Dead rubber v Ulster

[teds]

Not cheering me up knowing Quins have signed Will Evans. I know that will lead the inevitable... how do you know that? A: just trust me OK. He’s off and it will be confirmed.

Very disappointing. Presumably Quins have offered him a substantial pay rise.

[longlivethecrumbie]

Not cheering me up knowing Quins have signed Will Evans. I know that will lead the inevitable... how do you know that? A: just trust me OK. He’s off and it will be confirmed.

Very disappointing. Presumably Quins have offered him a substantial pay rise.

And/or a guaranteed starting berth? Rugby, more than any other, has a very short shelf life as a player so sitting on the bench or not being selected at all will more than likely have made his mind up.

[Scott1]

Does it mean BoC is off and Thompson will be first choice 7 next season,or is someone on the way in?

[mol2]

Replacing the entire front row en masse was an odd manoeuvre I thought, did Geordie really expect Ross McMillan to be a game changer? Evans and Wells held their own against seasoned campaigners, White and Aspland-Robinson are youngsters in development not given much to do and Joe Ford did us all a favour and stayed in his seat, what more could we expect?

This was a dead rubber - what was to be gained by exhausting or injuring our front row who had shown enough and done enough work when ultimately the result would change nothing?

The bench players needed game time against decent opposition to develop.

The forwards showed that they have now got an understanding of the intensity required to compete which has been lacking for a number of seasons.
The backs didn't function. Kicked too much (and poorly) in the first half when there were real gaps to run into then ran too much from our own 22 when the gaps were not there and lines needed to be cleared. Appropriate kicking in the second half would have seen us win 13:0 when the reality is we had to defend too much close to our own line.

Young's kicking was poor - loads of space and he picks out the only defender time after time.

[Tiger93]

I think a bit of perspective is needed with this one. True to form and current state of affairs with both clubs, Ulster should probably won by a bigger margin. Having said that, even without probably 9 of our first 23 we still looked stronger on paper.
For probably 75 of the 80 mins we were the better side and deserved our 13-0 lead and should’ve been more with the officials missing all the Ulster offsides in their 22,second half just before they turned us over. Also that deliberate knock-on 5 metres out should’ve been a yellow.
I think with our two first choice hookers, First choice Loosehead, Spencer, Denton, Thompson and Veainu we win that game, I really do.

[Big Dai]

+1

[Big Dai]

Agreed

[Dangerous4]

I think BY has become far too complacent, to the point where he is stagnating as a player, which does little to enthuse the back line. He really does not merit his place in the side, and as been said elsewhere, maybe the time has come for him to find pastures anew. We all know that he has the ability to be a fine player, but his desire for the game has evaporated.

[Tiger93]

When is Simmons back?

[mol2]

I think a bit of perspective is needed with this one. True to form and current state of affairs with both clubs, Ulster should probably won by a bigger margin. Having said that, even without probably 9 of our first 23 we still looked stronger on paper.
For probably 75 of the 80 mins we were the better side and deserved our 13-0 lead and should’ve been more with the officials missing all the Ulster offsides in their 22,second half just before they turned us over. Also that deliberate knock-on 5 metres out should’ve been a yellow.
I think with our two first choice hookers, First choice Loosehead, Spencer, Denton, Thompson and Veainu we win that game, I really do.

That summed it up. We lost a relatively unimportant game with a number of our players out. (I would argue that our starting hooker is now the best in the club). We should have won and at times showed that we have the potential to compete at a higher level than we have been doing for some time. OK this wasn't Leinster or Sarries, but had the backs functioned the game should have been over by half time. It wasn't and some poor decision making and the odd brain fart cost us the match.

[johnthegriff]

Ben Youngs is a fine scrum half and plays well for Leicester and England. He is unable to do anything with the ball for Leicester until the forwards give him quick clean possession, too often he had to hunt for the ball and gets it only after the opposition have strayed, somehow unseen into an offside position. Against Ulster Ben made a superb blindside break but no Leicester player went with him, neither the left winger nor more importantly a back row forward, he looked to pass but with no-one there the move came to nothing. Manu is blamed for passing straight into touch but I think he had a right to think that a winger or full back would be outside of him, most players are ok ball in hand, great players are still playing and working when they don't have the ball.

[drc_007]

great players are still playing and working when they don't have the ball.

Not sure you have to be a great player, but I'd agree it is one of the major features lacking in this Tigers team both in attack but also defence.

[LE18]

Replacing the entire front row en masse was an odd manoeuvre I thought, did Geordie really expect Ross McMillan to be a game changer? Evans and Wells held their own against seasoned campaigners, White and Aspland-Robinson are youngsters in development not given much to do and Joe Ford did us all a favour and stayed in his seat, what more could we expect?

This was a dead rubber - what was to be gained by exhausting or injuring our front row who had shown enough and done enough work when ultimately the result would change nothing?

The bench players needed game time against decent opposition to develop.

The forwards showed that they have now got an understanding of the intensity required to compete which has been lacking for a number of seasons.
The backs didn't function. Kicked too much (and poorly) in the first half when there were real gaps to run into then ran too much from our own 22 when the gaps were not there and lines needed to be cleared. Appropriate kicking in the second half would have seen us win 13:0 when the reality is we had to defend too much close to our own line.

Young's kicking was poor - loads of space and he picks out the only defender time after time.

Really sorry but I cant agree that this was a dead rubber, maybe we could not go forward, but if we had in fact gone on and beaten Ulster as we could possibly have still done, Ulsters position would have changed and they would not have had the same QF draw.

[Ashurstwoodtiger]

If the YBY critics are correct in there thinking then whilst he an GF are away on England duties we should have no half back problems?

[LE18]

Ben Youngs is a fine scrum half and plays well for Leicester and England. He is unable to do anything with the ball for Leicester until the forwards give him quick clean possession, too often he had to hunt for the ball and gets it only after the opposition have strayed, somehow unseen into an offside position. Against Ulster Ben made a superb blindside break but no Leicester player went with him, neither the left winger nor more importantly a back row forward, he looked to pass but with no-one there the move came to nothing. Manu is blamed for passing straight into touch but I think he had a right to think that a winger or full back would be outside of him, most players are ok ball in hand, great players are still playing and working when they don't have the ball.

John, Manu did have a winger outside him, but he passed it forward, was the winger in front, or was it a poor pass, it was the wrong play in the circumstance, he should have poked it through and let winger run on, if not offside, but we all know, Manu cannot kick the ball?

Ben's break down the touch was not communicated, the scrum was too close to the touchline, he basically went the wrong way for any support to follow!