Ulster v Zebre Match thread 17th November 2012

[neilthom7]

First topic message reminder :

With all the Internationals happening right now it is important to remember that this Sunday the 18th November at 2pm Ulster face off against Zebre in the Rabo Direct Pro 12. Ulster were off course due to take on Zebre earlier in the season but due to the tragic loss of Nevin Spence and his family this will be the first time the 2 sides play. Zebre are currently bottom of the Rabo having lost all 7 games so far scoring the least points of any side and conceding the 2nd most. They have picked up just 1 losing bonus point. Ulster of course are top of the table and so far remain unbeaten. Neither side has been named yet and I will update when this happens. Ulster will however be missing players to Ireland who face Fiji this weekend and who plays will depend on who Ireland choose to release. The biggest issue for Ulster looks to be in the second row with Muller and Stevenson both missing through injury. If neither Henderson or Tuohy are released from the Ireland squad then we will be down just one senior lock in McComb. So guys what are your predictions for the game and who do you think will play.

Ulster Team
R Andrew; M Allen, J Payne, P Wallace, C Cochrane; N O'Connor, M Heaney; C Black, N Brady (capt), J Afoa, R Diack, N McComb, N Williams, M McComish, R Wilson.

Replacements: R Herring, T Court, D Fitzpatrick, J Simpson, A Birch, B McIlroy, S Olding, P Nelson.

Zebre Team
15. David ODIETE
14. Leonardo SARTO
13. Matteo PRATICHETTI
12. Samuele PACE
11. Alessandro CASTAGNOLI
10. Daniel HALANGAHU
9. Tito TEBALDI

8. Andries VAN SCHALKWYK
7. Filippo CRISTIANO (cap)
6. Filippo FERRARINI
5. Filippo CAZZOLA
4. Josh SOLE
3. Luca REDOLFINI
2. Andrea MANICI
1. Matias AGUERO

Replacements
16. Andrea DE MARCHI
17. Salvatore PERUGINI
18. Flavio TRIPODI
19. Emiliano CAFFINI
20. Nicola BELARDO
21. Alberto CHILLON
22. Ross McCANN
23. Nicola CATTINA

[Smirnoffpriest]

Forgive me as a Scarlets fan (and because of this a fan of the underdog) for saying - Come on Zebre!

It'll be great for the league if they win - though of course it should be fitting for Ulster to win because of Spence...

[rodders]

Feic!

[neilthom7]

Jaysus, for flips sake put a name on those restarts. Simple stuff and it's costing us.

[Notch]

Ultimately, the restarts and lineouts were always going to be a problem. No surprise. Thats where your second rows are so important organisationally and McComb wouldn't be in charge of calling the linout or organising the lineout normally- Diack obviously out of position.

[rodders]

Aw fer flip sake....

[neilthom7]

Gotta take off McComish where was he.

[Notch]

Zebre get the try bonus point whatever else. Backrow got caught out.

[rodders]

10 minutes 5 points.....plenty of time...

[MrsP]

Smirnoff,

I think you mean it would be great for the Scarlets rather than that it would be great for the league!

[Rava]

Only players to watch out for is Halangahu and Andries VAN SCHALKWYK

Three tries for Van Schalkwyk. TBP for Zebre.

[Artful_Dodger]

I'm actually of the opinion at this stage that we deserve to lose this.

[Smirnoffpriest]

Smirnoff,

I think you mean it would be great for the Scarlets rather than that it would be great for the league!

Well it's the same thing really...

[rodders]

Great scrum!

[Notch]

Right, in the corner. Score the try. Win the restart!

[neilthom7]

Basic mistakes!!!

[rodders]

Keep the pressure on lads....

[rodders]

Take the 3!!!!!!!!!

[rodders]

Noooooooo!!!!!

[neilthom7]

We must score this from the scrum now

[Notch]

Don't be silly rodders.

[neilthom7]

YES

[rodders]

Penalty try I can't believe it!

[Notch]

There ya go rodders; penalty try. Take the three indeed!

Right. Win. The. Restart.

[rodders]

There ya go rodders; penalty try. Take the three indeed!

Right. Win. The. Restart.

You and Roger Wilson got out of jail there .... terrible decision to award a penalty try there... shocking...

[rodders]

Good kick from Heany...unlucky it rolled dead...

[Notch]

I was thinking penalty try as soon as he called advantage. He's been pinging them all night at the scrum.

[rodders]

Run the clock down lads!

[MrsP]

Zebre had infringed long before Wilson lost control.

[rodders]

Ahhhh!!! flip!

[rodders]

Flip this will be yellow!

[Notch]

rodders, chiil out man. You'd think it was ever in doubt.

[rodders]

Zebre had infringed long before Wilson lost control.

Nah we were miles out...no other ref other than Patterson would have given us that. Wilson lost control. You need to ride your luck sometimes.

[neilthom7]

How did we win that? Still a win is a win but Anscombe will have a lot to say to those boys.

[Hookisms and Hyperbole]

Daylight robbery. It's like the Northern Bank heist all over again. It'll do me great thanks.

[rodders]

Right that's the get out of jail free card played. Great result all things considered.

Zebre were hard done by there .

[Artful_Dodger]

Feel gutted for Zebre, but relieved we got the victory.

[Rava]

Rodders I can't believe you wanted to kick the points on their line. We had win at least five penalties in the scrum in the second half. It was a no brainier.

[Notch]

rodders, if it wasn't a penalty try it was another penalty. Our pack was going to get that seven pointer sooner or later.

I always thought we'd win that, but unhappy about the performance. Neilly says that was the poorest performance of the season- absolute nonsense. The game we played against the Ospreys makes that look like a World Cup Final. Zebre today were much better than the Ospreys were in that match.

Well done Zebre as well! Two bonus points for them.

[LeinsterFan4life]

Only players to watch out for is Halangahu and Andries VAN SCHALKWYK

Three tries for Van Schalkwyk. TBP for Zebre.

Told you to watch out for him

[MrsP]

Rodders,

We had them running back and their no 8 had broken away as well as the front row standing up.

Phew.

[Notch]

Rodders I can't believe you wanted to kick the points on their line. We had win at least five penalties in the scrum in the second half. It was a no brainier.

+1000

Had we taken the three, we'd probably have lost.

[Rava]

A thoroughly undeserved win. A wake up call if we needed one. Certainly need to see Tuohy back next week if possible. That was probably McCombes worst performance. With the experience we had in the pack we shouldn't have been giving them so many turnovers.
Our backs never really had a chance to attack.

[Notch]

We're left hoping Dan Tuohy is released for the Treviso match- with only one recognised and relatively inexperienced second row on the pitch our organisation in the lineout and at the restarts is a mess.

[rodders]

Rodders I can't believe you wanted to kick the points on their line. We had win at least five penalties in the scrum in the second half. It was a no brainier.

7 minutes to go, 5 points behind and a penalty in front of the sticks I'd take 3 points all day long. Roger Wilson got very lucky because that was a poor call and that was never a penalty try. Terrible call from Patterson.

[Rava]

Oh and well done NOC. Excellent kicking game from hand and tee and was getting the back line going well any time we did get the ball out to him.

[Rava]

Rodders I can't believe you wanted to kick the points on their line. We had win at least five penalties in the scrum in the second half. It was a no brainier.

7 minutes to go, 5 points behind and a penalty in front of the sticks I'd take 3 points all day long. Roger Wilson got very lucky because that was a poor call and that was never a penalty try. Terrible call from Patterson.

It's observations like that that make me want to stay away from this place.

Bye lads enjoy yourselves.

[Notch]

Rodders I can't believe you wanted to kick the points on their line. We had win at least five penalties in the scrum in the second half. It was a no brainier.

7 minutes to go, 5 points behind and a penalty in front of the sticks I'd take 3 points all day long. Roger Wilson got very lucky because that was a poor call and that was never a penalty try. Terrible call from Patterson.

No, he didn't. The penalty was conceded well before he lost control of the ball. And I have no idea which of several things it was conceded for... I can think of at least four.

Penalty try? Debatable. Penalty? Defintely. And was the penalty try 95% inevitable given our scrums dominance? Yes.

We basically had an extremely clear-cut chance to win the game and you want us gathering a restart, where we'd had problems all night, in the last 10 minutes still behind. I know we all say crazy things in the spur of the moment, but come on man. Talk some sense. Everyone else would have been howling for his head if he had taken the three, would have been a nonsensical and potentially game losing call.

[Standulstermen]

It may not have been a penalty try rodders but it was a clear penalty (as was the scrum from which they got the BP try) and thus a YC for their prop. What Patterson did was actually give them 6/7 minutes with 15 men as opposed to the inevitable 3/4 minutes with 14 men.

I thought by and large we got the rough end of his decisions but we didnt deserve anything from that game i agree.

Paddy will be looking over his shoulder even more now. serious pressure to perform on some of our established guys. I would hope that we might get Tuohy and one of Trimble/Gilroy back but i dont expect it. Treviso will be similarly incapacitated with call ups. Move Allen into 13 and bring Payne back to 15 to provide some stability to our back three imo. Herring has to come in for Brady as well.

[MrsP]

All I can say is that I am glad Roger and not Rodders is our no 8.

[rodders]

Rodders I can't believe you wanted to kick the points on their line. We had win at least five penalties in the scrum in the second half. It was a no brainier.

7 minutes to go, 5 points behind and a penalty in front of the sticks I'd take 3 points all day long. Roger Wilson got very lucky because that was a poor call and that was never a penalty try. Terrible call from Patterson.

It's observations like that that make me want to stay away from this place.

Bye lads enjoy yourselves.

Good luck to you then Rava. This is a rugby forum remember and I'm quite entitled not to agree with you. .

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