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Round 18

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Heading to the Ulster - Sharks game tonight. I think Marty Moore is a massive loss for us and worry about the scrum in his absence.

Good to have McCloskey back to add that extra bit of physicality in midfield which I think will be needed.

Could be a tight game.
 
collace said:
Heading to the Ulster - Sharks game tonight. I think Marty Moore is a massive loss for us and worry about the scrum in his absence.

Good to have McCloskey back to add that extra bit of physicality in midfield which I think will be needed.

Could be a tight game.
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It's going to be intense hopefully, that or Ulster just runs away with the score but we will see. I am very psyched this is a knockout game due to the implications of the win
 
Very entertaining so far despite the weather.

It's just ******* stupid how ridiculously good McCloskey is. I hope he starts in New Zealand, he absolutely deserves the chance with Hume.
 
What on earth happened at Benetton? I didn't watch the match, but beating Cardiff 69-21?!:( Now watching Ospreys v Bulls - worryingly, that front five might be the first choice in the Wales tour of SA.
 
Ospreys rally at the end to get 2BPs while losing 31-38 to the Bulls. Well done to Sam Parry for that weird try in the ruck and to Luke Morgan for that interception.
 
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Tooting Carmen said:
Ospreys rally at the end to get 2BPs while losing 31-38 to the Bulls. Well done to Sam Parry for that weird try in the ruck and to Luke Morgan for that interception.
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AWJ was verry poor tonight. Should be nowhere neer the welsh squad atm! In comparison to the SA players, Beard lacks upper body strength - surely it shouldn't be hard for him to lift more weight in the gym?

Ospreys just can't really get their backs into thr game either. Neither North or Giles got the ball in any space.

Some great angles by Hendricks, but defense seemed to go missing too often.

Good rally at the end, but all too late in thr context of the game itself.
 
So, from our match...

O'Toole and Warwick did very well against that monster front row.
Timoney again excellent.
Henderson put himself about well. Was due one.
McCloskey great.

Poor Sharks loosie was dying on the pitch for about 15 mins before the bench eventually gave the fella some respite and hooked him!
The 2nd Sharks try was (individuall) very clever - Chamberlain took excellent advantage of John Andrew only being on the field a few seconds and made him make a tough decision. Andrew chose the wrong option and a try was the result.
Am looked like he might grow influential n the midfield toward the tail end of first half, half time prob came at a bad time for him. Was snuffed out again most of second half.
Serious amount of silly knock-ons from the Sharks 9. Felt like 4 or 5 times, so prob 3 or 4?

But still wouldn't fancy us in a play off vs Munster never mind Leinster.

Switching off and dropping 14 points in 4 minutes? Doesn't bode well.
 
dullonien said:
AWJ was verry poor tonight. Should be nowhere neer the welsh squad atm! In comparison to the SA players, Beard lacks upper body strength - surely it shouldn't be hard for him to lift more weight in the gym?

Ospreys just can't really get their backs into thr game either. Neither North or Giles got the ball in any space.

Some great angles by Hendricks, but defense seemed to go missing too often.

Good rally at the end, but all too late in thr context of the game itself.
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Even my father during the otherwise fantastic Ospreys-Scarlets match commented on how slow and plodding AWJ has become. His time is definitely coming to a close (I strongly doubt he shall go beyond next year's World Cup).
 
So Benetton massively improved or Cardiff had a stinker? I know the regions have struggled this year, but that's a bad result. I don't know the squad in detail, but doesn't look like a weak Cardiff side either.
 
UlsterRugby2012 said:
Very entertaining so far despite the weather.

It's just ******* stupid how ridiculously good McCloskey is. I hope he starts in New Zealand, he absolutely deserves the chance with Hume.
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I'd rather see Frawley. I don't think McCloskey brings anything that Henshaw and Aki don't, he does certain things better but those two are comfortably the better players. Frawley offers something a bit different and I'd like to see how Farrell can accommodate him.

With a larger squad I'd be adding Mcilroy though, looks very suited to our game and comfortable on the ball in the Hansen mould. If he gets a bit busier and has a big 12 months the RWC squad isn't beyond him.
 
It was a meaningless dead rubber against a side probably with the worst defence outside of Zebre, but I'll take 10 try Benetton (some not bad ones).



So Benetton finish 13th in Bortolami's debut season as head coach. I'd have preferred them to pip Connacht (given their Champions Cup effort) and Lions, but overall - a just about acceptable season for Bortolami and he should get a shot next year. I think he'll be needing at least 11th next year though to not be seen as a big downgrade on Crowley (who frankly is still walking on water after beating Wales in Cardiff).
 
Congrats to the Ulster fans your teams getting a home QF and probably gets to play us in a rematch in the next round. If we won that game would have been in Durban, also losing that game meant we lost the South African shield. Was very high stakes, now the shield is gone and we can only hope we can win this competition on the road which will be tough but is doable.

Gutted, but Ulster was the best team on the night.
 
Bruce_ma gooshvili said:
It was a meaningless dead rubber against a side probably with the worst defence outside of Zebre, but I'll take 10 try Benetton (some not bad ones).



So Benetton finish 13th in Bortolami's debut season as head coach. I'd have preferred them to pip Connacht (given their Champions Cup effort) and Lions, but overall - a just about acceptable season for Bortolami and he should get a shot next year. I think he'll be needing at least 11th next year though to not be seen as a big downgrade on Crowley (who frankly is still walking on water after beating Wales in Cardiff).
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The defence on the second try is atrocious
 
Reiser99 said:
So Benetton massively improved or Cardiff had a stinker? I know the regions have struggled this year, but that's a bad result. I don't know the squad in detail, but doesn't look like a weak Cardiff side either.
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The Cardiff back line was very young by the end and when the try’s were flying in. There’s a feeling here that Dai may have lost the dressing room a bit and is making mass culls of players at the moment, but maybe he needs to take apart to rebuild, starting with the pack.

Takes something to put 70 on a team and Benetton were good value for that, but this was a massively depleted and disinterested Cardiff team who have a long way to go to get back to being competitive.
 
Bluemoon said:
The Cardiff back line was very young by the end and when the try’s were flying in. There’s a feeling here that Dai may have lost the dressing room a bit and is making mass culls of players at the moment, but maybe he needs to take apart to rebuild, starting with the pack.

Takes something to put 70 on a team and Benetton were good value for that, but this was a massively depleted and disinterested Cardiff team who have a long way to go to get back to being competitive.
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Some of the yougsters made some errors, but Max Llywellyn was probably the best Cardiff player on the day, so can't all be blamed on inexperience. Thought Priestland was appalling, and he was one of the most experienced players out there. He was standing 15m back from the gainline and just shipping thr ball on to his midfield who were being caught way back.

If I were Jarrod Evans I'd be getting out of Cardiff asap to somewhere he's appreciated and can develop, because Priestland playing ahead of him is a joke- as was that performance from Cardiff.

I thought it was a mistake to bring Dai Young back, and this result proves it in my eyes.
 
Le Frére Alpha said:
I'd rather see Frawley. I don't think McCloskey brings anything that Henshaw and Aki don't, he does certain things better but those two are comfortably the better players. Frawley offers something a bit different and I'd like to see how Farrell can accommodate him.

With a larger squad I'd be adding Mcilroy though, looks very suited to our game and comfortable on the ball in the Hansen mould. If he gets a bit busier and has a big 12 months the RWC squad isn't beyond him.
Click to expand...

I would like to see McCloskey phased in over Aki. Aki has been great this season but he's 32, McCloskey has 3 years on him and is at his peak. Especially as we're now involving Hume for the future 13 position, and we've seen the benefits of having the Henshaw-Ringrose partnership at club level. His partnership with Hume this year has been outstanding and I'd say he's been Ulster's best player. Without him, Hume wouldn't have had the season he's having.

At this point I'm not sure what he has to do. He is a constant threat, drags in 2-3 defenders every contact, always looking to offload. Heavy ball carriers are something I think we're crying out for at times and I think he'd be a good option. He at least deserves the chance in NZ imo.
 

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