Fan-flipping-tastic. I honestly didn’t see this one coming.
Before the game I was predicting a 10 – 15 point defeat to Ulster and only expecting to pick up 6 to 8 points throughout September. I was fully expecting the team to kick on throughout the rest of the season and finish there or there about at the business end but as I said I was expecting a quiet enough September. I didn’t think that the pack had gelled too well in the pre-season but they showed enough grit, determination and balls in this match to not only bag the points but also to hint that this could be a very exciting season indeed.
The added bonus is that the back three of McIlwaine, Seymour and D’Arcy have shown they can compete at this level, further strengthening the squad for the long journey ahead.
Having said that, this was not a game without quite a few mistakes, with the line out in particular under performing for large periods of the game and a few passes going astray but what I particularly liked about the team was their refusal to be dominated by their opposite numbers and Muller and Wannenburg have given the pack the confidence to not only stand up to their opposite numbers but to push them around a bit as well.
Scrums were a bit iffy but my opinion is it’s more down to interpretation than anything else. Had a pretty good look at loose head on our scrums throughout the first half and thought that the referee was very poor in this regard with Bryan Young bearing the brunt of his incompetence. In a correctly set scrum Young clearly had the measure of Griffiths but the Ospreys prop continually ducked under Young during the engage forcing the scrums to collapse. Not picked up by the ref or the assistant who went for the easy option of Young having to break his bind to try and keep the scrums up.
Didn’t arrive at the ground till just before kick off, grabbed a few pints and headed over to the Prom and glad to find it reasonably packed. Did a bit of jiggling about to try and find a new space for this season and settled on a spot on the back railing at the Aquinas 22 and promptly christened ourselves the Back Barrier Crew and immediately started making up inane chants to amuse and annoy those around us in, not quite, equal measure!
Fans Fotos – Ulster v Ospreys.
The area around us continued to pack out as the game commenced and I still think that there should be a separate area for particularly tall people as each one seemed to stop and look around directly in front of me. Fortunately they moved on I managed a reasonable view throughout the game and our new spot had the added bonus of a new bar at the Aquinas end giving us an almost uninterrupted supply of pints throughout the night – brilliant.
Must admit the pints were forgotten about in a tense second half but they were back in force after the match to celebrate a fine win in the Scoop Bar. A few choruses of My Old Man and good to see the return of players into the bar with Danielli and Anderson making a welcome appearance, even if one of our number John E King (aka Hockey Boy) did mistake Mr Danielli for Ed O’Donoghue and proceeded to ask him what he was doing back!
A great start to a new season and well done to all involved.
If you haven’t seen the match UK readers can view here for the next week.
Pictures from the match from rugbypicture.co.uk here.
Vote for your Man of the Match in the right hand sidebar —–>
More like this:
8 Responses to “View from the Prom: Ulster 27 Ospreys 26”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
A win is—- A WIN—- even if unexpected .
I felt before the game that the Os back line would be too experienced for Ulster . And while McIlwaine did what was required he had the look of a player who knew he was not quite ready for opposition with the power pace of the O’s.
Please don’t consider this as a call for the return of the “Peerless” IH but after fridays game it is evident that O’Connor while having a sure stong boot lacks an educated one .His restarts were three meters too long and he is still banging the ball at the posts failing to realise that the harder he kicks the ball the more any error in direction will be amplified.
Two weeks spent only kicking the ball at targets might be two weeks well spent.
The most pleasing aspect of the game was way Ulster tried to close down the game at the end to guard the lead although the drop goal attempt was maybe 2 or 3 phases too early the idea was right the execution terrible ( something else to practice during the two weeks )
The biggest mistake the Os made was to try and play the game through their forwards and the Ulster defence round the rucks was first class.
A good win — Stand up those Ulstermen
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Mote …… Did you watch the match on TV or are you a supporter?
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Great summers night at Ravenhill, and the rugby wasn’t too bad either!
I admit there where a few mistakes throughout the game but for the first competitive match these can be excused. Impressed by the youngsters who didn’t look at all out of place, alongside their more senior debutants.
I thought Barker had a big game, really dominated in the pack and took control of the lineout in the closing stages to see out the game. Maybe would have liked to have seen the backs get a bit more ball, to allow them to play their natural attacking game, especially with the pace of the back 3 on the night. Maybe O’Connor should have landed a couple more place kicks but he got the one that counts and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day. The SA boys also looked in great shape, particularly Wannenberg who looks to be someone that will really grab the bull by the horns alongside Ferris, who was outstanding as usual.
All in all a great start to the season and hopefully one of many famous scalps to come!!
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Great game and good to see Ulster taking on the mind set of a Win is a Win, and not this all we are looking for a performance FULL STOP, performance is important but winning mindset matters.
Ferris and Wannenburg where awesome pleased to see Barker make his mark in the team really thought ED would be missed, and i would play Caldwell in that position for the rest of the season the blue bib looks great on him and glad he kept it on.
Brady got the line out sorted when he came on, just need BJ back for the scrum.
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
RR
Exactly what point are you trying to make ?
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
Phew, got away lightly. That could have been much much worse!
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0
After watching the recording of the game on Friday night I have the following comments to make.
First of all I must congratulate the ref Peter Allen on achieving a much better level of fitness that he demonstrated last year and that the commentry wasn’t spoiled by the puffs and pants from the ref from his mic. He also had a relatively good game apart from not managing the front rows at the set scrums. Both sets of props failed to take the binding and had hands on the ground numerous times.
secondly it was good to see Ulster win ‘ugly’ and by that 1 point……. last year I think we would have chased the game and probably lost it.
It was not a classic by any means as there were loads of mistakes by both teams but as this was their 1st competitive game of the season i suppose that was to be expected. Some great individual performances from the forwards especially Barker and Wannenburg but also from Ferris, Muller and Faloon. Diack did well when he came on and Bradysthrow in to the lineout seemed to be much better than Rorys.
The backs defence was excellent and although both their trys were soft tries to give away, everyone stuck to their task and ensured that we secured the win. D’Arcy had a mixed game with a few knock-ons but took a good few high balls, McIlwaine again did OK playing out of position on the wing, and Seymour although could have done better to secure the loose ball leading to the O’s 2nd try showed great potential both in attack and defence.
Niall O’Connor had a useful game although being critical needs to modify his restart kicks as they were about 3-5 m too long for the chasing bunch. It was good however to stand on the prom beside his mother Shona and auntie Kate and family and appreciate their ‘nerves’ as he kicked the winning penalty.
Overall a very good result and the performance from the team was superb considering the lineup of ‘stars’ that the O’s have at their disposal. It was good to see that even when the dancing Shane Williams and Lee Byrne came on to bolster the impressive back line that they were swallowed up by the Ulster defence and didn’t feature.
Roll on the next game away in Italy and we look forward to the next session at Ravers gainst the Gunners on 17th…. Com on Ulsterrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Rate this comment. Like or dislike?
0 
0