Connacht vs Ulster sportsground 18:00 TG4/BBCNI

Utah_Saint

shuffol wrote: »

Lol...

Gilroy is not in the ire squad cause he scores too often. He's needs to be a bit more headless a not score in a world class manor... ;-)

bilston

A winger who could eventually be on Joe's radar is Rory Scholes. I've been very impressed by him. He still has a way to go in terms of awareness and things like that but the raw materials are definitely there. It's good news for Ulster given Trimble and Bowe are the wrong side of 30, albeit Trimble is showing few signs of dotage.

By the way I have to hold my hands up on the Marshall YC, I defended him a bit last night saying it wasn't clear cut. In my defence I was a bit misty eyed at the time, having seen it again with a clearer head he was probably quite lucky to only get a yellow. A dumb moment in an otherwise very strong performance by Marshall.

awec

It is somewhat frustrating to see Williams put in these great shifts each week. Where has this been the past few years?

Utah_Saint

awec wrote: »

It is somewhat frustrating to see Williams put in these great shifts each week. Where has this been the past few years?

Don't worry, world class back row on his way...;-)

shuffol

Williams is one of the most enjoyable players to watch in rugby IMO and it's great to see him playing so well, I still fear that in a big game his discipline is liable to cost points though.

Utah_Saint

Scholes went well yesterday...reminds me of a young Trimble. Great to see

CatFromHue

jacothelad wrote: »

p.s. I can see why Healy isn't in Schmidt's radar. He has pace that will make him dangerous but little else.....like Fion Carr.

Not sure what he was thinking with the kick ahead at the end of the game, he got lucky Trimble fouled him.

bilston

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Scholes went well yesterday...reminds me of a young Trimble. Great to see

He reminds more of Tommy!

A hybrid of the two would do nicely!

wp_rathead

CatFromHue wrote: »

Not sure what he was thinking with the kick ahead at the end of the game, he got lucky Trimble fouled him.

In fairness it usually works for him, he has created a habit of collecting his own grubber kicks- the ground was much too soft for him to be trying that though last night.
I felt sorry for him that he happened to have his worse game in memory while Joe was in the stands

Agree that Scholes looks like a quality player - the Ulster Academy continues their conveyor belt of producing exciting backs

flouncer

awec wrote: »

Rubbish game, good result

Ulster did what they needed to do. Starve Connacht. Credit to les kiss. Its all about the result.

Triumvirate

A lot of similarities between Connacht and Munster's respective showings this weekend. Both had lots of the ball and both toothless with it, spurning the few kicks at goal they had.

its_phil

Triumvirate wrote: »

A lot of similarities between Connacht and Munster's respective showings this weekend. Both had lots of the ball and both toothless with it, spurning the few kicks at goal they had.

Connacht did it once from left touchline with a left footed kicker.

Not even comparable performances.

wp_rathead

its_phil wrote: »

Connacht did it once from left touchline with a left footed kicker.

Not even comparable performances.

Ronaldson missed a second kick you may have rightly erased from your memory in second half - was even more of a gimme than Scannells miss last night

its_phil

wp_rathead wrote: »

Ronaldson missed a second kick you may have rightly erased from your memory in second half - was even more of a gimme than Scannells miss last night

Talking about spurning kicks at goal. Spurning is to reject, we didn't reject much of anything. We missed shockers as opposed to turning them down, big difference.

Triumvirate

Connacht went to touch at least once in the second half when they could have gone for the posts. McGinty missed touch from a penalty just inside Ulster's half, straight in front when the score was 3-3 in the closing stages.

Zzippy

Triumvirate wrote: »

Connacht went to touch at least once in the second half when they could have gone for the posts. McGinty missed touch from a penalty just inside Ulster's half, straight in front when the score was 3-3 in the closing stages.

That penalty was between the Connacht 10m line and 22, well inside their own half. Would have been some kick if he'd gone for the posts! Even a penalty outside 50m is rarely attempted by any team in those conditions

its_phil

Triumvirate wrote: »

Connacht went to touch at least once in the second half when they could have gone for the posts. McGinty missed touch from a penalty just inside Ulster's half, straight in front when the score was 3-3 in the closing stages.

Not exactly a gimme and the only one with that range is Darragh Leader. Zero wind for aid.

It was actually inside our own half. 1:33:25 will show you that.

Do you seriously think we're going to get that


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vav4hUGVWg0

Triumvirate

Perhaps I'm remembering it incorrectly. There were certainly at least two in the opening quarter where Connacht went down the line though in the Ulster half.

connemara man

Triumvirate wrote: »

Perhaps I'm remembering it incorrectly. There were certainly at least two in the opening quarter where Connacht went down the line though in the Ulster half.

Yeah in The opening 10 there were 2 penalties in a row the first one was fairly far out but the second was kickable. The pack were making yards for fun with the maul but you need to go for the posts early on. Keep the scoreboard ticking over

Triumvirate

Zzippy wrote:

That penalty was between the Connacht 10m line and 22, well inside their own half. Would have been some kick if he'd gone for the posts! Even a penalty outside 50m is rarely attempted by any team in those conditions

I'm not actually remembering it incorrectly. He kicked it from inside Ulster's half.

Triumvirate

its_phil wrote:

Do you seriously think we're going to get that

Probably not but given the time and score, it was worth a pop. It was dead in front. A good connection and it had a chance.

As I said, there were other penalties turned down in favour of kicking to touch also.

its_phil

Triumvirate wrote: »

Probably not but given the time and score, it was worth a pop. It was dead in front. A good connection and it had a chance.

As I said, there were other penalties turned down in favour of kicking to touch also.

If the kickers thought they had the distance they would grab it and take it. But a 50m kick with zero wind? They didn't fancy it and no one would fancy them for it.

As you said, but when were they? I genuinely don't remember. Ulster conceded 11 penalties. Below are the penalties I remember.

First penalty was just before Healy tackle on Trimble in air at a scrum.Two in the first 10 minutes which we turned down with a left footed kicker on left hand side of pitch, not a gimme. Three penalties which we kicked at goal. Penalty won inside our half that Jack kicked out for HT. One penalty that AJ missed to touch. One penalty at 80 minutes which we kicked to touch from our own 22.

Can you tell me where the other two were from kickable positions.

Triumvirate

The two in the opening 10 minutes were both clearly kickable positions. I never mentioned "gimme" kicks. Just because they're on the wrong side for a left footed kicker does not mean they should be turned down. The first was nearly identical to where Madigan slotted his penalty against Munster, well inside the Ulster half. The second was a good opportunity inside the 22 regardless of it being on the wrong side of the posts for a left footed kicker. The late one was a shot to nothing and well worth taking given the circumstances.

All three of the penalties that were passed over were realistic chances to kick at goal and the one inside the 22, in particular, should have been taken although I'm surprised they didn't have a pop on the late one either given it was 3-3 with 11 minutes left in the game and scores were clearly very hard to come by.