Myles, about your 4 players,

I agree with you on Murphy and O'Connor. Dempsey and Gleeson are doing
all the things they're good at, but doing them better for Leinster.
Ditto Neil Best and, arguably, Bryn Cunningham for Ulster.

On Mal, I didn't see him do anything wrong before Borthwick's try, and
it's worth noting that O'Callaghan's first action on replacing him was
to throw a punch at White that, had it been seen, could have earned
him a red card, and should at least have been a yellow. I'd maybe have
O'Driscoll starting ahead of both of them. He'd add some leadership to
the team, too.

On Easterby, I thought he was very good. His 1st 2 actions in the game
were to catch English players behind the gainline at the fringes; I
think he got a turnover off Ellis off one of them. To say he "nearly
cost us the game" for having the misfortunre to be standing near
Dawson when he tapped a penalty is even harsher than the yellow card
he got for his troubles.

It wasn't a great game, made watchable more by the drama than by the
skills on show. Still our backs found more space than in previous
games, and again were a pass or 2 away from opening up (Murphy to
Flannery and O'Driscoll to D'Arcy being the 2 passes in particular).

Still, I think we're looking at a half-full glass; granted the
opposition was poor this season, but in a year which the coach said
beforehand would be a "long, hard year," involving rebuilding the team
and introducing new systems, to come out with a "share of the
championship" in the old money isn't a bad return. It's not perfect,
and it's another grand slam thrown away rather than a hugely positive
achievement, but progress has been made.

We won't know if this season was a success until the end of next
season. If the systems used this year are still in place by then, and
working better, then the bedding down process of this year will have
been valuable.

Donal