Mexico Vs Ulster ultimate epic super build up thread.

dregin

Clegg wrote: »

I also think Adam Byrne gave his Ireland prospects a shot in the arm. Contested the high ball excellently and took the try well. Defence still needs work, but he has a lot of upside to his game.

Noticed for the first that he was calling people into defensive positions around rucks instead of the other way round. He's definitely continuing to develop into a very, very good player.

troyzer

Excellent game. The atmosphere was unreal.

Ulster were magnificent but it has to be said that they were getting away with a tremendous amount of ****housery. The offside line doesn't exist anymore. Still, if Poite isn't going to police it then why would you stop?

They were class and I'm gutted for Stockdale. But he's had a habit of these showboating touchdowns for ages. You've done the hard work, get the ****ing ball down. It's not as bad as Freddie Burns but it's pretty bad. Still, he's young and really bright. I don't think he'll ever make the mistake again.

Leinster still looking off the boil and I don't think they'll win again without a big improvement. Ringrose had a rare 'mare. Byrne's passing was absolutely all over the place as well. Larmour is very poor with the ball in hand once he reaches the defense he has an awful habit of not committing to a line, waiting for the space to open. He often gets put on his arse as a result and he has very little offloading and passing game.

Ulster are going to be very competitive in the Pro14 playoffs methinks.

Utah_Saint

troyzer wrote: »

Excellent game. The atmosphere was unreal.

Ulster were magnificent but it has to be said that they were getting away with a tremendous amount of ****housery

Thanks...we are finally playing like all the top teams...

troyzer

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Thanks...we are finally playing like all the top teams...

Oh it was a compliment. Henderson in particular was magnificent.

But Poite really did have an awful game.

Digifriendly

Either Racing or Toulouse will beat Leinster in France IMHO. Looking forward to their clash tomorrow.

sydthebeat

Digifriendly wrote: »

Either Racing or Toulouse will beat Leinster in France IMHO. Looking forward to their clash tomorrow.

Toulouse win means that they play in dublin.

leakyboots

Ulster's tackling stats are off the charts - five of the pack had 20+, Cooney alone had 19

A-Train

Yes get in Leinster! Such a tough match, onwards and upwards.

tbm

Delighted we won and am looking forward to catching the highlights later, but I’m so disappointed for Leavy. He was a key part of everything that went right with Leinster and Irish Rugby in 2018. Very cruel.

lbc2019

Some of the bs comments on here make me wonder are some guys just trolling or on crack or something???

mfceiling

lbc2019 wrote: »

Some of the bs comments on here make me wonder are some guys just trolling or on crack or something???

??

lbc2019

mfceiling wrote: »

??

Just the unbelievably negative comments attacking players and teams and missing the mark completely

mfceiling

lbc2019 wrote: »

Just the unbelievably negative comments attacking players and teams and missing the mark completely

Ah I wouldn't pay much heed. Stockdale royally fcuked up but these things happen....Shouldn't happen but hey ho.
It was a great game and for the 1st time in ages I actually felt when they went behind they still had a chance to score to win. Genuinely not despondent at all...The result was bad but the performance was great!!

foxyladyxx

Great to be there as a Leinster fan. Atmosphere was unreal.

Just came away though with the feeling that it was a game that Ulster lost....it was theirs for the taking,

Still a win is a win as they say .

guapos

Deleted User wrote: »

I hope Leinster don't lose, but if we do and Darren Cave is the difference between the teams it will be absolutely hilarious. Having a great game so far, Ulster centres the better that half.

Interesting to see if Ulster can keep this up for 40 more minutes, little separating the teams so far.

Whats the whole Darren Cave thing?

Dave_The_Sheep

Just back. Atmosphere unreal, Ulster fans really turned up today. Outsung the Leinster crowd most of the match (except during the last 10 minutes perhaps) it seemed from my area of the stands.

Much like the team. Defense was at an unreal pace, pressuring Leinster and having us cough up points we normally wouldn't. Leinster didn't really get into it properly until the second half, spent a lot of the first making mistakes at crucial moments. That being said, Ulster didn't really have a whole lot going forward, Leinster had them well marshalled most of the time.

Stockdale's finish, had he got it down, would have been fantastic, powered through a few (poor) attempted tackles, no idea why he wasn't trying to get it down sooner though. Hope it doesn't affect him too much, he wasn't the losing of the game by any stretch. The second Ulster try though, it went out to a two on one with the line begging and the Ulster fans in front of me jumped up, I didn't bother as it was a nailed on score. Then when the cheer didn't come, I was thinking "what the ..." then it came a few seconds later. Really should have been a more straightforward score, Marshall is blessed he got it down.

Leinster's purple patch in that second half was good and all, but it was odd. We scored, and then we were smashing Ulster players back in the tackle, things looked to have swung decisively, then Ulster just looked to go "**** it, let's go again" and we were on the back foot (around the time of the Leavy injury, poor f*cker).

Kudos to Byrne for stepping up and taking that last kick, from high up in the stands, it wasn't clear how injured he was but looking back at it... great balls. Nailed it through the centre too, best kick of the day from him. Then the presence of mind to maintain posession in the Ulster 22 for the last 4 minutes, that was great to see. Leinster seemed to be sealing off a little, but then again Ulster were offside for most of that phase, so swings and roundabouts, I suppose. It's the kind of thing you don't really see these days as the ref seems to want to blow it up. I suppose the fact it was in the 22 helped, and we were going for the score as much as running the clock down.

All in all, great match, looking forward to watching it back in full, great game Ulster. Leinster will need to improve a lot for the semi against Racing or Toulouse. Can't see us going to France (if we have to) and winning unless there's a fairly serious step up in intensity.

sullivlo

Clegg wrote: »

I also think Adam Byrne gave his Ireland prospects a shot in the arm. Contested the high ball excellently and took the try well. Defence still needs work, but he has a lot of upside to his game.

There was a very vocal man behind me spouting about how ****e Adam Byrne is. His biggest rant came just before the try. Egg on his face and quiet for ages after.

Great game. Great atmosphere.

sydthebeat

Anyone else find it very disconcerting to be kicking the ball dead from under the opposition posts.


Credit

Faugheen

Ross Byrne is a match winner.

He didn’t have his best game today, but he was the difference in the end. He missed easier kicks than that one and he took it while injured. Absolute balls of steel and there’s no other out half in the country outside of Sexton that wins games like Byrne does. How many more times does he have to deliver on the big occasion and provide the big moments before people realise how crucial he is?

James Ryan, Rhys Ruddock, Scott Farry and Jack Conan all excellent. Conan is so incredibly under-rated that it’s criminal.

I feel so bad for Leavy. He’s had no luck this year and that’s probably him done for the World Cup as well. Hopefully he can recover and come back firing because he was everywhere until that happened.

Ulster players and supporters were all brilliant today. Had a chat with a couple of them after the game and they made no excuses. I mentioned the Stockdale try and they said that they believed it wouldn’t have changed the outcome. Sound lads.

Dubinusa

Thought Ulster were brilliant. They hounded us and forced us into all kinds of mistakes.
That said, Leinster need to turn the scoreboard over. Going to the corner is costing them.
I think they may have left 9 points out there today. Ulster were defending the maul quite well.
Cronin just is not a good thrower. Leinster looked fairly poor at there own l/o. It's baffling. I can't understand how Cronin still has problems with his throwing?
Conan and Luke were excellent! Hard to believe that Leavy got hurt! Absolutely gutting for Leinster and Ireland.
Awful mistake by Stockdale! He's going to rue that. I think he's probably the only wing that could have gotten into that position. Absolutely devastating run and strength.
McCloskey is just phenomenal. A beast of a man.
The Ulster pack were great. The back row in particular. I thought Jordi was fantastic. I thought he outplayed SOB.
Ringrose was poor. 1st time I have seen him struggle like that.
Kudos to Mick Kearney. He was very good when he came on. He's back to where he was a couple of years back.
I also think that Treacy has got to start the semifinals. Cronin is really struggling at the set piece.

thomond2006

That game had everything. It was brilliant to watch.

Such a pity for Stockdale. He was magnificent otherwise and was close to scoring one of the all time great European tries.

Suspectman123

Dubinusa wrote: »

Thought Ulster were brilliant. They hounded us and forced us into all kinds of mistakes.
That said, Leinster need to turn the scoreboard over. Going to the corner is costing them.
I think they may have left 9 points out there today. Ulster were defending the maul quite well.
Cronin just is not a good thrower. Leinster looked fairly poor at there own l/o. It's baffling. I can't understand how Cronin still has problems with his throwing?
Conan and Luke were excellent! Hard to believe that Leavy got hurt! Absolutely gutting for Leinster and Ireland.
Awful mistake by Stockdale! He's going to rue that. I think he's probably the only wing that could have gotten into that position. Absolutely devastating run and strength.
McCloskey is just phenomenal. A beast of a man.
The Ulster pack were great. The back row in particular. I thought Jordi was fantastic. I thought he outplayed SOB.
Ringrose was poor. 1st time I have seen him struggle like that.
Kudos to Mick Kearney. He was very good when he came on. He's back to where he was a couple of years back.
I also think that Treacy has got to start the semifinals. Cronin is really struggling at the set piece.

Cronin lost one lineout from 8, hardly a shocking return
Second most meters gained in the starting 15 and Leinster scrum was totally dominant with him in it, 2 penalties if I remember
Pretty sure Tracy missed hook for last scrum and that’s why we got turned over for a penalty

Buer

Updated stats has James Ryan down for 27 tackles and 21 carries. He's becoming everything Paul Smeenus ever dreamed of.

The guy is simply a freak at this point.

Former Former

A great night of rugby. Found myself in a sea of Ulster fans and they were great craic.

Whatever McFarland said to his team in the buildup, it worked. They were at a different level of intensity to Leinster.

Reading back on the thread, I see everyone is being very kind about Stockdale. I would be absolutely fuming if I was an Ulster fan. That was inexcusable. It would have made the score 18-11 with the conversion to come and we would have struggled to get back into it. It's a shame because he was brilliant otherwise, but absolutely criminal.

Leinster badly miss Henshaw. There's no balance in the midfield without him, ROL, Reid and Ringrose are all too similar. Tomane or COB might be a better option.

Conan was immense, I've been unconvinced about his ability to compete in a dog-fight but fair play to him, he was great. James Ryan was his usual freakish self.

One of Ulster's standouts was Herring, he seemed to be everywhere.

Overall, a cracking game and a shame that one team has to lose.

Utah_Saint

Yeah I don't think Ulster fans are delighted with stockdale but we can't complain. We would never be here without him. Plus no other winger on the pitch makes that kind of run to manufacture the chance. He will learn. Hopefully fires him up for the league

thomond2006

The mistake from Stockdale was awful but the conceded penalty at the scrum afterwards compounded it.

is_that_so

Suspectman123 wrote: »

Cronin lost one lineout from 8, hardly a shocking return
Second most meters gained in the starting 15 and Leinster scrum was totally dominant with him in it, 2 penalties if I remember
Pretty sure Tracy missed hook for last scrum and that’s why we got turned over for a penalty

The recent conversation about Cronin inevitably matches up his broken play running versus his lineout throwing. The former is still a real asset for Leinster, the latter is an unknown risk. Not knowing what stats he might have on that score is a downside. He's also 33 and that speed may not last for too many more seasons. Treacy is fine in most lower intensity matches but might be time to add yet another Byrne to the regular roster!

Akrasia

Squidgy Black wrote: »

This game just shows us how terrible the Pro14 interpros have become in comparison.

If every game was played at that intensity there would be so many injuries that you'd need a hundred players in a squad

In. The. Horrors.

Akrasia

sydthebeat wrote: »

Good shout, the class of the man having time to fix up his pants before offloading for the winning try.....

He's no Donnacha O Callahan who would happily play naked if it meant winning in Europe

Buer

Deleted User wrote: »

In. The. Horrors.

I can't do this anymore. Off to throw up on myself in the shower.

Still feel better than Stockdale does.

bilston

Utah_Saint wrote: »

Yeah I don't think Ulster fans are delighted with stockdale but we can't complain. We would never be here without him. Plus no other winger on the pitch makes that kind of run to manufacture the chance. He will learn. Hopefully fires him up for the league

Condemning him.is a waste of energy. He knows he f*****d up (look at him at the end of the game, he was devastated) and so does everyone else.

As you say it may fire up for the rest of the season.

is_that_so

bilston wrote: »

Condemning him.is a waste of energy. He knows he f*****d up (look at him at the end of the game, he was devastated) and so does everyone else.

As you say it may fire up for the rest of the season.

I'd actually point to him being caught for the Leinster try but I suppose it was the whole defence. Still needs a lot of work there. He'll get over the try when he realises he's in good company!

thomond2006

Buer wrote: »

I can't do this anymore. Off to throw up on myself in the shower.

Still feel better than Stockdale does.

*LOUD NOISES*

Paul Smeenus

From an Ulster pov, what was really reassuring was that when Best had to go off early doors, we didn't lose direction or focus. There's definitely another tier of leaders emerging in that team, with Hendo at its head.

I'm too lazy, but it's be interesting to see the comparative age profiles of the two teams. Our back three and back three replacement were 22 (Stockdale), 21 (Balacoune), 20 (Lowry) and 19 (Kernohan).

Utah_Saint

is_that_so wrote: »

bilston wrote: »

Condemning him.is a waste of energy. He knows he f*****d up (look at him at the end of the game, he was devastated) and so does everyone else.

As you say it may fire up for the rest of the season.

I'd actually point to him being caught for the Leinster try but I suppose it was the whole defence. Still needs a lot of work there. He'll get over the try when he realises he's in good company!

If you watch stockdale he does that one handed touch down quite alot. I think it's cause more often than not he's miles ahead of tacklers

stephen_n

thomond2006 wrote: »

*LOUD NOISES*

He has kids, that’s a given.


Anyone know what Leinster’s tweet about an incident during the game involving the Gardaí is about?

awec

stephen_n wrote: »

He has kids, that’s a given.


Anyone know what Leinster’s tweet about an incident during the game involving the Gardaí is about?

I believe there was a Leinster fan shouting some pretty unsavoury stuff, about the provos and the likes. Was ejected by the Gardai.

Too much to drink.

troyzer

awec wrote: »

I believe there was a Leinster fan shouting some pretty unsavoury stuff, about the provos and the likes. Was ejected by the Gardai.

Too much to drink.

Twat.

mfceiling

When Leavy replaced SOB I was thinking "sh*t we're in for trouble now". SOB really has fallen behind these younger guys now and offers very little of a threat now. Genuinely gutted for Leavy though...He's a special player and by the sounds of it the injury is bad.

Paul Smeenus

troyzer wrote: »

Twat.

https://twitter.com/adammoursy/status/1112083194969550848?s=19

awec

mfceiling wrote: »

When Leavy replaced SOB I was thinking "sh*t we're in for trouble now". SOB really has fallen behind these younger guys now and offers very little of a threat now. Genuinely gutted for Leavy though...He's a special player and by the sounds of it the injury is bad.

It looked like SOB thought he would be coming back on for Leavy, but it was then changed for Mick Kearney.

Kind of wish they had brought SOB back on, he was fairly ineffective.

stephen_n

awec wrote: »

I believe there was a Leinster fan shouting some pretty unsavoury stuff, about the provos and the likes. Was ejected by the Gardai.

Too much to drink.

there’s always one moron

baas baa

A moment that stuck out to me was when Leinster got the penalty from the 5m scrum after Stockdale's non-try. Conan was the most vocal of the players leading the pats on the back. I'd have had him down as being one of the more reserved players but yesterday it really looked like he's becoming more of a leader in the group and is more at home in big games like that. Stander beware.

awec

stephen_n wrote: »

there’s always one moron

Ah yea I don’t really know why Leinster felt the need to publicise it.

sullivlo

awec wrote: »

It looked like SOB thought he would be coming back on for Leavy, but it was then changed for Mick Kearney.

Kind of wish they had brought SOB back on, he was fairly ineffective.

Surely SOB could only come on if it was a HIA for Leavy? And it wasn't. It was a leg injury.

sullivlo

awec wrote: »

Ah yea I don’t really know why Leinster felt the need to publicise it.

Probably because Twitter is alight with it so they were better off dealing with it at the start rather than have to deal with the speculation.

leakyboots

baas baa wrote: »

A moment that stuck out to me was when Leinster got the penalty from the 5m scrum after Stockdale's non-try. Conan was the most vocal of the players leading the pats on the back. I'd have had him down as being one of the more reserved players but yesterday it really looked like he's becoming more of a leader in the group and is more at home in big games like that. Stander beware.

Ah, so that's why CJ upped his pat-on-the-back-and-shout-encouragement game during the Six Nations :pac:

awec

sullivlo wrote: »

Surely SOB could only come on if it was a HIA for Leavy? And it wasn't. It was a leg injury.

Oh yea, true.

sullivlo

sullivlo wrote: »

Surely SOB could only come on if it was a HIA for Leavy? And it wasn't. It was a leg injury.

Yeah, SOB wasn't allowed back on