Ulster 2013/2014

First topic message reminder :

One guy I think deserves high praise from these two Treviso games is Sean Doyle.
As you know I reported some doubt about his future and that he needed to put his hand - he has done so big time.

Few more games like that and he will be with us next year for sure.

On Allens tackle - I said it when it happened - he clearly decided to throw his body in front of him to trip him. Clear as day. No arm wrap IMO.

Poor defence by Duncs!

Meanwhile Schmidt gets straight on the ipad to look up Ulsters team sheet - "who was that guy?", he mutters.

I am Baabaabonce! I will certainly let you know when I see a dangerous tackle.

  

MrsP wrote:I am Baabaabonce! I will certainly let you know when I see a dangerous tackle.

  

Shoulder charge to the knee not dangerous?

Allen's shoulder could have got hurt right enough but no more than in any other tackle.

I will accept that it could be considered illegal but dangerous?

That's just silly!

I see Paul Scholes has had a change of sport according to gusher he is on our bench

Illegal entry into the mail and Afoa with hands on the floor.

May have been a forward pass on the build up. Don't think he's checking that mind

Henderson does what he does best there bouncing off players.

Henderson needs more gametime - that proves it. He's seriously special!

Didn't see that?!

Great steal by Tibaldi. Weather getting worse. Ospreys will struggle here

Yea, good steal - wet weather makes ripping easier I suspect. Unlucky hendo!

Boy it is horrible out there!

Thats a very peculiar one there but i guess do the rules not say you must release if you are on the ground?

A TC contact lens!

whatever happened to the 5 seconds at the back of the ruck rule? seems to have gone completely this year

Ulsters tackling realatively poor here

Great work by Hendo but Ulsters tackling is very poor

ian henderson - too good!

Ulster have got away with at least 3 high tackles within kicking distance good game in the conditions

I think its the conditions - if ulster had some possession you would probably see Ospreys tackling just as poor. Its really horrible to watch.

Big Nick not having his best night!

Hendo again!

Was that Henderson again?

Looked like he was drinking a sample

Ulster are very lucky at the minute Ospreys are all over them one of these times they will finish it. No more mistakes

Tibaldi kick with 81 minutes on the clock! What a c0ck!!!

We got lucky, Ospreys played well no idea why Tibaldi kicked at the end though

The Ospreys scrum half is rubbish need to get shot of him asap

Phew!

O's certainly will be the more disappointed with the scoreline!

I think if they had kept Habberfield on the O's might have won that. Tebaldi really is a poor player. Everytime I've seen him for the O's his box kicking in particular is abysmal, as is his choosing of when to do it.

The commentators mentioned that Eli Walker looked like he had reinjured himself. Did anyone see if that was so? Such terrible luck if he has. I think he's a great player.

We are also fortunate that despite Pienaar have a stinker we've come away with a win. I really hope we complete the signing of Robbie Robinson as I hate watching us with Ricky Andrew at 15, hes not up to this level nor is McKinney based on his last two performances. I thought out best player was Cave, out of position at 12, he showed he actually has a pretty decent kicking game and made a couple of good breaks. Took his try well also.

Yoink!

4 points against another top four team.

I'll take it!

MrsP wrote:The commentators mentioned that Eli Walker looked like he had reinjured himself. Did anyone see if that was so? Such terrible luck if he has. I think he's a great player.

He could have won it for them at the end. Another second and he would have got the ball to the Fijian wing and it was try time. Jim Neilly said he looked like he had done his leg again - lets hope not.

Not Pienaar's best game right enough but it reall is filthy out there. The wind is gusting everywhere and it is just tipping own.

Not the night for silky skills.

Artful_Dodger wrote:

MrsP wrote:The commentators mentioned that Eli Walker looked like he had reinjured himself. Did anyone see if that was so? Such terrible luck if he has. I think he's a great player.

He could have won it for them at the end.  Another second and he would have got the ball to the Fijian wing and it was try time.  Jim Neilly said he looked like he had done his leg again - lets hope not.

I thought Eli had the opportunity to pass before contact. What you think?

sheephead wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

MrsP wrote:The commentators mentioned that Eli Walker looked like he had reinjured himself. Did anyone see if that was so? Such terrible luck if he has. I think he's a great player.

He could have won it for them at the end.  Another second and he would have got the ball to the Fijian wing and it was try time.  Jim Neilly said he looked like he had done his leg again - lets hope not.

I thought Eli had the opportunity to pass before contact. What you think?

He had a very small window to make the pass, it was possible but I wouldn't really criticise him for not making it. I don't think either of Ulster wings tonight would have made it had they have been in that position.

It annoys me when someone attempts to go on their own when support is there. North is one of the worst.

That pass by Morgan at full tilt in the first half was something though!

Poor game in awful weather, but the weather doesn't excuse just how bad Ulster were this evening. McKinney was terrible. Pienaar was poor. Allen made a horlicks of a try. but think the penalty awarded against him for the tackle was harsh. Not so sure about Henderson's try being disallowed? Looked ok to me, but would need to have another look. Aimless kicking back to the Ospreys was very frustrating.
Commiserations to Ospreys. Could have won it. Delighted you didn't.

Hoping Walker is ok. Noticed Cave limping off. Hopefully nothing that will keep him out next week.

I wouldn't blame Allen. The ball was dislodged by the tacklers arm. Brilliant defense.

And one of the Os stripped the ball from Henderson as he went over. Correct decision. Fantastic defense again.

MrsP wrote:I wouldn't blame Allen. The ball was dislodged by the tacklers arm. Brilliant defense.

And one of the Os stripped the ball from Henderson as he went over. Correct decision. Fantastic defense again.

Yep, Allen took a knock, but still believe he could have, and should have grounded the ball. Fair enough on Henderson. I didn't see the ball being stripped of him, and so wasn't sure.
Ospreys defense was great this evening, as was some of their attack play. Basically the Ospreys 2nds, and they were very close to beating us.

That was awful. When are we going to give up with this farce of picking Michael Allen on the wing? I really like him but when it comes down to your winger needing to beat the cover and score in a very tight space... he never does. He just doesn't have it. He's the one player in our squad I wouldn't trust to finish in that situation- not based just on tonight, based on many bombed tries across the course of the season.

Also, the decision to move Pienaar to 10 nearly lost us the game. Moving our most influential player to a position where he exerts no influence on the game when we are defending a lead with 20 minutes to go? Makes Stuart Lancaster look like the lovechild of Nostradamus and Jose Mourinho.

Pienaar may not have been at his best, but he was the only thing keeping structure in our game at all with a passenger at 10. Once he moved to 10 our exit strategy completely disintegrated.

You do know that Jose is a bloke, right?

It's not short for Josephine.

  

I thought the move was to get McKinney off.

It wasn't worth it. Ruan is as bad a 10 as anyone we have, and then we lost his game control.

Ah sure it's 4 points anyway. We were shocking at times but we park it, learn from it and move on.