Ulster Look Uninspired at Times, but the Score Line Doesn’t.

I’m certainly not one for negativity, and although the commentators during the game and pundits afterwards complained of Ulster’s sluggish performance, I think there’s plenty of positive to take away from this match.

I won’t pretend Ulster looked at their sharpest on Saturday night, because in all fairness to the pundits they didn’t, but I think there’s more to it than Ulster just not looking their best. In only the second game of the season, due to both short term and long term injury, Dan McFarland made 10 changes to the strong side the lined up against Glasgow last week. Many of the players Ulster use for pace and go forward were unable to be played. The two I found to be the most impactful were Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale.

First let’s talk about McCloskey’s impact. He’s known for his hard running style, breaking the gain line on almost every carry. This pays dividends in the following phases as Ulster are now on the front foot, breaking up opposition defence and making the job of the defenders that bit harder. McCloskey also somewhat surprises defences with his ability to look like a winger at times, shooting wide and catching a perfectly weighted kick from Burns. In this position, where some wingers might struggle to bring the weight and brute force to get over the try line, McCloskey bulldozes over the line regularly. McCloskey’s impact in defence was also on show. A few times Hume got the beginnings of a choke tackle, looking to hold the player up and turn over the ball. However, where McCloskey would usually provide the extra strength and height needed to succeed Ulster lacked slightly and while the tackle was made the turnover wasn’t. Secondly, Stockdale, for all the criticism and mention of his lack of tries recently, he consistently breaks the gain line, keeps defences on their toes and rakes in meters gained. Without either of these two it felt like Ulster struggled to get into a position to make ground and scramble the defence.

With all that said, however, let’s look at what happened and how a team that looked to be slower than usual kept the opponents from getting over the whitewash and claimed another bonus point.

Ulster saw off their opponents in no uncertain terms with six tries, allowing Zebre only a single penalty. Ethan McIlroy, the young wing, worked hard to earn three tries, making up a third of Ulster’s try count on Saturday night. James Hume, Will Addison and Nick Timoney combined, making up the other four tries with Timoney scoring 2.

The fact that Ulster still put such a score on the board when people are criticising for lack of speed and ambition, in my opinion, is quite a promising situation. Although we know Zebre are not the strongest side in the league it was still quite a showing and demonstrated that a team made up of a lot of younger players can still turn the screw on an opponent and get the win. It may not be pretty or flashy, but not every game has to be. What every game has to be to get trophies, however, is a victory, and they did just that.

Doak orchestrated the game and the tempo beautifully working, well with Burns, Moore came in to replace Stockdale bringing his own style but being effective nonetheless, McIlroy proved that he can slot in the wing in place of Stockdale and Ulster won’t go without points. Whilst I wouldn’t want every game to be like that one, it has given me some faith that even in times where the injury list is the length of your arm, Ulster’s work on deepening the bench is proving successful. The more time these young players get the more we’ll be able to rely on them to get a result without Ulster’s strongest 15. Also, all being well, we won’t see another injury list so long or so full of crucial and experienced players this season.