Dead rubber v Ulster

[maroontrunks]

All that negativity for a game that we could have won, bar a couple of stupid errors. Nilling them in the first half was an achievement for the previously porous defence. I felt O'Connor going off at half time had an effect as we turned over the ball far less frequently and failed to slow them down. Both teams made a great deal of errors but it was good to see some attacking nous from Tigers plus a generally good defence. Having three hookers injured is definitely unfortunate, Kerr played well however, though McMillan's poor throw near the end blew one of our best chances. Olowefela is some way off Champions Cup material at this stage, but will come good I hope. Bench wasn't a match for Ulster's.
For those calling for GM's head, I personally cannot see the point of another merry go round. He has clearly identified the weaknesses in the squad and is looking to rebuild next season, but the team seem to playing together much better since GM's permanent appointment, some posters here seem to really revel in the negativity.

[Big Dai]

Tigers are getting worse. Last season was the worst since 2005/2006. This season is worse than last season. Sorry but I see no real sign of improvement. I do see lots of straws being clutched though.

Bottom of the Premiership Cup table.
Bottom of the European Cop Championship table.
9th in the Gallagher table.

It's always darkest before the dawn. I believe with a full squad there can be an upturn in our fortunes. Not denying the likes of White, Evans, Heyes and Kerr areaking progress but Gengey, TPN, Denton, and Thompson off the bench would have helped today.
I know, I know you can only play who you have fit BUT we were not far off today with a still depleted squad...... better than previous weeks where we've frankly, been absent?

[jgriffin]

Here's a sobering thought. If Jake Kerr is in the Scotland squad when the 6Ns start then we might have to actually start Ross McMillan. Scary.

Well he's good in the scrum. As for everywhere else I'm not so sure.

Kerr played very well today. I would not be surprised to see him on the bench for Scotland. First half he outplayed Best comfortably, though he did look to tire in the second half.

Doom-mongers. .Negative.Too flipping right we are.The Coaching is total tripe, and getting worse.The back up reserves are next to useless. We have totally disintegrated as a Club but so then have both Labour and the Conservatives... and any happy clapper who thinks things will get rosier, you are living in cuckoo land. From a Tigers fanatic since I was born 72 years ago...

How's it getting worse? We can now defend, the scrum is still good, we have a lineout which actually gets us the ball now and a tactical game that kept a good Ulster side pinned in their own half for pretty much the first 40.

I'm not saying we don't need to improve further but there has been positive progress. Young lads like Kerr, Heyes, Evans, White and Owolofela all showing they can play at this level is a boost for our squad next season as well.

Actually I agree for once with the reasonable crew, and Mark62 as well! We have come a distance from the MOC disaster (I did warn you when he was announced) and GM is having to start from scratch almost while trying to win. I do think for Tigers BY hardly ever seems to be 100%, and with Thompson and Denton out, let alone Spencer, our forwards ain't as good as they should be, bar the front rows which are stellar. Just need a settled coaching side and our youngsters in particular next year will lift us. Hope we keep Evans though.
As a final insult to some, we can aspire to be as good as Edinburgh. Two seasons ago they were rubbish, now succeeding on two fronts. Shows what a proper coach can do.

[sam16111986]

Tigers are getting worse. Last season was the worst since 2005/2006. This season is worse than last season. Sorry but I see no real sign of improvement. I do see lots of straws being clutched though.

Bottom of the Premiership Cup table.
Bottom of the European Cop Championship table.
9th in the Gallagher table.

Not really I give praise and criticism where I see it. If you can't see how this game is an improvement on our home performance against Racing then I can't help you.

Watching Munster vs Exeter, we are so far behind these two teams it's embarrassing.

Bit of a scrap at the minute Garces has no control over this game. People flying into the ruck all over the place.

[longlivethecrumbie]

Here's a sobering thought. If Jake Kerr is in the Scotland squad when the 6Ns start then we might have to actually start Ross McMillan. Scary.

Having seen the way his lineout has gone over the last year or two, I never thought I'd say this, but I hope Tom is fit for the 6N period!! Either that or that Kerr is released early by the Sweaties.

Ulster probably had a rocket at HT and came out and played much better in the second 40. Their two tries came from our mistakes - Evans infringement giving them a pen to the corner where they drive over from and then Holmes being out of position for the second.

We busted some chances to win it/stretch our lead and Ulster also created a couple of openings but our defence held firm.

I'm not sure how the doom mongers can't see improvements, albeit slow, are happening. We need to accept that we are where we are, for a number of reasons, and that it's going to take some time to right things. Making more knee jerk changes will not help things and will only set us back further.

As one former, well missed, poster, who is no longer with us, would have said: "Keep the faith" and my 2p worth is that with patience I think we'll be rewarded in the longer term. Rome was not built in a day (and all that)

[G.K]

Tigers are getting worse. Last season was the worst since 2005/2006. This season is worse than last season. Sorry but I see no real sign of improvement. I do see lots of straws being clutched though.

Bottom of the Premiership Cup table.
Bottom of the European Cop Championship table.
9th in the Gallagher table.

It's always darkest before the dawn. I believe with a full squad there can be an upturn in our fortunes. Not denying the likes of White, Evans, Heyes and Kerr areaking progress but Gengey, TPN, Denton, and Thompson off the bench would have helped today.
I know, I know you can only play who you have fit BUT we were not far off today with a still depleted squad...... better than previous weeks where we've frankly, been absent?

Are you sure you are thinking straight, being practically Remeless these days?

I know we have some injuries hasn't any team? I said earlier not the worst performance this season but at the end of the day it's results that count and we aren't getting many. The scoreboard rarely lies and there are no points for artistic merit or being slightly better than last week.

[Big Dai]

Tigers are getting worse. Last season was the worst since 2005/2006. This season is worse than last season. Sorry but I see no real sign of improvement. I do see lots of straws being clutched though.

Bottom of the Premiership Cup table.
Bottom of the European Cop Championship table.
9th in the Gallagher table.

It's always darkest before the dawn. I believe with a full squad there can be an upturn in our fortunes. Not denying the likes of White, Evans, Heyes and Kerr areaking progress but Gengey, TPN, Denton, and Thompson off the bench would have helped today.
I know, I know you can only play who you have fit BUT we were not far off today with a still depleted squad...... better than previous weeks where we've frankly, been absent?

Are you sure you are thinking straight, being practically Remeless these days?

I know we have some injuries hasn't any team? I said earlier not the worst performance this season but at the end of the day it's results that count and we aren't getting many. The scoreboard rarely lies and there are no points for artistic merit or being slightly better than last week.

I would say more than slightly better. Maybe sobriety makes me more objective? This is the worst season in a long time......thus far.....but thankfully life goes on and I feel an improvement is there. Especially regarding our defensive efforts.

[Dangerous4]

I also do not believe that Holmes best position is full back. We need a full back who can read the game quickly and set up attacks that pin the ears back of the opposition. The "rumble wagon" (scrum) performed better today, but still looks as though the back five are not up to standard.

[BFG]

Must temper the negativity of disappointment in my opinion.
I think Leicester are missing two good experienced hookers, possibly reducing what could be a great scrummaging unit to a draw.
Obviously no Genge today.
Spencer, Thompson and Denton missing.
Harrison and Simmons missing.
You have to expect injuries but it's a lot to miss at once, affecting the bench depth which on days like today matters.
I expect another tight head with more intensity to arrive from the rumours.
Olowafela ran possession into touch too much today, needs to be much stronger, show more footwork inside and the ability to carry and recycle the phases for the team.

[CitizenSmiff]

Our one play that wasn't immediately predictable to anybody with eyes and four brain cells got us 7 points, so that's something. Other than that we came up short against an incredibly ordinary Ulster performance.

[speedski]

I beleive improvements are starting to show - the aerial ball today was actually effective in the first half. Ulster choked the game int he second half and had limited handling errors on which we prospered on in the first half.

Olowefela needs to use his pace or bulk up, one or the other. Holmes was out of position at fullback a fair part of the second half, which allowed the chips in behind to be effective.

Ford had an absolutely stellar game again - true, honest and we even got to see a small YBY break which has been sorely lacking. Cole was like a different beast today!

Overall though, expected to get hammered - only narrowly beaten - testament to the Ulster chase was the lack of 3 pointers with 30 minutes to go and everything going in the corner...

[jgriffin]

I also do not believe that Holmes best position is full back. We need a full back who can read the game quickly and set up attacks that pin the ears back of the opposition. The "rumble wagon" (scrum) performed better today, but still looks as though the back five are not up to standard.

Agree. Will improve.

[Yorkietiger]

Back from the game, utterly underwhelmed again. Ulster in my opinion were nothing special and were there for the taking, but we just couldn't do it. Manu's two brain farts (forward pass in our 22 and a pass to the invisible man) both led to tries against us.

We are totally lacking 90% of the time going forward, not getting over the gain line, side to side then boot it over the top and hope the other side balls it up, or we somehow manage to get a lucky bounce of the ball.

I've read on here how we are missing this player and that one, and how if only they were fit we would have been ok, but frankly that is cobblers. Every team has injuries to deal with, and it is not an excuse. It does not explain individual cock ups, nor does it explain why we invariably cough up possession at the vital moments, or why we cannot apply pressure to opposition defenses.

I was hoping to see enough evidence of improvement by now to make me reconsider ditching the season ticket, but sadly there is nothing.

[longlivethecrumbie]

Back from the game, utterly underwhelmed again. Ulster in my opinion were nothing special and were there for the taking, but we just couldn't do it. Manu's two brain farts (forward pass in our 22 and a pass to the invisible man) both led to tries against us.

We are totally lacking 90% of the time going forward, not getting over the gain line, side to side then boot it over the top and hope the other side balls it up, or we somehow manage to get a lucky bounce of the ball.

I've read on here how we are missing this player and that one, and how if only they were fit we would have been ok, but frankly that is cobblers. Every team has injuries to deal with, and it is not an excuse. It does not explain individual cock ups, nor does it explain why we invariably cough up possession at the vital moments, or why we cannot apply pressure to opposition defenses.

I was hoping to see enough evidence of improvement by now to make me reconsider ditching the season ticket, but sadly there is nothing.

Yes, we've been dire but from the mess that MOC left behind and the performance against Exeter opening weekend, IMHO, the performances at home to Quins, Gloucester and today are night and day.

With Kerr on the field, our lineout has been 100% improved - one blemish was the overthrow in our 22 today. We had two back to back 5 point wins.

If you can't acknowledge improvements when there are some......I'll leave it there.

[Ian Cant]

Got back from the game and watched 2nd half of the Munster V Exeter game: sorry to disagree with some posters but our game possessed less errors and had more creativity.
As readers know from my posts I hate losing but today felt proud of the effort the team put in. For most parts the line speed in defence was a huge improvement. Like it or not, injuries are playing their part. Tigers had 5 th choice hooker on the bench and some very good, game changing players out: TV, Thomson, Denton, Eastmond not to mention Tait, Smith, Hardwick, Simmons. Ulster had Henderson return and what a game he had.
Burns chip over the flat defence was excellent and my main criticism is Tigers didn’t try this as at times, particularly in the first half Ulster had no cover.
Cole immense. Ford leads by example and Kerr, Heyes and Olowefela are only going to get better. Hope Will Evans stays too and he was unlucky in the last 5 minutes today when getting over the ball only for Ulster to go offside and illegally seal off.
Time to move on, somehow get a win during 6 Nations and see where we are when the squad is nearer to full strength.
Ps. Not at all Cockerill ‘s fault for our decline but poor backing: you only have to listen to how the coaching staff was stripped back meaning in the modern game that Tigers was a team that would struggle to tread water.
Keep the faith in Geordan.