Finished
last weeks report with the words, "Roll on Llanelli".
Well they did. They took on Ulster's front five and rolled them
over in a tense game in Stradey park.
This was a real disappointment. Three days after
the game it's still a real disappointment.
Ulster started poorly and the line was breached
with King charging down a Steiner kick to race in unopposed. Ulster
dug in but they couldn't break out for the first 20 minutes and
only the intense tackling of the Ulster back row and the boot of
Humphreys kept them in the game. Infact after weathering the initial
onslaught Ulster would have scored a huge psychological advantage
if they had turned round only 8 - 6 down having repelled the Llanelli
scrum on the line. Instead of finding touch the ball was sent back
into Ulster's half and Jones was given, and took, the chance to
put Llanelli 11 - 6 ahead.
Ulster kicked another penalty straight after the
restart and if they had been defending a slender 8 - 9 lead at this
point instead of a 11 - 9 deficit I think they would have pulled
the game out.
Unfortunately Ulster chasing the game and a few
handling errors gave Llanelli the chance to pull away and though
Ulster battered at their door a couple of times in the last ten
minutes of play it would have been an injustice if they had stolen
the win.
It was another warm welcome in the Stradey clubhouse
but it was a very disappointing travelling support.
This is a game that should have been targeted by the fans as much
as by the team as our big chance to progress out of the group.
The FRU Man of the Match goes to
Neil Best, but it could have been any of the back row.
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