Dragons v Ulster 8/11/15

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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

And again Herbst pull down the scrum but no penalty against him

The Ulster tighthead lost his footing three times then.

Seriously take the flipping points.

maestegmafia wrote:The Ulster tighthead lost his footing three times then.

He is getting his arse handled to him on a plate by Stankovich

How dumb are these professional players? Seriously that is disgraceful, how many flipping times do you need to see that those decisions to turn down the points rarely pay off? I despair.

Get Rory Best on now.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:Seriously take the flipping points.

You were right there

When you think about it that often happens.  One side has almost too much dominance in the scrum at that location and eventually you almost know the longer they keep the dominance going, the more likely they'll lose momentum.

About time!

Well deserved try there. Good pressure by Ulster.

Gurrier try.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:How dumb are these professional players? Seriously that is disgraceful, how many flipping times do you need to see that those decisions to turn down the points rarely pay off? I despair.

And why on earth didn't we maul it if we were going to turn down the points?

Did we ever have dominance at the scrum though? It was more a case of a few dodgy scrums going to ground and some fortunate decisions. We weren't going forward whatsoever. How stupid are these players? More head injury assessments please.

Accidental offside thats a penalty ref

Whereas our maul has been on top... bizarre decision making.

Sensible decision by Phillips, crowd are getting a bit classless.

You have to feel for Mulholland

Mulholland

A dragons try could make for an exciting last quarter now

It's a bit like x-factor. It's not the weirdos fault they are weirdos. It's the people who put then in front of a huge audience.

On one hand it's an honour to play for ulster. On the other habd nobody dreams of having one singular embarrassing game out of their depth...

Tovey going for the posts?

maestegmafia wrote:A dragons try could make for an exciting last quarter now

Faletau is trying his best for it not to happen though

Dudley really doesn't like rucks, does he

JmD wrote:Dudley really doesn't like rucks, does he

I'm not even sure he is a big fan of rugby as a sport let alone the individual aspects of the game.

Not impressed by a few of the fans behaviour there...

I thought if the ball hits the corner flag it's in touch in goal?

I hope Kiss installs Lutton as first choice tighthead.

Underwhelmed by Herbst this season.

I hope kiss tells Alan Clarke where to go

Only just tuned in for the second half but Faletau looks pretty disinterested. Dragons need to make the man advantage count here.

Dragons are a lot worse than last season

Faletau hasn't been bad, still looks a cut above most lads on the pitch,

When is his Wales contract up?

Bloody hell! Rory Best ignored repeated calls from Dudley to release the ball. Coughed up the penalty to give Dragons platform in our 22. Idiot.

My nerves are shredded!

Poor performance but such a relief just to get the win.

Well just about snuck over the line but I guess a first away win is better than we were. If only we were better in the breakdown far too passive. They need to be much more aggressive.

clivemcl wrote:Bloody hell! Rory Best ignored repeated calls from Dudley to release the ball. Coughed up the penalty to give Dragons platform in our 22. Idiot.

Redeemed himself in the end.

Far far far from impressive though. Not hopeful about Europe.

About time we played Diack as our first choice 8.

Well done Ulster.... Good start by dragons but their attack couldn't match Ulsters defence.

Well, that was nervous.

Got to admire Rory Best- after being wrongly penalised for a legal turnover in our 22 earlier he still has the stones to do the same thing again and win the game

clivemcl wrote:Bloody hell! Rory Best ignored repeated calls from Dudley to release the ball. Coughed up the penalty to give Dragons platform in our 22. Idiot.

He's also a bit deaf. That and a loud home support.

clivemcl wrote:Bloody hell! Rory Best ignored repeated calls from Dudley to release the ball. Coughed up the penalty to give Dragons platform in our 22. Idiot.

You can keep your idiot. He plays on the edge just like Ritchie McCaw. Idiot

Munchkin wrote:Mulholland

He had a good game outside of the ball control at the base of the scrum; we could have had Henry or Diack pack down at 8 on our ball and put him at flanker, and not put him under that unnecessary pressure. I'm happy with his performance. Not going to be a worldbeater but solid option once he sorts that scrum issue out.

toml wrote:Faletau hasn't been bad, still looks a cut above most lads on the pitch,

When is his Wales contract up?

He hasn't got a Wales contract! Only a Dragons one.

Notch wrote:

Munchkin wrote:Mulholland

He had a good game outside of the ball control at the base of the scrum; we could have had Henry or Diack pack down at 8 on our ball and put him at flanker, and not out him under pressure. I'm happy with his performance. Not going to be a worldbeater but solid option once he sorts that scrum issue out.

I think it's too early to say how he is going to go, but my gripe was for allowing himself to be caught out for the second time, and so close to the posts. I wouldn't read too much into his mistakes though. Nervy start, and it would be wrong to expect too much at this point. Needs more time, and experience.

toml wrote:

clivemcl wrote:Bloody hell! Rory Best ignored repeated calls from Dudley to release the ball. Coughed up the penalty to give Dragons platform in our 22. Idiot.

You can keep your idiot. He plays on the edge just like Ritchie McCaw. Idiot

Don't be so defensive. I didn't ridicule his entire career. He gave away a potentially costly penalty despite clear warning. I call a spade a spade. Don't care if it's big nick or rory best.

Not sure it was a clear penalty, Clive. It looked legit to me at the time. Not to Dudley though...

Rory thought it was Nigel that was reffing. He did hear the 'leave it!' but felt sure he'd be let take it anyway.....

Yea but since when has that mattered? Come on, the nature of rugby is, you listen to the ref. Full stop.

Pointing out the ref's error does not turn a defeat into a win.

The call was loud and clear and repeated.

It's exactly the kind of indiscipline we need to sort out 1-15. Nobody has a get out of jail free card.

Yes, but we can't criticise the guy for being on the end of a poor ref call either. I don't know if he heard the ref, but I do know he has a problem with his hearing. Which isn't helped be a loud Dragons crowd.

SecretFly wrote:Rory thought it was Nigel that was reffing.  He did hear the 'leave it!' but felt sure he'd be let take it anyway.....

Owens and Rory don't really get on.

Munchkin wrote:Yes, but we can't criticise the guy for being on the end of a poor ref call either. I don't know if he heard the ref, but I do know he has a problem with his hearing. Which isn't helped be a loud Dragons crowd.

OK, fair enough. Bad hearing myself, so I'll let him away with that one. Great turnover in the end!

clivemcl wrote:Nobody has a get out of jail free card.

You have to adapt to the ref, but that was a fantastic piece of play from Best to turn it over in the first place. Victim of his own success in the eyes of the referee.

clivemcl wrote:

Munchkin wrote:Yes, but we can't criticise the guy for being on the end of a poor ref call either. I don't know if he heard the ref, but I do know he has a problem with his hearing. Which isn't helped be a loud Dragons crowd.

OK, fair enough. Bad hearing myself, so I'll let him away with that one.

My own isn't perfect either. Tinnitus