The Boxing Day (or St. Stephen’s Day, whichever you prefer) game is
tradition, and I have nothing against that in the slightest. But whoever
decided that Ulster v Connacht and Munster v Leinster should be played within a
couple of hours of each other on the same day is not someone I am too enamoured
with. To miss out on one of the stand out fixtures of the Pro12 season is something I wasn't all too happy about, and to miss it to cover the snooze-fest
that the Ulster match was made me even angrier.
If you read my match report you will see just how boring it was in
that I had next to nothing to write about for the first 20 minutes of the
second half. There was no action, no noteworthy events to acknowledge, not even
anything from the crowd to write about – it was a boring game. Full credit to
John Lacey who was very lenient with the whistle in an attempt to keep the game
moving but even that couldn’t spark the two teams into life.
In saying all that it wasn’t a game for the backs, what with all the
rain before kick-off and during the match, but even so it was a game that was
so devoid of interesting and entertaining plays that had the entire stadium got
up and left I’m not sure you could’ve blamed them. Craig Gilroy’s try aside
(and some try at that), neither team’s backs did anything worthy of reporting on
and probably could have taken the afternoon off.
For Connacht it was because they were starved of any meaningful
possession. Pat Lam has engineered them into a formidable outfit this season
and they will make a considerable effort to qualify for next season's Champions’ Cup in
the latter stages of this season, but even the best sides can’t play rugby
without a ball. In the end they did leave with a bonus point which they
deserved for their defensive efforts, although Lam will be understandably
annoyed that they didn’t make a better attempt at getting all four.
Meanwhile, it was another chapter in Ulster’s forgettable performances book. In a game where they had the majority of possession and territory as well as a scrum on the front foot, they could still only put 13 points on the board and eventually just hold on for the victory. This was seen as the game where Neil Doak’s men would get back on the winning trail and promote themselves once more as potential title candidates, however all they managed to do was further convince pundits and fans alike that this is a team in decline.
Maybe I am being unnecessarily harsh – after all, the conditions in
Belfast were poor and certainly did not encourage running rugby, but it was
very disheartening to see Ulster continue with their relentless tactic of
ballooning the ball miles in the air at every available opportunity. With
probably the best side of backs on the island of Ireland at our disposal, to
see the ball never get any further than Paddy Jackson is getting increasingly
frustrating for us as fans.
How many times did Peter Nelson actually touch the ball on Friday
night? Or Michael Allen in Swansea?
I’m not saying kicking is necessarily the wrong tactic, because it
wasn’t in Friday night’s conditions, however if we are going to deploy the
up-and-under on a regular basis then our kickers need to be better and we need
to have wingers who are willing to chase down the ball like their lives depend
on it. That’s where we desperately miss Andrew Trimble as someone who will
relentlessly sprint after the ball in the air and at least put pressure on the
catcher. Neither Peter Nelson nor Craig Gilroy did that on Friday.
Still, you’d think we’d lost to Connacht the way I’m going on. The good
news is that we finally got four points on the board in the Pro12 and we’re
back into the play-off spots with a vital clash against Leinster to come on
Saturday. Leinster, like us, aren’t in the greatest run of form and should we
manage to escape the RDS with any kind of win then we will severely dent their
top four aspirations as well as furthering our own. These are the games that will
decide which of the big five will be on the outside looking in when it comes to
May.
These are the games you have to win.
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