DOUBLE DISASTER

Hopes were high heading into the weekend. It’s now Tuesday and I can’t think of how that weekend could have been any worse for Ireland and Ulster. Two disappointing home losses for the local and national sides and there are a lot of injuries to look at.

Ulster less so, but the injuries to Ruan Pienaar and Paddy Wallace are worrying – two players who have been very influential for them this season. For Ireland though, the injury list is massive. Jonny Sexton and Simon Zebo are both set for lengthy layoffs, while a whole plethora of players are doubts for the Scotland match in two weeks.

Where to begin…

Beaten by the better team

Unfortunately it’s true. Ulster did not play well on Friday night and they paid for it. The Ospreys defended for their lives, held the white shirted men out time and time again and took their chance when it came their way. The only surprising thing was that it was a prop that scored the try!

You could make a case for complacency. With Johann Muller and Dan Tuohy returning to the squad after lengthy lay-offs due to injury, it seemed as though everything was falling into place for the Ulstermen – only two losses all season and finally it seemed their injury woes were slowly coming to an end.

But the Ospreys had something to say about that and they did it very professionally. They had the majority of the ball and every time Ulster attacked their line, they shut down the threat and made sure there was no chance of an Ulster try. Indeed, Ulster never really had a real line break during the match.

I think it was more a case of the Ospreys winning the match than Ulster losing it. A lot of the time you watch Ulster matches and you think, “If only…” or “Maybe if we had…” Not this time. The Ospreys came to Belfast with the correct game plan and came away with a deserved win.

In fact, Ulster didn’t even play that badly. They were just lacking a cutting edge in attack that meant they couldn’t find the decisive blow. Even with the in-form Luke Marshall making his great runs, backed up by the impressive Mike Allen and ever-improving Ricky Andrew, the Welsh side held firm and stopped every attack in its tracks.

So where do Ulster go from here? Next up are Zebre – and this game will have to be targeted as a five-pointer, otherwise the eleven point lead that they had created will soon be wiped out, and all of the hard work they’d done at the start of the season will count for nothing. It will be down to Mark Anscombe to make sure the guys are back and ready for that game – the league isn’t won yet.

Any complacency this weekend, and it could get even worse for Ulster…

Grand Slam gone

In similar circumstances to Ulster, Ireland were well beaten by an England side who outplayed them from start to finish. They wore Ireland down and then used the boot of Owen Farrell to maintain their advantage. It was smart play and it worked beautifully – and now the English are the only team on for the Grand Slam.

Ireland simply didn’t do enough with the ball. They seemed determined to kick the ball away at every opportunity through Ronan O’Gara and didn’t put together that many phases. In complete contrast to England, they had the wrong gameplan. The set-piece had been going very well during the match and rather than use that, they decided it would be best to use the kicking game.

Maybe on another day the kicking tactic would have been the right one. But O’Gara wasn’t kicking well and the wingers that Ireland had on the field weren’t renowned kickers either. It all boiled down to that simple fact – Ireland played the wrong game. Declan Kidney got it wrong.

Fair play to the English, they did everything right. Farrell’s kicking game was reminiscent of Wilkinson’s in his heyday, while the scrum was as strong as usual. The only place you could fault them was in their dealing with Ireland’s set-piece. They struggled with the Irish rolling maul, as I’ve already said, if the Irish had taken advantage of that then the result could have been different.

Regarding the rest of the Six Nations, it’s now hard to look past an English Grand Slam. France and Wales are both in poor form and should be dispatched, while Italy should prove little threat. Ireland will have to hang on in hope of an English slip-up, while winning all their remaining games. However, if O’Gara starts the final games in Sexton’s absence then I wouldn’t hold out much hope for that either.

Time for both teams to shake off their losses and move on. For Ulster they are still commanding the Pro12, for Ireland they can still win the Six Nations. However, both are looking shaky and will need convincing wins next time out to prove that they are still all they’re made out to be…