Ulster v Connacht, Ravenhill KO 7:05pm, BBC2 NI

awec

Connacht yellow, Michael Smith.

on the river

Mcihael swift for his 180th appearence a true servant of rugby

Zzippy

awec wrote: »

Connacht yellow, Michael Smith.

???

Yellow was a joke by the way

awec

Zzippy wrote: »

???

Yellow was a joke by the way

I mean Swift

Connacht have given away too many penalties - it was for the amount of penalties rather than something Swift did specifically.

BrokenMan

Ulster playing great and we'll worth the lead but in fairness the ref is a joke. Quick throw, no penalty reversal, letting ulster away with a fair bit at the breakdown. Standard of referring in general in the rabo is just so frustrating.

awec

Trimble hat trick try!

on the river

jesus that was a short appearence from swift

awec

51-5.

Zzippy

What's the penalty count now? Can anyone seriously agree with the ref's view that Ulster haven't infringed once tonight???

awec

Try for Connacht!

on the river

lovely try

Bazzo

Darragh Leader with a good consolation try. 51-10

awec

Ulster bring on Adam Macklin and some young lad called Tom Court.

on the river

jackson has improved thoughout.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

can't help but think the Gilroy o 12 months ago would have caught that

on the river

51-12

awec

TRY Gilroy!

Great work by McCloskey.

on the river

Swift back in

awec

58 - 12

Bazzo

Unfortunate for Henshaw not to get that try. Good thinking from Nikora.

awec

Where have all these lovely offloads and back play moves been all season for us?

on the river

5 min left

galwaylad14

In fairness of all the players on the pitch tonight he really deserved a try. His team has been beaten by nearly 50 points and he's still been one of the best players on the pitch

on the river

MOM Andrew Trimble

awec

Full time.

Ulster 58 - 12 Connacht.


That'll do.

galwaylad14

Ulster awesome, connacht and the referee pathetic

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Trimble is world class at the moment

porterbelly

Ulster are a class side, have said that the past 2 seasons after they've played us in Galway

They are the only province who I really fear playing because they seem to be able to rip us apart at will

Physically they are way ahead of us, especially in the backline (bar Henshaw)

Bowe, Trimble, Marshall, all big units with pace and power

The first 3 of 5 tries were very preventable from our part which was frustrating because we could have been in the game and after that we just threw the ball anyway anywhere inciting trouble. The ref failed to ref the breakdown which was unfortunate. The fact that we had large periods of possession and didn't get 1 pen all day (yes that's a stat) is bemusing, and also contesting the Ulster ball a few times with no pen given. Disappointing but par for the course.

It's a real pity for Ulster that they haven't got through in the Heineken because you'd have to feel this was their year with the departures.

Parks and Carr need to be dropped out of the squad. McKeon and Buckley have experience now, they need to front up in that adversity.That would be a start. Defence is a shambles, need a defence coach badly. Henshaw is a magnificent specimen, we need him to stay and build around him.

ouncer

it's a strange thing but I simply enjoyed the game for the spectacle it was. ulster were fantastic in every facet and Trimble proved why Joe Schmidt had faith in him. it simply was a great game of rugby to witness. the question is where does this leave Connacht. funny I was asking that question after last week. there simply is a top six and a bottom six to the pro12 and in between there is a huge gulf. while Connacht may have got whipped tonight and next year they may struggle I support Connacht because they make every effort to break that gulf. yes we lost to a better team but we feckin tried

BeardySi

Well that was frustrating...

Ulster definitely showed no signs of being a weakened side, they were on fire, Trimble and Bowe were particularly fantastic. Connacht seemed to be trying too hard to be clever and made far too many basic mistakes. So many of those tries came from Ulster ruthlessly exploiting poor Connacht play - missed passes, short passes, long passes, overrun passes, fumbles, knockons Dan's backwards bogtoe clearance kick - we pretty much filled the bingo card tonight.

Yet despite all that Henshaw stood out as one of the best players on the pitch, Muldoon was legend as usual and we saw a decent performance from O'Halloran and Leader. For most of that game it seemed that Connacht were capable of manufacturing an opportunity (and they often did), unfortunately it was the lack of execution that cost them time and again.

mfceiling

Just 10% of that performance last week....

pappyodaniel

I didn't like the jeering of Connacht players when they made errors during the second half. It was unnecessary as the game was well won at that stage, it just left a sour taste in my mouth. Maybe it's because I have a soft spot for our brothers from the Wesht.

bilston

The handling by Bowe and Jackson for Marshall's try was something else. Some nice play tonight. Particularly pleased to see Gilroy play well and Trimble to the fore again.

Joe Schmidt was in attendance tonight, what on earth will he do with a fully fit set of wingers available to him!?

ouncer

bilston wrote: »

The handling by Bowe and Jackson for Marshall's try was something else. Some nice play tonight. Particularly pleased to see Gilroy play well and Trimble to the fore again.

Joe Schmidt was in attendance tonight, what on earth will he do with a fully fit set of wingers available to him!?

Trimble and bowe impressive. gilroy? the only ball he touched all game was literally when he fell over for a try

neilmulvey

bilston wrote: »

Joe Schmidt was in attendance tonight, what on earth will he do with a fully fit set of wingers available to him!?

shove Bowe to 13 in June i reckon.

bilston

ouncer wrote: »

Trimble and bowe impressive. gilroy? the only ball he touched all game was literally when he fell over for a try

In the first he looked very sharp and he touched the ball plenty of times.

BrokenMan

Marshalls try was a thing of beauty and that's from a connacht supporter. Even my 11 year old was blown away.

ouncer

bilston wrote: »

In the first he looked very sharp and he touched the ball plenty of times.

sorry, while I have watched Craig coming thru the Irish u-20s where he was hugely impressive, he does not yet rate to Trimble or bowe. I'm sure it will all happen in good time but as a reflection on the play tonight he did not equate to tommy or andrew. maybe he touched a ball but in the majority of cases he was not a part of the many exciting moves used by ulster

bilston

ouncer wrote: »

sorry, while I have watched Craig coming thru the Irish u-20s where he was hugely impressive, he does not yet rate to Trimble or bowe. I'm sure it will all happen in good time but as a reflection on the play tonight he did not equate to tommy or andrew. maybe he touched a ball but in the majority of cases he was not a part of the many exciting moves used by ulster

Hang on I think you might be putting words into my mouth here!

I said I was pleased to see Gilroy play well. I didn't compare him to either Bowe or Trimble!!

wp_rathead

Missed first 20 mins- got lost in belfast and then trying find a parkin spot was a pain

Ulster were awesome- Trimble is like an Irish Jonah Lomu these days

Ravenhill is a great stadium - had good laugh second half in crowd, Ulster fans are good craic. A good few came up and thanked us for coming which was nice gesture after game..

As ever I am determined to be optimistic, so will leave this: last time we got properly thumped in Rabo was away to Edinburgh- we followed that up with our win away in Toulouse. Watch out Munster

I am pie

get rid of parks, poor display. henshaw is a great prospect.

mfceiling

ouncer wrote: »

Trimble and bowe impressive. gilroy? the only ball he touched all game was literally when he fell over for a try

Watch the game again....gilroy played well. Was solid under the high ball answer showed plenty of eagerness to go forward...he has a wicked step where he can beat players 2or 3 yards in front of him from a standing start.

Wouldn't compare him or any other Irish winger with trimble at present as trimble is on fire.

henryporter

I am pie wrote: »

get rid of parks, poor display. henshaw is a great prospect.

Probably more a prospect of Parks staying put and Henshaw moving on unfortunately

wp_rathead

henryporter wrote: »

Probably more a prospect of Parks staying put and Henshaw moving on unfortunately

Don't believe the papers- Robbie ain't going anywhere before his contract is up

on the river

Must say a great win for Ulster , top class in every way.

Connacht were slow at the breakdown and never really could get good field poisitions.

Henshaw has proved his worth and will be snapped up by the bigger clubs.

Connacht has alot of improving to do for the munster game, hopfully they can restore pride in the
west.

bilston

wprathead wrote: »

Don't believe the papers- Robbie ain't going anywhere before his contract is up

I hope you are right for Connacht's sake. For the player himself and for Ireland though you have to wonder whether he is better off elsewhere, but I don't think it's an issue at the moment. He is fine at Connacht for another season and hopefully two.

Besides, and maybe this is controversial, maybe it isn't, but I don't think he would get on a full strength Ulster backline at the moment and there would be no guarentees at either Leinster or Munster although obviously there is a BOD sized hole at Leinster that he could fill, but then so could Fitzgerald and McFadden.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

bilston wrote: »

I hope you are right for Connacht's sake. For the player himself and for Ireland though you have to wonder whether he is better off elsewhere, but I don't think it's an issue at the moment. He is fine at Connacht for another season and hopefully two.

Besides, and maybe this is controversial, maybe it isn't, but I don't think he would get on a full strength Ulster backline at the moment and there would be no guarentees at either Leinster or Munster although obviously there is a BOD sized hole at Leinster that he could fill, but then so could Fitzgerald and McFadden.

From a Munster POV I think he'd def start at 13 for us next season. Same with Leinster tbh, Luke too injury prone and I don't like D'arcy or McFadden there

.ak

How'd Bowe go in the centre?

jacothelad

.ak wrote: »

How'd Bowe go in the centre?

Seamless but Conn. never presented any consistent threat t test his defence.

Tox56

.ak wrote: »

How'd Bowe go in the centre?

... not bad