Ulster v Leicester team news

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Reading between the lines my guess is the team will be

Court
Best
Fitzpatrick
Tuohy
Muller
HendersonWilliams
Wilson
Henry
Marshall
Jackson
Trimble
Marshall
Cave
Bowe
Payne

Bench:
Black
Herring
Afoa (doubt)Lutton
Diack/Stevenson
WilliamsHenderson
Pienaer
Olding
Allen

I get the feeling Ulster are building - the Irish internationals will not be so rusty next time, Piennar on from the start, Afoa to tighten up the scrum - long way to go in this group but all good so far.

Just back from Ravenhill, good atmosphere, good win but disappointing not to take the LBP away from Tigers! The scoreline maybe flattered them a little?

The key moment for me was the Paddy Jackson disallowed try. For me, having seen the replays in the ground, the penalty had to be given for something at the ruck and not offside. It was a very well-timed intercept by Jackson. Am I right in saying that?

It's disappointing because for me, if we had got that that we could have out some daylight between the teams. I always felt we had an extra gear after half-time, they couldn't match us, but frustratingly we didn't manage to turn that into as many points as we should have.

Well.....well played Tigers, it was a great game. But I'm a bit disappointed with the LBP for Tigers. We had chances to score tries but 16 or 17 handling errors in the match for Ulster many of which were in the Tigers 22. I thought the call for the forward pass leading up to Cave's non-try was the right call. Jackson being pinged for offside I'm not so sure. Still....beating the English champs is never going to be easy and we have. Lost at home and we'd probably be out, so its not a terrible result. We still have Afoa to come back which will steady the scrum. On that front I thought the commentators were way to quick to say Tigers were in the ascendacny. The first scrum Tigers pushed very early and Poite didn't ping them for it. In the second half Tom Court stepped up and won several penalties against Dan Cole, which give us 6 points. Very much game on in this pool with Montpellier and Treviso yet to show their hand.

As for man of the match, were it not for the offside he gave away to give Tigers the 3 points then I would have given it to Best. Taking that into consideration I would have given it to Paddy Jackson who matches Flood all the way for place kicking (missed one each) and bettered him with his out of hand kicks (some of his territorial kicks and up and under were sublime). Flood however probably edged it on the running threat front and his ferocity in defense. All in all Jackson should be very pleased that he matched a much more experienced international 10 in Flood.

Tigers fought hard but in the end didn't have the bench to win. Ulster deserved the win and Leicester deserved the LBP. Jackson was the best player on the pitch but failed to win the MOTM because he missed the kick to stop the LBP.

I actually fancy Ulster's chances at Welford Road because they will be stronger by then and the Tigers weaker.

If you watch it Jackson never got back on side for the ruck

The Great Aukster wrote:Tigers fought hard but in the end didn't have the bench to win. Ulster deserved the win and Leicester deserved the LBP. Jackson was the best player on the pitch but failed to win the MOTM because he missed the kick to stop the LBP.

I actually fancy Ulster's chances at Welford Road because they will be stronger by then and the Tigers weaker.

I don't know about that, there is still Tuilagi to come back and of course their replacement for Croft- Pablo Matera. Equally comfortable at 6 or 7, no weaknesses to his game. I don't know if Tigers fans realise just what a good 'un they've got just yet. For a 20 year old to play against South Africa in the Rugby Championship and be the standout forward, nay, the standout player on the pitch is massively impressive,

Notch wrote:

The Great Aukster wrote:Tigers fought hard but in the end didn't have the bench to win. Ulster deserved the win and Leicester deserved the LBP. Jackson was the best player on the pitch but failed to win the MOTM because he missed the kick to stop the LBP.

I actually fancy Ulster's chances at Welford Road because they will be stronger by then and the Tigers weaker.

I don't know about that, there is still Tuilagi to come back and of course their replacement for Croft- Pablo Matera. Equally comfortable at 6 or 7, no weaknesses to his game. I don't know if Tigers fans realise just what a good 'un they've got just yet. For a 20 year old to play against South Africa in the Rugby Championship and be the standout forward, nay, the standout player on the pitch is massively impressive,

I remember you and myself and several others talking about Matera at the start of the rugby championship and wondering who would get him. Tigers have done exceptionally well in signing him. He has many parallel's with Iain Henderson. Going to be an amazing talent if he isn't already.

Yeah I feel Ulster will get better................ but they'll have to practice those beautiful looking rolling wave offloads a lot more! Extremely hard to defend against but infuriatingly easy to muck up with oh so fine handling errors. (That disallowed try was a potential A grade beauty)  Ulster know they'll have to make dominance (and they did) more evident on the scoreboard from here on in.  Leicester great defending.

Matera has a great offloading game, he's physical in defence and attack, he can carry, he can link up the play, he's a lineout option and his workrate is excellent. Remarkably polished player for a guy who is only 20 years old. He basically has it all.

He will grow to be an inspirational talisman for Argentina in the way Lobbe is now, and a world class player in his own right.

He's not there yet though as his idiotic YC in the RC belied a work in progress only about halfway on the great openside scale.

Just watched the game and pleased with that, I said a losing bonus point would be great and it was. The yellow card and Court's ability to get away with standing up at the scrum in the second half. Crane needs a little rest, he looks tired and that yellow card was conceded through fatigue, it really was a silly one to give away.

Need to do something about our tactical kicking as we gave Jackson the chance to pin us back time and time again. We were fortunate that our defence was much better than usual and that Jackson isn't the most creative 10.

Really enjoyed watching it and nice to see the panicky jabbering of Best before the first scrum as he obviously knew of Youngs strength from the Lions tour. Young Tom clearly becoming a real threat.

Good tough game, but silly errors costing us. Disappointed we handed Tigers a bonus point, but very happy with the win.

formerly known as Sam wrote:The yellow card and Court's ability to get away with standing up at the scrum in the second half.

Poite told Cole that he was pushing Court up (twice) which is why Cole was pinged twice, rather than Court standing up.

After watching that, I know Tigers will be stronger at Welford Road but we were fairly comfortable without ever hitting top gear ourselves. A win on the road is very possible there.

So is a win next week but it's probably one of the toughest places in Europe to go and get a result. We need at the very least a LBP.

Well done ulster. Too many forward passes and missed opportunities. Great scrum, that young Fitzgerald (?) tight head is a hell of a player.

Good start to the campaign but plenty to work on.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Just watched the game and pleased with that, I said a losing bonus point would be great and it was. The yellow card and Court's ability to get away with standing up at the scrum in the second half. Crane needs a little rest, he looks tired and that yellow card was conceded through fatigue, it really was a silly one to give away.

Need to do something about our tactical kicking as we gave Jackson the chance to pin us back time and time again. We were fortunate that our defence was much better than usual and that Jackson isn't the most creative 10.

Really enjoyed watching it and nice to see the panicky jabbering of Best before the first scrum as he obviously knew of Youngs strength from the Lions tour. Young Tom clearly becoming a real threat.

You don't really come across as a man happy at a bonus point loss  

Think it was Cole doing the jabbering after Ulster got on top of the scrum. Sometimes we see what we want to see  

maestegmafia wrote:Well done ulster. Too many forward passes and missed opportunities. Great scrum, that young Fitzgerald (?) tight head is a hell of a player.

His name is Declan Fitzpatrick and he is 30 years old!

He has five caps for Ireland as well so he's not really a newcomer, but he's a very good technical scrummager. Old school prop in that he relies on technique over power... and pretty much contributes nothing in between scrums!

Actually watch it back Artful. Poite is on the other side of the scrum both times and after the second time you clearly see Court's shoulders pointing upwards and Cole comes up and tells him he's just pushing upwards (with hand gesture).

Notch, funny that. After that game I was thinking we could take Ulster at home. As the home side you normally get a decision or two go your way you don't get away from home and replacing that vocal Ulster crowd with a Leicester one then Tigers should be well set. Adding in the return of Ayerza, Manu and Tait (meaning we would have more than one member of the back three able of taking a high ball) would leave us a lot stronger. Key will be to try to not only win but deny Ulster a losing bonus point again so that we win that head to head.

Munchkin, Cole was quieter than usual, normally the ref is offered free advice after every scrum. Considering he got binned for opening his gob last time someone had clearly told him to keep his mouth shut.

It's a shame that didn't happen for us tonight; just got the rough end of the referees whistle.

It's definitely a shame we didn't run up a score, we looked like we could but the final pass just didn't come off.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Actually watch it back Artful. Poite is on the other side of the scrum both times and after the second time you clearly see Court's shoulders pointing upwards and Cole comes up and tells him he's just pushing upwards (with hand gesture).

Notch, funny that. After that game I was thinking we could take Ulster at home. As the home side you normally get a decision or two go your way you don't get away from home and replacing that vocal Ulster crowd with a Leicester one then Tigers should be well set. Adding in the return of Ayerza, Manu and Tait (meaning we would have more than one member of the back three able of taking a high ball) would leave us a lot stronger. Key will be to try to not only win but deny Ulster a losing bonus point again so that we win that head to head.

Munchkin, Cole was quieter than usual, normally the ref is offered free advice after every scrum. Considering he got binned for opening his gob last time someone had clearly told him to keep his mouth shut.

Poite may have been on the wrong side of the scrum but of the 3 penalties given against Cole for his scrummaging against Court, two were given by Christophe Berdos the touch judge and on at least one occasion, Poite told Cole it was for pushing upwards. Whether or not it was the right call I don't know. One was also given by Berdos for Cole collapsing, which obviously doesn't relate to Court standing up.

Notch wrote:He has five caps for Ireland as well so he's not really a newcomer, but he's a very good technical scrummager. Old school prop in that he relies on technique over power... and pretty much contributes nothing in between scrums!

He's 30? He looks a lot younger. As you say he is a very solid technical player. I had seen his name mentioned by a few Ulster fans before and seen him in the RP12. But tonight he was doing a superb job on a famous set piece team, even though they aren't the the team they were ten years ago they are still a very accomplished side.

I can see a lot of Ulster fans making the trek to the midlands for the re-match..!

In terms of the scrum penalties in the first half, Leicester played Poite quite well. The likes of Nigel Owens would be very much of the opinion that they had the ball, Ulster hadn't prevented the ball coming back, use it and get on with the game.

Leicester basically won the scrum and kept it in knowing that Poite tends to blow his whistle for the dominant scrum even when the ball is there and has come back cleanly for them to use.

I think the Owens approach makes for a better game, if the ball is there get it out and play on- makes for a more flowing game than the stop-start of scrum resets, free kicks and penalties. On the other hand I do get annoyed when Ulster have scrum dominance and it doesn't count for much with the ref so fair dues.

I also think it's pretty unfair to label Paddy Jackson as being an uncreative player- when the back three of Leicester is so callow and we're winning balls with up and unders it makes sense to kick. He can run the game and he can run the ball, but this is a Heineken Cup match. The kicking game was working out for us, getting us field position and possession. Why change what's working?

Dan Cole getting dominated by Tom Court!    
Hang your head in shame Dan, Tom is a useless scrumager

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:Dan Cole getting dominated by Tom Court!    
Hang your head in shame Dan, Tom is a useless scrumager

What game were you watching? Oh sorry, just remembered what a wum you are.

Once again the breakdown was a free for all with Poite in charge. Very physical game though and the result was fair.


Jackson, Payne, Bowe and the pack were good for Ulster. Andrew Trimble had a nightmare of a game and must have cost Ulster a few points.

profitius wrote:Once again the breakdown was a free for all with Poite in charge. Very physical game though and the result was fair.


Jackson, Payne, Bowe and the pack were good for Ulster. Andrew Trimble had a nightmare of a game and must have cost Ulster a few points.

True, Trimble was well off form. Hopefully just a case of very rusty, and will soon return to great form. Maybe Gilroy, or Allen, for next week..

Whether Gilroy is fit or not, we'd be foolish to move Payne from fullback. His tactical kicking will be the key to our surprise win in Montpellier.

Excuses Portnoy?

Notch wrote:Whether Gilroy is fit or not, we'd be foolish to move Payne from fullback. His tactical kicking will be the key to our surprise win in Montpellier.

I agree. I like the experiment, but not ready for the big games just yet. It's going to be very tough to come away with a win from Montpellier, but not impossible. Ulster can step it up from this evenings performance, and if we do I think a we have a real chance. Especially with the return of Afoa, and Gilroy....hopefully.

The Saint wrote:Excuses Portnoy?

Good game. Well reffed. Fair result. What's not to like?

Have you got the wrong bloke, St?.
My gripes are much more centred around underlying issues surrounding and underpinning the game.
Not a one-off one-eyed 80 mins (unless there's a clear miscarriage of justice on either side.)

Notch, Jackson had an excellent game and had he kicked as badly from hand as Flood in the first half then I think Tigers would have won. His tactical kicking and up and unders were a major factor in your win. However, you look at the possession he had in the Tigers 22, there were no line breaks and no clever interplay. He threw the ball wide and hoped the wingers could finish in the corner. Personally I couldn't work out why he didn't go for the cross field kick again, our wingers couldn't catch a cold let alone the high ball and with Bowe and your backrow Henderson lurking on the touchlines that could have been an easy option with his boot.

Other than the brilliant wave of offloads which included the forward pass and the disallowed try I thought our defence was always pretty secure. The Tigers coaches must have spent the entire week drilling that because that line speed did not exist vs Saints.

Sam,
Floody is not developing his game as much as I'd like. His defence is more robust and his eye for a break is good. But his tactical and place kicking still leaves him short of inspirational for a FH to assist both Tigers and England to secure the big gongs imo.

Losing Manu's presence has been enormous.

Agreed Portnoy. Was very interesting to see young Williams come on for the final stages when we needed 3 points. Cockers would have never have made that move, you can tell Paul Burke coaches the kicking when he made that call. Unlucky drop goal attempt from Williams, he has a fair way out.

Certainly we need to be looking for the corners when our lineout is competing away from home. Apply pressure in the right areas of the field. That's how Jackson and Payne orchestrated Ulster's win, with some help from Crane. I hear Ewers is out of contract with Exeter next summer...

Notch wrote:

The Great Aukster wrote:Tigers fought hard but in the end didn't have the bench to win. Ulster deserved the win and Leicester deserved the LBP. Jackson was the best player on the pitch but failed to win the MOTM because he missed the kick to stop the LBP.

I actually fancy Ulster's chances at Welford Road because they will be stronger by then and the Tigers weaker.

I don't know about that, there is still Tuilagi to come back and of course their replacement for Croft- Pablo Matera. Equally comfortable at 6 or 7, no weaknesses to his game. I don't know if Tigers fans realise just what a good 'un they've got just yet. For a 20 year old to play against South Africa in the Rugby Championship and be the standout forward, nay, the standout player on the pitch is massively impressive,

On the Argentine front we should also have Ayerza back, and the impact of Allan on our backs should not be underestimated... while I've no doubt that Ulster can get better I've no idea why anyone would think Tigers will get weaker when we will have home advantage, some genuinely class players should be here/back added to the fact that in recent years we've always started the season slowly. The return fixture should be a cracking game.

Jackson and Payne were Sexton/Wilko-like.

If I were being niggardly, I'd say the bounce of the ball went their way, but when you kick like that, maybe you deserve all the luck you get.

Still. I'm happy with an LBP. Bring on the next round...

formerly known as Sam wrote:Agreed Portnoy. Was very interesting to see young Williams come on for the final stages when we needed 3 points. Cockers would have never have made that move, you can tell Paul Burke coaches the kicking when he made that call. Unlucky drop goal attempt from Williams, he has a fair way out.

Certainly we need to be looking for the corners when our lineout is competing away from home. Apply pressure in the right areas of the field. That's how Jackson and Payne orchestrated Ulster's win, with some help from Crane. I hear Ewers is out of contract with Exeter next summer...

Sam,

Was RC not still pulling the strings? I thought he was just banned from the touchline, no?
Our coaches are never near the pitch anyway and the last time you were at Ravenhill RC was in a box in the "New Stand" (which is now the oldest stand in the ground!)

Williams looked extremely assured considering the circumstances right enough.

Cockers is banned from any interaction with either the team or the coaches on match days. He has been watching from a little office in the media building at Welford Rd. He normally sits in the stands and only comes to the touchline to bark instructions at important times.

Former Munster, LI and Tigers flyhalf Paul Burke is head coach and has been in charge in his absence. Burke is quiet, thoughtful and astute as seen by the Williams sub when we needed additional kicking range and a drop goal threat. Did anyone else think the tide of the Poite decisions that started to go Ulster's way in the second half swung back a bit when Mele came on and started to state Tigers case in Poite's native tongue?

Haven't seen too much of the second half yet so can't really comment. I hope to watch it later.

Interesting suggestion though.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Other than the brilliant wave of offloads which included the forward pass and the disallowed try I thought our defence was always pretty secure.

... except for the move where Bowe should have put Cave in to score, ... and Jackson's disallowed try...

Haven't read back...

Excellent game and overall am happy to get the win but fear that bonus point for Leicester may prove significant. Both sides will feel they could have got more from this - the Tigers looked very dominant physically in the first half, whereas Ulster bombed at least 3 tries with poor handling.

Bowe, Cave and Trimble in particular looked very rusty, Trimbs was terrible to be honest - likewise the Tigers back 3 were exposed badly under the high ball.

For Ulster Paddy Jackson was exceptional, along with Payne. Up front Wilson, Williams, Henry and Best got through a mountain of work and Muller had his best game in a while. Fantastic finish by Bowe for the try who had a mixed bag.

We'll need a massive improvement to get anything out of the return leg but given our start to the season that wasn't too bad a result and we need to kick on now.

Aukster, Jackson was never onside. Bowe bombed a 30 metre pass. It's alright for Barnes et al to moan about his poor attempt but you go down to your local pitch and try and throw that pass. Sure of it had gone to hand then try time but it was a big as for a winger to throw that. What's more worrying was that chance was gift wrapped by two awful Tigers kicks.

Always strange that when poite refs, the scrums are one sided for one team first half then second half one sided for the other team.

I don't like Poite as a ref in general. Breakdown is a free for all and scrums that have no need to end in a refs whistle invariably do.

Notch wrote:I don't like Poite as a ref in general. Breakdown is a free for all and scrums that have no need to end in a refs whistle invariably do.

I thought he was good. allowed a contest at the breakdown but prepared to penalise when needed. Scrums were a decent contest as well

TJ wrote:

Notch wrote:I don't like Poite as a ref in general. Breakdown is a free for all and scrums that have no need to end in a refs whistle invariably do.

I thought he was good.  allowed a contest at the breakdown but prepared to penalise when needed.  Scrums were a decent contest as well

i agree in general he's good, but as i mentioned above why i think its a bit strange at scrum time. perhaps it's just me though.

A tough old game, and a deserved win for Ulster, but Tigers won't be too disappointed with the point. Squad is weakened in some key areas and it showed. Missed some mobility in the backrow, and our wingers struggled with the kicking game. Pretty mad Benjamin's first senior game in over a year is away at Ravenhill! But Tigers hung on bravely and their endeavour probably earned them the point.

Hope it all comes down to a showdown at Welford Road in round 6. Lots of players to come back in for Tigers. Could be a real doozie.

Just listened to Mullers interview and he called it right. We should have scored a couple more. I was cursing tommy after he threw that shocker to Cave....that is until he scored.

We are still finding our feet truth be told and are a game or two away from putting a score on someone. As it is I don't care if with sneak every game in the group by a point. A win next week and suddenly we will probably be favourites for the tournament for dear sake!!!

Early, early days in the group but based on where we were at last season I think we have 2/3 gears to go up

The Great Aukster wrote:I actually fancy Ulster's chances at Welford Road because they will be stronger by then and the Tigers weaker.

Ulster should have won more comfortably - and would have done if not for their own errors, errors perhaps forced by Tigers defence - but what makes you suggest they will be stronger come January and Tigers weaker?

Come January there is every chance Leicester will have their first choice LH playing, a genuine No6, halfbacks that are in form, first choice centres, wing and full back. Feels to me that at home and with a raft of players back they should be much stronger?

The most telling difference between now and January is that the game will be at Welford Rd. The WR crowd are a huge plus for Tigers just as the Ravenhill crowd were a big plus for Ulster. Last time Ulster visited us we had Ben Youngs for only 15 minutes and Morris at 12 for a good chunk of the game. We still managed to deny Ulster a bonus point.

Now add Ayerza, Matera, Allen, Manu and Tait to the squad for the next game as well and we should be a good deal stronger at WR. Obviously Ulster with Afoa, Pienaar and Wallace will be stronger as well but surely that just makes it even more of a humdinger to look forward too.