Where is the fecken match thread? Ulster v Leinster match thread

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119686946#Comment_119686946

Can be great at times. Two really obvious, poor offsides back to back this evening though and I question his ability to concentrate for the 80.

sydthebeat

We're becoming quite dependent on Jenkins for forward dominance

crisco10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119687014#Comment_119687014

Its mad.

In fairness to Ryan, it's his 1st game back but he looked a bit rusty.

aloooof

Decent evenings entertainment, and doubly so given the conditions.

Leinsters first half lead stood to them with Ulster coming back really well.

Forward dominance doing a lot of the work for Leinster. Jenkins a big part of that as well.

Even at scrum time, you could see guys congratulating Jenkins after scrum penalties (reminiscent of Porter doing same to Quinn Roux on occasion for Ireland) so he seems to be making a difference there too.

Absolute textbook no 7 play from VDF at the death as well to close out the game. On first viewing, thought he could’ve been pinged for hands on the deck, but that’s absolutely the line you want your 7 straddling.

Absolute quality try saving intervention from Ngatai as well.

And you’d hope Stockdale’s injury isn’t too bad.

Lastly on this…

If Leinster lose, Ulster will have been more up for it, home advantage and probably the ref

.. given some of the posts in here, I think you can bump that up to “definitely the ref”, Venjur. 😉

Dubinusa

I was happy to see Connors and Ryan get some minutes. The weather was atrocious! Ulster developing nicely. They could have won this one.

ersatz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119687708#Comment_119687708

It's so hard to judge given the number of handling errors caused by atrocious conditions but I thought Ulster weren't great, the difference was obviously Leinster's forwards but I thought Leinster showed a tad more invention. Ulster have buckets of talent but other than Cooney's decent box kicking they don't seem to have any ideas to get on top of the opposition when route 1 is closed off. They are tidy in lots of facets, excellent exits, solid lineout, decent scrum (most of the time), and the back 3 play very well together. But Burns seems to offer very little, he sits pretty deep, has no pace and ships the ball to guys who get hammered. A lot of the time he is miles away from the action looking like he is directing traffic but he's not.

Yet they could have won given they had two tries that they should have scored. Sexton's was criminal, you really shouldn't see that from a pro. And staying within a score just shows their potential even in dreadful conditions. Fair play to the Ravenhill crowd, they really delivered a fantastic atmosphere.

Clegg

Just watched the game back. Leinsters forward dominance for the first 55 minutes won them the game. But it's also notable that Leinsters backs dealt with the conditions far better than their Ulster counterparts.

Lowry really struggled in the weather as did the Ulster centres. It's hard when your pack is on the back foot but these players are good enough that they should be making positive contributions on the ball. Ringrose and Henshaw comprehensively outplayed Marshall and McCloskey.

Dubinusa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119687780#Comment_119687780

Some atmosphere . Good match and both teams put up strong efforts. Both teams will take plenty from this.

There was a 20 minute window in the latter part of the first half where the Leinster pack made precious few mistakes and that was the period where they won the game (as others have alluded too). It's the level of drilling that stands out to me and when the team are motoring it must be hugely frustrating to play against. The halves and forward 8 go through passages where they are completely on the same page, transitioning from pick and go's to 2nd, 3rd or 4th receiver carries but with a deliberateness that you just don't see with other teams. Decision making on an individual level plays a massive part - but the collective cohesion and clarity within a complex system with many moving parts must take a huge amount of work off the field.

I thought we'd done enough at half time to be honest and choked Ulster out of the game. The way they came back into it was impressive, calm and ultimately I think the game probably should have been a draw (though I think Leinster were the better team overall). I think these are the best two northern hemisphere teams this year and expect a couple more good battles in the season ahead.