Thank you Dublin, well done Ulster and bring on next season!

Well, what a weekend! Great banter, great fun, lots of drink (we did out best to kick start the Irish economy with Guinness sales ), good game, amazing atmosphere, crap to lose but have gained memories to last a lifetime.

Thank you to Dublin for being a fantastic City. Never has a man in a kilt and rugby top felt so welcome! And thanks to the Ulster fans for, in the most part, being fantastic banter and gracious winners. Only black mark were the Ulster fans near us who were chanting "English b******s" and "you're just a small part of England" at us, although my brother's return chant of "you're just a small part of Ireland" shut that one up!

So to the game - or as I like to call it, the Pieenar show! That guy was just top class and worth every penny of his high salary. Take Pieenar out of that game and Ulster would have been a totally different team.

Very proud of Edinburgh though - we did not look out of place in a Heineken cup semi final, which is a massive statement in itself. Some of our young guys really came of age - I thought Matt Scott had a fantastic game and Tom Brown was a rock under the high ball. When you consider how young a lot of our team was this only bodes well for the future!

Some gripes though - think it's fair to say Ferris should have got a yellow (did the ref bottle it cause it was Ferris?). Penalty in the 22 for deliberately knocking on? Seen that numerous times this season and it has always been a yellow. Would it have changed the game? Who knows. Ulster were the better team overall though and deserved their victory so that one doesn't give me too bitter a taste.

Other grip - why did Cross get subbed off for bloody Jack Gilding?? It was a one try game, Cross goes off, Gilding on, and he gets butchered in the scrum and lose a penalty! Cross didn't have a good game but Gilding is the worst prop in living memory.

Delighted we got the last try though and I think we deserved it.

So on to next season - it is cruical that Edinburgh build on this and qualify for the quarters again. If we don't all the momentum will be lost. Here's hoping for a favourable group.

Final point - the Edinburgh team flew back straight after the game on Bradley's orders - think that was a crying shame! Win or lose the squad deserved a night out together in Dublin and it would be such an anti-climax for the guys to have to fly home straight after. Also, it was Jim Thomson's stag doo that night and none of the players were able to go!

So well done Ulster, proud of you Edinburgh, and lets do it all again next year!

RDW_Scotland wrote: Only black mark were the Ulster fans near us who were chanting "English b******s" and "you're just a small part of England" at us, although my brother's return chant of "you're just a small part of Ireland" shut that one up!

That a feicing disgrace, where were you sat RDW?

You are a gentleman sir , it must be a tough pill to swallow losing such a tight one. Edinburgh have loads to be proud of and hopefully this will be a catalyst for Scottish rugby.

Glad you had a great time in Dublin .

Section 107 near the front - think the guys were just drunk! We all shook hands at the end though so no bad feelings. We were sitting next to an older couple though, and the wife was English and was getting a bit riled by it.

All the other Ulster fans were fantastic though!

RDW, I'm as proud as they come, but even i will openly admit that many many of my compatriots peed me off yesterday. Some will say I'm a killjoy but I've never been a fan of the characteristics often brought on by alcohol. Probably highlighted by the fact I never drink more than a couple. But certainly there are plenty of eejits about, in every country. I can only apologise for this particular aspect of your experience!

We had a couple of english guys behind us who actually told us to sit down when we stood up in excitement, before singing really badly. A song that didnt make sense to me. Taking it in turns to support either Edinburgh or Ulster. They also were talking about how paddy jackson did well kicking all the penalties!

We were just behind you RDW... row T, where you with the big scottish contingent a few rows down?

There seemed to be quite a few "bandwagoners around" there. A lot of people just sitting and not really getting into the game unfortunately....people not keeping quiet for the kicks etc.

At one point the same fans started singing swing low - even their own fans started telling them to shut up at that point!

We were row f rodders, wearing kilts and had Edinburgh flags (doesn't narrow it down, granted!)

We stood up a lot and led a lot of the Edinburgh chants, including stand up for the edinbra!

There were a lot of cringeworthy Ulster fans at the game. Drunk, belligerent and just rugby fans for the day! Thats the bandwagon effect. At least they made a lot of noise for the team- atmosphere in the ground was great I thought.

The away support at Thomond was much better.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Section 107 near the front - think the guys were just drunk! We all shook hands at the end though so no bad feelings.

No its not good enough RDW, totally unnacceptable. You'd never get that at Ravenhill. They certainly weren't genuine Ulster rugby supporters but unfortunately with 2% of the population going that was always likely to happen.

You should complain to ulster rugby.

RDW_Scotland wrote:We were row f rodders, wearing kilts and had Edinburgh flags (doesn't narrow it down, granted!)

We stood up a lot and led a lot of the Edinburgh chants, including stand up for the edinbra!

Yeah you were just below us! Sorry I didn't get to chat to you sir!

I was was the one shouting "Come on Ulllllsssttttterrrrr" all game whilst getting a few disapproving stares from the other Ulster fans!.....

I was probably more elated after the thomond game. Bandwagoners are a necessary evil if we want to grow. Look at thomond park as an example. I bet not all that fill it were well behaved at the first and after being educated by the existing fans....... Pin drop silence. That the way it works.

Get fans in first then teach them how we behave at a rugby match

I was in Row O in Section 107, though I wasn't signing the songs I did stand up for the Edinburgh lads. Being a Glasgow fan it felt dirty enough doing that . Though the other half was doing all the shouting for us. Though had to clam her down a few times when she noticed Ulster not binding properly at the scrum. That gets her goat up at every game.

RDW,

Sorry about the dipsticks.

Glad you had a great time overall though.

We had no Edinburgh fans near us at all. Or at least, no one who was admitting it.

Just after the game we encountered a very drunk guy in a very large Saltire hat. I gave him a commiserative hug and then talked a bit. He ahd an English asccent but claimed to be Welsh.

Confused dot com!

Great day though!

Anyone got any good stories? My dad was so pished on Friday night that he almost took a waz in the corner of the room thinking it was the bathroom!

Also, the ballsbridge hotel was full of Edinburgh fans and had an amazing atmosphere before the game - it was also hosting the miss Ireland competition so there were lots of girls walking around in their dressing gowns having just been to the spa!

I grew up supporting soccer so I've always been rather immune to offensive chants. Here's some examples of what my fellow Drogheda United fans would sing.

To Cork fans
"Who shot Michael Collins. Who shot Michael Collins. La la la la. La la la la

To Derry fans
"You pay your taxes to the queen. You pay your taxes to the queen"

To Dundalk fans
"Dundalk are scum. Dundalk are scum"

All completely rubbish. At least the offensive chants in English football matches can be quite witty sometimes.

If you ask me, those Ulster lads were clearly soccer supporters who went for a rugby day out. "English b******s" and "you're just a small part of England", really has "rubbish Irish soccer chant" written all over it.

Feckless Rogue wrote:To Derry fans
"You pay your taxes to the queen. You pay your taxes to the queen"

There's something ironic about that one ..... lets just say I'm not sure the queen is getting the better end of that deal .....

Gutted for the Edinburgh boys but what a cracking game! Well done Ulster, you can tell it meant everything to every single player on that pitch.

Edinburgh can be properly proud of their cup run though. Those boys deserved a big night on the tiles IMO

RDW_Scotland wrote:Final point - the Edinburgh team flew back straight after the game on Bradley's orders - think that was a crying shame! Win or lose the squad deserved a night out together in Dublin and it would be such an anti-climax for the guys to have to fly home straight after. Also, it was Jim Thomson's stag doo that night and none of the players were able to go!

Come on RDW, massive game against Treviso next weekend and we all know how seriously Bradley takes the Rabo 12......

Agree, should have let the side out to celebrate.

As for the Gilding decision, was with Radge at the time and we were both totally confused. Cross didn't look injured at all, and Gilding performed like a secret agent for Ulster.

I haven't seen the game yet, but did record it, so looking forward to watching the Pienaar show a little later tonight.

Congrats on Ulster going to the final.

Feckless, so you're from the six-toed brigade?

City used sing some great chants at Derry

"What's it like to have a Queen"

Or Barry and Charlie are the best of friends at the St.Pats lads.

Or the "This is not a halting site" when Rovers had no ground!


Feel your pain RDW. Musnter got shafted by the Ulster lads too, and a yellow card was missed in that game too..... But Ulster deserved to win both games though.

I think it's been exaggerated hugely if I'm being honest Thomond. Ferris deserved a yellow card but just received a penalty. One decision. If you can't win a game after one bad decision, do you really deserve to win?

People have talked about our try- we had penalty advantage coming. Best case scenario for Edinburgh was our put in again, worst case penalty try though that in itself would have been highly controversial. At that time our scrum was massively dominant- seven points was just reward.

Then you filter in the missed knock-ons and forward passes from Embra... Poite did not have a good game but it's not like Ulster were the sole beneficiaries or Embra the sole victims. Edinburgh were not shafted. They just weren't cute enough or clinical enough.

Mythbusters session over

No complaints about the try, but I do think the Ferris decision could have been the deciding point - your top forward out for 10 minutes, penalty to us 10m out just before half time, anything could have happened.

Not saying Ulster didn't deserve to win - they most definitely did- just that I think the Ferris incident was a significantly bad decision, as opposed to a couple of missed knock ons 50m from your line! The ref saw this one and yet didn't apply the law correctly, whereas for the knock ons or forward passes he mustn't have seen.

RDW_Scotland wrote: Final point - the Edinburgh team flew back straight after the game on Bradley's orders

Ehhh, they were out in Krystle night club were they not? My fella said he saw them.

Just like to add a +1 to the initial post. Yesterday was a bit mad as well having started on the pints in Dublin airport then not stopping when I got back to Embra. Great city, great time and all the Ulster fans I met were grand. After a bit of banter through the game one even insisted on giving me a souvenir saying how much he enjoyed the good natured chat - not sure what I'll do with a SUFTUM pint holder though.

Thanks Dublin and all the best to Ulster in the final. JS

Shauna784 wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote: Final point - the Edinburgh team flew back straight after the game on Bradley's orders

Ehhh, they were out in Krystle night club were they not? My fella said he saw them.

Nah the squad definitely flew back - as I said JT had his stag doo after but the players had to go home.

justified sinner wrote:Just like to add a +1 to the initial post. Yesterday was a bit mad as well having started on the pints in Dublin airport then not stopping when I got back to Embra. Great city, great time and all the Ulster fans I met were grand. After a bit of banter through the game one even insisted on giving me a souvenir saying how much he enjoyed the good natured chat - not sure what I'll do with a SUFTUM pint holder though.

Thanks Dublin and all the best to Ulster in the final. JS

Not sure what I would do with that and I'm an Ulster fan...