The positives for Ulster are hard to find but they are definitely there, writes Ryan Cullen…
Twickenham, it would seem, doesn’t particularly like Ulster. Two recent visits and two defeats. Two poor performances to boot.
Going into Saturday’s clash with Aviva Premiership leaders Saracens, Ulster fans were optimistic that a corner had been turned. Victory at the RDS seemed the perfect preparation for a Heineken Cup QF and the news that Tommy Bowe was fit enough to make the bench brought more encouragement.
Outside Twickenham it seemed half the province had made the journey over. Ulster fans were everywhere and Saracens could barely be heard. Only the awful ‘Stand up for the Saracens’ music blasting out at the top of the Twickenham sound system’s lungs pre kick-off gave the impression this was anything other than an Ulster home game.
Then the game started.
As Saracens built a comfortable early lead thanks to the accurate boot of Owen Farrell and the wayward one of Ruan Pienaar, the size of the task must have been starting to dawn on the majority of Ulster travelling legions. The clinical precision of the week before wasn’t there. The quickly recycled ball Paddy Jackson enjoyed last week was no longer available as Saracens seemed to be able to both slow down Ulster ball whilst also fanning out across the field to create a near impenetrable line which rushed up quickly as soon as Pienaar had the ball in his hands.
The early success Ulster had enjoyed in the scrum was made to seem trivial when Saracens squeezed their way up to the Ulster line using their terrific rolling maul and when Will Frazer dotted down it started to become clear that this was unlikely to be the Ulstermen’s day. How neither the referee or touch judge saw the knock on prior to the try, which was clearly visible in the crowd, I am not sure, but it certainly didn’t help the Ulster fans mood. Nor did the inadequacy of the replays shown on the big screen in the ground. I had to check on Twitter whether the grounding was fair enough so poor were the angles provided to the paying fans. This is surely something that needs to be rectified.
The failure of Ulster’s mini-surge at the start of the second half to yield the desperately needed try meant the result became an inevitability long before Chris Ashton showed his true colours again when ash-splashing his way over in the second half. Whilst Iain Henderson’s try at the end of the game gave the score a degree of respectability, in truth it was barely merited. The headline act was the Saracens defence - fast, aggressive and impenetrable whilst there was anything left to play for. That was followed closely by their lineout and rolling maul which punished Ulster repeatedly.
For Ulster’s part the lineout, formerly a major strength, has gone to pieces. Rory Best hasn’t had a good spring so far and will hope Warren Gatland can forgive his poor throwing. The lack of strike runners is clearly a problem at the top table also. Whilst Iain Henderson and Nick Williams did produce some moments of power running, the feeling that Stephen Ferris would have significantly added to the ball carrying prowess of the side was inescapable. What we would all give for the IRFU to just sort the current situation out.
Indeed, it was hard to see too many positives for Ulster in the aftermath of the game and the passing of time certainly hasn’t seen many spring to mind. For my part I can really only think of one - the return of Tommy Bowe. Despite being out since Northampton’s victory at Ravenhill in the group stage, the Monaghan man added much to Ulster’s attacking efforts as soon as he entered the fray. A good end to the season will surely see him called up to take on the Wallabies in the summer.
I suppose the other boost as far as the whole squad is concerned must be that the season isn’t over. Despite the disappointment of exiting the Heineken Cup, all at Ravenhill will be focused on trying to bring the first silverware back to Ravenhill since 2006. Victories against the Dragons and Connacht should see Ulster secure a home semi-final and from there they will know they are capable of beating anybody else in the competition.
Whether they are quite in the form to do that though remains to be seen.
My name is Ryan Cullen and I am a 25 year old Ulster season ticket holder. I was introduced to the game around 15 years ago and have loved it ever since. I have an interest in pretty much all sports though so don’t be surprised to see a few football (Liverpool), Golfing and Racing interests (to name but a few) thrown in from time to time.
