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Connacht vs Ulster Sportsground 27/12/2020 Eir Sport 1

ElisaAtWar

Huge game for both teams. For Ulster it's a matter of staying ahead of Leinster while for Connacht it's a matter of making up ground on Munster. Both teams know the final will be be made up of the winners of Conference A and Conference B so there are no prizes for second.

On a personal note looking forward to seeing how Lowry plays tonight even though I will be supporting Connacht.

Connacht team:

15. Tiernan O’Halloran
14. John Porch
13. Sammy Arnold
12. Tom Daly
11. Matt Healy
10. Jack Carty
9. Caolin Blade

1. Denis Buckley
2. Shane Delahunt
3. Finlay Bealham
4. Ultan Dillane
5. Quinn Roux
6. Eoghan Masterson
7. Conor Oliver
8. Jarrad Butler (C)

Replacements:
16. Dave Heffernan
17. Jordan Duggan
18. Dominic Robertson-McCoy
19. Gavin Thornbury
20. Sean Masterson
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Sean O’Brien
23. Colm de Buitléar

Ulster team:

15. Michael Lowry
14. Craig Gilroy
13. James Hume
12. Stewart Moore
11. Ethan McIlroy
10. Ian Madigan
9. Alby Mathewson

1. Kyle McCall
2. John Andrew
3. Tom O’Toole
4. Alan O’Connor (C)
5. Kieran Treadwell
6. Greg Jones
7. Jordi Murphy
8. Nick Timoney

Replacements:

16. Bradley Roberts
17. Andrew Warwick
18. Marty Moore
19. David O’Connor
20. Matty Rea
21. David Shanahan
22. Ben Moxham
23. Matt Faddes

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Comments

lawrencesummers

When Marty Moore can’t make shyt of Connachts second choice prop who stands on 5 caps and 7-10kg lighter it’s probably fair to conclude that he is not going to be adding to his internationals caps anytime soon.

KBurke85

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Penned in our 22 for 30mins after they had 20% possession in the first half.. depressing.

Being against a wind that was stronger in the second half hasn’t helped there along with stupid errors

Utopia Parkway

Not being able to kick into this gale has killed Connacht this half. Ulster have everyone up in the defensive line bar one and can just go all out for turnovers.

Should have had a bigger lead at HT but a bit unlucky with how the wind picked up so much.

sydthebeat

Connacht have been almightidly dumb tonight

its_phil

sydthebeat wrote: »

Connacht have been almightidly dumb tonight

Why?

irishbucsfan

Ulster have done well to take the advantages they've been given tonight and turn it into a win

ClanofLams

Unlucky with the wind but defensive performance well below par in second half. Ulster were smart second half in fairness, launch ball down and capitalise on errors.

Ulster team as unlikeable as I can recall visiting Galway, from Saracensesque behaviour to Madigan doing salutes after successful goal kicks, lad is a superstar in his own head and back up ten at Ulster in reality.

sydthebeat

its_phil wrote: »

Why?

Well, for one instance... After the Murphy try on a turn over, blade tried to give a one handed off load out of a tackle behind his back on the ulster 22..... And knocked it forward.....

And on 80% possession in the first half against a team that didn't even have one attack... To go in only 5 points up was criminal.... Mainly down to stupid discipline.

They may be pretty, but they're pretty dumb too

lawrencesummers

Jordi MOTM says more about the quality of the match than the quality of his performance, albeit he was the best ulster forward.

Bazzo

sydthebeat wrote: »

Well, for one instance... After the Murphy try on a turn over, blade tried to give a one handed off load out of a tackle behind his back on the ulster 22..... And knocked it forward.....

And on 80% possession in the first half against a team that didn't even have one attack... To go in only 5 points up was criminal.... Mainly down to stupid discipline.

They may be pretty, but they're pretty dumb too

You'll need more than one example for that unbelievably harsh judgement.

TimHorton

realhorrorshow wrote: »

Murphy has been terrible.

LOL Just been awarded MOM

mfceiling

I presume the Garda will be outside the sports ground now because Ulster absolutely robbed that.
Connacht really made poor work not to win that.
Ulster played smart with the wind but that was a poor game of rugby by both teams.
Stewart Moore was very bad tonight and didn't think Hume did a lot well either.

Digifriendly

realhorrorshow wrote: »

Murphy has been terrible.

MOTM. What have you to say now?

sydthebeat

Bazzo wrote: »

You'll need more than one example for that unbelievably harsh judgement.

That connacht were incredibly dumb tonight??

Jeez, I assume you've just watched the same game.

How many turnovers did connacht give away out wide in those conditions???

9 turnovers to 4 in ulster's favour show just how easily connacht played into ulster's hands.

Incredibly dumb, and I've no problem at all sticking to that

Digifriendly

mfceiling wrote: »

I presume the Garda will be outside the sports ground now because Ulster absolutely robbed that.
Connacht really made poor work not to win that.
Ulster played smart with the wind but that was a poor game of rugby by both teams.
Stewart Moore was very bad tonight and didn't think Hume did a lot well either.

Robbed and well beaten by 13 points? That makes no sense. You must have been watching a different game. Was the TG4 match different to Premier Sports?

irishbucsfan

sydthebeat wrote: »

Well, for one instance... After the Murphy try on a turn over, blade tried to give a one handed off load out of a tackle behind his back on the ulster 22..... And knocked it forward.....

And on 80% possession in the first half against a team that didn't even have one attack... To go in only 5 points up was criminal.... Mainly down to stupid discipline.

They may be pretty, but they're pretty dumb too

Don't really agree with this. Their discipline really wasn't so bad in the first half. One of those penalties was extremely harsh/incorrect, and if you take that away two kickable penalties in 40 minutes is not a bad return.

The other example is Blade, who was probably the best player on the pitch for my money. I thought it was a silly offload but I'm wasn't sure he didn't try to keep it in hand just to have it slip out as he got hit. One handling error from the only half back on the pitch who looked like creating anything in open play, in opposition territory, is completely fine by me.

Connacht had no kicking game in the second half. Ulster completely dominated them because of that. There's almost no way out of that unless your opponent lets you out. You're going to be constantly outnumbered if your opponents can just keep 2 of their back 3 in the defensive line, unless your continuity is world class. And, in my experience at least, when the wind is so bad that you can't even attempt a low kicking game, then it's also usually going to have a pretty significant effect on passing/handling when playing into it, which takes away creative exits out wide and makes defensive rucks even easier again. The only blunder Ulster really made in the territory game was when Moore(?) kicked it dead.

It was a game of two completely different halves and it suited Ulster perfectly the way it ended up. Connacht still managed to play the best rugby in both halves, which is a positive for them.

ElisaAtWar

When toh went off it was just one directional. Anyway so be it. The lad seems to be an injury player. Pity, he has such ability. As for the get, well Ulster were deserved winners. You have to have more than ordinary rugby to win these games

its_phil

sydthebeat wrote: »

Well, for one instance... After the Murphy try on a turn over, blade tried to give a one handed off load out of a tackle behind his back on the ulster 22..... And knocked it forward.....

And on 80% possession in the first half against a team that didn't even have one attack... To go in only 5 points up was criminal.... Mainly down to stupid discipline.

They may be pretty, but they're pretty dumb too

Blade caught the ball after it deflected from a blockdown and didn't have proper control of the ball.

Sorry but have you ever seen a game in the Sportsground? If you are able to kick penalities from 40m out in one half and then the other side can't get the ball further than 10m with their kicks to gain any sort of territory. The other side isn't going to

Two tries from four/five entries into the Ulster 22 is not a bad return and about 6 minutes of that possession was on reset scrums. It's criminal to only go five points up if Connacht had that same 9 point breeze. When the cards fall the way they did for Connacht tonight, you're not winning the game.

Utah_Saint

Ulster won by 13 points with 33% possession...

We would have lost that game last year by about 21 points

Tristram

That was a tough watch this evening. Thought both sides were poor but think Ulster will be happy to win ugly like that. The conditions must have been something else in the second half and I'd like to give Connacht the benefit of the doubt that this wasn't an accurate sign of where they are at but they really do contrive to shoot themselves in the foot.

ElisaAtWar

It's so frustrating. Tiernan adds so much to Connacht but it is one injury after another. When he left the scene Connacht had nothing to show. He really needs an injury free period

Shelflife

“Connacht still managed to play the best rugby in both halves, which is a positive for them.”

Buccs I’m not having a go at you personally but I hear this a lot lately.

Fine we play pretty Rugby but that’s f all good to us when it’s points we need on the board.

If you swap Munster 2nd team with Connacht tonight they win that game every time. They’re cuter and play smarter rugby, they slow the ball down and don’t give away pens and if they do they’re not kick able!

Simple fact of the matter is that they lost that in the first half, 80% possession, totally dominant scrum, wind at our backs and we go in only 5 points ahead and had a man advantage for 10mins.

Good teams in this situation put their opponents to the sword ! We don’t seem to have this ruthless side to our game and it’s sadly lacking.

Too many lineouts lost, too many turnovers , too many pens given away.

That wasn’t a strong Ulster team by any measure and they turned us over easily.

We’re not in a good place at the moment !

Dog Botherer

Madigan really showing his value in games like these. whatever about the showboating finger guns, having a backup dirt tracker 10 who can kick goals like that and keep you in games you have no right to be in is invaluable.

Bazzo

sydthebeat wrote: »

That connacht were incredibly dumb tonight??

Jeez, I assume you've just watched the same game.

How many turnovers did connacht give away out wide in those conditions???

9 turnovers to 4 in ulster's favour show just how easily connacht played into ulster's hands.

Incredibly dumb, and I've no problem at all sticking to that

Ah, ok, nice one. So not really any more examples then. The stupidest thing Connacht did was either lose the coin toss or make the wrong decision after winning it.

sydthebeat

Bazzo wrote: »

Ah, ok, nice one. So not really any more examples then. The stupidest thing Connacht did was either lose the coin toss or make the wrong decision after winning it.

Ah here.... Why the chip on the shoulder because your team have been rightly criticised. Their whole game plan in those conditions was stupid.... Connacht continued to play lovely pretty patterns to get the ball wide on the second half... Against a team with one in the back field and 14 in the line. So when the eventual tackle happened away from the initial ruck you didn't have the men there to prevent the turn over. Penalty.... And madigan either kicks long for territory or shoots for posts.
This was when, as most people agreed before the game, Connacht had the better pack... Yet they didn't take on ulster in that arm wrestle up front and make those hard yards gains in the second half.
Playing into a gale and throwing the ball around is asking for trouble, especially in the current law interpretations

That's a reason I call how they played stupid. It wasn't single individual moments, though there were a lot of those too.

And the less said about a prop targeting the base of the posts the better.

irishbucsfan

What's all this stuff about pretty patterns and going wide in the second half?

Absolutely did not happen in Connacht's own half anyway. Absolutely not why they were getting turned over.

They got turned over because its absolutely simple to create a defensive overlap when you don't need to keep your back 3 in the backfield.

One example from the second half, they managed to get the ball from their 22 to their 10 meter line after 4/5 phases. None of that was "pretty patterns" Which is a great return. Then there was a choke tackle and Cooney very clearly illegally held the tackled player on the ground which won a penalty for Ulster (on the ARs side who declined to get involved I guess) which Madigan converted from miles out. That's a huge moment in the game because good play from Connacht ends up in 3 points for Ulster and its impossible for your heads not to drop after something like that.

I'd love to know what the strategic masterminds here suggest Connacht should have done differently in the second half in those conditions.

The most expansive play from Connacht I can remember was in the build up to their try, which was in Ulster's half?

Former Former Former

Bazzo wrote: »

Ah, ok, nice one. So not really any more examples then. The stupidest thing Connacht did was either lose the coin toss or make the wrong decision after winning it.

In fairness though, it's Connacht home ground, they should be well used to playing in the wind and rain because it tends to happen a lot in Galway.

If they can't eke out a stalemate in those conditions then they're doing something wrong.

irishbucsfan

Former Former Former wrote: »

In fairness though, it's Connacht home ground, they should be well used to playing in the wind and rain because it tends to happen a lot in Galway.

If they can't eke out a stalemate in those conditions then they're doing something wrong.

If Connacht hadn't taken advantage of the same conditions, that would be fair enough

Bazzo

Former Former Former wrote: »

In fairness though, it's Connacht home ground, they should be well used to playing in the wind and rain because it tends to happen a lot in Galway.

If they can't eke out a stalemate in those conditions then they're doing something wrong.

I've seen and been to many many matches in the sportsground(and elsewhere) and I've never seen a match where the first half was so still either team could kick a 40m penalty and the second half had such a gale one team literally had no option to kick at all.

FACECUTTR

There was no dog in that team last night. Very passive and looked rudderless at times. We needed Aki for that. Ruck protection was non existent.
I know the conditions changed but it's our home ground and it's not the first time it happened. If the wind is that strong go to the front no exception. That back row does not balance well either. Not enough go forward.
I was going to say it was just a bad day at the office but I remember saying that a few weeks back too. I know it's a weird season but there is something not right somewhere. There is no consistency week to week.
Blade and Daly are quality and worked so hard last night. TOH looked like his old self again until going off.