Ulster were out thought by Glasgow Warriors in a scrappy encounter at a rain lashed Ravenhill on Friday night, losing by 13 points to 25.
Glasgow played the dismal conditions more effectively, however they were only allowed to do so due to Ulster’s miss-firing lineout.
A disappointing game and a very disappointing defeat but the question is are the results against Munster and Glasgow a blip in an otherwise upward trajectory or is it a sign that the new regime has finally peaked?
To listen to some of the anonymous experts on the message boards it appears that these were defeats waiting to happen and they could hardly wait to roll out their personal agendas with cowardly attacks on individual players but in the real world most people will see these matches for what they are and that is a blip. A blip caused by a miss-firing lineout that has severely limited Ulster’s game plan.
Ulster didn’t lose any of these games from lack of effort or application, it was there in spades, they lost because their lack of lineout success meant they were ultimately forced to take the ball up by hand more frequently and in a difficult handling conditions this inevitably leads to mistakes that the opposition are able to pounce on.
Having been a hooker responsible for many a miss firing lineout in my heyday it’s not just the loss of possession that is the problem, but the overall effect on confidence that lack of consistent supply from this vital restart breeds throughout the team. It’s a problem, but one that can be fixed.
Ulster have four big games coming up that are going to define their season and given the opposition I’ve every confidence that they will raise their application and effort another notch, lets hope they put the work in on the lineouts as well. Time for big Jeremy to up his game!
Don’t forget you can still vote in Ulster’s most popular online poll. Vote for your Leaf Properties Lanzarote Ulster Man of the Match for the Ulster v Glasgow game here.
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6 Responses to “Ulster 13 Glasgow Warriors 25”
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A blip? Lets hope you are right, sometimes I wonder if I am watching the same game. If it was only the lineout I wouldn’t be bothered but it was much more than that. Firstly team selection ……….. everyone knew what the weather was like and what type of game it was going to produce so why pick the smallest and lightest back row at Ulsters disposal? Faloon or Pollock not both. Henry as I have said before is too small for a number 8 play him at blindside. I would have thought the match would have been ideal for Horua. Lets hope McGlaughlin stops pissing about and restores Robbie Diack to number 8 asap. Front row .. I haven’t a clue what is going on in there but it didn’t look good and the lineout was a shambles wether it was the weather I don’t know but it needs to be sorted out. Personally I would not pick Caldwell I think he is too light and gives away too many penalties. Which leads us to the reason why we lost on Friday too many PENALITIES unfortunately this has been a continuing theme throughout the season and if it dosen’t get sorted it will finish the season early for us. Bench .. the replacement of Nagussa, not a RR favourite, with Marshall was a disappointment. It is a credit to Boss that he looks comfortable in any position but if Shiels is good enough for the bench he is good enough for the wing. He couldn’t be any worse in defence than Jimmy and he wasn’t going to get a pass in attack anyway so why move three when one would have done?
We are back to our yo-yo best lets hope for next weeks match will be at the top of our game and not the bottom!
The never cowardly or anonymous Raging Raven.
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I watched the match a couple of times over the weekend and I’m afraid all Ulster’s problems stemmed from the miss firing lineouts.
They were unable to get any consistent field position and with the penalties being a bit of a lottery Ullster suffered disproportionately because they were unable to get out of their own half on a regular basis. Certainly the two penalties at the start of the second half were questionable but these things happen and if you are stuck in your own half you pay the price.
In the front row the Glasgow hooker was driving up on Kyriacou scrum after scrum. It’s very easy to do and is also illegal and he should have been penalised instead of their prop. Andy should also have taken him lower, but this is much more difficult.
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If only Andy had been able to spend a season with the Larne 5ths front row twenty years ago!
On a more serious note I’m told Mr Jones is handling one of our next European matches.
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Yep the Glasgow hooker would have been picking his head out of his arse if he tried that against the mighty 5ths front row.
Maybe next time I see Andy in the Scoop I’ll take him through it!
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Larne a 5ths ? yer havin a giraffe
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They used to terrorise the minor leagues 20 years ago! You’re obviously too young and pretty to have come up against them YoungMan!
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