@Oval Digest: totally agree, people who don’t really understand rugby bang on about his pace or lack of “x-factor” (what ever that specifically means on the day to suit their argument), but the fact is he ticks so many more boxes than just attacking flare. His workrate is phenomenal and he always brings it out when it matters.

@Conor Paddington:
He’s solid at everything but not spectacular in anything.
If we do a player stat thing similar to the FIFA video games he’d be a solid 70/100 on attributes like kicking, tackling, pace etc.

@Conor Paddington: Personally in green i think he tries to hard and fails.

@Trevor Reilly: Aye he showed it against Ulster at Xmas alright!

He’s not the speedster he was, but it’s a big mistake to believe modern wing play is all about speed. It certainly helps, but when you’ve the game intelligence and smarts that McFadden or Isa have you can overcome it.

That’s why Larmour and Barry Daly aren’t starting next weekend. Speed ain’t everything.

@Conor Alexander Lynott: Carbery needs to get to Ulster if he wants game time.

@Locojoe: I don’t see how that is relevant here, but if reports are to be believed he is going on loan for a year.

@Locojoe: I think Munster would be a wiser choice frankly…himself, Keatley and Bleyendaal would bring the best out of each other. Having said that, Carbury will have the guidance of Best in Ulster.

@Conor Alexander Lynott: hard to find fault in that line-up . I think you’re spot on

@Conor Alexander Lynott: what does best know and playing 10? There’s is nothing in place in Ulster to help Carbury’s game progress. He’ll get plenty of practice tackling rampaging forwards after about 50 minutes into every game. That’s about the time the Ulster pack give up each week.

@Conor Alexander Lynott: wasn’t Fardy signed strictly as a lock. Surely with Ruddock and Conan back the emergency status is over?

@Johnny 5: what difference does it make where he plays?

@Johnny 5: given the lack of options at second row for Ireland it makes way more sense for Fardy to play 6 instead of James Ryan missing out on game time.

@Conor Alexander Lynott: spot on..looks like the best team from what’s available..Huge to have McGrath back at 9..getting excited at the prospect of watching them Sat. Let’s all hope they express themselves to their fullest, can’t see them beaten if they do..

@Johnny 5: Ruddock isn’t confirmed fit and I can’t recall seeing Conan play 6.

@Martin Quinn: And he has no say in the decision.

@Chris Mc: you are right Chris.
No half back will look good behind a struggling pack. Moore and Murphy should help but Ulsters pack needs help in so many areas it will take at least another year to fix all that.
Apparently they are not very good at hunting in packs, unless it’s 3 o clock in the morning ;)

@Oran Burns: Cooney looks pretty good playing behind that pack as did Pienaar and Jackson in their time. Even McPhillips has looked good so your point about no half back looking good behind that pack doesn’t really stack up

@Camroc: Conan played 6 against Montpellier last year at the RDS and scored a hat trick. Cant really see it impacting this selection though

@Conor Paddington: I might’ve just woken from a siesta but I’m not in bloody Spain

@Conor Paddington: conor well said, i don’t know why no site stipulated it it was local time! very annoying

@Paul Jobs: No and no. Nothing illegal with his tackle. He made contact with his hands first, before the tryline and hits McFadden in a totally different place to where he got injured. Watch it back and you’ll see McFadden pull up slightly as he was running it in. Looked like he pulled a hamstring. Evans even pivots his body and flips over McFadden to lessen the force of the hit.

@ Paul Jobs @Eddie Hekenui: Eddie you’re seeing things. He never touches him with his hands ! The full force of Evans upper leg & hip hit McFaddens leg at speed as the ball was being grounded, & most importantly the hit was nowhere near the ball ie no attempt to dislodge the ball but rather the hit was to McFaddens leg as the ball was being grounded. What he did was never going to stop the try & always going to hurt the try scorer.

I don’t see any evidence that hamstring pulled a few strides out from tryline as some have suggested.

Very cynical & dangerous play, & surprised there was no sanction during or after the game.

@Ivorpabst: Never touches him with his hands? He clearly touches him with both hands before any other contact and he does so before McFadden scores. He did hit McFadden with significant force but it wasn’t illegal. That’s why nothing was made of it in commentary, nothing was made of it by the Leinster players and nothing has been made of it since by anyone other than Leinster fans.

I’ll explain to you what he was trying to do going in like that and why you can’t regulate it out of the game. He wasn’t going to dislodge the ball but rather to try hold McFadden up. He was going in like that because it’s the only way to tackle a guy diving for the line with the ball tucked under the outside arm. You have to go in on your knees to give you leverage to do so. As soon as he realises he failed he shifts his weight and flips over McFadden in a good sign of sportsmanship.

The evidence the hamstring pulled is the fact he’s out for the years due to a pulled hamstring.

@Eddie Hekenui: The only time he touches him with his hands is when he briefly touches his back just after his hips & thighs have hit McFadden & he flips over McFadden. How could he hold McFadden up when he was chasing from behind & McFadden had already almost completed his slide in for the try ?

Just look at the post-impact picture at the top of this article ! That is the only time he touched him with his hands.

I understand your technical explanation of how to tackle a guy diving for the line, but it doesn’t apply in this case as McFadden was so far home & dried in his dive, by going in like that, as I said earlier, he was never going to get underneath McFadden, & was certainly never going to stop the try.

@Ivorpabst: So before you said “He never touches him with his hands” and now you admit he does. Look at this pre-contact picture (http://www.punditarena.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/McFadden-Evans-Feature.jpg). One hand already on his back the other just about to and try still not scored.

As for McFadden being home and hosed what should Evans have done? Just given up. Have you played rugby? You never know what will happen so you give your all till the whistle blows. It’s easy to criticise a guy with the benefit of hindsight, multiple camera angles and slow motion. There is less than 2 seconds between McFadden getting the ball and scoring the try. Evans has to give his all. If the roles were reversed McFadden would’ve done the exact same.

And he could have left a lot more on him and not being penalised for it. Instead he twists to it’s his thigh that makes contact and not both his knees and then flips over the top of McFadden. If there was any issue with the hit we’d have heard more about it.

@Eddie Hekenui:Thanks for sharing this picture as it supports my point even stronger. He is reaching out & perhaps touches scorers back (so what) but what this picture clearly shows is that the ball was just about to be touched down, tackler is not in any position to get the leverage you talk about (eg if scorer was before the try line & higher off the ground & in flight), & you can clearly see what the tackler led with. No of course I’m not suggesting that he give up but he would have had a better chance of getting to the ball in this case if he had dived in same direction as scorer & try to get arm underneath the ball. He would also have discharged his duty if care responsibility, which your picture shows he never could have done with the approach & importantly timing of this challenge.

@Ivorpabst: You’ve clearly never played rugby because that may make sense in your head but not on the rugby field. The action you wanted him to take wouldn’t work and that’s why no player ever does it.

And again you’re judging his actions as if he had time to sit down, review all the actions, see the result and then make a decision. Evans made a split second decision to do what he thought was the best thing to do. It took less than two seconds from McFadden getting the ball and scoring

@Eddie Hekenui: Actually yes I have, but evidently not to the level you are at. Notwithstanding that, it’s sad that you have to resort to that tired cliche to make your case & can’t discuss the points on their merits.

‘that’s why no player ever does it’ ? I question this – you do what you have to do to dislodge the ball/prevent the try/make the most effective challenge. This was none of them. Have a look at how George Gregan does it – he didn’t slide in with his knees to try & get underneath Jeff Wilson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvA79_K3AcM

Agree he had to make a split second decision. I’m simply saying it was the wrong one with a poor outcome overall. That’s all.

@Ivorpabst: You said it was illegal, cynical and dangerous play and implied he did it to hurt McFadden. It was none of those things. That was a fantastic tackle from Gregan but not the same scenario. He has the angle on Wilson and can line him up before the dive so can get his arm of front of him to make contact with the ball. Evans didn’t so to make a similar tackle would be almost impossible hence he went for the option he did. The finish from McFadden was excellent so it didn’t leave Evans with much choice.

Watch any of these to see how guys go in like that (these aren’t the exact same but the mechanics are) to get leverage to hold a guy up.

@Eddie Hekenui: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-laYrCBQAk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGoCbcCA4Qg

@Eddie Hekenui:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVNmMtK11rw

@Eddie Hekenui: Firstly, what I said was that I felt the challenge was cynical & dangerous, & I never said that he did it to hurt McFadden, so please don’t put words into my mouth – it’s not for me to ascribe intent.

As to your videos, in all 3 cases tacklers were able to get to the player before they reached the line & wrap/get under attacker, so these scenarios are nothing like current one, where attacker was well over the line & already grounding the ball, & defender was at least half a body length behind him. If anything the 1994 Bledisloe Cup Gregan tackle was closest in similarity, as Evans was also covering from an angle, but he had too much ground to make up in this case.The finish from McFadden was indeed excellent but was effectively a run-in as defender had no hope to dislodge the ball as your picture shows, because he was so far behind.

He went for the option he did as you say – I’m only saying that it had a poor outcome overall, & I dislike seeing such challenges where there is clearly no hope of achieving the core objective of preventing the try. I completely understand the never give up attitude, but you also do see defenders in top flight games skipping over the try scorer where there is clearly no hope of getting to the ball or dislodging it as the try in being scored. This in my view was one example where that could have happened. That’s all.

@Ivorpabst: I didn’t put words in your mouth. I said you implied it. You said “What he did was never going to stop the try & always going to hurt the try scorer”. And you said it was cynical and dangerous play. My reading of that is you don’t think he went in like to stop the try but to hurt him. I could be wrong but that’s the impression that comment gives.

Your comments are now contradicting yourself again. First it was the hands not touching, which you now admit they did. Now you admit he never had a hope of dislodging the ball so why are you advocating that Evans should have tried?

The three videos I showed were to show what Evans was attempting to do with his tackle. All three players get over the line in position to score but are held up in the act of grounding. McFadden hadn’t cross the try line nor had he grounded the ball when Evans made contact so it’s not unrealistic for him to attempt to hold him up. Since you already admit Evans had no hope in dislodging the ball this was his only option. A second earlier in getting across and he might’ve been successful. Rugby is a contact game played at high speed. It’s not always going to look pretty but what Evans did was perfectly legal and the examples I’ve shown support what he was attempting to do. It wasn’t cynical play and you can debate it all you like but the fact not a single player, coach or official has come out and criticised him would seem to back up my opinion

@Eddie Hekenui: Ok I repeat, I never said, implied or intended to say that he intended to hurt McFadden, so you are indeed wrong, so let’s put that to bed.

You’re also wrong when you say that McFadden Hadn’t crossed the try line when Evans made contact – he clearly has, which makes this challenge to the lower part of the attackers body all the more futile, & he was never going to get any of the 3 wrap or leverage under challenges you have highlighted in the videos – as you say that is what he may have been attempting (at a real stretch from where he was coming from), but it sounds like we’re agreed that that turned out to be a poor option, as it was never going to prevent the try as the pictures & video show.

He did have a second option, given that it was a certain try by a fellow professional, & I have covered this in my last paragraph in last post.

@Ivorpabst: We’ve already covered and proved that contact was made before McFadden crossed the line. But to be honest I’m done banging my head against a brick wall. I’ve tried to show you why it wasn’t illegal and why no one has spoken out against Evans since it happened but you’re not for turning.