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Doom, despair and absolutely scurrilous rumours, and that was only in the first half! You can read about the rest here (or maybe not . . .
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Yes we have been in transition along time and will be for some time yet to come for the simple reason that we lack strenght in depth especially in the forwards.
We lack that collective experience that wins matches and guards league points
On reading the UafC board one despairs at the expectation of the posters thereon their willingness to rubbish team effort their inability to assess the strenght of the opposition.
neither do they understand the refereeing problems faced by Ulster.
There are 4 irish Provinces and four welsh regional teams and only two scottish teams in the Ml The fact that Ulster is closer to Scotland degrees that we are refereed more often by Scottish referees who appear to referee players rather than play the players they are most familiar with are Ulster players thus they watch Ulster players more often and penalise them more often than the opposition
In watching Ulster players they also miss the infringements of the opposition
Human nature being what it is those small irritations that sap players confidence that undermine performance.
Interesting point Mote. The Ulster born Scottish referee, Mr Paterson, certainly did not endear himself to the home crowd last night. For once our forwards fronted up against a v good pack but as you said in a previous post the match was lost by the limited ability of our number 10 who is plainly out of his comfort zone when asked to do anything other than kick.
I don’t think you’ll get to many aruments about most of what you say mote …… problem is we have been in transition for a very long time now ….. since Solly left we have taken one step forward and about ten back ….. time for transition is long past
Spot on, ding dong. We all have enough nous to see the strengths and limitations of the squad as is, and the issue is not that we expect more from what is currently there. The real issue is that we have been at this stage for the better part of 4 years, with no discernible improvement. What’s more, I think we’ve seen enough of many of the present squad to arrive at the reasonable conclusion that the potential referred to in many instances doesn’t actually exist… and that for many this is probably as good as it gets. We seem to be stuck in permanent transition from mediocre to…. mediocre…
Couldn’t agree more.
The normal histronic comments from the one eyed monsters who make no allowance for the opposition no allowance for the quality of refereeing and have no real appreciation of the stage of development of the Ulster squad.
An article in the “Sunday life” made a valid point that before christmas and during the ERC Ulster had been punching above their weigt.
Consideration of the following facts would support such a view — compare the Ulster squad to the Cardiff squad the Cardiff squad is full of International players past and present — the Ospreys on saturday fielded a side containing 7 Lions and 10 players who had won a grand slam– leinster and munster are full of Irish Internationals with a handful of players each whose Ml and ERC appearances would exceed the total appearances of the Ulster squad– we Ulster are a team in transition and development nothing more nothing less we have players who show potential but seriously lack experience we have a squad which lacks the collective experience available to other teams in the ML — if a key player is injured we lack adequately experience players to fill the void.
Anyone who goes to Ravenhill expecting Ulster to outplay the opposition in every game seriously needs a reality check . Ulster will hopefully get their act together on occasions and obtain a win against the odds by playing above themselves but to expect a positive result continiously over a season is currently beyond reason.
Ulster in order to advance their cause in my opinion require an outhalf — Humphreys is a play maker who cannot control a game and whose defence is a serious Liability — O Connor is an outhalf who could control a game but lacks a full range of skills necessary to the task his kicking lacks the necessary variety to create problems for the opposition.
Hopefully Ulster has enough supporters who wish to appreciate the game rather than ” the I only go to see a winning team ” supporters who by adopting that approach only expose their lack of knowledge of the game
What thread are you writing on?
Good to see you read the Daily Mail as well as the Sunday life.
The last Ulster team that punched above its weight won the European Cup no Welsh team has ever won it and it was some years before Munster and Leinster joined us as European Champions. Since then Ulster have won the Celtic League and Cup so why shouldn’t I want to go and watch a wining team? This Ulster team have not punched above its weight they are 8th out of 10 in the league and 4 points off the bottom if you think that is punching above their weight I would not agree. As Ding Dong says we have been in transition for far too long the Branch failed to kick on 10 years ago when we won in Europe and subsequently when we won the league and cup. I feel our present squad is better than an 8th ranked team and blame the coach not the players for our position.
No arguement with the out half but would add a 9 , 15 and a 7 to the wish list. 🙂
Yes its pathetic when you have to hear these things from Matt “show me your coaching badges” Williams.
Surprised it took you this long to vent your rage Raven …. Have you been on holiday yourself?
Can’t disagree with anything you’ve said and when I listened to BMc post match comments on the web, it’s clear that there is a great depression in the camp and fresh leadership is urgently needed.
Today is the first day since the Cardiff debacle that I felt safe to make a comment without defaming half of Ulster. We all saw the match and it is now the Ravens view that McLaughlin must go. He has clearly not been able to make the transition from schoolboy to professional. I say thank you, but good bye. The highlight of the match for me that showed we are rudderless without a leader came in the 70 minute. Nagusa was flapping about like a fish out of water surrounded by the physio and the Doc and it was obvious to all that he could not continue what did McLaughlin do? Replaced Boss with Marshall …………… obvious really. That left the unlucky Andi Kyriacou on the bench and he replaced Nagusa one minute later. It would have been too simple to leave Boss on and replace Nagusa with a back. You could see the anger on Isaac’s face. In fact his whole use of the bench was so poor it still upsets me today. McLaughlin is lucky we are going to face a second string Ospreys team on Tueday which may hold back the boo boys for another week, that is of course, unless the Ospreys grant their front row forwards annual leave as they did for the cancelled fixture. Now that really is taking the piss! The Ospreys are up in front of a Celtic Rugby Disciplinary Panel on 19 April don’t hod your breath for a punishment. The points should have been awarded to Ulster and the Ospreys fined Ulsters average gate and the fine awarded to Ulster. (I still can’t believe the match was cancelled because some fat prop was on holiday!)
I notice the editor does not reckon it is worth doing a man of the match poll !
It’s not the price of the Season Tickets they are worrying me as Ulster’s Terrace ticket is about £50 cheaper, it’s the fact that what we are watching on the pitch is not even worth half of what we pay. The standard of rugby is nowhere near good enough, it’s time for Mr Logan to address the fans who come week in and week out instead of having focus groups on those occasional supporters who frequent Ravenhill. There is a real danger of losing the core fans if not already..I have renewed mine for next season but if there is not a marked improvement it will be the last, as I just don’t see the point of turning up in the cold,wet and windy conditions when the players can’t be bothered either..
signed …A frustrated long time supporter of Ulster Rugby
Yes Mark they should be bending over backwards to keep loyal supporters who are leaving in their hundreds each season and asking them what they want as opposed to the occasional supporter being pampered in La Mon.
In case the marketing people haven’t worked it out yet it goes like this.
1. You get a good team.
2. The team starts winning.
3. Supporters come and watch.
Fair enough report/view however i do fear for next season and the half full new stand will be a near empty stand next year with the new pricing structure a seat 5m away from were i sit will cost over £1k a year for what!! The CEO needs to take a reality pill……Feeding the opposition after the game in the new stand and making them buy! their own drinks is not going to generate vast income but then he is a great business wizard (Yates Group).Ulster was known for its after game hospitality to our opposition win or lose but now we asking them to buy a pint? even in Junior rugby you buy the visiting team a drink There’s a decision by a man that knows nothing of the basics……………..
Here here…. new season ticket prices a disgrace, with basically a 50% increase for the old stand. Granted this has been sweetened with inclusion of Ravens games, but – like most others it seems – don’t want to go to those! Also, no guarantee of the Heineken matches yet, and on present form not unlikely that we won’t make it…. Haven’t the Branch heard of the recession?
Yes, a poor marketing move to make the punter think he is getting value for money. Leinster let season ticket holders in for free this season for A matches. I have no doubt the Raven inter pro matches will be mid week in the afternoon and lets see how many of the others are on international weekends. Sh@t value. £80 for a bar pass, that is almost 27 pints, they have got to be joking.
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