Connacht Away Sept 29th 5.15

[Theleinsterlad]

I think people here have to remember that Tomane played a certain way in Aus and then they tried to change him into a barrel In Montpellier. He is slowly getting back and will need time, if he had a shocker last night I would have been worried but I could definitely see how more training sessions with the lads have improved him towards our way of playing.

Game wise I was delighted with how Connaught put it up to us and how well we defended. We needed a really tough match and haven’t really been tested in prior games (except scarlets). This game will be a positive when we start our defence against Wasps. Was bit concerned that our pack looked to be going backwards in the scrum a bit, especially when you’d have to say that was our first front five (bar Ryan).JVF was amazing and I would be playing him at 7 SOB at 8 and Leavy at 6 as our first back row.

Thought McGrath had a good game but he needs to get the ball out quicker, his passing was very good. Thought Kearney was rusty and agree Lowe did throw it away a bit, however when those things come off we think he is the bees knees.

All in all good solid performance

[hugonaut]

A satisfying and very clearcut win.

Connacht were impressive for the first twenty but we gradually took over and then bossed the game for the middle forty minutes. We were out of sight with 15 to go and should have got a third try, but it's a bit churlish to complain given the effort the players put in.

Lots of leaders on the pitch, which is something that we have missed when playing in the Sportsgrounds before - Sexton and Fardy were the most obvious and outspoken, but having the experience of the likes of Rob Kearney and Big Dev out there was important for the coherency of that performance and the high concentration levels over the duration of the match.

Connacht scored a soft enough penalty after 3 minutes and then we kept them scoreless for the rest of the match. They were very cynical in defense and conceded a high number of penalties in their own 22 in both halves; realistically Lacey should have given a yellow purely for the number of penalties they were giving up, but we've never done well out of him as a ref. In fairness to him, he did a decent job in quite a charged atmosphere.

Unfortunate to see Rhys to come off so early, but balanced against that was an encouraging performance from Sean O'Brien on the blindside. Josh van der Flier is on another level at the moment though: he gets off the line like a rocket and his repeat efforts are pretty extraordinary.

[wixfjord]

I don't think I've ever seen a guy as quick off the line as JVDF. He's ridiculous over the first 5 metres and times his runs so well too.

Might not have the carrying game of our other backrows, but jaysus he's some player.

[wixfjord]

Watched the game again this morning and I have to say I still think Tomane had a good game. Looked fairly tentative at times but made his tackles, rucked well and linked well with Sexton.

Not sure where this criticism is coming from. He has improved and will improve again over the next few weeks hopefully.

[wixfjord]

Also I agree on the analysis of Lowe. At times he's very loose and throws passes when he doesn't need to.

But then again he's probably our best attacking threat so I think you'd have to take that with the good stuff!

[tomthefan]

Connacht scored a soft enough penalty after 3 minutes and then we kept them scoreless for the rest of the match. They were very cynical in defense and conceded a high number of penalties in their own 22 in both halves; realistically Lacey should have given a yellow purely for the number of penalties they were giving up, but we've never done well out of him as a ref. In fairness to him, he did a decent job in quite a charged atmosphere.

I don't think ye had anything, at all, to complain about referee wise last night.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I had thought that he'd lost some of his explosiveness before the injury, reckon he might have bulked up a bit too much. Remember when he first broke through he was a brilliant impact sub and had a really good fend and could make breaks with it in traffic? He might not be doing that but he certainly looks more dynamic to me and I wonder if he's slimmed down slightly? He's not just making a rake of tackles, there's a real impact in most of them. I can't begin to imagine how hard he worked to be in that condition so soon after such a horrible injury. His fitness/work rate would be incredible even if he'd never had that injury.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Watched the game again this morning and I have to say I still think Tomane had a good game. Looked fairly tentative at times but made his tackles, rucked well and linked well with Sexton.

Not sure where this criticism is coming from. He has improved and will improve again over the next few weeks hopefully.

Well it's come from the things I specifically mentioned. He made his tackles but was way too high and gave up loads of ground. It was what Brendan Macken used to do and got heavily criticised for. Plus his timing of passes was poor and cost overlaps. I didn't mention this last night but there were missed clearouts again too, one on their line was particularly bad.

I don't actually think he had a bad game as such, but don't see why yourself and 433 praised him. To his credit, he showed good hands in some of the set moves and his carrying was slightly better than before. I would have said it was a 6/10 performance, which is probably his best so far but nothing to write home about he still has lots of improving to do. I'd actually say it was an encouraging performance, but I'd also have ROL ahead of him for the European games.

[wixfjord]

Watched the game again this morning and I have to say I still think Tomane had a good game. Looked fairly tentative at times but made his tackles, rucked well and linked well with Sexton.

Not sure where this criticism is coming from. He has improved and will improve again over the next few weeks hopefully.

Well it's come from the things I specifically mentioned. He made his tackles but was way too high and gave up loads of ground. It was what Brendan Macken used to do and got heavily criticised for. Plus his timing of passes was poor and cost overlaps. I didn't mention this last night but there were missed clearouts again too, one on their line was particularly bad.

I don't actually think he had a bad game as such, but don't see why yourself and 433 praised him. To his credit, he showed good hands in some of the set moves and his carrying was slightly better than before. I would have said it was a 6/10 performance, which is probably his best so far but nothing to write home about he still has lots of improving to do. I'd actually say it was an encouraging performance, but I'd also have ROL ahead of him for the European games.

Don't remember missed clearouts tbh, any time?
He did have a nice turnover in tandem with Conan. Personally I thought he was good at ruck time last night.

I agree, though encouraging, his best so far but lots of improving to do.

[wixfjord]

Jack Conan was back to his best too after a fairly quiet game last week.

46 metres on 11 carries, 1 clean break, 2 defenders beaten and 17 tackles with one missed. Hope he can bring that performance into Europe, we'll need it against Carr and Hughes.

[curates_egg]

Connacht scored a soft enough penalty after 3 minutes and then we kept them scoreless for the rest of the match. They were very cynical in defense and conceded a high number of penalties in their own 22 in both halves; realistically Lacey should have given a yellow purely for the number of penalties they were giving up, but we've never done well out of him as a ref. In fairness to him, he did a decent job in quite a charged atmosphere.

I don't think ye had anything, at all, to complain about referee wise last night.

In addition to Hugo's valid point about them repeatedly killing our attack through cynical illegal play at the breakdown that should have resulted in a yellow card, how Lacey reffed the scrum was poor. The first scrum penalty against us was very harsh; I thought it was a penalty our way. He then let them scrummage illegally in the second half.

Guy in the pub beside me asked why we didn't go for another scrum with the penalty in front of the posts at the end of first half...it is an option that might have been valid in normal circumstances: put the boot in before half time. But it would have given Lacey the opportunity to give a penalty against us for some trumped-up reason.

A Connacht player ripped the ball out of VDF's hands on the deck at one point. It was such a blindingly obvious penalty to us for playing on the ground, and he gave a knock-on against us.

"We've never done well out of [Lacey] as a ref" is a very diplomatic euphemism for: he usually rides us off the park. As such, his performance last night was one of his best ever in a Leinster match. It was still not great though. Apart from his non-concealed dislike of Leinster, he's simply not a good ref. I wonder will he get near the world cup after some of his recent international performances.

[Oldschool]

Connacht scored a soft enough penalty after 3 minutes and then we kept them scoreless for the rest of the match. They were very cynical in defense and conceded a high number of penalties in their own 22 in both halves; realistically Lacey should have given a yellow purely for the number of penalties they were giving up, but we've never done well out of him as a ref. In fairness to him, he did a decent job in quite a charged atmosphere.

I don't think ye had anything, at all, to complain about referee wise last night.

You're the 'ye' we're the 'youahs'(youwahs)

[elephantman]

Jack Conan was back to his best too after a fairly quiet game last week.

46 metres on 11 carries, 1 clean break, 2 defenders beaten and 17 tackles with one missed. Hope he can bring that performance into Europe, we'll need it against Carr and Hughes.

Conan was much better against Connacht. Far busier and more productive.

[BlueBlue]

Watched the game again this morning and I have to say I still think Tomane had a good game. Looked fairly tentative at times but made his tackles, rucked well and linked well with Sexton.

Not sure where this criticism is coming from. He has improved and will improve again over the next few weeks hopefully.

couldn't agree more. The curve is upwards for sure.

[BlueBlue]

Connacht scored a soft enough penalty after 3 minutes and then we kept them scoreless for the rest of the match. They were very cynical in defense and conceded a high number of penalties in their own 22 in both halves; realistically Lacey should have given a yellow purely for the number of penalties they were giving up, but we've never done well out of him as a ref. In fairness to him, he did a decent job in quite a charged atmosphere.

I don't think ye had anything, at all, to complain about referee wise last night.

You're the 'ye' we're the 'youahs'(youwahs)

[Dave Cahill]

I thought Tomane had a good game. I think his tackling higher was a deliberate choice, sacrificing yards to prevent the offload or pass, and Aki's passing and offload stats were through the floor compared to the previous week. So much of what Connacht do is based off the offload (in particular) if you stop them doing that or clever little passes, they are very ordinary in attack

[RoboProp]

I thought Tomane had a good game. I think his tackling higher was a deliberate choice, sacrificing yards to prevent the offload or pass, and Aki's passing and offload stats were through the floor compared to the previous week. So much of what Connacht do is based off the offload (in particular) if you stop them doing that or clever little passes, they are very ordinary in attack

I actually think he will work out fine for us, he's leaner and looking fitter than when he arrived. The muscle memory of learning new systems, and reading a players' body language look like they are not too far away from clicking into place. Be grand

[cormac]

Six weeks ban, reduced from 12 weeks.

https://www.pro14rugby.org/2018/10/03/d ... on%20McCoy