ERCC Round 3, Ulster vs Scarlets

Date: Saturday, 7 December
Venue: Ravenhill, Belfast
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)

Ulster

15 Louis Ludik
14 Tommy Bowe
13 Darren Cave
12 Stuart Olding
11 Craig Gilroy
10 Ian Humphreys
9 Ruan Pienaar

1 Callum Black
2 Rory Best (capt)
3 Wiehahn Herbst
4 Dan Tuohy
5 Franco van der Merwe
6 Robbie Diack
7 Roger Wilson
8 Nick Williams

16 Rob Herring, 17 Andy Warwick, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Alan O’Connor, 20 Clive Ross, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Stuart McCloskey, 23 Michael Allen

Scarlets

15 Liam Williams
14 Harry Robinson
13 Regan King
12 Scott Williams (capt)
11 Michael Tagicakibau
10 Rhys Priestland
9 Aled Davies

1 Rob Evans
2 Emyr Phillips
3 Samson Lee
4 Jake Ball
5 Johan Snyman
6 Aaron Shingler
7 James Davies
8 Rory Pitman

16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Phil John, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 George Earle, 20 Lewis Rawlins, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Steven Shingler, 23 Gareth Owen

Return of the King, I see Notch.
Ruaan back at 9.

Predict a score please.

Not looking forward to this i reckon ulster will win well, Scarlets are just to inconsistent.

Ulster to play poorly in patches and win without a bonus point. Scrum and maul will get us through.

Ulster 26-13 Scarlets

Thats my best guess. It could be a lot less comfortable than that.

Anyone know if this game is on the box at all?

It's on BT Sport 1

Brilliant, thanks.

I was shocked to see that Henry had actually suffered what is technically a stroke, incidentally.
That must be absolutely bloody terrifying.

Any streaming links? please

George Carlin wrote:I was shocked to see that Henry had actually suffered what is technically a stroke, incidentally.
That must be absolutely bloody terrifying.

Aye George, bloody scary indeed. Looks as though he had a PFO (patent foramen ovale aka "hole in the heart") where a part of the circulation that's used in the womb stays open, and probably had a small piece of clot from somewhere in his leg/arm go through it into his arterial system and then into his brain. He's a lucky man to not have more damage done and really we can just hope he plays pro rugby again this season.

Interestingly seems Richard Strauss may have also had one of these but was picked up before it caused this. Chris must never have had an echocardiogram as usually that's how it's detected.



Ulster by 20 by the way! King Ruan is back!!!

Where is the bbc coverage, I know it's only audio, but I can't find it online anywhere.

Found it but it won't let me play it on my ipad.

Yellow? harsh.

Mile forward by Bowe but ref awards the try any way

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:Any streaming links? please

Just PMd you and DickTheBelfastVet a couple to try.

George Carlin wrote:

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:Any streaming links? please

Just PMd you and DickTheBelfastVet a couple to try.

Thank You

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:Any streaming links? please

Just PMd you and DickTheBelfastVet a couple to try.

Thank You

I think that the second link is a lot better than the first one.

wtf? yellow ridiculous decision from the ref.

It's Liam W he needs to learn to control himself.

Actually, why has there been two YCs? And were they fair, or did the Ravenhill faithful have a say in the matter?

Jeez. Just saw the pass for the Cave try. A bit, er, 'flat' wasn't it?

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:wtf? yellow ridiculous decision from the ref.

I don't know, LW looked relieved not to have got a red. He did not have anything to say about it, which is not like him!

Could go horribly wrong now this last 20 if Scarlets not careful.

The Saint wrote:Actually, why has there been two YCs? And were they fair, or did the Ravenhill faithful have a say in the matter?

They screamed till they got what they wanted.

I do like look of Pitman, lets hope him and Baker get fair chance to challenge Faletau during the 6 Nations.

Looked like a high tackle on Owens , forward pass but ref get s knocked over Ulster get away with it all seems to be going for Ulster!

Never easy to win in Belfast!

Decent result for Ulster, the 5 pointer keeps them hanging in that group by their fingernails. If they can back it up next week, they are back in the mix.

Why did Olding go off?

Concussed.

George Carlin wrote:

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

DeludedOptimistorjustDave wrote:Any streaming links? please

Just PMd you and DickTheBelfastVet a couple to try.

Thank You

I think that the second link is a lot better than the first one.

Cheers dude! Don't think the other people in the library trying to study while I scream expletives at a computer screen would be to happy with you though.

That was Liam Williams third yellow card against Ulster this season (he got red against us in the Rabo). It seems to be every other game hes getting binned for the Scarlets, not to mention his yellows and reds for Wales.

Any team that keeps picking this guy deserves everything they get, he is a thoroughly nasty little player.

Humphreys kept Scarlets in the game - what did he get 2 from 6?

Can't understand any complaints over the yellows. A shoulder charge is always going to be at least a yellow and legs above shoulders will get a yellow every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Didn't see Pienaar's deliberate KO but have to confess I was glad he went off fit as he showed how crucial he is to the team.

This is a poor result for Ulster though as it just keeps them in with a chance of qualifying, so they will keep incurring injuries in a competition they can't win. Toulon and Clermont have already shown that they are head and shoulders above anyone else, so trying to fight on a futile front threatens their chances in the PRO12.

The Great Aukster wrote:Humphreys kept Scarlets in the game - what did he get 2 from 6?

Can't understand any complaints over the yellows. A shoulder charge is always going to be at  least a yellow and legs above shoulders will get a yellow every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Didn't see Pienaar's deliberate KO but have to confess I was glad he went off fit as he showed how crucial he is to the team.

This is a poor result for Ulster though as it just keeps them in with a chance of qualifying, so they will keep incurring injuries in a competition they can't win. Toulon and Clermont have already shown that they are head and shoulders above anyone else, so trying to fight on a futile front threatens their chances in the PRO12.

Humphreys was atrocious alright. Its not just mediocrity, hes making incredibly costly errors. If only we could have brought someone like Steenson back instead.

Please AD! I'm not a Steenson fan.

He would have had 2 from 2 penalties but forget about creating tries, so he may not have had the conversions to miss.

So if Leicester were to pull off a huge shock tomorrow the pool leader could well be very open.

Artful_Dodger wrote:That was Liam Williams third yellow card against Ulster this season (he got red against us in the Rabo).  It seems to be every other game hes getting binned for the Scarlets, not to mention his yellows and reds for Wales.

Any team that keeps picking this guy deserves everything they get, he is a thoroughly nasty little player.

I thought it was borderline yellow, perhaps slightly harsh then I realised it was Liam Williams- the guy lost the benefit of the doubt from referees a couple of red cards ago. Harsh to prejudge but he is obviously incredibly dense if he hasn't learnt to stop this kind of thing by now.

First yellow for Davies was well deserved. Williams one was a bit harsh. Pienaars was also harsh- definitely looking for the intercept.

Pretty satisfied with that performance, big improvement, pretty much entirely controlled the game and played all the rugby. If I have a criticism it's that we didn't score nearly as many points as we should have given the balance of play. Just hope we have some of the guys who went off injured available next week. Injury fairies have been unkind to us this season. Thought Tuohy and Pienaar coming back lifted the players around him, was absolutely crucial to get a couple of key guys back. They were both very, very good for guys in their first game back.

It's never a bad result to win at Ravenhill Aukster. I doubt we'll get out of our pool but for 12 years when we didn't qualify we hung onto our home record as a badge of pride and it's no different now whatever else happens.

I don't care if the All Blacks or Finn Valley U13s, we play at Ravenhill- everything for the win. Thats just pride, but success is partly about building a culture and pride has a big role to play.

Decent job, but we are way off the level we were at a couple of years ago.

Herbst, Williams and McCloskey didn't look good when they came off, and more head injuries for Olding and Franco.

Cave, Tommy and Gilroy looked smart enough and Rory his usual self

Who is 4th choice 12?

Artful_Dodger wrote:That was Liam Williams third yellow card against Ulster this season (he got red against us in the Rabo).  It seems to be every other game hes getting binned for the Scarlets, not to mention his yellows and reds for Wales.

Any team that keeps picking this guy deserves everything they get, he is a thoroughly nasty little player.

I agree that Williams is a bit of a liability, and as Notch suggests he is now the pantomime villain who will not get the benefit of the doubt from refs. However, just for clarity and accuracy in your post - has Liam Williams had a red card for Wales, let alone red cards (plural) as you suggest? I'm struggling to remember any yellows for him at international level to be honest, but there must be some?

Did he get a YC for that shoulder charge which caused the Penalty try in the summer?

No, van der Merwe, Biggar and Charteris were the yellows in that game.

Strange. You'd have thought foul play leading to a PT would be a YC.

He has such a lot to offer if he could only wise up a bit.

The stupid thing about that tackle out in SA is that if he'd lifted his arm up and put it out in front of him he'd have got away with it. His momentum would have still knocked him into touch weather shoulder first or arm out. And we would (possibly) have won the game.

My biggest concern was how easily our breakdown was targeted, and with our back row woes there's not much we can do about it either. Wilson and Williams contribute very little at the breakdown, neither does most of the tight five.

If we had a player like Justin Tipuric linking play, that would be lethal. A groundhog without the ball and a link man with it. Exactly the player we need. Someone whose support play is first rate. We just get beaten to too many breakdowns.

Artful_Dodger wrote:That was Liam Williams third yellow card against Ulster this season (he got red against us in the Rabo).  It seems to be every other game hes getting binned for the Scarlets, not to mention his yellows and reds for Wales.

Any team that keeps picking this guy deserves everything they get, he is a thoroughly nasty little player.

Yeah we get it. He's still vilified in Ravenhill for beating up Trimble in an act of self defence. It's a shame he can't be an angel like every single irish player.

PS, when he actually gouges someone, maybe then you can call him a nasty little player.

The Saint wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:That was Liam Williams third yellow card against Ulster this season (he got red against us in the Rabo).  It seems to be every other game hes getting binned for the Scarlets, not to mention his yellows and reds for Wales.

Any team that keeps picking this guy deserves everything they get, he is a thoroughly nasty little player.

Yeah we get it. He's still vilified in Ravenhill for beating up Trimble in an act of self defence. It's a shame he can't be an angel like every single irish player.

PS, when he actually gouges someone, maybe then you can call him a nasty little player.

Are you seriously suggesting he's not indisciplined and prone to senseless acts of foul play?

The refereeing team sits before every game with the teamsheets and discussed which players are likely to give them 'trouble'. As has been mentioned above, rightly or wrongly, Williams is likely to be one of the first names mentioned.

It is a bit worrying that a full back has consistently been carded for taking out players in the air. I think immediately to the Alex Cuthbert incident back in April. What is being done on the coaching side to try and improve his technique/judgement?

If you're a Wales fan, you have to realise that international teams will target Williams and try to wind him up. If I was a coach, that's what I would do. If you're Australia and saw the Robin Copeland incident where LW tw@tted his antagonist even though he'd been sent off, that would be all I would need to sledge him and wait for him to explode. Sadly, he is his own worst enemy.

George, I think the jumping in the air thing is a difficult example to use here currently. It would seem that most players who do not win the ball in the air get penalised and/or yellow carded these days! Williams is not the only one. But yes, his reputation now precedes him and he's more like to get pulled up here even though it's a bit of a no win situation for the player missing out on catching the ball.

Notch wrote:It's never a bad result to win at Ravenhill Aukster. I doubt we'll get out of our pool but for 12 years when we didn't qualify we hung onto our home record as a badge of pride and it's no different now whatever else happens.

I don't care if the All Blacks or Finn Valley U13s, we play at Ravenhill- everything for the win. Thats just pride, but success is partly about building a culture and pride has a big role to play.

I didn't say it was a bad result to win. It was a poor result in the context of Ulster's season because the bonus point just keeps Ulster in with a glimmer of qualification that they could have done without. While there is still a chance to qualify from the pool they are going to have to put in three more "bodies on the line" performances from the elite players that will leave the team threadbare come April/May. So even if they qualify they are unlikely to win the Cup and it reduces their chance in League.

Weren't you arguing on the International thread that it's all about silverware rather than squad management?