Match Thread: Scarlets v Ulster, Heineken Cup Match Thread, 7:45 BT Sport 3

foxyladyxx

Addison now for 6 Nations?

stephen_n

Only got the last 10 minutes, very disciplined defence from Ulster. Really did well to hold out, the Scarlets threw everything at them. Great result

awec

Addison will go to the world cup. Unless his form somehow falls off a cliff entirely post-Christmas he is surely going to travel.

Shefwedfan

awec wrote: »

Addison will go to the world cup. Unless his form somehow falls off a cliff entirely post-Christmas he is surely going to travel.

Addison was going to the World Cup before he joined Ulster :-)



Similar to Farrell signing for Munster. Jackman said a number of times Joe had met with Farrell and also kept calls into Jackman to check on him



These are not just random signings

connachta

Only one of Addison or Farrell will go. Except injuries

Neil3030

Addison schooled JD tonight. If he keeps this up, the conversation may not be focusing on his place in the squad, but in the team...

Johnny Farango

Robbie, Bundee, Ringrose, Farrell, Addison, some good reserves in McCloskey, Scannell etc. Lots of competition there but not sure that Addison is straight in.
The first three are guaranteed. Farrell was sensational for Ireland before his injury. Interesting dilemma.

Shefwedfan

connachta wrote: »

Only one of Addison or Farrell will go. Except injuries

I would expect one of Addison or Conway

Farrell will travel as the role of the centre for Ireland is a injury prone one



ANyway off Ireland topics

Burkie1203

connachta wrote: »

Only one of Addison or Farrell will go. Except injuries

Last RWC
3 x Centres
5 x Wings
1 x FB

2019
4 x Centres (Ringrose, Aki, Henshaw, Farrell)
5 x Back 3 (RK, Earls, Stockdale, Larmour, Addison)

Stout Warrior

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Last RWC
3 x Centres
5 x Wings
1 x FB

2019
4 x Centres (Ringrose, Aki, Henshaw, Farrell)
5 x Back 3 (RK, Earls, Stockdale, Larmour, Addison)

You're missing Conway. Not a chance Addison is ahead of him

Shefwedfan

Stout Warrior wrote: »

You're missing Conway. Not a chance Addison is ahead of him

Conway is class but Conway is injury prone.



Also I expect 2 x FH and 2 x SH instead of the 3 x FH and 2 x SH last time.....


So Conway will still travel

Clegg

Neil3030 wrote: »

Addison schooled JD tonight. If he keeps this up, the conversation may not be focusing on his place in the squad, but in the team...

Honestly no. I think Addison is good. But he ain't as good as Ringrose at 13 or Kearney at 15. Both were excellent against the All Backs and Ringrose the best player on the pitch against the USA. Addison is the ideal sub at 23 though.

Johnny Farango

Addison has thrown himself in the mix, of that there is no doubt. Lets see how the season progresses and how (here's hoping it's not too bad) the injuries happen.

Johnny Farango

Anyway, from a Munster fan (and part-time Connacht fan, living in Galway). Great win Ulster... Ireland needs a strong Ulster!

Burkie1203

https://twitter.com/neil_treacy/status/1071131792697118723?s=19

bilston

Great result. 5 points away from home is a great return. We still have three really tough games ahead so I'm still not massively confident of getting out of the pool.

Addison was superb tonight, Henderson, Coetzee and O'Sullivan were really good up front, that's Moore's best performance for Ulster so far, and the same goes for Speight.

We have to back it up next week though, otherwise tonight will have been a waste of time.

Utah_Saint

Burkie1203 wrote: »

https://twitter.com/neil_treacy/status/1071131792697118723?s=19

How else do they pay for all those empty seats...!

Dubinusa

Amazingly, the match was up on you tube within a couple of hours.
Ulster played well. Stark improvements since the new coaching team came in.
There is so much potential in a fairly youthful squab. It's fantastic.
I thought Speight or Henderson were easily the best players on show. No knock on Addison, but he fell off a couple of tackles and bullocksed the opening kick off.
Best was great! He really is coming into great form.
Herring on the other hand may be playing himself out of the international setup. His line out darts were terrible and it's a recurring problem.
EOS was great and Moore was brilliant. He may play himself back into the Ireland set up.
The match was sloppy, but was exciting.
Stockdale is monstrous. His finish was great.
Ludik is very good too, he was very solid and his tracking was great.
Timoney has a little pace! He's a star in the making imo.

Scarlets are on a downward path. Losing Barclay and Beirne has really affected them. Of course, Shingler and Halfpenny out doesn't help, but they are not as good as they were.
Shocking attendance! Really disappointing that a Welch side can't fill a stadium in a Euro pool match.

Ulster need to come out swinging next week. They will need to bully Scarlets up front and make them uncomfortable. They still need a win to keep their Hope's alive.
Great effort from Ulster. The signings have been great. Addison is a great player and I think he may get into the rwc squad. He plays all across the backline. I think he's Ireland's next fb. Nordi has been good. He adds a winning mentality to Ulster and he's not hit top form.
The back row is a serious unit.

Burkie1203

Dubinusa wrote: »

Amazingly, the match was up on you tube within a couple of hours.
Ulster played well. Stark improvements since the new coaching team came in.
There is so much potential in a fairly youthful squab. It's fantastic.
I thought Speight or Henderson were easily the best players on show. No knock on Addison, but he fell off a couple of tackles and bullocksed the opening kick off.
Best was great! He really is coming into great form.
Herring on the other hand may be playing himself out of the international setup. His line out darts were terrible and it's a recurring problem.
EOS was great and Moore was brilliant. He may play himself back into the Ireland set up.
The match was sloppy, but was exciting.
Stockdale is monstrous. His finish was great.
Ludik is very good too, he was very solid and his tracking was great.
Timoney has a little pace! He's a star in the making imo.

Scarlets are on a downward path. Losing Barclay and Beirne has really affected them. Of course, Shingler and Halfpenny out doesn't help, but they are not as good as they were.
Shocking attendance! Really disappointing that a Welch side can't fill a stadium in a Euro pool match.

Ulster need to come out swinging next week. They will need to bully Scarlets up front and make them uncomfortable. They still need a win to keep their Hope's alive.
Great effort from Ulster. The signings have been great. Addison is a great player and I think he may get into the rwc squad. He plays all across the backline. I think he's Ireland's next fb. Nordi has been good. He adds a winning mentality to Ulster and he's not hit top form.
The back row is a serious unit.

Quality performance from Ulster. Still some issues regarding depth in tight 5 and at 9. Henderson and Addison stood out but Jordi, Coetzee and Timoney were outstanding too.

Ulster still struggle when they are without their top 6/7 players but that will take time to remedy along with a few tidy signings especially as they have offloaded a few guys recently who weren't offering anything now/in future. Nagle is the sort of signing Ulster require in a few positions. A guy who can do a good job at Pro14 and provide adequate cover in a Euro game.


Scarlets have no ball carriers. They were unable to gain much up the middle which allowed Ulster to have really aggressive line speed. Ulster have taken a bit of pain this season but i think tonight showed in not so much the result but more the manner in how they performed for 80 that there is plenty to be positive about. Even Awec was positive pre match. WTF


I reckon Scarlets might chuck the towel in now. They lost a few more to injury last night and there is a 3 into 2 race for Pro14 playoffs in their conference.

Paul Smeenus

Last season we would have given away a penalty in the last few minutes and come away with 2 points instead of 5. Delighted with that.

Scarlets are looking pretty ropey. Basic stuff. Lost count of the amount of times one of their backline had to stop and reach above their heads to catch a pass. They looked short of ideas, and all the good stuff came from individual talent, particularly from Davies.

Having said that, best performance this season, by a distance. Haven't seen an Ulster scrum as solid in some time. O'Sullivan, take a bow. Hope he's very proud this morning. He was very good across the board. Moore is starting to show his value.

Addison is a very clever player, although he got shrugged off in the tackle a couple of times. But for me Henderson was MOTM. So influential in the pitch. A couple of times he choke tackled, and won us a turnover, when he was the only Ulster player in the maul that developed, against, at one point, three Scarlets players. I was also really impressed with how much he talked to the ref. I've always thought of him as a quiet lad on the pitch - last night he showed some brilliant leadership and dealt with the ref in an excellent manner, making certain his tackles were becoming mauls etc. If that's the effect of having Beirne breathing down his neck, bloody hell. Bring it on.

Best was also very good. Stockdale gonna Stockdale. Treadwell back to impressing as he did when he first arrived - always busy. Ludik is a machine - no fuss, nor moments of amazing brilliance, but lots of clever, hard work. By some distance, Speight's best game for us. Coetzee was very good as well.I

Scarlets "fans" should be embarrassed. A crunch Euro game, that they would have expected to win; dreadful attendance.

PhlegmyMoses

I always say that Henderson looks like the strongest bloke on a pitch full of strong blokes. Amount of times he monsters a few players is unreal and he doesn't look like an absolute unit either, just raw physicality.

molloyjh

One thing on the Henderson one of the choke tackles, was anyone else confused by what Owens was doing that time in the Ulster 22. He kept pumping the legs, which kept his knees off the ground, when he was in the perfect position to just take the hit, go to ground and recycle. His knees almost hit the deck and one point and he actively tried to ensure they didn’t. Seemed really odd to me.

kuang1

PhlegmyMoses wrote: »

I always say that Henderson looks like the strongest bloke on a pitch full of strong blokes. Amount of times he monsters a few players is unreal and he doesn't look like an absolute unit either, just raw physicality.

I always think Henderson is baby-faced. And even when he's mid-maul, or monstering some poor misfortunate opposition player, his face never changes. It's hypnotic to watch.

That's why I want to have his babies.

bilston

molloyjh wrote: »

One thing on the Henderson one of the choke tackles, was anyone else confused by what Owens was doing that time in the Ulster 22. He kept pumping the legs, which kept his knees off the ground, when he was in the perfect position to just take the hit, go to ground and recycle. His knees almost hit the deck and one point and he actively tried to ensure they didn’t. Seemed really odd to me.

If it's the incident I'm thinking of I think Henderson was just keeping him off the ground. He is insanely strong.

Buer

kuang1 wrote: »

That's why I want to have his babies.

You and awec should hang out some time.

Paul Smeenus

bilston wrote: »

If it's the incident I'm thinking of I think Henderson was just keeping him off the ground. He is insanely strong.

I think you're right, but also Scarlets pack were being manhandled all over the pitch, and I wouldn't be surprised if Owens, who has been around the block and knows his onions, just basically didn't have faith in his team-mates and took it upon himself to try to eke out every possible inch while carrying.

FrancieBrady

kuang1 wrote: »

I always think Henderson is baby-faced. And even when he's mid-maul, or monstering some poor misfortunate opposition player, his face never changes. It's hypnotic to watch.

That's why I want to have his babies.

Is that how you think babies get made? :D

bilston

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Last season we would have given away a penalty in the last few minutes and come away with 2 points instead of 5. Delighted with that.

Scarlets are looking pretty ropey. Basic stuff. Lost count of the amount of times one of their backline had to stop and reach above their heads to catch a pass. They looked short of ideas, and all the good stuff came from individual talent, particularly from Davies.

Having said that, best performance this season, by a distance. Haven't seen an Ulster scrum as solid in some time. O'Sullivan, take a bow. Hope he's very proud this morning. He was very good across the board. Moore is starting to show his value.

Addison is a very clever player, although he got shrugged off in the tackle a couple of times. But for me Henderson was MOTM. So influential in the pitch. A couple of times he choke tackled, and won us a turnover, when he was the only Ulster player in the maul that developed, against, at one point, three Scarlets players. I was also really impressed with how much he talked to the ref. I've always thought of him as a quiet lad on the pitch - last night he showed some brilliant leadership and dealt with the ref in an excellent manner, making certain his tackles were becoming mauls etc. If that's the effect of having Beirne breathing down his neck, bloody hell. Bring it on.

Best was also very good. Stockdale gonna Stockdale. Treadwell back to impressing as he did when he first arrived - always busy. Ludik is a machine - no fuss, nor moments of amazing brilliance, but lots of clever, hard work. By some distance, Speight's best game for us. Coetzee was very good as well.I

Scarlets "fans" should be embarrassed. A crunch Euro game, that they would have expected to win; dreadful attendance.

Agree with most of that, although if Treadwell had hands he'd be dangerous.

sydthebeat

molloyjh wrote: »

One thing on the Henderson one of the choke tackles, was anyone else confused by what Owens was doing that time in the Ulster 22. He kept pumping the legs, which kept his knees off the ground, when he was in the perfect position to just take the hit, go to ground and recycle. His knees almost hit the deck and one point and he actively tried to ensure they didn’t. Seemed really odd to me.

The one that that occurred to me to was the samson Lee carry... Now they were making yards, but Henderson was in a prefect position to choke and Lee made no effort to drop... When it went to ground Henderson was clever enough to fall on the wrong side and smother the ball.

Excellent stuff.

bilston

sydthebeat wrote: »

The one that that occurred to me to was the samson Lee carry... Now they were making yards, but Henderson was in a prefect position to choke and Lee made no effort to drop... When it went to ground Henderson was clever enough to fall on the wrong side and smother the ball.

Excellent stuff.

I think that was the incident I was thinking about earlier. I thought it was a combination of Lee getting greedy and Henderson's strength.