Ulster vs Connacht.

Paul Smeenus

Just watched the last twenty minutes on TV (recording didn't work properly).

From an Ulster point of view -

Henderson still absolutely monstering lads with five to go. But very canny as well. He's Smart Hulk.
Stat popped up when Billy Burns went to kick the conversion for Coetzee's try - his kicking success rate was 68%. I know Cooney's our primary kicker, but still...
Speaking of kicking, Marshall back at 13 has added so much to our variety there. Nice high kick for Baloucoune and beautiful prod through in the last quarter alone, put Connacht under serious pressure.
At the end, Best approached one of the Connacht players, Butler I think, and clearly says "thank you" very emphatically. Just nice to see.

Shefwedfan

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Just watched the last twenty minutes on TV (recording didn't work properly).

From an Ulster point of view -

Henderson still absolutely monstering lads with five to go. But very canny as well. He's Smart Hulk.
Stat popped up when Billy Burns went to kick the conversion for Coetzee's try - his kicking success rate was 68%. I know Cooney's our primary kicker, but still...
Speaking of kicking, Marshall back at 13 has added so much to our variety there. Nice high kick for Baloucoune and beautiful prod through in the last quarter alone, put Connacht under serious pressure.
At the end, Best approached one of the Connacht players, Butler I think, and clearly says "thank you" very emphatically. Just nice to see.

Burns missed 1 kick and his percentage goes massively off skew because he has taken so few kicks.....


Any stats on how many kicks and how many successful?

troyzer

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Just watched the last twenty minutes on TV (recording didn't work properly).

From an Ulster point of view -

Henderson still absolutely monstering lads with five to go. But very canny as well. He's Smart Hulk.
Stat popped up when Billy Burns went to kick the conversion for Coetzee's try - his kicking success rate was 68%. I know Cooney's our primary kicker, but still...
Speaking of kicking, Marshall back at 13 has added so much to our variety there. Nice high kick for Baloucoune and beautiful prod through in the last quarter alone, put Connacht under serious pressure.
At the end, Best approached one of the Connacht players, Butler I think, and clearly says "thank you" very emphatically. Just nice to see.

Burns missed 1 kick and his percentage goes massively off skew because he has taken so few kicks.....


Any stats on how many kicks and how many successful?

He has a 70% success from the tee with 4 penalties and 15 conversions successful.

So what's that? Roughly 4/6 and 15/20?

Paul Smeenus

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Burns missed 1 kick and his percentage goes massively off skew because he has taken so few kicks.....


Any stats on how many kicks and how many successful?

Good point. Nah, it was just a graphic that popped up. However, he would have been kicking all during the 6N when Cooney was with Ireland.

Think Burns has really come on the second half of this season, but I don't remember ever noticing his goalkicking was an issue.

Edit - see Troyzer has done the unnglamorous work. Not sure those figures are great.

Shefwedfan

Cooney is at 70% for conversions

Strangely they have penalties seperate and he is at 83%

Last time I checked they had overall kick percentage....

https://www.pro14rugby.org/statistics/best-guinness-pro14-kickers-2017-2018/

bilston

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

Good point. Nah, it was just a graphic that popped up. However, he would have been kicking all during the 6N when Cooney was with Ireland.

Think Burns has really come on the second half of this season, but I don't remember ever noticing his goalkicking was an issue.

Edit - see Troyzer has done the unnglamorous work. Not sure those figures are great.

That conversion from Burns yesterday was important as it took the sting out of the last minute.

To be honest I'm surprised we don't use Rob Lyttle for kicking when Cooney isn't on the pitch. Lyttle is potentially the best kicker in the squad

launish116

bilston wrote: »

To be honest I'm surprised we don't use Rob Lyttle for kicking when Cooney isn't on the pitch. Lyttle is potentially the best kicker in the squad

Has he kicked at all this season? but your right last season his kicking was near perfect.

Zzippy

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Cooney is at 70% for conversions

Strangely they have penalties seperate and he is at 83%

Last time I checked they had overall kick percentage....

https://www.pro14rugby.org/statistics/best-guinness-pro14-kickers-2017-2018/

Conversion kick percentage will always be lower, as many will be from out near the touchline and you have no option but to kick it. With penalties the better option for difficult kicks is the kick to touch and lineout option, so kickers don't have to attempt the difficult ones.

Locke_Lamora

launish116 wrote: »

Has he kicked at all this season? but your right last season his kicking was near perfect.

He made 6/7 against Zebre this year. A few difficult ones if I remember correctly. He's probably the most natural kicker in our squad, but you ideally want someone who is more likely to start as your first choice kicker.

bilston

Locke_Lamora wrote: »

He made 6/7 against Zebre this year. A few difficult ones if I remember correctly. He's probably the most natural kicker in our squad, but you ideally want someone who is more likely to start as your first choice kicker.

Does Lyttle start if everyone is fit?

Thinking ahead to next season what is our first choice backline?

I think Lyttle v Gilroy is pretty close.

The rest is a bit clearer.

Not including Faddes for now, but you're probably looking at this backline

Cooney
Burns
Stockdale
McCloskey
Marshall
Lyttle/Gilroy
Addison

Either way that's a pretty tidy backline given the changes that have taken place recently!

Locke_Lamora

bilston wrote: »

Does Lyttle start if everyone is fit?

Thinking ahead to next season what is our first choice backline?

I think Lyttle v Gilroy is pretty close.

The rest is a bit clearer.

Not including Faddes for now, but you're probably looking at this backline

Cooney
Burns
Stockdale
McCloskey
Marshall
Lyttle/Gilroy
Addison

Either way that's a pretty tidy backline given the changes that have taken place recently!

Don't think Baloucoune can be discounted either. Gilroy has been injured for a while so it'll be interesting to see what sort of form he comes back in, but he was an excellent player beforehand and has put in a lot of good shifts for us. Good problem to have anyway.

I'd love to see Hume get more minutes nest season as well. The 13 jersey is a bit of a problem position with Cave retiring, and Ludik and Marshall consistently being injured, so we could do with him or Moore stepping up.

damianmcr

We have Faddes.

bilston

damianmcr wrote: »

We have Faddes.

Until confirmed I'm not including him