Dragons v Ulster BBC2 NI, 2.30pm KO

bilston

Dragons
15 Carl Meyer
14 Ashton Hewitt
13 Adam Hughes
12 Adam Warren
11 Nick Scott
10 Dorian Jones
9 Sarel Pretorious
1 Boris Stankovich
2 Elliott Dee
3 Shaun Knight
4 Cory Hill
5 Rynard Landman
6 Ed Jackson
7 Ollie Griffiths
8 Taulupe Felatau

16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Phil Price, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Matthew Screech, 20 Lewis Evans, 21 Charlie Davies, 22 Jason Tovey, 23 Ross Wardle

Ulster
15 Peter Nelson
14 Rory Scholes
13 Darren Cave
12 Stuart McCloskey
11 Sammy Arnold
10 Paddy Jackson
9 Paul Marshall
1 Kyle McCall
2 Rob Herring
3 Wiebhan Herbst
4 Dan Tuohy
5 Franco Van Der Merwe
6 Robbie Diack
7 Chris Henry
8 Stephen Mulholland

16 Rory Best, 17 Ricky Lutton, 18 Bronson Ross, 19 Lewis Stevenson, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Craig Gilroy

bilston

Shaky start from Ulster in a game that we need to win.

Not a happy first 90 seconds in pro rugby for Mulholland.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Hopefully that's Mulholland's nerves out of the way...

bilston

Clever dink from Jackson.

connemara man

bilston wrote: »

Clever dink from Jackson.

I'm always surprised at how little that's used against rush defences

bilston

I though the Dragons 13 was holding on there myself.

Anyway penalty to the Dragons and 3-0 to the Dragons after 10 mins.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Uff. Worst kick I've ever seen...

bilston

Ah bad slice from Arnold.

I assume the Dragons have the wind here.

bilston

Big turnover. Think it was VDM with the steal.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Stupid from McCloskey.

bilston

Hmmmmm, I need another look at that. McCloskey sticks his boot out to stop the ball surely?

bilston

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Stupid from McCloskey.

Surely he stuck his leg out to stop the ball?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

bilston wrote: »

Hmmmmm, I need another look at that. McCloskey sticks his boot out to stop the ball surely?

Looked more like he stuck his whole leg out.

bilston

We're getting pinged out of the game already.

bilston

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Looked more like he stuck his whole leg out.

Yeah, to stop the ball? The Dragons player came after the ball.

Anyway I'd need to see it again.

bilston

Not sure what Arnold was doing there.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I would hope Sam Arnold's arm was genuinely stuck in that ruck.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

bilston wrote: »

Yeah, to stop the ball? The Dragons player came after the ball.

Anyway I'd need to see it again.

No, I mean it looked like he planted the leg to stop the player... maybe not.

bilston

Feck me Herbst, what the hell was that?

bilston

Good chase by Scholes.

bilston

Very impressive maul.

bilston

Another good maul.

Scholes has started quite well.

bilston

Dragons 9-3 Ulster

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Did well not to only concede 3 while McCloskey was in the bin.

connemara man

Looks miserable over there gonna be sloppy.

bilston

Jackson's pass to Arnold was great there.

Griffiths is doing well at the breakdown

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Maybe it's the camera angle but some of these passes look like they're asking to be intercepted.

bilston

Ulster coming back into this.

Problem is we seem to be running out of ideas quickly.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Is it just me or does Marshall spend way too much time looking/moaning at the ref?

bilston

That wee silly grubber from McCloskey is a reason why at the moment he isn't ready for Ireland.

First two mins aside Mulholland has done well.

Griffiths looks a good player at O/S for the Dragons.

bilston

Nice play there by Nelson.

bilston

Don't think that will be a try but it was a really good start to the half by Ulster.

mfceiling

Cave is a smashing 13. Watch his running lines and he gets his hands through the tackle every time. I'd love to see him get a run in green but it won't happen I'm afraid.

connemara man

Good start by Ulster.

With the wind and the and how good the line out and maul has been should build from here.

bilston

Wish they would go to the corner.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Very poor there.

bilston

That's just so frustrating.

The maul has been a weapon, why not go to the corner. Poor captaincy from Herring.

connemara man

Terrible there.

bilston

Lovely snipe by Marshall.

However it comes from the maul which is what they should have done in the first place!

Anyway no harm no foul in the end I suppose.

Dragons 9-13 Ulster after 51 mins.

mfceiling

Wee Paul could get under a gap in the skirting board!!

bilston

Couple of bad moments for Mulholland.

Maybe at this stage for the sake of trying to get a result we get Reidy and shuffle Diack across to 8.

molloyjh

Didn't think Best was off his feet there?

bilston

Big moment there.

moleyv

molloyjh wrote:

Didn't think Best was off his feet there?

I thought he was more in from the side than anything. He was warned and didn't react. Yellow card.

molloyjh

Moronic stuff from Dragons. Get the 3 and immediately hand potential 3 back. Utterly stupid stuff. Got out of jail ultimately with a poor kick from PJ.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Classy Welsh crowd there...

I know the conditions are grim but this is a pretty dull match, especially compared to last weeks.

bilston

Ha. That was one hell of a kick from Pienaar

aimee1

should have been dragons penalty

molloyjh

aimee1 wrote: »

should have been dragons penalty

Yeah, was pretty obvious. I'd be raging if I were a Dragons fan as that would have put them in front.

bilston

molloyjh wrote: »

Yeah, was pretty obvious. I'd be raging if I were a Dragons fan as that would have put them in front.

Did Nelson go backwards towards were Diack touched it to play himself onside before picking the ball up.

Probably not far enough mind...

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Bit of confusion there as to who the captain is at the moment.