connachtexile wrote:
Also I thought you couldn't charge down kicks? Weren't you allowed to run at the kicker to put him off but not charge down? Couldn't believe when Poite did nothing.

Exactly the opposite!!! You're not allowed to "put him off" but are ONLY allowed to charge the kick down.

The defenders can't start their run until the kicker starts moving - and that's all you're allowed to do. You can't stand on the line jumping up and down before the kicker moves and you're not allowed to try to intimidate the kicker by shouting - both of which I've seen punished by ordering the defending team to stand silently on the goal line during a re-kick.

Is the Ginger Midget still injured?

connachtexile wrote: I was actually watching this in a pub with a lot of other people when the f**king band decided to start playing with 15 mins to go.

Seriously does that make sense to anyone? I had to leave before I glassed the bodhran player on general principle.

Was disappointed with Ulster, they had a purple patch but they never looked like winning it. Was also my first look at Warwick who is meant to be the next big thing and he didn't impress me. That's not to say he's bad but not senior international yet by any means. Also I thought you couldn't charge down kicks? Weren't you allowed to run at the kicker to put him off but not charge down? Couldn't believe when Poite did nothing.

Nope, you are allowed to charge down conversions, rare for it to happen though.

25-18 at full time. Good fightback for Ulster but not finishing off Ulster may prove costly for Leicester down the line.

Ulster coming back but conversion blocked down.25-18.

Ulster really struggling away to Leicester. 22-3 a few minutes into the 2nd half. Really Ulster were lucky not to concede the bonus point before half time. A yellow for Craig Gilroy didn't help but they are getting comfortably beaten by a Leicester side who had been struggling for form in the Premiership.

With Toulon also in that pool, Ulster have to at a bare minimum make sure they don't concede the bonus point try.

Ulster have got 3 back (22-6) but don't see a comeback here.

Neil Doak appointed head coach of ulster with les kiss due to return as DOR in October 2015.

rossie wrote: Apparently the Italian tmo made a shocker of a home town decision to disallow ulster a try. It's a huge problem for the league and has to be addressed whatever the cost financially. The credibility of the league is at stake. It's happening everywhere in league and Italians are only following suit but it has to be sorted.

Funny enough i called it obstruction straight away, trimble ran stright into a zebre player who was drifting across in a defensive line , ulster then ran into the gap where the zebre defender would have been, it happens a lot but is rarely given but its a clear pen.

I thought the try that was "held up" would have been given if the ref had asked is there any reason i cannot award the try rather than was it a try. Looked to me to be scored but TMO couldnt confirm.

Totally agree, you need all independent officals at all games.

Am i mistaken but they did this one season????

As said, money should not be an issue on this.

Apparently the Italian tmo made a shocker of a home town decision to disallow ulster a try. It's a huge problem for the league and has to be addressed whatever the cost financially. The credibility of the league is at stake. It's happening everywhere in league and Italians are only following suit but it has to be sorted.

That's a bad result for Ulster. The first few weeks had gone ok results wise but this is a setback. With the quality Ulster have to not score a try away to Zebre is poor even if down to 14 for most of the game. You'd wonder how stable things are behind the scenes with David Humphreys, Mark Anscombe, Johann Muller having left and Les Kiss seemingly working on a rolling contract. For the last few years Ulster have been at least in contention each year (I know its only one defeat) but I wouldn't be overly optimistic for them this season.

Aside from that fair play to Zebre, they were tricky opponents at times at home last season, the league needed one of the Italians to put in a performance after the opening few weeks so fair play to them.

connachtexile wrote: Did you see the game? Was Fitzpatrick's strike a red? Nice of the other teams around us to shoot themselves in the foot!

Seen most of the match. There was a pile of players on the ground, Fitz punched a Zebre player right in the face. Is that a red? Ya probably. He stood up with blood on his face so maybe something happened to him before and just reacted

Zebre 13 ulster 6
Poor poor poor game.
Feck sake Zebre, giving ulster a losing bonus point and climb to 3rd
Connacht in 4 th

Loads of sport on tv but on BBC 2, 47 mins gone, Zebre 7 ulster 0

Saw the incident. It was a swinging arm to the head of an opponent in process of making a tackle. As jonathon davies said in his best accent "you have to be careful around the head area. Its the hardest part of the body"!

Just seen this. I think its great the way bbc support the welsh teams and ulster. They are sharing rights in scotland too afaik with bbc alba. They pay market value unlike RTE who have underpaid for years and walked away when sky made it competitive.
Hopefully TG4( who do a good job) take a leaf out of albas book and put the secondary commentary in english during game. It works well for them and many fans prefer their commentary to the full english version when available. Unfortunately my irish just isnt good enough for full on coverage as gaeilge.