Ulster v Dragons match thread

Squidgy Black

I've said it a couple times but Best's lineout throwing is really concerning. He's just completely out of whack since he came back, and some of his throws look like he's doing it with one arm tied behind his back and the other missing 3 fingers.

Whoever Ulster's set piece coach is should be shot anyways, I know they haven't a lot to work with in terms of front row, but still.

Digifriendly

Problem with box kicking from both at SH last night - too far and gives opposition time to counter. Cooney is ahead of the game here and we need him for the crucial matches. Having said that in other areas both Shanahan and Stewart played well.

bilston

Finally on the website so my opportunity to comment on Friday's game.

The 5 points was a must, it was more important than the performance on Friday, and I won't say that very often this season.

Shanahan is playing out of his skin, he has his limitations, but he is making the most of what he has.

McPhillips had a good game, does Burns over more? In a way it's academic as neither of them will be at 10 before long.

Addison is a dream going forward, but got caught out defensively once or twice.

Lowry is a class act.

Balacoune looks to me to have some real potential there, but he looked very raw. He is almost the opposite of Lowry. Lowry looked at home from the get go, Balacoune looks like he will take a bit of time, but he definitely appears to be someone to persevere with.

Henderson had a strong game, despite the lineout, his offload to O'Sullivan with one boot on was class.

Treadwell had his second strong appearance in a row. Sacking the Dragons first receiver was a particular highlight.

On the downside, the set piece was dreadful. Are we approaching the point where we are going to have to talk about Rory? Let's see how he does in a better pack in November first, but it's a concern.

The missed tackles is a problem, was there a bit of complacency? Ferris mentioned Coetzee's missed tackles stat on Friday, it's something like 20%. He makes up for it with his turnovers and his carrying and offloading, but that is a poor stat.

I don't know what we do about the scrum, but if we had a stronger set piece we'd be close to being a pretty decent team as our attacking game without a set piece to speak is pretty good.

Burkie1203

bilston wrote: »

Finally on the website so my opportunity to comment on Friday's game.

The 5 points was a must, it was more important than the performance on Friday, and I won't say that very often this season.

Shanahan is playing out of his skin, he has his limitations, but he is making the most of what he has.

McPhillips had a good game, does Burns over more? In a way it's academic as neither of them will be at 10 before long.

Addison is a dream going forward, but got caught out defensively once or twice.

Lowry is a class act.

Balacoune looks to me to have some real potential there, but he looked very raw. He is almost the opposite of Lowry. Lowry looked at home from the get go, Balacoune looks like he will take a bit of time, but he definitely appears to be someone to persevere with.

Henderson had a strong game, despite the lineout, his offload to O'Sullivan with one boot on was class.

Treadwell had his second strong appearance in a row. Sacking the Dragons first receiver was a particular highlight.

On the downside, the set piece was dreadful. Are we approaching the point where we are going to have to talk about Rory? Let's see how he does in a better pack in November first, but it's a concern.

The missed tackles is a problem, was there a bit of complacency? Ferris mentioned Coetzee's missed tackles stat on Friday, it's something like 20%. He makes up for it with his turnovers and his carrying and offloading, but that is a poor stat.

I don't know what we do about the scrum, but if we had a stronger set piece we'd be close to being a pretty decent team as our attacking game without a set piece to speak is pretty good.

Addison has played twice at 13 in a new team. It's a pivotal defensive position so it's only natural he will make a few errors. He also had Balacoune outside him on debut so could just be a lack of familiarity. Time will tell.

McFarland is making all the right noises anyway. It's not this season or even next season where Ulster will benefit. It's going to be 2 or 3 years from now. Biggest problem position is front row. Apart from that there is a lot of potential there especially as Ludik and Marshall due to come back early 2019

It wasn't just when Rory was on that the lineout struggled.

The Coetzee thing was interesting. Ferris mentioned it previously too. He seems to do his own thing at times instead of sticking to the system around him which puts Ulster on back foot.