Ulster 2011/2012 YOUR year in review

justsomebloke

So the end of the Provincial season is nearly opoun us so it is time to look back at how Ulster did this season.

So how would you review Ulster's season this year, what were you highlights and what your lowlights. Who do you think preformed well and who do you think could have done better. Looking forward to next season what would you like to see happen in the off season.

*MOD warning from the start. This isn't a bashing thread any unnesseary bashing of players, management, other poster views or dragging intero pro nonsense will result in infraction and bans. THIS IS YOUR WARNING.

Try and keep the chat to a minimum and any posts that seem to be derailing the thread will be removed.

phog

For me they and Edinburgh were the surprise of the H/Cup, at the start of the season I wouldn't have had either as being a semi-finalist.

Unfortunately, the manner of their loss in the final took the shine of their season.

phog

phog wrote: »

Unfortunately, the manner of their loss in the final took the shine of their season.

I disagree with this. The final, though Leinster scored plenty, was not over as a contest until well past the 60th minute. The scores in the final 5 minutes put a gloss on the scoreline, but I don't think that any players (Terblanche excepted) blotted their copybook on the day.

Jackson missed it. He did, he just wasn't there. But that was a gamble, and he's going to benefit massively from the experience. I have no doubt that he'll play for Ireland.

With regards to how Ulster performed this season. Simply immense.

Court, Best, Afoa, Tuohy, Henry, Pienaar, Wallace, Cave and Gilroy played top level rugby time and time again. They played brave expansive rugby at times, and they played disciplined, containing rugby when the time suited.

The win against Leicester was one of the most impressive demolitions of a team I've ever seen.

The next step for Ulster is to start developing the second and third tier of players into the squad that they can be. Guys like McAllister and Macklin, Stevenson, Henderson, Marshall, Spence, Farrell should all be aiming to be challenging for opening slots next season, and be part of a bench that doesn't affect the quality of the team when selected there.

This is an Ulster team on the march upwards. It started in 2010, and they've taken another step this season.

bilston

The season started pretty well with a couple of good wins, but things started to fall apart in a league game at the Ospreys in late September. What followed was a month of poor results culminating in a home defeat to Treviso. That was a very low point for us.

Things started to move in an upwards curve with our home game with Clermont, it required a moment of magic from Adam D'Arcy to cut a great line and then put Humphreys in but any sort of win over Clermont requires a good performance. The defeat a week later in Welford Road was disapointing, yes we were missing Pienaar and Afoa but for 65 minutes at least a losing bonus point seemed a certainty and we were in with a shout of grabbing a win. Two bonus point wins over Aironi followed and then we entered the Christmas period.

Many people criticised McLaughlin's selection for the Boxing Day/St Stephens Day clash at the RDS, yes we lost 43-13(ish?) I believe but anyone who saw the game saw a bunch of 18-21 year olds with one or two more experienced heads put it to a strong Leinster side. Chris Farrell more than held his own against D'Arcy and McFadden, McKinney looked assured at 10 and Chris Cochrane scored a very good try, Ali Birch gained a lot from the game as well. A week later we put a big score on a weakened Munster side at Ravenhill and followed that up with a terrific 40 point win away to Edinburgh.

Then came one of two outstanding moments in the season, the win over Leicester. Trimble with 2 tries, Gilroy and Marshall with the others but it was an outstanding performance. We hammered Leicester back in 2004 but back then you felt it was a one off, this time it seemed like this was the beginning of something. By the end we were running riot and could have hit 50, in fact it's a shame we didn't. The next week it looked like we would need a losing bonus point in Clermont to secure a Q/F spot, we achieved that although Connacht and Gloucester had won the night before to ensure that we were already in the last 8. Nonetheless it was a very good performance in Clermont and but for a dubious piece of officiating by Dave Pearson we might even have won.

The Pro 12 continued during the 6Ns and the turning point was throwing away a half time lead in Cardiff. While we were still in contention after the defeat to Cardiff, I think this was the moment we threw away control of our destiny in that particular competition.

Then the day of all days, Munster in Thomond Park, if I'm honest I looked at the two sides before the game and actually I felt we were probably little bit better so as wonderful a result as it was I personally wasn't as shocked as some were. Nevertheless it was some achievement, not many win there and the effort from the boys that day was extraordinary, especially when you consider we didn't use our bench...more on that in a bit...

After that the Pro 12 campaign died of death with three straight defeats to Connacht, Leinster and a heavy beating back in Thomond to Munster.

The HEC semi final with Edinburgh was a great day and brought back memories of 1999. 40,000 Ulster fans descended on Dublin and cheered Ulster onto the final. Pienaar put on an absolute masterclass that day and it's just as well as it looked like Ulster were in danger of freezing under the expectation. In the end Ulster won and made it to Twickenham for the first All Ireland final.

The final was a great day for the fans but looking back on it everyone connected with Ulster seem to have travelled more in hope than expectation, I'm not sure whether that applied to the players as well but on the day they were 2nd best throughout, but can take some solace in the fact they lost to an outstanding team.

When you think about it Ulster came out of a group containing Leicester and Clermont, beat Munster away and even the semi final with Edinburgh presented it's own specific challenges that were always going to be difficult to overcome. It's been a great season for Ulster in Europe and hopefully it will set the tempo for future seasons.

The Pro 12 campaign was ultimately disapointing, I think it highlighted what is all too obvious, we have a real lack of depth. We can't compete on both fronts, this is especially obvious in the back row where we go from a first choice trio of Ferris, Henry and Wannenberg to a back up of McComish, Faloon and Diack. Compare that to Leinster who have O'Brien, Jennings, Heaslip, McLaughlin, Ryan, Ruddock and Avuva to choose from.

As far as the players are concerned my player of the season would be Chris Henry. Ruan Pienaar, Stephen Ferris, Paddy Wallace, Pedrie Wannenberg, John Afoa and Darren Cave have all been excellent as well. We've seen Paddy Jackson come into the team with mixed results but for a 20 year old out half he's ahead of any Irish out half of a similar age that I can remember. Craig Gilroy has had a good season considering he ought to be suffering from second season syndrome and of course scored a try that will be forever remembered. Paddy McAlistair and Adam Macklin have made good progress as well and we all got a tantalizing sneak preview of Iain Henderson down in Munster at the end of the season. I honestly belive this boy could become a bit of a star. We will watch his progress with interest next season. The players have started to gain some recognition at a higher level with Darren Cave, Dan Tuohy, Chris Henry and Declan Fitzpatrick all deservedly winning call ups to the Ireland squad for the summer tour of NZ. Added to the regulars such as Court, Best, Ferris and Trimble and with Bowe returning to Ulster next season it looks like Ulster will have an increased representation in the Ireland set up in the build up to the 2015 WC.

I suppose one thing has overshadowed the second half of the season and that's been the McLaughlingate. As you can tell from this board alone and the UAFC board and others that there are mixed views on this. My take is that it's disapointing for a guy who has taken Ulster so far in 3 years to no longer be in his post and I have a lot of sympathy for him. However I have no truck with the view that he was shafted, he knew the situation when he signed his new contract last year. Whether it's the right call remains to be seen, but I've no doubt he'll be a great asset to Ulster rugby in his new role of identifying young talent and nurturing their skillsets before they become pro rugby players. If in the next 5-10 years Ulster develop a rugby dynasty much like Leinster have done it will be in no small part down to the efforts of Brian McLaughlin both for the work he has done in the past three years with the senior team and for the work he is about to do with the players who will be in the senior team in the next few years.

profitius

Its a ballsy move to replace McLoughlan. Ulster have been proactive in everything they've done in the past few seasons and its working out well for them.

They've brought in quality players and concentrated on quality over quantity. That strategy has paid off nicely.

Next season Ulster should finish in the top 4 of the Rabo league but the quality over quantity strategy might come back to bite them if injuries start to build up. Munster and Leinster should finish first and second because of their squad size.

Ulster do have loads of talent coming through. Luke Marshall, Henderson, Farrell (maybe next season is too soon?) to name 3. I'm not convinced about Paddy Jackson yet but he is highly rated.

BarackPyjama

As an aside - the Ulster fans were great craic in London last weekend. Have free accommodation and drinking partners secured for my next trip to Ravenhill.