RDS on Saturday

[tinylanda]

Now I want to qualify this by saying I'm sure everyone here does not fit into this category, but it is worrying that this happened.

How did we let the Ulster support come to the RDS and make it their own? I was in the north stand myself and now find myself trying to locate my voice again. as Leo rounded the pitch though all we heard were Ulster chants in response to his drumming. Now I know that there was a more than the 25% allocation of Ulster fan there and to their credit they got involved. But the real question is why didn't our support.

Now again I don't think anyone on here can be (or should be) questioned on their support and I know that each and everyone reading this made their voices heard but does anyone else find it a bit unsettling that we were drowned out as the minority at a home game?

[footrush]

One of the reasons I love going to away H Cup games and Interpros is that we often as the away support can really get behind the team, Northampton, Castres, Swansea and Toulon this year would be a case in point. Don't know what it is but often travel seems to engender more of a backs against the wall feeling in the away support.

[johng]

Couldn't even hear them in the grandstand.

Probably the fact that it was the NORTH stand which looked about 80% NORDIES had something to do with it.

Away fans are ALWAYS louder too.

[mtleinster]

They also go to their seats early which meant they had the core area begind the posts.

Plus 60% of away fans had flags whereas 20% of home supporters did

I love how on big match days people arrive in the terrace 2 mins before KO expecting their ususal spot

[Edna Kenny]

We weren't drowned out and there was definitely more blue than white there. In the first half Ulster had more to cheer about and on about 60 minutes pretty much every Leinster supporter found their voices and got involved. Away supporters generally tend to punch above their weight in terms of noise, lots of reasons for this I'm sure. Ulster had fantastic support there and it was great to see. The atmosphere for the last 20 minutes was as good as I have seen it since the final last year. Ulster owned the North stand for the final last year so I'd say that's why so many selected that stand this time round.

Maybe we should set up a "Leinster fans out" thread.

[Logorrhea]

Couldn't even hear them in the grandstand.

Exactly. A bit of noise alright and they certainly added to the atmosphere in the stadium, but I imagine they sounded a lot louder to those of you sitting in the North Stand.

They are great fans, they make noise and wear their colours but I was in the grandstand and couldn't really here them that much.

Incidentally, I thought the moment the teams came out onto the pitch was great to see from both sets of fans. It wasn't visible on the telly but Ulster came out first and the White flags were everywhere. However when Leinster came out the RDS turned blue. Set the tone for an atmosphere to enjoy for all fans that were there.

[blockhead]

Couldn't even hear them in the grandstand.

Exactly. A bit of noise alright and they certainly added to the atmosphere in the stadium, but I imagine they sounded a lot louder to those of you sitting in the North Stand.

They are great fans, they make noise and wear their colours but I was in the grandstand and couldn't really here them that much.

Incidentally, I thought the moment the teams came out onto the pitch was great to see from both sets of fans. It wasn't visible on the telly but Ulster came out first and the White flags were everywhere. However when Leinster came out the RDS turned blue. Set the tone for an atmosphere to enjoy for all fans that were there.

Our fans were a lot louder and had more flags with them when Joe was coach. Says it all really about the MOC regime.

[tinylanda]

Don't get me wrong the general atmosphere was amazing.. I was lucky enough to retain my usual spot behind the posts in the north stand.. My only real concern about this is that we did indeed "find our voice" in the latter part of the game.. I would like to think though that we should be finding it 5 minutes in being our home ground and having the majority crowd. In games like this the 16th man can be very important to the 15 on the pitch, and we (as a group) didn't wake up till 60 minutes in.

As an example the response from a lot around me to "Stand up for the Ulster men" was "Sit down for the Leinster fans" rather than one of many chants it could nay should have been.

Anyway it makes very little difference now I suppose..

EDIT: Ha, did not expect 2 posts in the time it took to write this.. Yes and No for the general north stand and hearing people.. A friend of mine was working for FanFootage who are doing a video for the game and he commented that all over the stadium was similar albeit not as bad as the North stand, and he is a Connacht man so pretty unbiased.

Also, (this will be controversial for some) I don't thing MOC is a relevant argument here, the relevant argument is we should not expect better because we won a few cups. We should be behind the team regardless of performance. Anyone blaming MOC on stuff like this may need to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves if they could do better.. When the team is flying high they float on the support they have when they are struggling a bit they need that same support to lift them back up again..

[Dave Cahill]

They also go to their seats early which meant they had the core area begind the posts.

Plus 60% of away fans had flags whereas 20% of home supporters did

I love how on big match days people arrive in the terrace 2 mins before KO expecting their ususal spot

I love how you never see the people in other peoples 'usual' spots for the big matches for most of the season. Its the perils of unreserved standing though, there are no guarantees, just like there are no guarantees that me and my 6'5" mate won't stand right in front of them!

[Flash Gordon]

Couldn't even hear them in the grandstand.

Exactly. A bit of noise alright and they certainly added to the atmosphere in the stadium, but I imagine they sounded a lot louder to those of you sitting in the North Stand.

They are great fans, they make noise and wear their colours but I was in the grandstand and couldn't really here them that much.

Incidentally, I thought the moment the teams came out onto the pitch was great to see from both sets of fans. It wasn't visible on the telly but Ulster came out first and the White flags were everywhere. However when Leinster came out the RDS turned blue. Set the tone for an atmosphere to enjoy for all fans that were there.

Aside from when Ulster ran out on the pitch I thought our fans were considerably louder. When they started to chant, we generally chanted them down. I thought the atmosphere was excellent and support from both sides brilliant. Ulster fans around me in the Grandstand (and there were a good few) supported their team vocally and were very gracious at the end.

Generally, it was pretty loud - one of the best atmosphere's this year despite the fact that we were pretty ordinary in the first half.

[offshorerules]

Couldn't even hear them in the grandstand.

Exactly. A bit of noise alright and they certainly added to the atmosphere in the stadium, but I imagine they sounded a lot louder to those of you sitting in the North Stand.

They are great fans, they make noise and wear their colours but I was in the grandstand and couldn't really here them that much.

Incidentally, I thought the moment the teams came out onto the pitch was great to see from both sets of fans. It wasn't visible on the telly but Ulster came out first and the White flags were everywhere. However when Leinster came out the RDS turned blue. Set the tone for an atmosphere to enjoy for all fans that were there.

Our fans were a lot louder and had more flags with them when Joe was coach. Says it all really about the MOC regime.

Bandwagoners!

[ribs]

Was in the North stand on Sat and it was a brilliant atmosphere - both sets of supporters really got involved after the first 20 minutes. Some good banter too. Didn't think either side got drowned out.

[tinylanda]

They also go to their seats early which meant they had the core area begind the posts.

Plus 60% of away fans had flags whereas 20% of home supporters did

I love how on big match days people arrive in the terrace 2 mins before KO expecting their ususal spot

I love how you never see the people in other peoples 'usual' spots for the big matches for most of the season. Its the perils of unreserved standing though, there are no guarantees, just like there are no guarantees that me and my 6'5" mate won't stand right in front of them!

I know that pain all to well.. Well I know about causing it anyway.. you could sit in front of us I could see over him

[Hornet]

They also go to their seats early which meant they had the core area begind the posts.

Plus 60% of away fans had flags whereas 20% of home supporters did

I love how on big match days people arrive in the terrace 2 mins before KO expecting their ususal spot

I love how you never see the people in other peoples 'usual' spots for the big matches for most of the season. Its the perils of unreserved standing though, there are no guarantees, just like there are no guarantees that me and my 6'5" mate won't stand right in front of them!

It was nice to avoid the 'Hokey Cokey' of my usual spot of the 5 minutes late arrivals, the 5 minutes before half time drinks run, the 5 minutes after half time drinks run return and the 5 minutes before the end, 'seen enough'. Altogether now 'You stand right up, sit back down, up, down, up, down, to accommodate the clown(s)!

[johng]

They also go to their seats early which meant they had the core area begind the posts.

Plus 60% of away fans had flags whereas 20% of home supporters did

I love how on big match days people arrive in the terrace 2 mins before KO expecting their ususal spot

I love how you never see the people in other peoples 'usual' spots for the big matches for most of the season. Its the perils of unreserved standing though, there are no guarantees, just like there are no guarantees that me and my 6'5" mate won't stand right in front of them!

Ah come on! He's barely 6'4"

[Flash Gordon]

They also go to their seats early which meant they had the core area begind the posts.

Plus 60% of away fans had flags whereas 20% of home supporters did

I love how on big match days people arrive in the terrace 2 mins before KO expecting their ususal spot

I love how you never see the people in other peoples 'usual' spots for the big matches for most of the season. Its the perils of unreserved standing though, there are no guarantees, just like there are no guarantees that me and my 6'5" mate won't stand right in front of them!

Ah come on! He's barely 6'4"

He's only 3'6" when he's on his knees during the final verse of Father Abraham.....

[sid]

Our fans were a lot louder and had more flags with them when Joe was coach. Says it all really about the MOC regime.

Very good

Oh, on a related subject, did anyone else spot the johng lookalike Ulster fan in the north terrace?

[fungalboy]

He's only 3'6" when he's on his knees during the final verse of Father Abraham.....

Sudden flash back to "the island" in Toulouse in '06

On the atmosphere - i thought it was the best game of the season bar none. Ulster fans gave it socks from KO and punched above their weight (as per usual for away fans) and the Leinster fans gave it right back from about the 30 min mark. Last 15 mins was intense. Fantastic game to be at (even if the rugby wasn't superb).

I was in the Grandstand for ref.

[johng]

Our fans were a lot louder and had more flags with them when Joe was coach. Says it all really about the MOC regime.

Very good

Oh, on a related subject, did anyone else spot the johng lookalike Ulster fan in the north terrace?

A good looking Ulsterman? Feck right off.....

[AdamK]

Away fans always make more noise. I noticed how much noise they were making in the first quarter, thought to myself 'Let them have their sing-song', and then for the other 3 quarters we were the louder contingent. If you were in the north stand you were bound to be shouted over as that was their allocation. I was in the South stand and from my perspective we were definitely the louder of the two sets of fans. Watching it on TV would back that up too.