Dragons v Ulster 8/11/15

Dragons v Ulster Rugby
Sunday 8th November 2015
Rodney Parade
2.30pm Kick Off
TV- BBC NI and S4C

Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU, 54th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Sean Brickell, Simon Rees (both WRU)
Citing Commissioner: Aurwel Morgan (WRU)
TMO: Tim Hayes (WRU)

This should be interesting, Ulster have changed their squad up for this one with the European game in France coming up and with a numbe rof players still missing with Injuries.  Combine that with our frankly awful away record this season and things don't look good but still at least we have best and pienaar back.

Newport Gwent Dragons: Carl Meyer; Ashton Hewitt, Adam Hughes, Adam Warren, Nick Scott; Dorian Jones, Sarel Pretorius; Boris Stankovich, Elliot Dee, Shaun Knight; Cory Hill, Rynard Landman (capt); Ed Jackson, Ollie Griffiths, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Rhys Buckley, Phil Price, Brok Harris, Matthew Screech, Lewis Evans, Charlie Davies, Jason Tovey, Ross Wardle.

Ulster: Peter Nelson; Rory Scholes, Darren Cave, Stuart McCloskey, Sam Arnold; Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall; Kyle McCall, Rob Herring (captain), Wiehahn Herbst; Dan Tuohy, Franco van der Merwe; Robbie Diack, Chris Henry, Stephen Mulholland.

Replacements: Rory Best, Ricky Lutton, Bronson Ross, Lewis Stevenson, Sean Reidy, Ruan Pienaar, Ian Humphreys, Craig Gilroy

Injury list: Henderson, Trimble, Bowe, Ludik, Olding, L Marshall.

Rested/Dropped: Williams, Wilson.

Don't know: Black, Warwick.

Abducted by Aliens: O'Connor.

Changes to the starting XV, as expected, with the European game next week. What wasn't expected was Sam Arnold (centre) being moved to wing, McCall starting the game, and the most unexpected start for Mulholland who appears to have come from nowhere, and Williams not even making the bench.
Williams needs a break though, and I don't know if Wilson has been dropped, or rested. Probably dropped, but Diack should offer us more anyway.
Having thought about it a bit more, I have no complaint about the line up. It's a 'needs must' selection, and we need to blood new players, as well as giving some more game time. Arnold being moved to wing makes sense as well. We are not short on centres.

Considering last seasons result here, our away form this season and the starting XV, I'm a wee bit nervous.

With the strong bench and new coach, I think we will edge it...

.....maybe.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

I agree all round there mate, hopefully the leadership coming off the bench will be enough to get us over the line

Yes, great to see Rory back. He's in great form, and his leadership to this side has been missed. If things are tight, as I expect them to be, Best and Pienaar can make the difference and see us through to a win. Best was flogged during the RWC, but both him and Pienaar need the game time before next week. So hoping they get a decent run out, with Gilroy maybe getting 10 - 15 minutes.

I was undecided about this fixture until I saw the Officials - a LBP is OK though.

We just have to try and play smart with Dudley.

This is a game we need to win. They all are, now that we have already lost three games. If we are to avoid getting into a scrap for 6th place we need to keep the pressure on the teams currently above us, as well as not allowing the gap between ourselves and Ospreys to shrink. They are still a threat.

Nervous about this one. Dragons can beat us, and will if we haven't turned our poor away form around.

Horrible start for Mulholland. Spilled ball, and missed tackle.

Jackson is so good - he is way better than Madigan.

Good scrum by dragons

Good patience level in attack by Dragons. Faletau looks good today

Poor from Arnold.

Van der Merwe saves a certain Try.

Yellow for McCloskey

Arnold looks way out of his depth.

Great pressure by dragons, bit of a harsh yellow card. Seen worse offences go unpunished before

Good grief Ulster

Terrible by Dudley so far. Maybe he's trying too hard to show otf how he's not biased...

Diack having a strong game so far.

My god, Arnold is not a smart man.

This is poor from Ulster. So no change to our away form...

Please Les! For the love of all things good; empty the bench now!

I was going to say much more aggression and interest needed by Ulster..... maybe it's beginning to happen now

At least we have a good maul. We need to use that much more.

SecretFly wrote:I was going to say much more aggression and interest needed by Ulster..... maybe it's beginning to happen now

Two very good words to use there Fly - two things that have been crucially missing in this Ulster side this season.

Glad we had advantage there. Walk away with three points despite another spilt ball this time McCall

Better from Arnold.

That passing from Jackson - so, so good.

Also, that Dragons open-side flanker looks very good.

This McCall guy.... a bit of a liability in this game so far. Admit this is the first time I've seen him play.

Not to be too harsh but he did one thing that was 'standard' not spectacular.

Better from Ulster. Diack having a good game.

Do our forwards know they are forwards? They are all standing off and its the backs cleaning out the rucks.

Ulster will be happy they dragged this back after such a start.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:That passing from Jackson - so, so good.

Also, that Dragons open-side flanker looks very good.

Under 20s Welsh open side Ollie Griffiths. I agree he looks very good.

If that wasn't a penalty for pulling down the maul i don't know what is

neilthom7 wrote:Do our forwards know they are forwards? They are all standing off and its the backs cleaning out the rucks.  

Yeah, true. But I just think the ball is being spread too quickly. They'd get more impact hitting hard down one channel for a bit. They're taking pressure off pressure areas too quickly

Adam Hughes the outside centre was always a player I really enjoyed watching, but he isn't half the man he was before he moved away.

Not impressed with Pretorious

Very scrappy stuff there at the end. Minds on the clock rather than the game.

SecretFly wrote:Ulster will be happy they dragged this back after such a start.

Yes, a very poor start, but we managed to get into the game. With the wind at our backs, and some quality to come off the bench, I am fairly optimistic.

maestegmafia wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:That passing from Jackson - so, so good.

Also, that Dragons open-side flanker looks very good.

Under 20s Welsh open side Ollie Griffiths. I agree he looks very good.

He's small but very effective so far

SecretFly wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Do our forwards know they are forwards? They are all standing off and its the backs cleaning out the rucks.  

Yeah, true.  But I just think the ball is being spread too quickly.  They'd get more impact hitting hard down one channel for a bit.  They're taking pressure off pressure areas too quickly

Agreed, hit it up a few times clean it out quickly with our forwards sucking in a few defenders then go wide and execute overlaps when you have them. Its a simple game really at the end of the day

They are talking a lot of sense here at half time - the forwards are standing out to take the ball at first and second receiver and our backs are the ones clearing out the rucks! That needs sorted out immediately. Our forward pack is a joke to be honest.

We're extremely lucky that they didn't manage a try with all that possession. We haven't played well at all but we've hung in and we can grow into the game as it goes on so reasons for guarded optimism... Discipline has been better when they've been putting us under pressure, silly penalties from Arnold and McCloskey notwithstanding. Second best but we can grind a win out if we're focused.

Best, Pienaar and Gilroy on to give us a lift please!

JmD wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

Rory_Gallagher wrote:That passing from Jackson - so, so good.

Also, that Dragons open-side flanker looks very good.

Under 20s Welsh open side Ollie Griffiths. I agree he looks very good.

He's small but very effective so far

Aye,

We have a few like him in Wales. James Davies and Nick Cudd are very similar. Not huge in size but effective and smart.

Marshall needs to sharpen up his passing - it hasn't been good.

Is that on the line?

Not rolling away, give me a break the ball was free to play for the scrumhalf

Very harsh yellow.

He lost the ball but surely the ball went backwards?