Ulster made it two wins from two in the Magners League on Saturday night, despite displaying a less than perfect performance.
Ulster kicked off their new season with a narrow 27-26 win against the Ospreys last Friday night. It was therefore not surprising to hear the mood around camp was positive and upbeat, as the squad prepared for their next match against Italian side, Aironi.
Aironi, who are making their debut in the Magners League this season, made Munster work hard for their win last weekend, proving they wouldn’t be a walkover in the competition. This weekend was no different as they pushed Ulster right to the eighty minutes.
The BBC’s coverage of the match started five minutes later than the kick-off, so it was probably just as well that the first action of the night came shortly after, with Aironi fly-half Ludovic Mercier kicking the first penalty. Niall O’Connor levelled the score with a penalty of his own on fifteen minutes. Score Ulster 3 – Aironi 3.
Aironi were punished again on 22 minutes, with O’Connor slotting over a difficult – and long-distance – kick from his own half, taking his side to a 6-3 lead. Things appeared to be looking up for the visiting team when Aironi’s Number 8, Nick Williams, was yellow-carded on 33 minutes for using abusive language and coming in from the side.
Missed penalties from both teams wound the clock down towards the half-time whistle, and it looked like Ulster were about to widen the scores when Paddy Wallace and Robbie Diack stormed through Aironi’s defense. Unfortunately Chris Henry was put into touch before he could score a try, but O’Connor safely landed his third penalty, to take Ulster 9-6 into the lead at half-time.
Two minutes into the second half and Mercier equalised the scores once again with an impressive drop goal, and a series of errors from the Ulster players, allowed the Italians another penalty and another chance to take the lead for the second time in the game.
As the hour mark of the match threatened, Aironi replacement Luca Redolfini found himself on the wrong side of the referee when he was sin-binned for deliberately slowing down play. Ulster wasted no time with the one-man advantage and an impressive intercepted pass by Diack, led to him scoring the only try of the match. A successful conversion by O’Connor brought the score to Ulster 19 – Aironi 12.
Infringements were committed by both sides over the next ten minutes, with Mercier and O’Connor both slotting over a penalty each, taking the score to Ulster 22 – Aironi 15.
Just when it looked like Ulster were going to get their victory, newcomer Pedrie Wannenburg found himself yellow carded on 76 minutes, for failing to roll away after a tackle. Aironi – with a renewed determination – pushed Ulster back onto their own try line, and looked to have scored a try. Luckily for Ulster, the TMO awarded no try, as Ulster scrum-half Ian Porter managed to get under the ball and stop it from being grounded.
Ulster’s defence continued to hold strong, and as the final whistle blew, Ulster had claimed their second victory of the new season. The final score was Ulster 22 – Aironi 15.
Thoughts on the game.
Simply? Not good enough.
Yes, whilst Aironi have proved they won’t be an easy opposition for any team this season, they weren’t on great form last night – something which Ulster should have capitalised on early into the game. Ulster themselves seemed to struggle under the pressure; and numerous knock-ons, poor passing and lack of discipline, once again allowed the opposition to continually creep back into the game.
Aironi had two men in the bin – that was twenty minutes when Ulster should have made the difference to make sure the Italians could not come back. Yet, the only thing we had to show for it at the end was one try – scored by Diack, from an intercepted pass.
Oft times, I felt like I was watching a match from last season, where the team seemed to be at a loss at what to do. The silly schoolboy errors which cost Ulster so many points last season were again on show, and it is something which should have been straightened out during their training sessions long ago.
If I steer away from the negatives, Ulster did manage to secure 4 more much needed points, which is more than they had achieved at the same stage last season.
Diack, Muller and Barker all had a good game and I think Diack was deservedly the Man Of The Match. The introduction of Faloon also made a huge improvement to the squad I felt, as he made a number of key tackles and was always a part of the action – the only thing I will say is I would have brought him onto the pitch sooner.
But I guess the old adage ‘a win is a win’, is true and I think every supporter will be happy with two wins from two, despite how scrappy they may have been. Yet, the fact remains: if Ulster wish to progress in the League and be viewed as a team to be wary of, much work is still needed to be done.
RugbyRambler
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7 Responses to “Match Review: Ulster 22 Aironi 15”
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The selected XV were always going to have a hard time in this game and will continue to do so until the Ulster starting XV contains two experience wingers.
Ulster’s back 3 consisted of a full back ( 2nd cap ) a centre playing on wing (2nd cap Dev contract) and a full back on the other wing (2nd Cap Academy contract) not really a combination to inspire a coach to instruct his outhalf to open the ball up .
There are those on the UAFC Mboard who as usual have the knives out for NO’C complaining the backs never got going the truth is that Ulster were never in a position to get the backs going.
Firstly they were seldom in their opponents 22 and for the reason stated above never going to attack via the wingers from deep ( outside the 22 )
Secondly Aironi were totally committed to slowing the ball down at every breakdown loose maul and ruck ( which of course gave rise to 2 yellow cards ) which failed to ensure quick release.
Aironi seem to have adopted the Glasgow approach to the game — defend well kick your penalties and attempt the drop goal when in front of the posts.with an outhalf who will kick those points.
They will of course find life hard against teams with a good back line like Leinster Cardiff and the Ospreys but Ulster yesterday didn’t have the backline to try to do it. The game was always going to be a grind
A fair enough report if you watched the match via the internet but what that medium can’t get across was the heat in Viadana and the influence of a partisan crowd on the officials. A lot of teams will go to Aironi and struggle.
RR – good shot of you and Mr. Penny on the internet/TV just after the Ulster try. We also reckon we heard you singing ‘Cheerio’ at one of the sin binnings.
A bit harsh, methinks, a lot of teams will battle at this venue. A work in progress, improvement required I’ll agree.
Rugby Rambler (another RR???)
Couple of points – this was an Italian team at home – making their debut in the competition having recruited God knows how many grizzled veterans of the game….it was never going to be anything OTHER than a scrappy affair with the ball slowed at every opportunity and a sheer “arm-wrestle” of a match.
Personally i’m delighted to see another four points on the board and a 2 from 2 success rate.
Further, i am also delighted to see the likes of McIlwaine etc continue to add to their education and experience….squads win league competitions – not 1st XV teams. Undoubtedly Trimble and Danielli are our two first choice wingers – but in the interim – hats off to the youngsters.
Agree totally with the Raven – other teams will struggle here and NOT sneak a win. We got the points – onwards and upwards. Stand Up!!!
GC
Pleased with the result, although the game became a struggle, all because the side where not clinical enough, especially during the periods when the opposition were down to 14 men.
I think some people need to get off the case of the young trio at the back, the moans of inexperience will not change unless they get game time – if they aren’t given the chance how are they going to gain that experience?? Personally, I thought all 3 had much better games compared to last week against the O’s, and with more time on the pitch their confidence will improve along with their play as an attacking unit. Plus its always good to see a winger following up his own kick and smashing Mercier, leaving him on the ground for about 5 minutes, so the signs are looking promising for the future!!
Also pleased the see the forwards having another solid game, glad to see some progress at scrum time, and the lineout was looking alright too, despite the absence of Rory.
Can’t wait to get to Ravenhill again and see what will be a tough game again Edinburgh, no doubt they’ll have plenty to work on in the paddock this week!
A_Fan – I agree with your comment on the young back 3. Yes they made mistakes Seymour knocking on a couple of times under the high ball fo example, but overall no more that any of the other players as the match was riddled with fumbles and spills.
Regarding the line out – In my opinion Rorys weakness is his ‘darts’, and whenevre Nigel B or Andi K come on the lineout always improves and with Muller, Barker and Diack all on form we should be challenging on the opposition’s throw and winning some of these balls too. The front row has struggled to dominate and whether this is down to the interpretation of the ref or not i’m not sure. The ‘bear’ came on and won a penalty at his first scrum only to give away a penalty shortly after. In all the games so far this season all the props have not taken an immediate bind and have put their hands on the ground which = penalty but the ref’s have not always dealt with this.
Fri night will be another good test against a useful Emburr pack. We need to ensure that we dominate in this area and start to use the ball out the backs to score a few tries. STFTU