Guinness Pro 12 2014/15: Round 6

[big ginger 8]

Love when Gilroy can do stuff like that.

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

i'm quite glad glasgow lost, it will teach them a lesson and play alot better next week

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Lap of honor? A wee bit early in the season is it not?!

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

Lap of honor? A wee bit early in the season is it not?!

Don't they always do that for the fans?...

Great win, Williams put a massive shift in - Mccloskey is getting better every game. Again, Payne didn't stand out at 13 at all.
Good night overall for Ulster anyway with the Giants and NI winning too..

 

[ruggabee]

I feel so bad for Cave. Ideally I'd like to see Olding/Cave at the euro stages, but after Mccloskey's recent showings a Mccloskey/Olding partnership would be pretty exciting. The two Stuarts! Considering the lack of options from the other provinces they could be the way forward in green after D'Arcy hangs up the boots.

Ulster are spoilt for choice in the midfield actually and I don't understand why we don't see talent spread out amongst the provinces even more so. Munster for example; whenever I see their line up week to week, it's their midfield that stands out as looking incredibly poor.

edit. Sorry should've put this in the Ulster thread..

 

[Peat]

Long term, McCloskey-Olding sounds tempting, but short term Cave is Ulster's best 13 and should get the big games - and, in reflection, while Payne getting the big games now is really annoying, that doesn't mean he's ahead of Cave, or will get the Not the Heineken Cup games, or will even get the Ireland games on Cave. I'm reversing myself on that one. So... next two games I still/believe are Cave and one other. I wouldn't be surprised to see McCloskey and Cave with Olding on the bench covering fly-half and offering an option to really change the game up.

As for Ulster's wealth in the centres... I feel yesterday was a good example. Luke Marshall was injured, Olding is alleged to be on a staged return from that knee problem and therefore not getting many starts, so three great 12s becomes one - if true. Even if not, the amount of times recently we've had 3 or even 4 12s of real talent and only had the option to play one of them is insane.

And I think the same goes for Leinster's back row. On paper rammed to the gills, in reality, just providing the necessary depth to get by. There was talk of a swap deal of Payne for Jack McGrath last summer, made some sense on paper, Healy's down as long term injured almost as soon as the season starts and Leinster are very happy it didn't happen even if they do have a hole at 13.

Plus, of course, McGrath didn't want to. Which is the real reason we're not seeing talent sharing.

The IRFU will make it happen sooner or later. The argument for it is obvious and good. Just there's a couple of really thorny bushes blocking the way.

Tbh, when I say the IRFU will make it happen, what I probably mean is that player depth will reach such stupid levels that established players will start going for it off their own bat. Look at academy level - there's a steady flow of lads out of Leinster because they can see reality. By the time they've reached the senior squad, the reality they see is "Wait your turn on the injury carousel and grab it hard".

 

[profitius]

Tbh, when I say the IRFU will make it happen, what I probably mean is that player depth will reach such stupid levels that established players will start going for it off their own bat. Look at academy level - there's a steady flow of lads out of Leinster because they can see reality. By the time they've reached the senior squad, the reality they see is "Wait your turn on the injury carousel and grab it hard".

Indeed, Peat. A few years ago, in a single position you might have a 32 year old, a 26 year old and a 23 year old in the queue. Now its like 30 yo, 24 yo, 22 yo, 21 yo. A promising young player is going to look at that and see theres a lot less chance of skipping that particular queue. Options elsewhere will begin to look more appealing.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Don't they always do that for the fans?...

Really? That's not a good sign if you ask me. When O'Driscoll was captain of Ireland and Cullen Leinster they were always very reluctant to let the team do a lap of honour and it'd never be seen in the 6th round of the Pro 12! Ulster are at a stage now where they really have to deliver silverware and last night should have been a case of 'job done, now let's look straight forward to next week' rather than parading to their fans. There's a mental weakness in this Ulster side and a big part of it is getting ahead of themselves, I may be completely wrong but that lap of honour is a sign of it to me!

 

[Amiga500]

Lap of honor? A wee bit early in the season is it not?!

They have always walked around after the game applauding the support. Its not a recent phenomenon.


edit: Also - did not see that win coming. Knew the tight 5 were at the level, wasn't sure about the rest of the team.

Bit more reassured now, although with weeP and iHumph at 9 and 10, it can vary from class to calamity on a minute-by-minute basis never mind between matches!

 

[Thingimubob]

Ospreys taking apart the Blues. 19 - 3 after 33 mins

Josh Matevesi proving that he's a grade A c*** though. Latish shoulder charge with a hint of tip tackle ( just legal enough probably) on Patchell, proceeds to push his face into the ground while laughing as he gets up, then gets uppity when Patchell calls him out on it. So pointless.

 

[Bluemoon]

Ospreys are very much the better team, but ref has been rather kind to the Os at times. Webb was lucky after throwing a ball into a blues plays face and Matevesie has used his shoulder a couple of times and it's been ignored. Blues need to sort their discipline out because they can't score against the top of the league team without the ball/any territory.

 

[Thingimubob]

That was one of the worst decisions I've ever seen, how was that of the ball?! If that was a penalty, then Matavesi on Patchell would be a yellow.

I mean the Ospreys are clearly the better side, so why does Hodges feel the need to let the crowd dictate his decision.
Huge problem with reffing in the Pro12 this year, its ruining the game to watch.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

On the above point, though I'm happy with the result and the performance, it has to be said, Hodges was terrible. He started off alright but got worse and worse as the game went on. It's funny, reffing in the Pro12 has become an absolute case of Nigel or bust.

 

[Amiga500]

I had thought Claudio Bassano to be decent enough, but haven't seen the Munster Scarlets game so cannot comment.

Also think John Lacey holds potential and Neil Paterson is decent. What do you call the ginger haired young Scottish ref - can't remember seeing him have a stinker yet.

But aside from that, Hodges is a homer. Fitzgibbon just doesn't have a clue about the game and Clancy isn't far behind.

About the best thing about the "I can't believe its not the Heineken Cup" is that we have no chance of getting the funkygibbon or George "Go to the TMO 5 mins after ending the game" Clancy...

 

[ruggabee]

Indeed, Peat. A few years ago, in a single position you might have a 32 year old, a 26 year old and a 23 year old in the queue. Now its like 30 yo, 24 yo, 22 yo, 21 yo. A promising young player is going to look at that and see theres a lot less chance of skipping that particular queue. Options elsewhere will begin to look more appealing.

Yeah I've been noticing this too. Good players, potentially great players who will be stuck waiting their turn until they turn 25 or 26. By then they've missed out on gaining HC and test experience on a regular basis. It's agitating thinking about that knowing we only have 4 teams so what can we do? We can't create more teams because it's only certain areas in a team that has an abundance in talent.

 

[profitius]

Yeah I've been noticing this too. Good players, potentially great players who will be stuck waiting their turn until they turn 25 or 26. By then they've missed out on gaining HC and test experience on a regular basis. It's agitating thinking about that knowing we only have 4 teams so what can we do? We can't create more teams because it's only certain areas in a team that has an abundance in talent.

It could be a problem down the line but there are things they can do now. For instance there are loads of foreign players in Irish rugby as it is and in general they're not the star players like the provinces had before. So theres space to fill there. Also you have Connacht who are doing well at the moment but have a weak enough squad. More space there.

You'll see an exodus of Irish players in the next few years I would say. Then maybe one or two coming back but the majority staying abroad.

 

[Peat]

As problems goes, too many players is a fairly minor one, and only really a problem for the players, who hold the solution in their hands. It's not like every position in the four provinces is taken up with quality at the moment either - Ulster, for example, have major depth issues in the second and back rows, and minor ones in the front row and at 9, and maybe full-back and 10 to be really picky.

 

[collace]

Not much to add in regards to the Ulster game that hasn't already been said but how nice it was to have a proper ref in charge. Decisions were sensible and the game flowed - I shudder to think how some of those calls could have been butchered by other refs.

BTW McCloskey has been an absolute beast the last two games. He's certainly putting his hand up for the European games.