RDP12 Semi-Final

[hugonaut]

I thought Clancy was absolutely superb yesterday. Best reffing performance I've seen for a good while. Thought Weegies were ahead of the offside line a fair bit and we were entering frm the side quite a lot but he spotted almost everything and got allbthe key calls right. Gave both teams chances to sort problems out.

Some of Clancys decisions againest Glasgow were beyond a joke. He was far from great. An awful ref, who I hope never, ever refs an Ulster games for a long, long time. Clancy and Rolland in the interpros are very pro Leinster/Munster and very anti Ulster.

Anytime we have them they ping us off the park

Nah, they weren't. Glasgow play a very borderline game – they lie all over the ball in the tackle, roll 'away' on to the opposition side, stray up beyond the hindmost foot. If you get pinged for that stuff because you're on defense a lot, you just have to take your medicine. Play more positive rugby. Their second-choice hooker couldn't throw the ball in straight and their second choice front front couldn't get a stable platform in the scrum ... Lineen took a gamble on keeping their first choice front row on the bench for impact, but with no set-piece for 50+ minutes they couldn't keep possession and thus were on defensive for the majority of the game.

The laws of the tackle seemingly go out the window within two metres of the try-line. You can hold on, refuse to roll away, prevent the ball-carrier placing the ball ... if anything, Glasgow should have had a second player in the bin for repeated infringements at the end of the first half. Thought that neither Clancy nor his assistants did anything to patrol offside in the backline ... pretty irritating that Lacey called back Conway for being a foot or two in front of the kicker for his disallowed 'try' when he didn't both to call up Glasgow fringers for being a foot or two in front of the hindmost foot fifty-odd times!

[AdamK]

On the Conway thing... I thought he was honestly on side? It seemed to be an instinctual call from Lacey just because of how quick Conway got up.... Altho I do like Lacey, think he's fast becoming a very decent ref.

[HUDSOC]

Four times ( at least!).

four times that Welsh S4c commentator said- " the cynical amongst us might say why is there an Irish ref refereeing a semi final in Ireland" or words to that effect. He was an absolute disgrace, - real low IQ stuff, the way he tried to veil his insinuations. He was a real disgrace, he just kept saying it all game, whenever Glasgow screwed something up because they werent good enough.

DOnt get me wrong, im no fan of Clancy but he had a good enough game by his standards. But i'm convinced all george wants is to be the centre of attention as much as possible. He's the fastest whistle in the west, spotting infringements before they happen (and often when they dont). Watch minute 71;20 seconds, and youll get george clancy summed up- stopping play for no reason but to get his gob on screen, and increase his profile.

Seriously though, that S4C commentator should be given the sack.

I don't think he was being serious. He's (Rick oshea) not a proper/full time commentator and admitted as much. He was sitting on his own in some broomcupboard in Cardiff and I think he did a great job considering he is totally reliant on his own resourcses. And him making the comment 4 times about the irish ref is more a sign of his struggle to fill airtime as it is of conviction.

I also think since Rolland sent off Warburton, Irish refs are now a bit of cliched joke for the Welsh albeit they now grudgingly admit Rolland was correct. Davies for the Munster/Ospreys games was far worse than Rick last night. Eg he went on and on that earls pass to keatley was forward ( which it didn't appear at all and his co-commentator admitted as much), but he then saw fit to criticise Rolland for being pedantic and interrupting flow of the game.

Agree about the S4C (English speaking) commentator - he was really just (and by his own admission) filling in, and am just glad myself to have someone speaking in English! Quite aside from whether he was 'technically' up to the job,it is actually very hard when you are the only one doing it i.e. no-one else to interject,expertly or otherwise.It almost invites the occasional glib or even stupid comment - perhaps the need to cover any silence.

[ceemec]

On the Conway thing... I thought he was honestly on side? It seemed to be an instinctual call from Lacey just because of how quick Conway got up.... Altho I do like Lacey, think he's fast becoming a very decent ref.

He is. I think he's excellent. Very clear and consistent in his communication and calls. It's unfortunate that his age will count against him. As he played to a high level, he didn't start refereeing until that bit later. He's 39 now so he'll be doing well to make it to a top tier international referee seeing as he only got his first HEC match last season. I watched Glen Jackson refereeing a Super Rugby match this weekend and doing very well. He's being fast tracked through the NZRU. Good to see former players being brought through.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

3) the pack were great, as was Reddan bar a couple of errant passes in the first half.


Reddan very good also,

What?? Reddan was absolutely dreadful. I'm a big fan but he really had a nightmare imo.

[Dexter]

I thought Clancy was absolutely superb yesterday. Best reffing performance I've seen for a good while. Thought Weegies were ahead of the offside line a fair bit and we were entering frm the side quite a lot but he spotted almost everything and got allbthe key calls right. Gave both teams chances to sort problems out.

I thought he was awful. Just shows you how opinions can differ!!

[lineens weegie army]

Well, that was a rather enjoyable weekend...

Gutted to have lost another close semi-final, but there is no shame at all in losing to this Leinster team. Especially by just 4 points, away from home. Still not happy with the choice of Clancy as ref (not because of his nationality - just because he is shite), but don't think it would have changed the result. Felt if we had managed to get a score or 2 at the start of the second half then we might have been able to take the match - but we missed those 2 kicks, then quickly conceded a couple.

Oh well. Sure we will come back a better team next season for the experience (the difference between our performance this year and 2 years ago is vast!), and hopefully wont have to travel away in the semi's next time. Has been a great season for us (and for you), and to top it all we outscored the European Champions 2-1 on tries on their own turf, in a semi-final :p


Best of luck in your finals - especially the one against the Ospreys - and thanks for the hospitality we received in Dublin over the weekend. Loved every minute of it - shame we now have no rugby till august though (For some strange reason, the prospect of Scotland playing the pacific islands in June isn't that appealing...)

[suisse]

3) the pack were great, as was Reddan bar a couple of errant passes in the first half.


Reddan very good also,

What?? Reddan was absolutely dreadful. I'm a big fan but he really had a nightmare imo.

Yeah, agree. I like Reddan but when he has a bad day, he's absolutely wretched. Hugo wrote on his website about people jumping all over Reddan when he has one or two mistakes (I think that's what he was saying) and that Reddan is kinda under-rated. The last part is possibly true but a bad day for Eoin Reddan is a very, very ugly performance. He doesn't just make one or two errors, he is brutal for the entire game. I'm not saying that's how he played on Saturday, but that's how his career has been.

[hugonaut]

3) the pack were great, as was Reddan bar a couple of errant passes in the first half.


Reddan very good also,

What?? Reddan was absolutely dreadful. I'm a big fan but he really had a nightmare imo.

Yeah, agree. I like Reddan but when he has a bad day, he's absolutely wretched. Hugo wrote on his website about people jumping all over Reddan when he has one or two mistakes (I think that's what he was saying) and that Reddan is kinda under-rated. The last part is possibly true but a bad day for Eoin Reddan is a very, very ugly performance. He doesn't just make one or two errors, he is brutal for the entire game. I'm not saying that's how he played on Saturday, but that's how his career has been.

In fairness to the Glasgow effort, we didn't play well because they didn't allow us to play well. They put in an extremely physical 80mins and are a tough team that are only three or four players away from being a really, really strong outfit. It's gutting that they're losing Gray to Sale [in what is a bizarre career move ... Sale?] because if they get Rory Lamont fit, they're looking like a team that has a lot of weapons in the backline. Cussiter is good, two good outhalves in Jackson and Weir, Morrison causes teams a lot of trouble at No12, Sean Lamont is moving back up and of course Stuart Hogg – that lad has more talent than any Scottish outside back I have seen in a long, long time.

Reddan had his worst game of the season – two kicks out on the full [by a mile!], the pass out in front of Healy on their line that went to deck and was picked up by DTHVDM and another huge looping pass that went over O'Malley's head on their 22, all in the first half. Sometimes things don't go your way. Sexton didn't have his best game ever either – we lacked quite a bit of accuracy in the halfbacks overall. Two injuries [to Darce and O'Malley] meant that we couldn't afford to bring on Bossy too early. Still, a win's a win!

[Donny B.]

Well, that was a rather enjoyable weekend...

Gutted to have lost another close semi-final, but there is no shame at all in losing to this Leinster team. Especially by just 4 points, away from home. Still not happy with the choice of Clancy as ref (not because of his nationality - just because he is shite), but don't think it would have changed the result. Felt if we had managed to get a score or 2 at the start of the second half then we might have been able to take the match - but we missed those 2 kicks, then quickly conceded a couple.

Oh well. Sure we will come back a better team next season for the experience (the difference between our performance this year and 2 years ago is vast!), and hopefully wont have to travel away in the semi's next time. Has been a great season for us (and for you), and to top it all we outscored the European Champions 2-1 on tries on their own turf, in a semi-final :p


Best of luck in your finals - especially the one against the Ospreys - and thanks for the hospitality we received in Dublin over the weekend. Loved every minute of it - shame we now have no rugby till august though (For some strange reason, the prospect of Scotland playing the pacific islands in June isn't that appealing...)

Were you one of the group of Glasgow fans behind the posts?

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Sexton didn't have his best game ever either –

I agree with you but he somehow managed to get motm!

[Broken Wing]

When Sexton was announced as MOTM he shook his head suggesting that he disagreed with the decision*.





*Or that he thought, "Jayzis, another one" or that he thought the latest ref decision was a bit muck, or that he was reflecting on his performance in the last phase, sure you know yourself it could be anything but I'm taking it that he disagreed.

[ellandleinster]

O'Malley looked bad going off, hope he recovers soon

Just a mention for Duncan Weir's sportsmanship - Mr Doctor Professor Arthur Tanner was having trouble helping O'Malley off the field on his own and Weir ran over to assist before help came from the sideline.

O'malley visibly winced everytime he put his foot down coming off. Must surely aggravate any damage and I cannot understand why stretchers are not called for in these circumstances.

[lineens weegie army]

Well, that was a rather enjoyable weekend...

Gutted to have lost another close semi-final, but there is no shame at all in losing to this Leinster team. Especially by just 4 points, away from home. Still not happy with the choice of Clancy as ref (not because of his nationality - just because he is shite), but don't think it would have changed the result. Felt if we had managed to get a score or 2 at the start of the second half then we might have been able to take the match - but we missed those 2 kicks, then quickly conceded a couple.

Oh well. Sure we will come back a better team next season for the experience (the difference between our performance this year and 2 years ago is vast!), and hopefully wont have to travel away in the semi's next time. Has been a great season for us (and for you), and to top it all we outscored the European Champions 2-1 on tries on their own turf, in a semi-final :p


Best of luck in your finals - especially the one against the Ospreys - and thanks for the hospitality we received in Dublin over the weekend. Loved every minute of it - shame we now have no rugby till august though (For some strange reason, the prospect of Scotland playing the pacific islands in June isn't that appealing...)

Were you one of the group of Glasgow fans behind the posts?

I was indeed... Apologies if you had to sit and put up wi us - consider it revenge for your invasion of Firhill in january :p

[Degz]

Reddan was muck alright, absolutely terrible. I thought Sexton was poor enough by his standards, but the reshuffling in the back-line probably didn't help his cause.

BBBT was my MOTM. A class above.

[cormac]

Reddan was muck alright, absolutely terrible. I thought Sexton was poor enough by his standards, but the reshuffling in the back-line probably didn't help his cause.

BBBT was my MOTM. A class above.

Yep. Poite is reffing the final apparently.

[cormac]

O'Malley out for 6 months with a cruciate ligament injury

[Lar]

O'Malley out for 6 months with a cruciate ligament injury

Poor fella. Had a run of bad luck with injuries. (Sour) icing on the cake.

[Degz]

Fiddlesticks.

[jezzer]

I thought Reddan played pretty well. A couple of duff passes and as someone said a couple of misjudged kicks. But he had a mare getting the ball out of a cluttered ruck and I thought he kept the tempo up, chose the right direction to go just about every time, made a couple of no-looker wonder offloads that BOD would put in his scrapbook and generally played on the front foot- something the rest of the backline could have copied. We were going wide for wide's sake, and Glasgow were laughing at us most of the time. Reddan at least varied the attack point and made some yards himself.

So, you could say he was cr@p for a couple of poor passes and kicks and you'd have a very legit case, but I thought the rest of his game made up for it. And I'm a self-confessed Boss fan!