ASM Clermont Auvergne v Ulster, Sat 21st Jan 2012, Stade Marcel Michelin, 3:40pm

DDC1990

Brainless from Muller.

Poor call from Pearson, but the right call with the penalty.

EmeraldNK

poor, poor throw there...

SuprSi

Terrible from Best, when they needed him the most.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Thats two not straight lineouts from Best

MungBean

its_phil wrote: »

Sacked for what, employing laws of the game. No chat back allowed.

To quote Nigel Owens "This isn't soccer"

Nigel Owens didnt give a penalty, he gave a warning. To take possession away from a team and award a penalty for that is pretty poor reffing.

thomond2006

and another irish team leaves Clermont with a LBP.

Where does this leave Ulster now in terms of seeding?

ray jay

Ah well, the bonus point is as much as most people hoped for before this match started.

its_phil

Titanic effort by Ulster.

If they can go to Clermont of all places and play like that, they are more than capable of playing anyone away from home.

CIARAN_BOYLE

thomond2006 wrote: »

and another irish team leaves Clermont with a LBP.

Where does this leave Ulster now in terms of seeding?

Leinster vs Ulster or possibly if Munster win with a TBP Munster vs Ulster

nice_guy80

Rory Best - Irish hooker? What a poor throw!

castie

thomond2006 wrote: »

and another irish team leaves Clermont with a LBP.

Where does this leave Ulster now in terms of seeding?

Last if both cardiff and edin win.

mfceiling

Heads held high...

Clermont have been made to work hard for that win...

MungBean

lologram wrote: »

Laws of the game, are you aware of them? Muller's fault, not Pearson's. This is not football.

Yes I am aware of the laws, are you aware of the rules of the forum ? Attack the post and not the poster and all that ? Might want to have a peek.

JRant

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Thats two not straight lineouts from Best

How many times have we seen that for Ulster and Ireland. Good player but his throwing under pressure stinks.

Aidric

Rory Best :rolleyes:

cgpg5

Ulster will most likely be 8th seeds with an away game against Leinster :eek:

shuffol

Good result for Ulster, didnt deserve anything more, competed well in the 2nd half but did nothing of note.

irishbucsfan

Pearson made some very important errors at the end, regardless of Muller's stupidity. I suppose you wouldn't expect anything else at the SMM

thomond2006

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Leinster vs Ulster or possibly if Munster win with a TBP Munster vs Ulster

I'd be nervous about hosting Ulster.

EmeraldNK

thomond2006 wrote: »

I'd be nervous about hosting Ulster.

Indeed, I'm not too happy about the idea, myself...

castie

Think Munster loss they play clermont either home or away depending on bp's.
If they win play ulster or edi/car.

Brewster

thomond2006 wrote: »

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Leinster vs Ulster or possibly if Munster win with a TBP Munster vs Ulster

I'd be nervous about hosting Ulster.

Munster are not going to get five points this evening. Just can't see it.

cgpg5

No disrespect to Munster but Ulster would have a far better chance in Thomond than in Leinster I feel.

castie

Brewster wrote: »

Munster are not going to get five points this evening. Just can't see it.

Ulster could end up 7th if cardiff and edi dont both win.

Jess16

Cannot justify that penalty against Muller when Pearson had already been ridiculously lenient towards Hines, who should have been binned for doing much worse. Inconsistent calls, at best

SuprSi

Looking at the replay of that try, it's a travesty that Clermont weren't penalised. Ridiculous decision.

lologram

MungBean wrote: »

Yes I am aware of the laws, are you aware of the rules of the forum ? Attack the post and not the poster and all that ? Might want to have a peek.

Don't need the advice thanks, it was your post that I attacked. If you are aware of the laws you don't seem to show it. What Muller did was brainless dissent, against the laws and a penalty. It is no way Pearson's fault that he had to award the penalty. The laws don't just apply when they suit any given team's supporters. It also doesn't matter that it turned over possession to Clermont at a crucial time, that is once again Muller's fault.

As for calling for Pearson to be sacked, well that just speaks for itself really.

cgpg5

castie wrote: »

Ulster could end up 7th if cardiff and edi dont both win.

Aye, very unlikely though unless Irish can pull off a shock can't see it though

Brewster

SuprSi wrote: »

Looking at the replay of that try, it's a travesty that Clermont weren't penalised. Ridiculous decision.

Terrible decision, Hines got away with murder and Touhy was harshly binned in my opinion. Pearson didn't do Ulster any favours. Of course Muller shouldnt have used back chat, however it was a shocking deliberate slap down by James and Pearson gives a knock on??? Nice one Dave...

MungBean

lologram wrote: »

Don't need the advice thanks, it was your post that I attacked. If you are aware of the laws you don't seem to show it. What Muller did was brainless dissent, against the laws and a penalty. It is no way Pearson's fault that he had to award the penalty. The laws don't just apply when they suit any given team's supporters. It also doesn't matter that it turned over possession to Clermont at a crucial time, that is once again Muller's fault.

As for calling for Pearson to be sacked, well that just speaks for itself really.

You addressed me personally not the post, which is frowned upon.

Muller shouldnt have protested but to award a penalty for doing so is poor. If the player was making a nuisance of himself and had already been warned then it would be inevitable.

Unless you can show me where the laws say "Questioning a refs decision must result in a penalty", your argument is baseless. Saying someone should be sacked when you think they are doing a poor job isnt really that over the top. Obviously I'm not campaigning for him to lose his job, just highlighting the fact that he did a poor job.

irishbucsfan

lologram wrote: »

Don't need the advice thanks, it was your post that I attacked. If you are aware of the laws you don't seem to show it. What Muller did was brainless dissent, against the laws and a penalty. It is no way Pearson's fault that he had to award the penalty. The laws don't just apply when they suit any given team's supporters. It also doesn't matter that it turned over possession to Clermont at a crucial time, that is once again Muller's fault.

As for calling for Pearson to be sacked, well that just speaks for itself really.

If Pearson had made the correct the decision he wouldn't have had to award the penalty.

So to say that it is "in no way" his fault is completely wrong. Muller was out of order but Pearson doesn't deserve defending after his performance.

ambid

thomond2006 wrote: »

I'd be nervous about hosting Ulster.

Yeah but so far Leinster this year have played average enough sides in the Heineken Cup. A quarter final against Ulster might actually be just what they need. There is a big risk Leinster could lose, but there is also a big risk that if they had an easier game then they could go into the semis a little under-prepared.

Leinster v Ulster in a packed Aviva in April would be excellent.

Jess16

Pearson was wrong and even more wrong for awarding a penalty against a player for simply noticing him being wrong

cgpg5

ambid wrote: »

Yeah but so far Leinster this year have played average enough sides in the Heineken Cup. A quarter final against Ulster might actually be just what they need. There is a big risk Leinster could lose, but there is also a big risk that if they had an easier game then they could go into the semis a little under-prepared.

Leinster v Ulster in a packed Aviva in April would be excellent.

I think he's speaking from a Munster perspective

EmeraldNK

Jess16 wrote: »

Pearson was wrong and even more wrong for awarding a penalty against a player for simply noticing him being wrong

To be honest, I'm not sure Muller actually said anything particularly abusive or disruptive, and I wouldn't think it's dissent to simply point out to the referee that it was a deliberate slap down and not merely a knock on.

Pearson was poor in quite a lot of important decisions today, this one was fairly minor by comparison...

Brewster

Jess16 wrote: »

Pearson was wrong and even more wrong for awarding a penalty against a player for simply noticing him being wrong

Pearson is Pearson, usually about himself. Nothing changes. If he'd applied the rules Ulster could have got a result.

overshoot

cant decide if we were robbed or blew it but it was a fantastic 80mins of rugby and the atmosphere sounded amazing. if offered a best runner up spot id have taken it at the start of the year. (but that home qf and dumping the french powerhouse was so close! guess its one reason ya gotta love this competition)
not even going to try to guess who we will be playing with the way things have gone, edinburgh/cardiff could still lose, munster could get the try bp, saracens are still a slim possibility too. either way after that we wont fear anyone, its going to be epic!

shuffol

cgpg5 wrote: »

I think he's speaking from a Munster perspective

Munster are playing with 3 2nd rows, a fly half who cant run and 2 centers who cant pass, if I were Brian McLaughlin I'd be booking the bus to the Aviva

its_phil

Jess16 wrote: »

Pearson was wrong and even more wrong for awarding a penalty against a player for simply noticing him being wrong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXoBNFOxlQM

You shut your mouth in rugby unless your captain

RuggieBear

mueller is captain.

it was clear cut dissent. penalty against. it's just compounded by the fact that pearson made a balls of the original call

ongarite

overshoot wrote: »

cant decide if we were robbed or blew it but it was a fantastic 80mins of rugby and the atmosphere sounded amazing. if offered a best runner up spot id have taken it at the start of the year. (but that home qf and dumping the french powerhouse was so close! guess its one reason ya gotta love this competition)!

I would say Ulster could have instead of should have won.
They had 3 chances in the last 5 minutes and blew every single one of them.

Its hard to believe this is the same Ulster team who were so off the boil earlier in the season and people were calling for McLaughlin's head.

Jess16

its_phil wrote: »

You shut your mouth in rugby unless your captain

How many bad calls do you expect the players to stand by and accept when a result is riding on it? They have to play by the rules but the ref can f**k up however he sees fit?! Get real -and Muller is the captain!

RuggieBear

Jess16 wrote: »

How many bad calls do you expect the players to stand by and accept when a result is riding on it? They have to play by the rules but the ref can f**k up however he sees fit?! Get real

if the ref decides to play american football...you suck it up and play grid iron. he is the sole arbiter of the laws of the game. what he says goes.

irishbucsfan

Jess16 wrote: »

its_phil wrote: »

You shut your mouth in rugby unless your captain

How many bad calls do you expect the players to stand by and accept when a result is riding on it? They have to play by the rules but the ref can f**k up however he sees fit?! Get real -and Muller is the captain!

What good does it do to shout at the ref?

What will he do? Change his mind?

Muller was a fool to do what he did.

Jess16

RuggieBear wrote: »

if the ref decides to play american football...you suck it up and play grid iron. he is the sole arbiter of the laws of the game. what he says goes.

Yes, but that doesn't necessarily make him right. This incident being a case in point

bleg

Jess16 wrote: »

Yes, but that doesn't necessarily make him right. This incident being a case in point

Doesn't matter if he's right or not.

RuggieBear

Jess16 wrote: »

Yes, but that doesn't necessarily make him right. This incident being a case in point

true. he was wrong in most peoples opinion but it still doesn't mean muller can act like he did.

MungBean

RuggieBear wrote: »

mueller is captain.

it was clear cut dissent. penalty against. it's just compounded by the fact that pearson made a balls of the original call

The fact that he was so strict on that aspect. "Dissent = penalty, no ifs or buts" was not in line with his reffing of the match. Which seemed to be based on ignoring as much as possible and being very very reluctant to award penalties for infringements.

You cant defend a ref with "the law is the law" when they have upto that point shown they are incapable of implementing the law to any decent standard across the various aspects of the game.

It was a poor call by a ref who had a very poor game. He missed the actual infringment and awarded a penalty against a captain who pointed it out. Shocking by anyone's standards in any game, disgraceful for the dying minutes of a hotly contested and crucial Heinekin cup game.

Jess16

bleg wrote: »

Doesn't matter if he's right or not.

Well that's my point, there needs to be more accountability for inconsistent and shoddy decisions. There could have been an entirely different result tonight if Pearson had have gotten his call against Clermont right in the first place

its_phil

Jess16 wrote: »

How many bad calls do you expect the players to stand by and accept when a result is riding on it? They have to play by the rules but the ref can f**k up however he sees fit?! Get real -and Muller is the captain!

Sorry hands up I'm wrong. Escaped my mind that he was captain.