The Front Row Union

Ulster 10 Worcester 23

Ulster were given a sound lesson during this game. They were out fought and out muscled in the first half but appeared to come more into things in the second half as Worcester tired.

More players played their way out of selection than into it, particularly the half back paring of Marshall and Humphreys, who both struggled to make an impact. Brady, Young and Henry all appeared overwhelmed up front though they wont come up against much better packs than this throughout the season.

Nagusa was well out of his depth and was skinned a couple of times by his opposite number. His learning curve is going to be steep as we are running out of viable alternatives on the wing.

The most worrying aspect is the distinct lack of cohesion in any aspect of attacking play. Breaks were made but lacked support, ball’s lost forward in contact, wild passes and countless turnovers have been a worrying feature of the pre-season games and in general the overall play in the backs has been disappointing to say the least. With eight days to go there is still a lot of work to be done.

On the positive side, there is the nucleus of a good side there and to expect an instant turn round is unrealistic. Diack, O’Donoghue and Schifcofske all look the real deal and Ferris and Botha are still to be brought into the side. Dewey has looked immense every time he came on and has made match changing contributions each time however the rest of the backs still worry me.

From the showing over the last three games the starting line up against Llanelli should be: -

Fitzpatrick, Best, Court, Del Fava, O’Donoghue, Ferris, Dawson, Diack, Boss, O’Connor, Trimble, Wallace, Dewey, Nagusa, Schifcofske

Some borderlines there, so if you disagree leave your selection in the comments section.

And now to the pictures. Struggled with the light all night but fortunately the All Starzz did do most of their routine in front of where I was standing so there’s plenty of pics of them. Enjoy!

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• Harlequins 42 Ulster 21. 18th October 2008.