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After Match – What the Coach and Players had to say
Ravens Coach Neil Doak did manage a smile and was generally pleased with his sides display? “It was a good first half performance from us we were really clinical, but then for 5 minutes we gave 4 penalties away on the bounce and we let them in for their 3 points. I was little bit disappointed with the second half, we got a little bit fractured and we did not really get a solid platform to attack off.
“I think in hindsight we subconsuiously took our foot of the accelerator, with 29 points in the first half, to go out in the second half it is sometimes difficult to keep that tempo up. We started the second half well, we got the opportunity to push the ball into the outside channel, Clinton put a nice we grubber down the line and they knocked it into touch on the their 22. A positive start but we failed to convert good field position into points. We then had a couple of real opportunities, we didn’t take those and the second half was fairly scrappy.
“The positive thing is that we won tonight; it will be tough to go to Moseley next. Bedford played them last week and came out on top, but it will be tough on the road. We are probably going to make a few changes and have a look at a few other boys, and we are going to have a few forced changes as Ireland A are playing this Friday. We just have to knuckle down this week, and in the first two days and try to embed a few bits and pieces together for the new guys coming in.
“It was good to give the boys a run out tonight, and towards the end there were a few tired legs, so it is defiantly a worthwhile exercise. We have these opportunities with this new cup competition and we are looking forward to another tough game in Moseley on Friday night.”
Try scorer Declan Fitzpatrick was happy with the result, “I think we really needed to set a marker down after Munster, we were very disappointed coming off that, and we talked a lot before the game about fronting up and stuff. We knew they would be pretty good coming over from England, so we were really pleased with our first half. Obviously it died away in the second half as they got a bit of momentum on us and we are disappointed not to have put more points on but it was a good first half.
A try for yourself? “Yes, I don’t score many now, there is no stopping me from 3 metres out. It was a nice inside ball from Marshy, I think I screamed that loud I almost frightened him into giving me the ball, but I am always happy to score. I think that is only the second try I have scored for Ulster and we always win when I score.
The scrums went well Declan were you pleased? “It is a great opportunity for me, I don’t get as much time maybe coming off the bench, and I was really enthusiastic to set a marker down, so I was quite pleased how the scrums went, we worked as a great unit, we really attacked the young hooker they had, yes I was really pleased, and it was a shame not to get a push over at one stage but the scrums did get a little bit messy in the second half, but all in all very pleased.”
Tommy Seymour made history when he scored the first Ravens points in the competition, how did he view his try? “It was a planned move, Tamati did well getting the ball off the base and passed to Marshy and Marshy is quite good at looking up, and he played the ball in behind. I managed to read it and I got outside their last man and held onto the ball to get across the line at the corner, very happy.
It was the sixth minute and it was important to get the early points on the board? "Yes of course, you really want to get a good start, get go forward ball, and get early points on the board. It was emphasised in training all week how important it was to make a positive start and from a personal point of view I was delighted that we were able to achieve that.
You have played in a number of Ravens matches already this season, was there a different feeling with regard to this game? "I think that every time there is a Ravens match there is a different level to it, but obviously this is a new competition and you want to go out and do your best, we want to win it. I think there is a sort of new unity to it because the team want to all band together and do as well as a team. But every Ravens match we play there is an importance to it, because as a player, you always want to do the best you can.
The second half didn’t go quite the way you wanted? "I don’t think we kidded ourselves that we weren’t going to get hounded a bit more in the second half. We weren’t as patient or as accurate as we were in the first half, it was disappointing not to get any points. I think that going into later matches we will not have that problem, I think we realise what we did wrong and we will try and set that straight for any future games.”
Niall O’Connor was pleased with the result. “We are delighted with the win that was the main thing. I think the first half was pretty exceptional, we put some great phases together, precision and accuracy was spot on, and we scored some good tries as a result.
“At half time we talked about keeping the foot on the pedal, keeping the intensity up, keeping the accuracy and precision. I think you can’t fault the intensity; the intensity was there but at certain times accuracy and precision ball was not going to hand. Possibly on me behalf we could have played a bit more territory rather than try to run it.
“I suppose you get 4 tries in the bag, the temptation is to spread the ball wide to entertain the crowd. "Yes I think so, that is possibly what happened, it went that way in the second half and it turned into a bit of freestyle rugby at times.”
This week it is a different ball game, away to Moseley, and it is important to set down an away marker in this competition? “Yes, on the road this week, another cup game, back in on Monday, just go through the same routine, do the review, put this game behind us and work toward Moseley.
There seems to be a real atmosphere within the team, and a real interest in this competition? "Yes definitely, I noticed that today with the build up to the game there was a different feeling to any another other Ravens game because it was the cup, it added that bit more intensity to it. In fact the build up to it felt like a Magners League game for me and for a few other boys. Yes it was great, obviously there was a bit of extra pressure being a cup game, but it was great to get a good result.”
