying he's interested in the Ulster job. The BBC continuously asked him both on BBC Newsline then before the match if he was interested in becoming Ulster or Munster coach or if he'd been approached. O'Sullivan responded by saying he hadnt been approached but was in the market for a job and coaching in Ireland again would be good.

The report on the BBC website makes out that he has thrown his hat in the ring or as though he is trying to talk his way in, when actually it was more a case of the BBC trying to get him to say he was interested. Thats if you were looking at this article of course - which as I said is a very poor reflection on what was actually said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/17160116

"O'Sullivan drops Ulster job hint" erm no the BBC doing everything they can to come up with a story out of nothing really.

Thanks Artful!

I was indeed looking at that with horror and seeing as the beeb decided that the Ulster match wasn't going to actually start till 8pm ish I missed the prematch chat.

Would be shocked if we were interested in him though.

Eddie's a shoe in I reckon. Lots of players putting their hands up...like paddy Wallace and er no one else really.

Wallace, Whitten, Stevenson and McAllister all had very good game - out of the home grown players.

Well if he hasn't been approached then it's pretty much 100% certain he isn't getting the job. Ulster held interviews for the position months ago

Also, have to say, credit for both teams for a good game. At times it seemed like Ulster couldn't finish their supper, all that possession and territory... but the Os did a super job in defence and at the breakdown. And really dangerous when they broke out as well

Squeaky bum time. But I don't begrudge them their losing bonus. We should have put it to bed but they fought hard for that point. Fair play. Hope it doesn't cost us at the end of the season.

Largely agree with DOD. Wallace was head and shoulders above everyone IMO.

Our clear out wasn't great in the first 20 but after that our backs were toothless. Doak needs gone seriously. Gilroy looks terrified of making mistakes and spence showed why he isn't ready. Nowhere close in fact.

I wonder again about the refereeing in that I didn't see our penalty try and I am informed the ospreys last try wasn't grounded (I only saw it at the ground). What seriously worries me is that despite clearly having the upper hand in the scrum ulster finished with a 0-3 penalty ratio in that facet. If I am correct I believe we are in serious danger of devaluing this part of the game and a step closer to league

Positive news was the under 20 win and rte described Iain Henderson as outstanding. Look forward to him coming through and I look forward to new coaches at ulster irrespective of the rest of the season.

Stand the penalty try decision was a joke, if it was against us we'd all be going bananas.

Walker dropped the ball clearly. Nowhere near a try.

I thought Spence had a brilliant game based on the TV coverage. Awesome in defence and made some surging runs in attack, generally picked the right passes and was like an extra flanker on the deck.

Paddy Wallace and Stefan Terblanche were head and shoulders above the rest, closely followed by Whitten who has surely done enough for a new contract.

Spence did what he usually does which is take contact and kill the attack. He was ineffective at best.

Rodders

Haven't seen the game back but I thought spence was desperate in attack. If you thought paddy crabbed against Clermont in november then hat you thought of spence tonight I dont know. He is a good tackler but I think he is miles behind O'Malley as an attacking 13.

I m maybe being harsh as I haven't watched it back. I thought/guessed that the referee gave the penalty try in reaction to the realisation that nearly very ospreys player wasn't 10 from the previous penalty he gave. He showed no indication that he had seen that and I was castigating him when he gave the try so missed biggars infraction.

Have to agree with DOD again. If spence it dealt with in contact then he is ineffective.

Fair enough, we'll agree to disagree. He was far from inaffective...did you even see the game DOD?

He made 2 or 3 line breaks and did some fantastic work on the deck. He was arguable the best player in the first half. Defensively him and Whitten were excellent.

The biggest problem tonight was our back row were beasted at the contact area and we couldn't produce quick ball or secure clean posession. Faloon was the pick of the backrowers.

There's a real lack of leadership without Best and Muller.

Whilst I agree with you regarding ou backrow for the first 20 mins or so rodders I think we had mre than enough quick ball thereAfter to score. Least one more. Our back play is killing us

Yawn...yes I watched both games tonight and lost loads of brownie points in the process...

I was at the game this evening and was thoroughly disappointed with Ulster's performance. They look like a team lost without Muller and Best providing direction.
Henry and Tuohy being tipped for national selection- a million miles away by tonight's showing. Both were largely anonymous for 80 minutes- Stevenson actually showing up the better of the 2 locks. We have nothing close to a decent back-up for Rory- Kyriacou simply doesn't cut the mustard at this level. Reasonable showing from our props actually but that's the least you would expect from a world cup winning import.
Our half back pairing simply didn't function tonight. Marshall's distribution would have been considered average at best at club level and his kicking game was non-existant. Ruan showed why he never made it as a 10- his kicking from hand never threatened the Ospreys back 3 and he never threatened on the gain line. As poor as Humph has played recently he needs to be reinstated. Our midfield was pretty good- Paddy put in an honest performance. As far as our 37 year old full back is concerned- form is temporary, class is permanent.
Referee was a joke, the penalty try was dubious at best and I feel that if we are to compete in Limerick then our game needs to go up a number of levels.
Disillusioned

DOD wrote:Spence did what he usually does which is take contact and kill the attack. He was ineffective at best.

So many times he needed to give the ball and didn't.

InBODWeTrust wrote:I was at the game this evening and was thoroughly disappointed with Ulster's performance. They look like a team lost without Muller and Best providing direction.
Henry and Tuohy being tipped for national selection- a million miles away by tonight's showing. Both were largely anonymous for 80 minutes- Stevenson actually showing up the better of the 2 locks. We have nothing close to a decent back-up for Rory- Kyriacou simply doesn't cut the mustard at this level. Reasonable showing from our props actually but that's the least you would expect from a world cup winning import.
Our half back pairing simply didn't function tonight. Marshall's distribution would have been considered average at best at club level and his kicking game was non-existant. Ruan showed why he never made it as a 10- his kicking from hand never threatened the Ospreys back 3 and he never threatened on the gain line. As poor as Humph has played recently he needs to be reinstated. Our midfield was pretty good- Paddy put in an honest performance. As far as our 37 year old full back is concerned- form is temporary, class is permanent.
Referee was a joke, the penalty try was dubious at best and I feel that if we are to compete in Limerick then our game needs to go up a number of levels.
Disillusioned

You absolutely slate Ulster's performance from all angles and then call for IH to be recalled. Brilliant.

Marshall and Pienaar didn't function well tonight. We were missing Pienaar's leadership and game management behind the scrum. Marshall's poor ball all evening didn't help but I didn't think Pienaar looked as comfortable playing at 10.

Well we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Marshall and Humphreys are brilliant on form, woeful off form. Pienaar is a scrum half who can fill in at 10 but 9 is far and away his best position. It's a complex equation.

InBODWeTrust wrote:Marshall and Pienaar didn't function well tonight. We were missing Pienaar's leadership and game management behind the scrum. Marshall's poor ball all evening didn't help but I didn't think Pienaar looked as comfortable playing at 10.

I agree. Our halfback's didn't function at all. Marshalls service was awful and Pienaar didn't control the game or distribute well at all at 10.

In light of that I though all our outside backs did exceptionally well so I don't agree with the criticism of Spence. On several occaisions Spence held rather than passing but on most of these he was right to do so rather than throw 50/50 balls in good attacking positions. The big problem was that the back row were too slow to the breakdown and we didn't commit enough numbers so the recycled ball was slow and scrappy.

How much of the slow ball was down to Marshall, the backrow or the referee allowing the Osprey to loiter offside and disrupt Marshall is debatable but there was a real lack off effort and intelligence at the breakdown and Henry deserves a lot of criticism for a very poor showing and poor leadership. Pedre was poor too and the backrow in general didn't function. The Ospreys flankers were far quicker to the breakdown.

The rolling maul did work very well though but I think the referee was responsible for a lot of the disjointedness in the game as he didn't seem to know the rules.

Terblanche was fantastic and it would be great to keep him for another season.

I'd thought Ulster would bury us in the second half. Didn't see the pen try but Eli walkers was def short. How the tmo gave that? A good run by the lad tho, hope he has more games in the future.

Spence as always was great in defence, but I feel he (and Gilroy) have really gone backwards in attack. He did some great line breaks tonight, which I haven't seen from him for a while, but his awareness wasn't great. I don't feel he is as bad as some people are saying, as taking contact was the right option on a few occasions (but not every occasion). He really needs to work on his awareness though, try to work on his off-loading game and be a bit more creative in attack.

As stand said compared to EOM his attacking game is not as good. But then compared to Spence, EOS is not nearly as good a defender. Spence of last season may have been just as good in attack as EOS I feel, but once again I have to wonder why both he and Gilroy seem to be so much less potent in attack this season? Are they both suffering from 2nd season syndrome or what? Also what must Paddy Wallace do to play for Ireland? Seriously, he is playing outstandingly atm. But of course D'Arcy the undroppable will start forever.

Some excellent performances but overall disappointing - Afoa, McAllister, Stevenson, Wallace, Whitten were all outstanding. So was Spence (bar his failure to pass on a few occassions) and Terblanche (although a couple of mistakes in there).

Henry showed to me that he is now a better 7 than a 6. He has adapted his game to the new position.

However some worries. Kyriacou's throwing was awful but even more worrying is I have to come to the conclusion that we have only 1 half back good enough - and that is Pienaer as a 9.
I say forget a NIQ backrower - kidnap one of the fringe southerners and with Wilson as well we would be ok.
We desperately desperately need a 10

One last though Paddy Wallace is playing at a level so superior to D'Arcy it is a joke !

Thought Pienaer looked predictable at 10 last night - his tackling technique is a lot like IHs - rubbish! In fact if you were short sighted you wouldn't have noticed a difference in their play last night at all.

Geoff - do you think the powers from down south would be happy if we employed a NIQ 10. Would we?.....too many NIQs in key positions is a worry for me.

Surley paddy jackson needs to be getting some game time between Pienaer and Wallace. He is starting to sound like our future 10.

The new rules say 3 teams get 5 different positions each then someone has to have a NIQ 10.

Sorry whilst Pienaer was not great he was still much much better than Humphreys.

Humphreys is 30 in April he will get no better.

To be honest I can see Wallace playing 10 with Spence and Cave in the centre for the bigger games and Jackson in between Pienaer and Wallace for the smaller games

Geoff - do you think Whitten might make it as a wing rather than at centre? That was one of the best games I've seen him play.

geoff999rugby wrote:To be honest I can see Wallace playing 10 with Spence and Cave in the centre for the bigger games and Jackson in between Pienaer and Wallace for the smaller games

Thats not a bad shout Geoff...Wallace would need some time to adapt but he could definitely finish his career at 10.

Pienaar just isn't great at 10, not over 80 min anyway. His kicking from hand is poor and he has no short passing game. Great distributer but far to predictable at 10 and lacks physicality. Keep him at 9 were he is one of the best around and move him into 10 the odd time for impact.

Spence at 12 though.. never like seeing that.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Spence at 12 though.. never like seeing that.

I'm tempted to report this to the mods.....

Sorry rodders

You know how I feel about Spence as a 12 though. I just want to see him get on for Ireland at 13 soon, ya know?

Only messing Rory !

Pienaar has one start at 10 and he's already written off! If he had even half the games that Humphreys has had this year he would certainly prove himself. Marshall wasn't as bad as everyone is making out either.

Spence did a very solid job in defence and broke the gainline in attack. What are fans expecting? If Spence was so poor would Whitten/Wallace have had such a good games?

Ulster should have won by a lot more and I blame McLaughlin for why they didn't. Ulster keep turning down chances of points to build a lead and that should be the foundation to build a big score. Add to that Ulster never come out for the second half knowing how to play either the opposition or the referee. I like the guy but he isn't the coach to take the team forward.