Match Thread - Ulster v La Rochelle, Ravenhill, 13/01/18 1pm

prawnsambo

Great win Ulster! Pity about the bonus point, but absolutely choked the life out of LAR. Feckin marvelous to watch.

Clegg

La Rochelle just ran everything. Didn't kick a thing when at times it would've been the better option.

Great performance from Ulster though. Some decent attacking play and a lot of grit to stop the LR heavy carrying game.

vienne86

That was great from Ulster! What defence......never thought I would be saying this!!! Cracking match.

Buer

Ulster had to look at the drop goal when deep in the 22. Screw the BP. A win is far more important and denying them a BP should be the next priority.

irishbucsfan

Don't think either team were that great actually, thought both teams were wasteful. But that's being fairly picky, beating this La Rochelle team is an achievement.

Sephiral

That's a cracking win after getting absolutely hockeyed for the first 25-30 minutes. The yellow card gave them a foothold and they used it brilliantly. Disappointing they couldn't get the fourth try with a few attacking positions in the last ten minutes.

Thought Best was brilliant on his return. Henderson and Rea stood up well too. Cooney was great in the second half. Mc Closkey was an absolute rock in defence and trucked it up well when asked. Back three were dangerous with any ball they were given.

dare I say it, Ruan who?

A-Train

A great result for Ulster.

Assetbacked

Handed it with the penalty in the first half. Allowed Ulster into it without them having to work for it.

Scythica

GET IN.

LAR made some crucial errors but I'll take it.

exactly the sort of grit we've been missing

errlloyd

Huge from Ulster. Well played.

Well done Ulster, good win. Really did well in the 2nd half, very much deserved.

sydthebeat

Clegg wrote: »

La Rochelle just ran everything. Didn't kick a thing when at times it would've been the better option.

Great performance from Ulster though. Some decent attacking play and a lot of grit to stop the LR heavy carrying game.

They literally didn't have a kicker to kick. They had a winger playing at 10

Murimurivalu was really their only option from 15 and he's pretty crap at it.

irishbucsfan

Ben for Ulster!

awec

Now if Harlequins could stop Wasps getting a BP that'd be great.

I hear Ben Best is off to Leciester.

prawnsambo

I was surprised how much the Ulster defence unsettled LAR. Made a lot of errors under pressure. Probably as much a surprise to Ulster supporters.

awec

Physicality, hitting them hard behind the gain line, showing a lot of grit, the things Ulster have been missing all season. Forwards did well to find soft shoulders, Ah You lining up their 9 in the first half stands out. Making that extra metre or two after you've been tackled makes the world of difference.

Concerns are the scrum and the fact La Rochelle always want to run the ball which suits us. I think other teams would probably have punished our indiscipline at times today and wouldn't have been passing the ball about in their own 22.

MDunne14

Let’s not get carried away here we matched them in the second half but Wayne Barnes had a shocker , was never a yellow card piatau jumped Into jordaan, stockdale try had forward flick on and missed timoneys knock on after Vito inside pass went wrong off their 5m scrum

Clegg

Kiss sounds like he's trying his best not to cry

mfceiling

Passion (not heavy rain).

At long fùcking last. Making proper hits. Getting stuck in. Cooney shoving their loose head - show them you mean business.

That's a great win. Thought Cave had some lovely touches in both defence and attack. I think a bit of the criticism has stung them and that's no bad thing.

Cheers Christian!!

awec

Credit to Kiss today. Good tactics, good selection and saying the right things after the game.

MJohnston

MDunne14 wrote: »

Let’s not get carried away here we matched them in the second half but Wayne Barnes had a shocker , was never a yellow card piatau jumped Into jordaan, stockdale try had forward flick on and missed timoneys knock on after Vito inside pass went wrong off their 5m scrum

I'll give you the yellow card, but the rest was all balanced out as happens in most games.

awec

mfceiling wrote: »

Passion (not heavy rain).

At long fùcking last. Making proper hits. Getting stuck in. Cooney shoving their loose head - show them you mean business.

That's a great win. Thought Cave had some lovely touches in both defence and attack. I think a bit of the criticism has stung them and that's no bad thing.

Cheers Christian!!

Yea you need those bits of niggle, we've been too nice too often, enjoyed that Cooney shove a lot. Also liked Rea (I think) getting involved with Stockdale around the time they got their yellow card.

prawnsambo

awec wrote: »

Yea you need those bits of niggle, we've been too nice too often, enjoyed that Cooney shove a lot. Also liked Rea (I think) getting involved with Stockdale around the time they got their yellow card.

Stockdale's gas. Always smiling, even when he's involved in handbags.

Stheno

Clegg wrote: »

Kiss sounds like he's trying his best not to cry

Ah no was he just really relieved with the win?

swiwi_

Commiserations Ulster fans, especially awec.

But what can you expect when your coach is terrible? No doubt this is the end for Kiss.

I assume La Rochelle moves top of the pool.

Oh well, only pride to play for next week.

.ak

Actually, does winning really annoy you ulster fans? Like do you just go 'Ah well, I have nothing to give out about now. Reckon I'll give boards a miss.' Like, how does this work?

Scythica

.ak wrote: »

Actually, does winning really annoy you ulster fans? Like do you just go 'Ah well, I have nothing to give out about now. Reckon I'll give boards a miss.' Like, how does this work?

it'll only annoy me if this is another false dawn and we turn into powderpuffs next week again.

Was impressed by our back row, probably our weakest section all season.

prawnsambo

Scythica wrote: »

it'll only annoy me if this is another false dawn and we turn into powderpuffs next week again.

Was impressed by our back row, probably our weakest section all season.

Reidy's been looking good for a while now. The lads who were back from injury seem to have knocked the cobwebs off as well. The workload was spread around which probably helped too.

Ludik seemed to relish making those hits behind the gain line and he was very accurate in that department. Some really enthusiastic hits. So long as the replacement ten is good enough and can slot in quickly, I don't see where you're going to go backwards from today. All the other false dawns were patchy ones at best. This was a pretty concerted effort for eighty minutes.

awec

.ak wrote: »

Actually, does winning really annoy you ulster fans? Like do you just go 'Ah well, I have nothing to give out about now. Reckon I'll give boards a miss.' Like, how does this work?

No, I enjoy winning. Today wasn't perfect but it's the best we've been in ages.

But results like today magnify the frustration if we don't back it up next week.

awec

Another score for us today of any form would have had massive implications for this pool. As it stands for us to get a home quarter we will probably need to bonus point Wasps, given La Rochelle are definitely going to smash Harlequins and a win for us and a tbp for them would have us on equal points and they are miles ahead in the head to head.

prawnsambo

awec wrote: »

Another score for us today of any form would have had massive implications for this pool. As it stands for us to get a home quarter we will probably need to bonus point Wasps, given La Rochelle are definitely going to smash Harlequins and a win for us and a tbp for them would have us on equal points and they are miles ahead in the head to head.

I'd say a bonus point win was the furthest thing from your mind this morning. Or denying them a bonus point.

awec

prawnsambo wrote: »

I'd say a bonus point win was the furthest thing from your mind this morning. Or denying them a bonus point.

Yea I’m happy with what we’ve got, just goes to show the difference a single extra point today would have made.

prawnsambo

awec wrote: »

Yea I’m happy with what we’ve got, just goes to show the difference a single extra point today would have made.

True. But there are always regrets at this point in the pools.

And Quins just scored a try.