Ulster vs Glasgow Discussion

First topic message reminder :

Teams have been named for this encounter at Ravenhill tomorrow night. Both sides are significantly depleted with the RWC and a few injuries in the mix as well.

ULSTER

15 Adam D'Arcy
14 Craig Gilroy
13 Darren Cave
12 Nevin Spence
11 Ian Whitten
10 Ian Humphreys
9 Paul Marshall

1 Paddy McAllister
2 Andy Kyriacou
3 Jerry Cronin
4 Lewis Stevenson
5 Dan Tuohy
6 Pedrie Wannenburg
7 Willie Faloon
8 Chris Henry (c)

16 Nigel Brady, 17 Conor Carey, 18 Adam Macklin, 19 Neil McComb, 20 Robbie Diack, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Peter Nelson

GLASGOW

15 Stuart Hogg
14 Tommy Seymour
13 Rob Dewey
12 Troy Nathan
11 Colin Shaw
10 Duncan Weir
9 Colin Gregor

1 Jon Welsh
2 Pat MacArthur
3 Mike Cusack
4 Tom Ryder
5 Rob Harley (c)
6 James Eddie
7 Chris Fusaro
8 Ryan Wilson

16 Finlay Gillies, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Ed Kalman, 19 Nick Campbell, 20 Rory Pitman, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Federico Aramburu

Some pretty interesting decisions from McLaughlin on this one! He's certainly building his reputation as a coach who trusts in youth. Conor Carey, Adam Macklin and 18-year old Peter Nelson will all make their competitive debuts should they get off the bench. The Ulster Academy has been working overtime lately. Its a new position for another Ulster Academy graduate; Ian Whitten is on the left wing. He may well have to adapt to survive with the glut of talented centres in Ulster. Fairly unsurprised- McLaughs penchant for big, physical wingers is well known. Probably something to do with the number of times his back moves involve them coming off their wings and running hard lines into midfield. Lock Dan Tuohy returns from a hamstring injury to partner Lewis Stevenson in his Pro12 homecoming game for Ulster. The continuing absence of Declan Fitzpatrick and Tom Court plus the delayed arrival of John Afoa means Munster-born Jerry Cronin gets another chance to try and stake a claim for his adopted province.

For Glasgow the discarded Scot Johnnie Beattie is absent- Ryan Wilson is at Number Eight. There are three players in the side making their competitive debuts; Michael Cusack at tight head, and new signings Troy Nathan and Tommy Seymour in the three-quarters. Seymour will have a point to prove after failing to establish himself in an increasingly competitive Ulster back division over the past few seasons. It'll be bittersweet for me watching him at Ravenhill; I'm delighted to see him advance his career, but disappointed he's not in the home colours as he is a very talented player.

Kick off is at 7.05pm, broadcast on BBC NI and BBC Alba.

It must be raining pretty hard. I've never seen Mr McLoughlin watch the match from indoors before!

Good win. Disappointing not to get the bonus point but some very good performances from Touhy, Henry, Cave, Spence, Cronin, Whitten and D'arcy amongst others.

Not a bad start to the season

In the immortal words of Mrs P.

Whoo Hooo!!

A reasonable first game. Some areas where improvement is necessary.
Henry superb as usual.
My word Jerry Cronin has continued to improve. His scrummaging is impressive and he is mobile.

All in all I am fairly happy with this start..

In the immortal words of Mrs P.

Whoo Hooo!!

A reasonable first game. Some areas where improvement is necessary.
Henry superb as usual.
My word Jerry Cronin has continued to improve. His scrummaging is impressive and he is mobile.

All in all I am fairly happy with this start..

So good they played it twice

I think you'll find that is,

"Woo Hoo!"

Get it right!

Sorry

Sorry

Sorry

Rava's been at the whiskey...

Hahahahahahahaha!

Good enough start to the season.



Never used that wee emoticon before. Might use it instead of my "same old, same old"!

Oh Sh1t. Should have been a bonus.

Well done to Ulster.

I was a bit miffed at the interception try ( painful stuff). The second half was really where Ulster won the game - it felt like the whole of the last 40 mins was played in the Glasgow half.

Hope Welsh's injury is nothing serious

Yeah, I felt like Glasgow came at us exceptionally hard in the first half but they very much ran out of steam and faded badly in the second half. They worked incredibly hard but couldn't maintain it. In the last 20 minutes, we took complete control. That aspect pleased me because you need to be an 80 minute side to really compete and games are often decided in the last quarter. Frustrated we didn't play as well as we can and Humphreys in particular fell below the standards he has set for himself in the past. We probably left another try out on the pitch and you've got to take those chances.

Still- a comfortable enough win. A solid start we can build on.

Great showing from the pack, particularly Tuohy. I echo Ravas comments on Cronin. He's come on in leaps and bounds.

Manky-Flanker wrote:Well done to Ulster.

I was a bit miffed at the inception try ( painful stuff). The second half was really where Ulster won the game - it felt like the whole of the last 40 mins was played in the Glasgow half.

Hope Welsh's injury is nothing serious

The inception try- you could say it was the stuff of dreams for Ulster?

Nightmare for the warriors more like

Yeah, it was a gift at a juncture when we weren't playing particularly well. Still, positives to take for Glasgow. They remain a difficult side to play against.

Does anyone know who got man of the match? I don't remember it being announced at the stadium, maybe I just didn't notice. I would have given it to Tuohy, huge performance from him.

Yeah I'd give it to Tuohy. Think the announcer was biting his fingernails over our push for the BP!

Ulster didn't deserve a bonus point.

Humphreys was seriously rusty with both his timing with the boot and mind off. Duncan Weir continues to impress for Glasgow and comfortably outplayed him.

OTOH Paul Marshall had a good first half and a poor second but it was still more than enough to outshine the distinctly mediocre Colin Gregor.

I was pleased that McLaughlin only used one sub as the starters needed as much time on the pitch as they could get.

Henry got MOTM but Tuohy or Cave equally deserved it.

The BBC gave to to Chris Henry but Tuohy would have got my vote too!

poissonrouge wrote:The BBC gave to to Chris Henry but Tuohy would have got my vote too!

+1 Henry had a very good game but Tuohy was the best player by a mile, awesome in the lose and in the lineout. Gutted he's not in the WC squad because he's exactly the type of 2nd row Ireland need but Irelands loss is Ulsters gain I suppose.

It was a really good start to the season and we looked to be playing some very good attacking rugby. I really like the Spence and Cave combo but I'm gutted I took Cave out of my rabo dream team . I was very impressed with Whitten on the left wing too.

The only down side last night was that Humphreys and Marshall were a bit eratic with their play. Humph's passing was a bit wayward at times and Marshall put in a few terrible kicks directly into touch.

Yeah, and Marshalls service is still a bit of a liability. I think we don't notice it because all Irish scrumhalves are so bad. But when you look at the top 9s- one of whom we have on the books!- it's night and day. I like Marshall well enough though, he can hurt teams, but I prefer Porter as a 9. I think Marshall brings enough to the table to justify his place. He's very good at sniping and is an elusive runner.

Between the two halfbacks, our backs and backrows had to stop and take the ball static far too many times. It took a lot out of our attack. Normally thats a real strength of Humphreys game, so it was disappointing he didn't do himself justice last night.

I thought Marshall started the game of well enought Notch scoring a cracking try, box kicking and passing well and having a generally error free 1st half.

However as the game went on the errors started creeping in with 2 or 3 awful kicks. He looks like he has the talent but he seems to just play without thinking at times and is prone to costly errors.

I like Marshall, he's very quick, strong and has a good attitude but I just wish he could read the game a bit better and concentrate on getting the basics right.

I thought the Ulster 9 looked alright and was quite solid. Compare with Colin Gregor who had a bit of a shocker last night:

1) He threw the pass that led to the interception try
2) He was the last defender in the line but went to the openside of the ruck which allowed the Ulster 9 to stroll in down the blindside
3) Many of his deliveries required Weir to jump to catch the ball which undermines the attack from square 1.

Without those two soft tries it may have been a different game, Gregor will know that and he'll be hurting. Looking forward to him making amends in the next round. Glasgow need his experience.

Yeah, Gregor was pish. I believe that is the local term? Yes? Pish

He was directly responsible for two of our tries. First try was a freakish gift. I think we gave away soft points as well to Glasgow with some of the penalties we conceded and soft tackling in the lead-up to the opener- symptomatic of the start of the season really.

No, I like Marshall as a player. He deserves credit; this is very much his level though.

It is indeed Notch,

I also think it will be used extensively in Sean Lineen's debrief with said player

Got to agree we looked very rusty. Humph was average at best for me. He clearly needed to stand a foot deeper if kicking as the glasgow line was up quickly and the charge down could have cost us (fair play to D'arcy for tidying it up). we threw far too many 50;50 passes imo and another team may have had more intercepts off us.

We were clearly fitter which is a positive and Tuohy was excellent but to my mind we were going wide too quickly and not setting the platform up front. The breakdown was a shamble on both sides and i felt the ref struggled with this and the offside line.

All in all good for a first knock and we deprived Glasgow of a point which pleased me. I agree with whoever said Whitten was commendable out of position and Cave looked decent as did Spence (defensively moreso). I still think we lack creativity and if and when Luke Marshall is fit we really should be employing him at 12.

Who was the principle force in Henry getting over the line? Check the replays. A certain N Spence. And the BBC give everyone credit from the forwards and Faloon to Cave who they evidently confuse for Spence. Tank.

Spence was great there; to be fair, those are the two guys you most expect to be in to support the eight after a pick-up. 12 and 7. Very simple play.

The three Ulster tries can be seen here;

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheUAFC

Anyone know if the beeb are showing next weeks game. They showed both the italian away games last year

Don't think its being broadcast at all unfortunately.

It's on the radio if that helps.

I certainly agree there was plenty of positives to take from the game, after all a win is a win. I did however leave the game frustrated that we didn't use our heads a bit more.

Glasgow's lineout was pish and instead of thinking on our feet and kicking for the corners we insisted on launching high balls up the middle or running from deep.

I reckon if Glasgow were forced to win line out ball from deep in their 22 a few more times we'd have walked away with the brucey bonus

Like I said - plenty of positives but room for improvement

Jerry Cronin had a blinding game in the loose, I thought. He really took his chance last night. Hope he keeps it up.

I can see Jerry Cronin holding down the 3 jersey until Afoa arrives after that performance as well.

Yeah, its great. I think there are very few weak links in the squad.

I am perfectly happy too see the likes of Cronin, McComb, McComish, Porter etc. take to the field in the Magners League.

Standulstermen wrote:
All in all good for a first knock and we deprived Glasgow of a point which pleased me. I agree with whoever said Whitten was commendable out of position and Cave looked decent as did Spence (defensively moreso). I still think we lack creativity and if and when Luke Marshall is fit we really should be employing him at 12.

Stand I didn't think we lacked creativity at all. In fact I thought we looked more positive and threatening with the ball in hand than most of last season. I thought the only thing we lacked at times was a bit of composure and control at half back. Marshall and ihumph were not great but I thought Spence and Cave were excellent and are continuing to create an excellent partnership so I see no reason to split that up right now.

Cant agree rodders. We only looked seriously dangerous in the last 20 to my mind. Our mantra was to ship the ball to static runners and repeat. OUr first try came from a deflected kick and a horrific moment for gregor. 2nd try was good and we got mismatches with tuohy carrying brilliantly.

I personally thought we lacked ideas. We were adventurous yes but not creative. Your point about lacking composure is spot on as well though

I thought we were plenty creative, main problem in attack was our outside backs and backrow had to check their runs to get the ball. With D'Arcy coming into the line and Cave playing well we have plenty of creativity in the backline.

This is why I criticised Marshall and Humphreys cause by and large we had good ball to play with. They were the weak link in attack. Speed of distribution, quality of distribution and decision making was poor. BUT I very much expect this to change for us as the season goes on and we gain more cohesion. All in all, I was happy with the structures we have in attack.

Should Luke Marshall come in, it will have to be at the expense of Cave. Spence looks integral to the way we're playing- when we put width on the ball we look good, but we need at least one strike runner in midfield. That's working very well for us. But Spence needs to work on his passing and offloading when he makes the break whatever number he has on his back. He really needs to add to his game to fulfil his potential.

Marshall and Spence would be the perfect blend, but looking at our tactics we're accommodating Spence at 12 very well without compromising the creativity in the backs.

Yeah sorry Stand but I feel closer to Notch on this one, if there was an area we need to improve it is in the half backs. IHumphs distribution and descision making was not great.

I wouldn't drop either Spence or Cave right now as I feel they are both playing excellent stuff but I'm sure Marshall can be rotated in to get game time. I don't think our midfield is a problem though.

All in all it was a very positive start to the season.

Im not suggesting the half backs werent poor. I felt iHumph was very rusty. The only two time i felt we created something in the first 50 were just before the Marshall try and when Faloon butchered a 3 on 1 by trying the overhead offload. I also dont think we cleared rucks well enough the clearout before the marshall try being a notable exception. Dont get me wrong i thought we were decent but i didnt think we had the same depth to our running we saw against Quins.

I do feel the same as you guys in terms of positives though. a 14 point margin in game 1 is as much as i can remember. For me Marshall should be starting at 12 with Cave or Spence outside. we need another kicking option in the backline.

We can't ignore Spence still has a long way to go; he still needs to learn a lot. It's not so much that he can't pass, he's not great at it, its more that he has a tendency to try to run through everything. Firstly, he needs to build more confidence in that side of his game. Secondly, he needs to learn when to pass. The first one will come with hard work, good coaching and perseverance. The second will come with maturity and experience

He adds a lot to this team. Big hits, big carries, big influence on the game.

OK sorry we're all pretty much on the same wavelength then.

From my own point of view I really like the look of Spence and Cave in midfield. They seem to have a very good understanding and Spence is able to play the direct running centre role and create space for Cave who is looking very sharp and classy. I don't see any reason to change that right now.

I'm sure Marshall will get his chances but I was very happy with out midfield and outside backs last night.

Yeah, me too. Look it's a nice problem to have. I expect there will be injuries over the course of the season, rotation, and that depth will stand to us.

I was just thinking; for the first time in a long time, there's almost no player I have reservations over in our squad. Neil McComb put in a seriously good shift against Quins, Jerry Cronin has come on massively and improves with every game, McComish is a hard worker and won't let anyone down. Ian Porter is in many ways a better scrum-half than Marshall, though probably not as good a rugby player. The only position I have reservations about is 10. Paddy Jackson has a lack of experience and if Humphreys is out we could suffer.

We have a small squad but there is very little deadwood in it.

I hope (for his own good) that we dont perservere with the Spence at 12 option for two long. I rate him very very highly but he could be a devastating player further wide. As notch says he still has much to work on but i am confident that he already has the physicality required for top flight rugby.

I just hope we dont turn him into a bosh merchant. he could be so much more.

Yeah, so long as we don't do a Gordon D'Arcy on him. We can suck the potential out of players in this country sometimes.

He IS a 13 long term, realistically.

Notch wrote:Yeah, so long as we don't do a Gordon D'Arcy on him. We can suck the potential out of players in this country sometimes.

He IS a 13 long term, realistically.

In fairness Darcy has played some excellent rugby at 12. I was really disappointed that gaston wasn't involved at all yesterday. He was impressive enough in some of the warm ups and unlike whitten is an actual back three players.

I thought both he and Marshall took small knocks val.

Standulstermen wrote:I thought both he and Marshall took small knocks val.

Ah right that is fair enough. Tuohy was fairly immense last night, will hopefully be starting along with poc in the six nations if he gets back to his best.