Edinburgh Rugby v Ulster Rugby

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Edinburgh Rugby v Ulster Rugby
Guiness Pro 12 Round 8
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Friday 4th November 2016, 19:35 Kick-off
Live on BBCS Alba and BBC NI

Teams
Edinburgh Rugby
(15-9): Blair Kinghorn, Damien Hoyland, Chris Dean, Phil Burleigh, Tom Brown, Jason Tovey, Sean Kennedy
(1-8): Jack Cosgrove, Neil Cochrane CAPTAIN, Murray McCallum, Fraser McKenzie, Ben Toolis, Viliame Mata, Jamie Ritchie, Magnus Bradbury
Replacements (16-23): Stuart McInally, Kyle Whyte, Felipe Arregui, Lewis Carmichael, Cornell Du Preez, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Duncan Weir, Michael Allen

Ulster Rugby
(15-9): C Piutau; T Bowe, L Marshall, S Windsor, R Lyttle, B Herron, R Pienaar;
(1-8): K McCall, R Herring (capt), W Herbst, D Tuohy, F van der Merwe, P Browne, C Ross, S Reidy;
Replacements (16-23): J Andrew, R Kane, A Warwick, R Diack, C Joyce, P Marshall, A Cairns, J Stockdale

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Dudley Phillips (IRFU), Lloyd Linton (SRU)
Citing Commissioner: John Kirk (SRU)
TMO: Gareth Simmonds (WRU)

So Edinburgh take on Ulster this weekend in round 8.
Edinburgh come off a bad result losing to Zebre last week while Ulster also come off a loss to Munster last week.
The internationals coming up mean that squads for this could be interesting.  Ulster will lose 4 players to the Ireland squad this weekend as well as their lengthy injury list.

Bradbury is showing how Solomons was again completely out of touch - even last season Bradbury was showing he was absolutely ready for the step up, yet Solomons kept picking Ritchie; who clearly wasn't (and perhaps still isn't). Just think where Bradbury might have been now if he got more gametime last season!

Bradbury was outstanding last night, in fact the entire back row unit looked good. Agree with des as well, one of Kennedy's best games for Edinburgh. Ulster were poor for 65 minutes and Edinburgh were genuinely good. I was particularly impressed with the front row. I expected us to do badly at scrum time and we were rock solid.

On a side note my cabbie on the way home was Ben Robbins' Dad. Lovely bloke and very complimentary about the recent Scotland U20 players he's seen. Thinks we have a bright future. He was also proud as punch that I had heard of his son!

Ben Robbins went down to LS at the beginning of the season, but now seems to be back playing for Currie. He did not seem to get any game time down there, but then again LS do seem to have some decent wingers, so maybe was going to be surplus to requirements.

I think he is still eligible for the U20s, so maybe just needs another year to develop. He still seems to be scoring plenty of tries.

Hopefully we will have another decent crop of youngsters coming through. Connor Eastgate started for Wasps at 10 in their AWC game last night. I imagine he will be doing the same for us in the U20s.

According to his Dad a few of the Scottish players at LS are also EQ, whereas Robbins was not, and that LS are financially incentivised to ensure that a certain % of the match day 23 are EQ. He reckoned it was counting against him, albeit competition was tough. He's doing really well for Currie and enjoying it there. His next target is to get into the 7s and try and follow the route taken by Hoyland.

I'll echo the comments about Bradbury, he has been Edinburgh's best player this season - Scotland doesn't produce athletes of his calibre very often.

I would also like to put in a mention for Toolis, I thought he was great last night. He has been consistently good for a couple of seasons now, I don't know what line of credit Gilchrist is tapping into, but surely it must be starting to run low?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Bradbury is showing how Solomons was again completely out of touch - even last season Bradbury was showing he was absolutely ready for the step up, yet Solomons kept picking Ritchie; who clearly wasn't (and perhaps still isn't). Just think where Bradbury might have been now if he got more gametime last season!

I thought Ritchie had a pretty good game yesterday and is looking much more the part in a stronger looking team. He probably was overplayed last year, wheras Bradbury was held back a bit to much. That did not seem to do him any great harm though and he has grown into the starting role.

It really is hard for any young kid to stand out in a team that is playing badly, which Edinburgh certainly were for the second half of last season and the beginning of this one. Given a bit of time they will hopefully both come onto their games and become the players we hope they will.

Ritchie did look good last night and I wonder whether his future will be as a 6.5 in the 7 jersey. There was a nice balance to our back row I thought, well complimented by massive work rate in the second row. Tellingly we did not improve when Du Preez came on.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Ritchie did look good last night and I wonder whether his future will be as a 6.5 in the 7 jersey. There was a nice balance to our back row I thought, well complimented by massive work rate in the second row. Tellingly we did not improve when Du Preez came on.

Agreed, he was a nuisance at the breakdown and tackled everything that moved. He reminds me a lot of Tom Wood as a player, not a huge amount of impact as a ball carrier, but a good option in the line out and very committed.

clivemcl wrote:Maurice made a very good point. OK, maybe they were below their usual standards but Windsor and Herron were absolutely dire. Atrocious. So far off the standard it was silly. Marshall is ten times better a 9 than either of them are at 10. Why then, when we are missing so many is Pienaar not made to start at 10?? Our performance certainly turned around with the arrival of Marshall and Stockdale (who was one of the few positives). Considering all the switch arounds and playing in odd positions, it is surely ridiculous that Pienaar to 10 came so late in the day. And with Windsor and Herron in the squad, it was likely that it was never part of the plan despite it evidently being one of the best thing that happened Ulster all game.

Also.... why has Lyttle been getting so much opportunity at Stockdales expence? He looks much superior. (and has a cracking arse!)

Not sure what game you were watching Clive but the problem wasn't Herron and Windsor. Both are inexperienced but put themselves about, especially Windsor who was the only one to track back to save a try. If you want to point a finger at the backs, Luke Marshall missed four tackles including the one for their first try, but the backs weren't the problem.
The fact that Herbst was second in the tackles made list with 9 shows how far everyone was off the pace. Not having secure lineout in key areas meant no chance of pressure in the red zone and 67% l/o success is just hopeless at this level. The difference wasn't moving Pienaar to 10 but a tiring Edinburgh pack and an inexperienced bench letting Ulster get a sniff.

17 tackles for ritchie

The Great Aukster wrote:

clivemcl wrote:Maurice made a very good point. OK, maybe they were below their usual standards but Windsor and Herron were absolutely dire. Atrocious. So far off the standard it was silly. Marshall is ten times better a 9 than either of them are at 10. Why then, when we are missing so many is Pienaar not made to start at 10?? Our performance certainly turned around with the arrival of Marshall and Stockdale (who was one of the few positives). Considering all the switch arounds and playing in odd positions, it is surely ridiculous that Pienaar to 10 came so late in the day. And with Windsor and Herron in the squad, it was likely that it was never part of the plan despite it evidently being one of the best thing that happened Ulster all game.

Also.... why has Lyttle been getting so much opportunity at Stockdales expence? He looks much superior. (and has a cracking arse!)

Not sure what game you were watching Clive but the problem wasn't Herron and Windsor. Both are inexperienced but put themselves about, especially Windsor who was the only one to track back to save a try. If you want to point a finger at the backs, Luke Marshall missed four tackles including the one for their first try, but the backs weren't the problem.
The fact that Herbst was second in the tackles made list with 9 shows how far everyone was off the pace. Not having secure lineout in key areas meant no chance of pressure in the red zone and 67% l/o success is just hopeless at this level. The difference wasn't moving Pienaar to 10 but a tiring Edinburgh pack and an inexperienced bench letting Ulster get a sniff.

Bringing Marshall on and moving Pienaar to 10 did make a difference, but I don't think the new guys should be singled out for this extremely poor effort. If the senior players look lost we can hardly expect the likes of Herron to shine.

I wouldn't be too harsh on Luke either. He really needs a break, and it's no surprise when the backs have been covering for the forwards these last few weeks, especially Luke and Pienaar.

Time for Doak and Clarke to move on.

Finally got round to watching this game, and it certainly was a pleasing watch. We were significantly better in pretty much every aspect of play compared to other games this season. Our handling in particular - something I have heavily criticised this season - was enormously improved.

Special mention to Bradbury and Toolis - if Bradbury carries on like this he'll get capped in the 6N. Toolis was absolutely everywhere as always and was my MOTM - Scotland have the wrong lock, simple as that.

Very worrying to see Mata go off with what looked like a broken arm - he offers us something other teams don't have and could have been a huge player in the international break.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Finally got round to watching this game, and it certainly was a pleasing watch. We were significantly better in pretty much every aspect of play compared to other games this season. Our handling in particular - something I have heavily criticised this season - was enormously improved.

Special mention to Bradbury and Toolis - if Bradbury carries on like this he'll get capped in the 6N. Toolis was absolutely everywhere as always and was my MOTM - Scotland have the wrong lock, simple as that.

Very worrying to see Mata go off with what looked like a broken arm - he offers us something other teams don't have and could have been a huge player in the international break.

Agreed - although Du Preez might be available. Is Manu broken again?

Didn't look like a break to me as he was sat on the bench without even an icepack on it after he went off

He looked in a lot of pain so I would be surprise it wasn't something serious, and I'm surprised he wasn't given an ice pack even if it just was a strain!

Manu has a shoulder injury apparently. We've got a few weeks break now until the next game (Dragons away) so hopefully our injury list will shorten by then.