1
'If you could see me as he goes down the blindside without support...I'm shouting... NO! Followed by... YES!'
By Online Editors
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland admitted John Cooney’s match-winning try in the 18-13 success against Clermont Auvergne left him with his heart in his mouth.
Cooney’s 62nd-minute score, when he kicked through near the Clermont line and then controlled the ball to touch down, ensured that Ulster have two wins from two to lead Pool Three of the Heineken Champions Cup.
“John has got lots of tricks in his bag and he is an incredibly skilful player and it was a great bit of play from him,” said McFarland.
The Season: Hamilton Boys High School - Episode 2
“John told me that he has been practising that move for years, when he breaks blind and chips, but that he has never actually done it in a game. So he pulls it out of the bag in a Champions Cup game!
“When I was watching him from the box there was a big shout of ‘No’ followed by a big shout of ‘Yes!’.”
Cooney’s try put Ulster 18-6 in front in what was a tight game, with Clermont’s late penalty try bringing the French side a losing bonus point to leave them two points behind the Irish province.
“Any time in the Champions Cup when you play a French giant and you manage to win the game you have to be happy with that,” stated the Ulster coach.
“There was a lot to be pleased about in that performance, particularly with the way we limited their opportunities whenever they had the ball in hand.
“That was going to be the real threat and I said before the game that as a pack we had to bring collective pressure and we had to do that consistently. I felt that we did that.
“I thought we showed some real attacking glimpses of what we can do in attack. If we had been a little more clinical right at the end we would have had two more tries and they wouldn’t have got a bonus point. But it was pleasing.”
Jordi Murphy scored Ulster’s other try, converted by Cooney who also kicked two penalties – as did Clermont scrum-half Greig Laidlaw.
Though disappointed at losing the game, Laidlaw was still pleased to come away with a bonus point from the clash.
“In a tournament like the Champions Cup it is important to pick up as many points as you can,” said the Scot.
“We knew it would be tough coming here and obviously we wanted to win, but to come away with a bonus point keeps us well in the group.”
- Press Association
In other news:
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Jake White: Ireland, Australia and Wales have the same problem
3
David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner
4
Let's be real about these All Blacks
5
Latest Comments
Stephen Larkham, Mick Byrne, Scott Wisental, Ben Mowen, Les Kiss, Jim McKay, Rod Kafer.
There are plenty of great Australian coaches who could do a better job than Schmidt.
Go to commentsThis piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.
I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.
Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.
The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.
Go to comments