Lads I'm far too shook to think of anything! Guinness Pro 14 - R.15

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Not much finesse but plenty blood and thunder in Ulster. Edinburgh win courtesy of two of their rejects Weir and SHC. Enjoyed that immensely.

Evans chewed out Weir for whinging by when the whistle goes they had a lovely cuddle.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Big 6nations period so far for Edinburgh. Could be costly for Ulster. Connacht showed no bottle in a night where they could have put big pressure on the Blues, they have Ospreys to contend with for the Euro playoff spot now too!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I couldn't believe that Zebre result, and then I saw the Connacht lineup and I understand. Zebre playing Canna and Mbanda paid off. 4th win of the year for them which isn't shabby for a club that went bust in the off season.

Cheetahs really running out of gas. With Super Rugby kicking off this weekend it means some of the Cheetahs have had 12 straight months with only a wee break over Christmas.

Hard for Munster to catch Glasgow now... probably.

Still waiting for that post RWC South African win in a home nation Brigantine. I suspect we wont have one until November.

 

[Brigantine]

Nah, I rate the Kings to take Leinster next week. And then Dragons - Cheetahs after the 6N is a maybe as well.

A shame no one in South Africa will notice, with SR starting back up.

 

[fergo]

Another grind out win for Edinburgh but will take the win especially away to Ulster, I know it's been constantly said but you can definitely see the difference in having Cockerill there where once before Edinburgh would have just shrugged their shoulders and said Oh Well now they are still fighting right to the last gasp.

 

[Leinster Fan]

Nah, I rate the Kings to take Leinster next week. And then Dragons - Cheetahs after the 6N is a maybe as well.

Dragons Cheetahs is a good shot, although the Cheetahs are flagging and have been in terrible away form. (I'm assuming you're being sarcastic with the other one.)

 

[munstermuffin]

Hard to judge SA teams this year considering they are running on fumes surely.
Connacht were poor last night and Ulster were ok but lack of 10 was scary. Add in Edinburgh sticking at it

 

[dullonien]

Ospreys were truly dire last night. Don't think I've seen a worse performance from them ever!

Kings properly ran out of steam at 60min. allowing the O's to sneak a bonus point win.

 

[Leinster Fan]

The South Africans couldn't have had a worse time to run out of fuel, because the 6N window would have been a massive chance for the Cheetahs to put potentially challenge for second and for the Kings to win a game.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

How does Lacey earn money to reffing... He's tragic both ways.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

JLowe. I love ya!

 

[Bluemoon]

For all the Munster offsides/diving off feet, not one penalty. Cardiff being blown off the park. Really disappointing.

 

[Leinster Fan]

I'm happy we won, but to be honest we let two points slip there. From the position we were in early in the second half not getting a try BP and then letting them get back in it and giving that late penalty for the bonus point was very disappointing. A more experienced team would have kicked them while they were down and put up a big score.

Lacey made endless ridiculous decisions which probably means both teams will cone away thinking they were hard done by while in reality he probably f***** both teams equally.

Ciarán Frawley looked sharp when he came on which is a positive going forward. Nick McCarthy was excellent off the bench which combined with Lowe's general brilliance makes me think that the only thing stopping Lowe playing v Saracens is McGrath's injury proving serious and forcing us to use JGP.

 

[Bluemoon]

Game almost ruined by some shocking refereeing, in the end for both sides. Cardiff's younger front row arguably performed a lot better than the geriatrics. Ellis Jenkins has been sorely missed and is such a big player. So good at the breakdown.

Owen Lane, Seb Davies and Rhun Williams continuing their development nicely.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I'm happy we won, but to be honest we let two points slip there. From the position we were in early in the second half not getting a try BP and then letting them get back in it and giving that late penalty for the bonus point was very disappointing. A more experienced team would have kicked them while they were down and put up a big score.

Lacey made endless ridiculous decisions which probably means both teams will cone away thinking they were hard done by while in reality he probably f***** both teams equally.

Ciarán Frawley looked sharp when he came on which is a positive going forward. Nick McCarthy was excellent off the bench which combined with Lowe's general brilliance makes me think that the only thing stopping Lowe playing v Saracens is McGrath's injury proving serious and forcing us to use JGP.

Nothing to disagree with here, I'd add Fardy being up there with any of our second row signings!

 

[Leinster Fan]

I'd add Fardy being up there with any of our second row signings!

He's been brilliant this season, and he's after plugging a hole in our pack at lock where we were struggling last season as well. He deserves all the Elsom/Hines/Thorn comparisons he's been getting.

 

[munstermuffin]

Game almost ruined by some shocking refereeing, in the end for both sides. Cardiff's younger front row arguably performed a lot better than the geriatrics. Ellis Jenkins has been sorely missed and is such a big player. So good at the breakdown.

Owen Lane, Seb Davies and Rhun Williams continuing their development nicely.

We were well off the boil tonight. But the better team won. Ref was ok not great but well we felt Cardiff were offside alot to or infringing illegally but again can't argue with the result

 

[Bluemoon]

We were well off the boil tonight. But the better team won. Ref was ok not great but well we felt Cardiff were offside alot to or infringing illegally but again can't argue with the result

Ah appreciate that. I thought Munster played a very strange game at times. A little tactically disjointed. They clearly had the strength in the tight, maul and scrum until the later changes. When they used the tight 5 and carried, Cardiff were really struggling. They did that really well for their first half try and just after half time. I was a bit frustrated with Munster sealing off too, but then they were going forward so I think the ref ignored it. Something like 9 pens in a row though the ref didn't allow a constent on the floor in that period. Your 7 was a nuisance and did a decent job. I did think Munster had the platform to come back then.

Cardiff have been working on the rush defence this year and it's improved, allthough still risky. I thought Munster didn't offer much of a running game when they had the platform. They kicked a lot at the young back three and tried some cross field kicks at very odd times- eg on an exit! - perhaps to beat the narrow rush.

 

[munstermuffin]

Ah appreciate that. I thought Munster played a very strange game at times. A little tactically disjointed. They clearly had the strength in the tight, maul and scrum until the later changes. When they used the tight 5 and carried, Cardiff were really struggling. They did that really well for their first half try and just after half time. I was a bit frustrated with Munster sealing off too, but then they were going forward so I think the ref ignored it. Something like 9 pens in a row though the ref didn't allow a constent on the floor in that period. Your 7 was a nuisance and did a decent job. I did think Munster had the platform to come back then.

Cardiff have been working on the rush defence this year and it's improved, allthough still risky. I thought Munster didn't offer much of a running game when they had the platform. They kicked a lot at the young back three and tried some cross field kicks at very odd times- eg on an exit! - perhaps to beat the narrow rush.

TO be fair we had alot in for first games or starts. But Cardiff were excellent on defending our exits and that was big part of our platform disarmed.
Our 7 Cloete is a superb player I tho ugh himself Jacko (#6) and Scannell (#12) were massive standouts on our side.
On ref can accept both teams got frustrated but I feel for them too especially SARU ones who are jumping between law books a tad

 

[Groundhog]

Williams was genuinely disgraceful by his own standards last night. If it was a tactic to wait ponderously at every ruck for four or five seconds before making an often poor decision, then the coaching was at fault, but the execution was awful and a lot of players didn't turn up. Keatley was poor too but it was good to see mistakes not get on top of him too much and he didn't retreat into himself like he might have a few years back. O'Donoghue put himself forward well as did Cloete, but a lot of others didn't turn up and seemed to think they would walk it at a pitch we've had a lot of trouble at before. Feel bad for O'Donoghue to be honest. What a forgettable first captaincy.
The ref was bloody shite on both sides, but it's horses for courses in this league. One thing that really annoyed me was the touch judge calling a blatant neck roll on Cloete into the refs ear and the ref ignored it because he didn't seem to understand what the TJ was referring to. That's just poor stuff.