Ulster 2013/2014

First topic message reminder :

Any reason why he didnt make an appearance for the Ravens?

Evening - I just read Tommy got a try...(I'm watching the Welsh U20s at the mo)...was it his usual top finish?

Paddy is having a stormer tonight, 2 trys 1 assist. He way ahead of Sexton in terms of development at his age, if he continues he should surpass him within a few years.   

Oh and welcome back 1F...good to see him back on the pitch

Cari wrote:Evening -  I just read Tommy got a try...(I'm watching the Welsh U20s at the mo)...was it his usual top finish?

Yep, he also set up Paddy for a cracker!

And I missed it. Oh boo. Why am I watching the wrong bleedin' channel?! Glad he's doing well anyway

What the flip have they been feeding Paddy Jackson in the Irish camp? He's got rocket fuel in his boots!

Disappointment soup?

That'll put a spring in your step alright!

Speaking of springing, stop bouncing around on those knees stevie!

You'll be an international yet Tommy! Great catch!

Stevie!!   

Fairly good first involvement for 1F.

I literally went mental. The missus was not ammused! You couldnt write that!!!

Ferris looks in unbelievable shape!

It's probably fair to say that everyone in Ireland has everything crossed that Stevie F comes through this in one piece. What a player...

Nice one MMC!

I think some of these Ulster backs have been on the   at half time!

It's gone a bit flat alright, rodders. Hopefully ye can push on from here and get the TBP.

Are we gonna win in Paris tomorrow?

Seriously, another very good looking 12???

Big TC - from Brisbane but you'd think he was from Banbridge he wears the Ulster shirt with such pride

Hope Ruan is OK

Wooooo Hoooooo!!!!

  

5 points and Stevie back!!!!!

What a Friday night!!!

Scarlets did their darnedest to spoil the party though.

Don't want to be too harsh on the team thats just lost a very fiery encounter, but does anybody else think the Scarlets had just about zero intent when it came to winning this match? They just seemed intent on stopping Ulster getting the 4th try even when only 8 points down with 15 minutes to go. Not surprised they lost it when Court went over.

Hope Pienaar is okay though.

Pienaar didn't look in a huge amount of pain, hopefully something minor. Definitely not a break from what I could surmise. Black is the bigger concern for me.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Pienaar didn't look in a huge amount of pain, hopefully something minor.  Definitely not a break from what I could surmise.  Black is the bigger concern for me.

you don't need to be in a lot of pain to have a break, especially on of those little wrist bones, i'd worry about how down in the dumps he looked

How exactly was that last try awarded?

Great to see Ferris.

Momentum.

It was Pienaar's shoulder by the look of it I thought.

VinceWLB wrote:How exactly was that last try awarded?

Great to see Ferris.

Common sense. Maybe a 50/50 call in isolation, but when you include all the cynical offences Scarlets were committing in the lead up it was only fair

The ball was clearly seen to be grounded short of the line with momentum (and Lewis Stevenson) carrying him over the line.

Not sure how they could not have awarded it really?

I have seen less ambiguous "try" not being awarded for being "inconclusive".

Or maybe it's just me who wanted to see more action and get on with the penalty.

There really should have been a yellow for the Scarlets, the 9 specifically. First he had a real go at Heaney and conceded 10 metres for the Scarlets, then when Ulster took a quick tap he ludicrously ran round the side of the ruck and hacked the ball away with Ulster a few metres out. How it wasn't a yellow for those 2 offences I don't know. That on top of the fact that Scarlets just wanted to stop us getting the 4th try instead of trying to win, makes me think that Court's try was rather just.

Nah, I'm happy to take the 5 and head home thanks!

  

One for your favourites bar folks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry8PZINojgo

Just to ad, Ferris had just been on the pitch for about 20 seconds after 15 months out injured when he did the above.

The feeling he must have had at the final whistle after the worst 15 months of his career and possibly life - euphoria.

Artful_Dodger wrote:Just to ad, Ferris had just been on the pitch for about 20 seconds after 15 months out injured when he did the above.

The feeling he must have had at the final whistle after the worst 15 months of his career and possibly life - euphoria.  

It really all is a little like a movie script! I was screaming when he hit the man and drove him 15 yards - Couldn't have been a more ideal start for him psychologically!

Really hope he goes from strength to strength.

Never has the following phrase been so evident - 'form is temporary class is permanent'

WHAT AN ULSTERMAN!

Jeez, that wasn't a great performance by any means! Bit of a get out of jail free card with the TMO at the end. We made so, so many errors- it was a very rusty performance but we weren't punished for it because Scarlets were even worse!

Very frustrating... gotta give all due respect to the Scarlets, but we've got to be aware if we want to win something that we've got to play and beat much better teams than that and the level our performance is at is not good enough. Bonus point really flatters us. Still pretty positive we'll build on that and improve but I hope we aren't undercooked for the quarter-final. Having two games on the road now is ideal.

Having said that Ferris back, looked sharp, Bowe is looking really sharp and then Best, Henry and Trimble all playing great stuff for Ireland to come back. There is a lot to be positive about.

I was fairly sure that one of the camera angles showed the ball touch the line. That particular angle was only shown the once, but I'm beginning to think I have imagined it. It was a try anyway.
Great to see Ferris back, and what a first contact! Doyle and McCloskey had great games. McCloskey has some strength, and Doyle is improving steadily. Think Scholes just needs to settle a bit.
Black looks like he might be out for a few weeks, but hopefully Pienaar's shoulder injury isn't too bad, and he is back for the Sarries game at least.

9.9m/s?

Really?

That's some impressive speed especially for a man that size!

Should we not get Stevie to procreate with Tommy's sister, build for the future  

But also, if i may - can I once again bring up the fact that it looks like we have yet another very handy 12 on our hands with McCloskey. What are we going to do with them? If McCloskey has a few more games like that, might we start the 'Olding's best position' debate again??

What an odd night - when we normally expect to have Trimble and Henry during 6Nations, this time they are absent and we have players like Bowe, Gilroy and Ferris to play.

Bowe and Gilroy look so much more dangerous than Trimble - Its still a massive headache to figure out who we should play in our backline.

Next year -

Payne
Gilroy
Bowe
Trimble
Cave
Allen
Marshall
Olding
McCloskey
Jackson
Robbie Robinson/Ian Humphries/Sean O'Hagan?
Pienaar
Marshall

And thats not to mention Andrew, Scholes and Heaney(?)

clivemcl wrote:But also, if i may - can I once again bring up the fact that it looks like we have yet another very handy 12 on our hands with McCloskey. What are we going to do with them? If McCloskey has a few more games like that, might we start the 'Olding's best position' debate again??

What an odd night - when we normally expect to have Trimble and Henry during 6Nations, this time they are absent and we have players like Bowe, Gilroy and Ferris to play.

Bowe and Gilroy look so much more dangerous than Trimble - Its still a massive headache to figure out who we should play in our backline.

Next year -

Payne
Gilroy
Bowe
Trimble
Cave
Allen
Marshall
Olding
McCloskey
Jackson
Robbie Robinson/Ian Humphries/Sean O'Hagan?
Pienaar
Marshall

And thats not to mention Andrew, Scholes and Heaney(?)

In his 2 or 3 appearances thus far McCloskey not only hasn't put a foot wrong but has done real damage in defense and attack. He committed a one man choke tackle tonight and won us a scrum from it and in attack he has wonderful balance alongside his formidable size. Looks like a great all round 12 to me. Scholes as I've mentioned above, hasn't really caught my eye thus far, but I'm happy to give him a bit more time.

clivemcl wrote:
What an odd night - when we normally expect to have Trimble and Henry during 6Nations, this time they are absent and we have players like Bowe, Gilroy and Ferris to play.

Bowe and Gilroy look so much more dangerous than Trimble - Its still a massive headache to figure out who we should play in our backline.

I don't know if that's fair. Gilroy looks pretty average in poor conditions and probably more eye catching than dangerous. Trimble is in most peoples combined 6N teams and will probably be brimming with confidence when he returns to Ulster

I think Trimble will definitely play when he comes back, the form he's in is really top class. Obviously Gilroy has been dropped to give him a kick up the ass, and he showed thats worked a bit when he came on tonight- looked more like his old self which is good.

Scholes is promising but still callow, looked a bit lost in the first 20 minutes but got into it. He's still some way off being able to play a part in the quarter-final. Very pleased with McCloskey though- especially his work in the tackle and at the breakdown, he really was very effective there and he had a few good runs at the end.

It's a shame what the big new lad with Ulster did to that Scarlet chap.

He'll have to learn how to handle himself better and control those urges.  I'm not sure if he's a great signing.  Where is he from?  South Africa?

MMC wrote:It's gone a bit flat alright, rodders. Hopefully ye can push on from here and get the TBP.

Are we gonna win in Paris tomorrow?

150% yes!   

SecretFly wrote:It's a shame what the big new lad with Ulster did to that Scarlet chap.

He'll have to learn how to handle himself better and control those urges.  I'm not sure if he's a great signing.  Where is he from?  South Africa?

  

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ry8PZINojgo

This is where we all hold our breath till we hear how Fez's ankle has reacted to last night! 

And how bad Black and Pienaar are.

I've got a bad habit I'm not terribly proud of, but it's so so satisfying; go onto Scarlets Fever after Ulster beat them and read the match thread.

Their Tears Sustain Me:

It's just so satisfying to read their schadenfreude! One-eyed Scarlets is a stereotype with considerable basis in fact, at least on that forum... don't think there's ever been a game where they weren't cheated by the ref. No go and have a read, it's a great laugh.

I was reading through their comments last night, and those on Gwlad. Very satisfying. According to one of them, Ulster are a plastic team with Plastic supporters   

The hilarious thing is that they were blaming the ref, and anyone Irish, days before the match even started....

Notch wrote:I've got a bad habit I'm not terribly proud of, but it's so so satisfying; go onto Scarlets Fever after Ulster beat them and read the match thread.

Their Tears Sustain Me:

It's just so satisfying to read their schadenfreude! One-eyed Scarlets is a stereotype with considerable basis in fact, at least on that forum... don't think there's ever been a game where they weren't cheated by the ref. No go and have a read, it's a great laugh.

Jeez I'd never looked before but that is something else. I thought we couldn't buy a decision off the ref but apparently he was playing for us. Apparently Ravers is 'knob central' and they can't wait to get out of this crap bent (towards Irish) Poopie competition and into the aviva. I gave up after that

Oh Notch, I love this. Absolutely love it. Don't let anyone tell you any differently, you are my favourite mistake.