URC 2025/26: Round 12

[dirty harry]

Yeah, start of the season left a mountain to climb. Trips to Belfast and Glasgow and the kids don't look comfortable away from home and Cullen doesmt seem to trust them as much as he did young players early in his tenure. Heard HB went off, hopefully precautionary because we'll need him.

Going to have to do it the hard way this year.

Ye he went off with a HIA, after a few mins, i dont think they even bothered to look at a return though, so it may well have just been a case of why take a risk. Wouldnt blame them tbh.

Im not sure who the 9 was that started but his kicking was poor, he kept kicking too deep from the box, and made life easy for the Cardiff back 3, excellent service from tye base though.

 

[dirty harry]

You might’ve missed it because it was SA only weeks, but Stormers form has fallen off a cliff. We lost to the Sharks twice in a row, fairly convincingly. There’s significant chance we lose to both the Bulls and Lions, which are away games.

I didnt see the Sharks games, but i saw the highlights of the Bulls and Lions wins at home, i certainly think the Stormers have the stones to beat the Lions away, and Dragons and Edinburgh away, although Bulls away will be tough.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Ye he went off with a HIA, after a few mins, i dont think they even bothered to look at a return though, so it may well have just been a case of why take a risk. Wouldnt blame them tbh.

Im not sure who the 9 was that started but his kicking was poor, he kept kicking too deep from the box, and made life easy for the Cardiff back 3, excellent service from tye base though.

Fintan Gunne, big season for him next year with McGrath gone to Perpignan and JGP likely to be wrapped in cotton wool for the majority.

I like his basics, if he could follow the game a bit better and kick more consistently, he'll do well. Both of which to me are teachable skills and you won't have to be a world beater to get the opportunity to learn on the Ireland job in the coming years.

He looks very unpolished right now though, looks like a bit of a lack of understanding of the game at that level which worries me because Prendergast is the same so hard to tell what we're doing with half backs at the moment.

 

[dirty harry]

Fintan Gunne, big season for him next year with McGrath gone to Perpignan and JGP likely to be wrapped in cotton wool for the majority.

I like his basics, if he could follow the game a bit better and kick more consistently, he'll do well. Both of which to me are teachable skills and you won't have to be a world beater to get the opportunity to learn on the Ireland job in the coming years.

He looks very unpolished right now though, looks like a bit of a lack of understanding of the game at that level which worries me because Prendergast is the same so hard to tell what we're doing with half backs at the moment.

Ye, he looked a bit raw. Like i said, excellent service, and considering the pack were in a ding dong he kept delivery pretty quick, and had a fight behind his ruck with Thomas and Lawrence being incredibly nasty and obstructive.

His kicking was pretty consistent, but it was consistently 5m too long and allowed too many back 3 players to gather untouched, but that might not be on him, maybe the wings chase was lazy, or the plan may well have been to give up posession and defend the position.

I liked what i saw though, certainly outshone Aled Davies who despite the run in try, was awful

 

[dullonien]

Ye, he looked a bit raw. Like i said, excellent service, and considering the pack were in a ding dong he kept delivery pretty quick, and had a fight behind his ruck with Thomas and Lawrence being incredibly nasty and obstructive.

His kicking was pretty consistent, but it was consistently 5m too long and allowed too many back 3 players to gather untouched, but that might not be on him, maybe the wings chase was lazy, or the plan may well have been to give up posession and defend the position.

I liked what i saw though, certainly outshone Aled Davies who despite the run in try, was awful

Really? Aled Davies was on par with the best players on the pitch. Absolutely superb game from him in those conditions and was probably the difference between Cardiff winning and losing with his pinpoint kicking throughout. The difference in game management between him and Gunne was night and day.

Dan Thomas being the other standout.

 

[saulan]

I didnt see the Sharks games, but i saw the highlights of the Bulls and Lions wins at home, i certainly think the Stormers have the stones to beat the Lions away, and Dragons and Edinburgh away, although Bulls away will be tough.

Half time and we are 14-0 down and haven’t fired a shot vs the Lions. Just tons of basic errors of consistent knock ons and poor kick defense. We truly have fallen off of a form cliff. The only thing we have going for us is we can scrum.

 

[saulan]

Yeesh. 10 minutes against 13 men and we couldn’t score a point. Lions deserved winners there. We are in trouble. Three matches straight without adding a single point on the log.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Watching the 2nd half of Connacht v Glasgow is somewhat therapeutic. Glasgow's attack looks awful on a fine day!

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

One of the worst "high shot" decisions I've ever seen was just made. Bad tackle technique but absolutely no head or neck contact made... Yellow card somehow

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Connacht proceed yo shoot themselves in both feet and lose the game in the YC period.

 

[AlRums]

Watching the 2nd half of Connacht v Glasgow is somewhat therapeutic. Glasgow's attack looks awful on a fine day!

It's only Warriors 2nd/3rd team

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

It's only Warriors 2nd/3rd team

Same as Leinster yesterday.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

This is one of the most chaotically poor refereeing performances I've ever seen.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Hahahah, fair play Connacht. Bounce back and then some

 

[dullonien]

Dragons threw away the win there v Bennetton. Had so many opportunities in the final quarter,, but unforced errors, especially at the lineout really let them down. Battled well in the final few minuted to finally get over the line and secure a draw, but the win was there for the taking.

Given they were down to 13 for 10min. and picked up a 20min. red card, maybe they'll take it. They also ended the game with a very young pack, mostly aged between 19 and 23 who didn't let the side down (lineout throwing aside).

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

What's the chances of Ospreys v Ulster being a cracker.

Weekend doesn't really have that feel to it!

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Doak coming off at 55 after a pretty good showing. Hope to see him on the bench next week, showing decent form.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I want Ospreys to close out here. Better for Leinster but why are we looking at this, yes he gets hit in the head but your man is lying on the ground and going for the ball to kill it in a scoring position.

What are we doing with this sport?

 

[dullonien]

I want Ospreys to close out here. Better for Leinster but why are we looking at this, yes he gets hit in the head but your man is lying on the ground and going for the ball to kill it in a scoring position.

What are we doing with this sport?

Difficult one that. I don't think either Ospreys player were trying to kill the ball, and the Ulster player managed to hit one in the head and other in the neck with one 'clear out'. It's always tough though that close to the ground.

Ospreys made bloody hard work of that given their dominance of possession and territory. In the end Ulster just decided to hand it to them with a pile of errors.

 

[dirty harry]

So my predictions of Stormers and Uslter closing in on Leinster were .... useless.

WTF do i know hahaha

 

[Welsh Exile]

Scarlets ****** away a 14-0 lead as well. Should’ve been a clean sweep for the regions this weekend.

 

[dirty harry]

Scarlets ****** away a 14-0 lead as well. Should’ve been a clean sweep for the regions this weekend.

Is it a clean sweep if theres a draw?

 

[Welsh Exile]

Is it a clean sweep if theres a draw?

Dragons should’ve won as well. More so than the Scarlets.

 

[dirty harry]

Dragons should’ve won as well. More so than the Scarlets.

I only saw the highlights, premier sports youtube staff are a disgrace to the sport.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I only saw the highlights, premier sports youtube staff are a disgrace to the sport.

Yeah they’re a joke.

 

[saulan]

Just posting here as no point having a thread for a single game that’s finished. But a massive bonus point win result for the Stormers, looked a completely different side to the one from the last two months.

Probably the biggest impact was Ruhan Nel and his guidance/leadership in the backline. Consistently calming down the players, calling the shots and driving our defensive efforts. Showed how much we missed him and how much of drop off it is for us when he can’t play. He enables the flashy players around him.

Hopefully we can build on this momentum when the league gets going back in full.