Ulster v Zebre Match thread 17th November 2012

[neilthom7]

First topic message reminder :

With all the Internationals happening right now it is important to remember that this Sunday the 18th November at 2pm Ulster face off against Zebre in the Rabo Direct Pro 12. Ulster were off course due to take on Zebre earlier in the season but due to the tragic loss of Nevin Spence and his family this will be the first time the 2 sides play. Zebre are currently bottom of the Rabo having lost all 7 games so far scoring the least points of any side and conceding the 2nd most. They have picked up just 1 losing bonus point. Ulster of course are top of the table and so far remain unbeaten. Neither side has been named yet and I will update when this happens. Ulster will however be missing players to Ireland who face Fiji this weekend and who plays will depend on who Ireland choose to release. The biggest issue for Ulster looks to be in the second row with Muller and Stevenson both missing through injury. If neither Henderson or Tuohy are released from the Ireland squad then we will be down just one senior lock in McComb. So guys what are your predictions for the game and who do you think will play.

Ulster Team
R Andrew; M Allen, J Payne, P Wallace, C Cochrane; N O'Connor, M Heaney; C Black, N Brady (capt), J Afoa, R Diack, N McComb, N Williams, M McComish, R Wilson.

Replacements: R Herring, T Court, D Fitzpatrick, J Simpson, A Birch, B McIlroy, S Olding, P Nelson.

Zebre Team
15. David ODIETE
14. Leonardo SARTO
13. Matteo PRATICHETTI
12. Samuele PACE
11. Alessandro CASTAGNOLI
10. Daniel HALANGAHU
9. Tito TEBALDI

8. Andries VAN SCHALKWYK
7. Filippo CRISTIANO (cap)
6. Filippo FERRARINI
5. Filippo CAZZOLA
4. Josh SOLE
3. Luca REDOLFINI
2. Andrea MANICI
1. Matias AGUERO

Replacements
16. Andrea DE MARCHI
17. Salvatore PERUGINI
18. Flavio TRIPODI
19. Emiliano CAFFINI
20. Nicola BELARDO
21. Alberto CHILLON
22. Ross McCANN
23. Nicola CATTINA

[MrsP]

All I can say is that I am glad Roger and not Rodders is our no 8.

It goes without saying that this is the only reason why I'd have Roger over Rodders.

I've not seen Rodders play but I'm sure, from what I know of him that he would make a fine provincial No 8. Not quite an international mind but...

[rodders]

All I can say is that I am glad Roger and not Rodders is our no 8.

It goes without saying that this is the only reason why I'd have Roger over Rodders.

I've not seen Rodders play but I'm sure, from what I know of him that he would make a fine provincial No 8. Not quite an international mind but...

That hurts MrsP it really does..... I was quite the Parisse back in the day....

[rodders]

Rodders I can't believe you wanted to kick the points on their line. We had win at least five penalties in the scrum in the second half. It was a no brainier.

7 minutes to go, 5 points behind and a penalty in front of the sticks I'd take 3 points all day long. Roger Wilson got very lucky because that was a poor call and that was never a penalty try. Terrible call from Patterson.

No, he didn't. The penalty was conceded well before he lost control of the ball. And I have no idea which of several things it was conceded for... I can think of at least four.

Penalty try? Debatable. Penalty? Defintely. And was the penalty try 95% inevitable given our scrums dominance? Yes.

Penalty definitely and in hindsight it was the right call because it won us the game. Fortune favours the brave I suppose. I'd have taken the guaranteed 3 and trusted us to get back into scoring range... sorry if that offends some people...

In terms of the penalty try, well I've seen more clean cut ones not given, we were a long way out still and as the ball popped out en route to the try line you could argue that we weren't actually going to score there. I'm not complaining of course but if it was a big call and if I was a Zebre fan I'd feel pretty aggrieved.

I think it was a great win all things considered and one that could prove pivotal as the season unfolds....

[The Great Aukster]

Dear oh dear - did anyone come out of that debacle with any credit?

Afoa maybe?

Normally I always say "take the points", but the Ulster scrum was just so much in the ascendant that the scrum leading to a penalty try or a push over was the definite percentage play. If Zebre hadn't infringed they would have been pushed over, and the loss of control was inevitable when they unbound.

[Artful_Dodger]

Afoa, Wilson and Payne came out of it with credit, O'Connor was pretty good by his standards as well, unlucky not to be 100% with the boot. The rest left a lot to be desired. Brady had a shocker.

[rodders]

Thought Diack played pretty well, on top of those three.

Other than that a lot of flat performances. To play so poorly and win is the sign of a good side though.

Was pretty impressed with Zebres attacking play.

[rodders]

Herring stood up when he came on too.... he was a big improvement on Brady.

[MrsP]

No insult intended Rodders. Just comparing you to Wilson.

Herring stood up when he came on too.... he was a big improvement on Brady.

I thought you weren't allowed to do that in the scrum?

[neilthom7]

Yeah thought Herring did good when he came on, I actually don't think McComb played that bad he was really our only option at lineout etc so it would be hard on him to say he didn't play well. Thought O'Connor played better than normal and payne did alright as did Heaney. McComish and Williams were very poor in my opinion though I really think they could have done more to help at kick off time. Hopefully we get Tuohy back for Trevisio he would help us greatly. I think its likely we will get a back or 2 back and maybe fitzpatrick and Court if Deccie sticks to what he knows.

[MrsP]

What was going on with Nigel Brady today? He really did not look switched on at all.

I agree that Herring improved things especially in the lineout.

[Thomond]

Winning games like these show that this Ulster side is coming together, a few years ago this would have been a game Ulster would probably have lost, missing their better players. Now they have depth. A very good win, credit to Zebre for making a game of it and to be honest I felt a bit sorry for them!


That might be because I fear the world domination from Ulster

[MrsP]

T,

They did so much more than make a game of it. They played very well. Now we did make it far too easy for them to do that but we would have had no excuses if they had won.

They stole lineouts and kept the ball from our backs. We had the better scrum by some margin and our backs looked good when they did get the ball but Zebre will be gutted to have let us off the hook.

We really were shockingly poor.

At the moment I don't feel like we are unbeaten this season so much as very very relieved that we didn't come an enormous cropper in Parma.

[WillyGilly]

Have to feel for Zebre after that. Really unfortunate not to get the win. Payne showed how absolutely critical he is to our side. Pleasing to see NOC have a reasonable game also. Man oh man do we need Muller back though. He saw us through the tight games last season. Still a win is a win. Anscombe will have some harsh words on the plane home you'd imagine.

[MrsP]

WillyG,

Unfortunately for the team they are not flying home yet. As I understand it they are staying in Italy till after the next game next Friday.

The players have to spend the next 5 days with Mr Anscombe, morning, noon and night.

Rather them than me.

[neilthom7]

yes that hotel will be a barrell of laughs tonight well when I say laughs I mean Blood lol

[Notch]

Have to feel for Zebre after that. Really unfortunate not to get the win. Payne showed how absolutely critical he is to our side. Pleasing to see NOC have a reasonable game also. Man oh man do we need Muller back though. He saw us through the tight games last season. Still a win is a win. Anscombe will have some harsh words on the plane home you'd imagine.

Thats why I'm happy after that game; because we didn't need Muller or Best or Henry or Pienaar to see us through that game. Collectively we 1 to 15, we knew what we needed to do.

I'm exceptionally disappointed with the performance, of course, but very happy. Because at no point did I ever think we were going to lose. The team never lost their composure. Even with every act of indiscipline, every mistake, every try conceded- we shot ourselves in the foot time and time again- we always looked composed in how we approached the game. We never deviated from our gameplan and we never forced things. The composure we showed to eke out the penalty try is the perfect example of that. We remained calm, focused and composed.

Mentally this group has turned a corner. We are now capable of winning tight games whoever is on the field even if we are playing badly.

[rodders]

I think a few people are being far too harsh. No team can play well week in week out. Sometimes you just have to ride your luck and we did that yesterday.

Champion sides have a habit of getting results even when they don't play well. The young lads who played yesterday will have got a lot out of that game and the experience of playing, and winning on the road will stand them in good stead...certainly a few will be hitting the tackle bags and weights with renewed vigour this week after being steamrollered by Van Schalkwyk a few times.

All things considered a fantastic result and one that keeps the momentum going heading into the crux part of the season.

[clivemcl]

OK, so i had to go out yesterday. You can't record red button. Nor can you choose the red button as a continuous channel anywhere on the BBC online. And the link for the game doesnt go up until five minutes before the match.

So... I found that tvcatchup.com DOES have the red button as a continuous channel, and I got my hands on some software which captures the media on a webpage and scheduled it to begin capture at 2pm.

If thats not commitment, i don't know what is.

When I returned home, the video was awful. i don't know if its because the online stream was awful or not. Whatever. Basically its stuttered and stalled every ten seconds, and occassionally dropped minutes from the game somehow. It was missing half an hour of the second half. Oh and there was NO audio.

So yea, I'm not really qualified to talk on the performance.

This I do know.

We won again.

We won WITHOUT Best, Stevenson, Tuohy, Muller, Henry, Ferris, Henderson, Marshall, Pienaar, Jackson, Marshall, Cave, Gilroy, Trimble, Bowe.

WE ARE 10 GAMES OUT OF 10. WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE WITH A SIX POINT LEAD.


SUFTUM

[Kingshu]

Could Zebre catch Dragons?
3 points against 9 points, but Zebre have show at times, they are not as bad as Aironi were, and could improve before seasons end?

[MrsP]

Well, I think I've found the reason the team looked shattered before the game even started yesterday.

Apparently they were travelling 14 hours on Saturday and only got to their hotel at 11pm or something.

I have no idea how or why it took so long but it really explains the way they looked.

14 hours???? Did they fly to Paris and walk or something?????

[rodders]

14 hours! Paddy Wallace could have squeezed in a beach holiday and still made it for kick off!

[neilthom7]

They probably could have walked from Belfast in that time Mrs P never mind Paris lol I mean did they go there via New York or something

[MrsP]

I have no idea if it was bad planning or bad luck but it could not have been the ideal preparation for the match.

I would think Mr Anscombe was not best pleased!

[Notch]

Can't see many changes for next week given they are staying in Italy. Any players released from Ireland duty will be released on Thursday afternoon then they have to travel for Treviso for a game on Friday night.

Maybe just Dan Tuohy and Paul Marshall if they become available.

[neilthom7]

Agreed with Notch on this we need tuohy so if hes released then I imagine he will go straight in but can see even Marshall being on the bench for this as Heaney ain't to bad at 9.

[Jenifer McLadyboy]

always support an Irish team over any fuddeners. But I was hoping the Zebras would hold out yesterday. Taking some of your now 13 Point advantage away.

I suppose we'll just have to come up and give you the slaps next month now. Oh well.

[MrsP]

Ah don't worry Jenny!

Just over a third of the way through the season.

So...plenty of time to catch us.

Or...we could be ahead by 39 points by the play-offs!

[neilthom7]

always support an Irish team over any fuddeners. But I was hoping the Zebras would hold out yesterday. Taking some of your now 13 Point advantage away.

I suppose we'll just have to come up and give you the slaps next month now. Oh well.

oh you mean on the back as we give you another loss, that's very big of you

[Jenifer McLadyboy]

Nae way haigh.

[Rava]

Strong rumors that the IRFU have given permission to Ulster to extend Muller's contract by another year. That would keep him in place until the end of the 2013/14 season.
Would love that to be true.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/sport/rugby/ulster-await-clearance-on-potential-muller-contract-extension-1-4501136

[Standulstermen]

Saw those rumours rava. Fantastic news if it comes to pass

[rodders]

Saw those rumours rava. Fantastic news if it comes to pass

+ 1

[clivemcl]

Made my day!

[Rava]

Made my day!

I'm sure the Marshall brothers will be pretty happy as well Clive .........

[clivemcl]

Made my day!

I'm sure the Marshall brothers will be pretty happy as well Clive .........

HA!

If i ever figure out who it was fed me that rubbish, I'll knock his block off! They are both blonde in fairness....

[MrsP]

Made my day!

I'm sure the Marshall brothers will be pretty happy as well Clive .........

HA!

If i ever figure out who it was fed me that rubbish, I'll knock his block off! They are both blonde in fairness....

Well, in fairness, one of them is blonde.

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