Edinburgh V Ulster

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Edinburgh V Ulster

Friday 20th February 2015
KO 19:35
BT Murrayfield
Live on BBC Sport Scotland & BBC Northern Ireland

Referee: Leighton Hodges (WRU, 48th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Sam Grove-White, Mike Adamson (both SRU)
Citing Commissioner: Paul Minto (SRU)
TMO: David Changleng (SRU)

24 Played 24
8 Wins 16
16 Losses 8
0 Draws 0
37 Tries 61
27 Conversions 40
47 Penalties 69
5 Drop Goals 3
395 Points 601
25 Avg. Age 26

Teams

Edinburgh

15 Jack Cuthbert
14 Dougie Fife
13 Sam Beard
12 Phil Burleigh
11 Tim Visser
10 Tom Heathcote
9 Grayson Hart

1 Rory Sutherland
2 Neil Cochrane
3 W P Nel
4 Anton Bresler
5 Ben Toolis
6 Roddy Grant
7 Hamish Watson
8 Mike Coman (captain)

16 Stuart McInally
17 Grant Shiells
18 John Andress
19 Ollie Atkins
20 Hugh Blake
21 A N Other
22 Jade Te Rure
23 Andries Strauss

Ulster

1. Callum Black
2. Rob Herring
3. Wiehahn Herbst
4. Franco van der Merwe
5. Iain Henderson
6. Roger Wilson (c)
7. Mike McComish
8. Nick Williams

9. Ruan Pienaar
10. Ian Humphreys
11. Michael Allen
12. Stuart McCloskey
13. Darren Cave
14. Craig Gilroy
15. Louis Ludik

16. John Andrew
17. Andrew Warwick
18. Bronson Ross
19. Lewis Stevenson
20. Clive Ross
21. Paul Marshall
22. Luke Marshall
23. Peter Nelson

Superb try!

Our line up kind of shows where our problems are really. We have 4 forwards missing tonight by my count about 3 of whom would probably start maybe all 4. We have 5 backs missing of whom 2 are current ireland internationals, 1 is probs the 2nd choice Ireland Outhalf, 1 is the Irish player of the year last year and the other is probably Ulster best inside centre. Yet we line out with a backline most teams would be happy with as a starting backline and a very mediocre set of forwards. How can we possibly produce so many backs and so few top quality forwards?

That was a really good try, well done Edinburgh

Great try by Edinburgh made a missed tackle and you made us pay very dearly. Ah very clever Ruan lovely spot to score the try

There's not one Scotland cap in the Edinburgh front 8. Is that a first?

We look like we've woken up in the wake of that Edinburgh try. Prior to the opening score we looked like we had our thumb up our ass. Edinburgh are sharp on Williams though, his ability to make yards in contact doesn't mean much if it just means the back rows can get over the ball before we clear out.

As I type this Ulster make a series of incredibly idiotic mistakes in trying to clear their lines. Rumours of us waking up exaggerated. Particularly poor play from Pienaar.

Another penalty, this is a poor Ulster performance.

Our kicking has been poor so far and we look like we might pay for the fact our back row is useless at clearing out rucks

neilthom7 wrote:Our kicking has been poor so far and we look like we might pay for the fact our back row is useless at clearing out rucks

After watching Ireland, its infuriating to see how poor we are at clearing rucks and chasing kicks. Just improving these basics would make us a massively better side and it's basic coaching- Kiss can't come soon enough.

Notch wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Our kicking has been poor so far and we look like we might pay for the fact our back row is useless at clearing out rucks

After watching Ireland, its infuriating to see how poor we are at clearing rucks and chasing kicks. Just improving these basics would make us a massively better side and it's basic coaching- Kiss can't come soon enough.

Absolutely Notch you see Ireland and then you see this and you think are we playing on different planets or something

Fair to say Fife will never make it as a footballer!
7 points gone a begging

Notch wrote:
Another penalty, this is a poor Ulster performance.

Stop it please, do you expect Ulster to be running away with it after only 20 minutes on the clock.

I'll be honest I'd like to see us bring Dow into the squad as well because I think Williams and Wilson are not good enough so we might as well give the youngster his chance

Harsh against Wilson.

VinceWLB wrote:

Notch wrote:
Another penalty, this is a poor Ulster performance.

Stop it please, do you expect Ulster to be running away with it after only 20 minutes on the clock.

No, but it is a poor performance. Basic things being done extremely poorly. Penalties being conceded under no pressure. Unforced errors.

Shame Heathcotes left his kicking boots at home.

Lack of ball carriers in the Embra back row starting to tell.

Visser is an absolute coward in defense.

Humphreys is having a shocker with his kicking from hand, its amazing we're only a point down! Another penalty. You can not win games with this standard of discipline.

Henderson was being held by the guy on the ground right in front of the ref there

Neilly says we're not aggressive at the breakdown. We're not at the breakdown! No-one is supporting the ball carrier. I have no idea what we're paying these back rows for.

Ulster constantly blocking.

An unbelievably bad attempt to clear the ruck there- this is awful stuff from Ulster.

Cochrane is having a cracking game

I can't believe Edinburgh have left so many points on the field. Ulster definetly not firing on all cylinders.

Notch wrote:Neilly says we're not aggressive at the breakdown. We're not at the breakdown! No-one is supporting the ball carrier. I have no idea what we're paying these back rows for.

Well we know Williams isn't likely to be doing it but McComish is a 7 and he has to be there and Wilson needs to be in at it as well and they just aren't we have a very very average back row, getting Faloon back for next season is a positive step but not far enough. I'd like to see Dow given a chance and where is Reidy? He started ok and looks better at being a proper openside than McComish does

Neil Cochrane is having a great game, rapidly becoming the 2nd choice hooker at Edinburgh

What can you say? It's winnable but this has been an absolutely atrocious performance from Ulster. We can't hit a ruck to save ourselves and the less said about Humphreys kicking game and our chasing the game the better... awful from Ulster.

Scratch what I said earlier... Even if we win this, we will win nothing this season. Roll on October

That scrum! There was a line down the middle which makes the squint put-in really obvious. The commentators had a field day!

Happy to be up at halftime.
But dissapointing that we left at least 13 points on the field though.

Majorly impressed by Cochrane. Big second half coming up.

What a poor first half from Ulster, Edinburgh defence has been very good and very aggressive but our play has been poor. Too many unforced errors, no cleanout at the ruck and poor kicking from us tactically. We can't change our back row clearout at this stage but if we can cut out the errors and start getting the kicking right we can win this. If the clearout issues continue 10-20 misn into the 2nd half maybe we should move Hendy into the back row and bring on Ross as well

Watching these rucks they are showing at half time and not once were our back row there cleaning out it was front 5 players. Did I miss something or isn't that a back row's job?

Hugh Blake on

GLove39 wrote:Hugh Blake on

Toolis off as well. That one probably an SRU directive

Well done in the air Tim, you can do it!

Heathcote's kicking shoes must've been sent south already

A Simply Mesmeric Try wrote:Heathcote's kicking shoes must've been sent south already

Wont miss him much next year on that showing.

Cuthbert

Cuthbert's first mistake and it's a howler

2nd boo boo from big Jack

Ah that was super by Williams and that is why sometimes he is worth it at 8

Nice offload by Williams.

Edinburgh rueing several errors that gave us the impetus to get those scores. Jack Cuthbert with a few really costly mistakes.

A Simply Mesmeric Try wrote:Cuthbert's first mistake and it's a howler

Cuthbert's second mistake and it's a howler

Oh FFS! It resulted in a try...

Hendy - what a fantastic subtle little pop inside to Williams.

Edinburgh trying to outdo ulster in the abysmal stakes

Pleased to see Cochrane going off, best player on the pitch. Cracking prospect.

This Samoan 10 can't be worse than Humphreys is right now!

Now time to see what Edinburgh are made of, still in the game, but up and against it

I sincerely hope Hendy isn't injured.

FFS Heathcote

Frak off down south already Heathcote!