Humph to retire?

thecoolfreak · Post by **thecoolfreak** » February 16th, 2006, 1:53 pm

JOC, Gavin Duffy, Browne who plays with Northampton, Peter Bracken. They are all handy enough players and if they were all still with Connaught they would be much more competetive than Ulster

epaddy · Post by **epaddy** » February 16th, 2006, 1:55 pm

thecoofreak wrote:JOC, Gavin Duffy, Browne who plays with Northampton, Peter Bracken. They are all handy enough players and if they were all still with Connaught they would be much more competetive than Ulster

Rubbish, they are a useless exercise in throwing money down the drain. I may be wrong but only one of those players is from Connacht and with a proper provincial A system i reckon more and more Irish players would come through. Paying very average forigners to play for Connacht is of no benifit to Irish rugby

thecoolfreak · Post by **thecoolfreak** » February 16th, 2006, 1:56 pm

They are all eligible to play for Ireland though

Leinsterman · Post by **Leinsterman** » February 16th, 2006, 1:57 pm

Connacht get €900k a year from the IRFU, they have to scrape the rest of the money together.

They've produced some fine players in recent years and as for internationals who have been with Connacht:
Jackman, O'Connor
Also, players who aren't getting their game with other provinces can go there and get CL game time and PP experience which can help them develop theri game - although in James Norton's case - it obviously wasn't his tackling he worked on.....

Damian Browne of Northampton is an excellent second row very much in the Ben Gissing mould.
Bracken moved to Wasps but whether he'll improve is another thing.
Also, Johnny O'Sullivan - unfortunately for him, Heaslip appeared on the scene because he's a fantastic talent and Judy seems content to let his rot.
Chris Keane - very useful SH in the Easterby mould but with a far superior pass.

epaddy · Post by **epaddy** » February 16th, 2006, 1:58 pm

thecoofreak wrote:They are all eligible to play for Ireland though

But only one of them does, and even he shouldnt be in the 22. Producing 3 or 4 players that have played for Ireland for the last few years none regulars and none while at connacht is a pretty poor return.

Flash Gordon · Post by **Flash Gordon** » February 16th, 2006, 2:00 pm

thecoofreak wrote:JOC, Gavin Duffy, Browne who plays with Northampton, Peter Bracken. They are all handy enough players and if they were all still with Connaught they would be much more competetive than Ulster

But they aren't....and none of these made it till they left Connaught - its like saying that IRFU should support St.Andrew's because Peter Bracken went there!

O'Concrete step changed his performance when he went to Wasps and had Gatland coaching him. Duffy's playing second division rugby and Browne and Bracken aren't on the EOS radar. To be honest, I'm not sure that's a great return on the investment the IRFU has put in.

Connaught don't help themselves - there were several thousand at the demo to the IRFU, but then only 800 show up at a game, the supporters club has been wound up, the commercial manager has gone and the team are bottom of the celtic league and there's not a soul in even the remotest contention for an Ireland squad place....

Unless there's a significant change in outlook or reason to be, I really don't see how they justify their own existence EXCEPT as a nursery for Irish players.

thecoolfreak · Post by **thecoolfreak** » February 16th, 2006, 2:00 pm

Look at Ulster, they get much greater amount of funds and the only players that they have that deserve to be in an Irish 22 are S. Best and Trimble.

Leinsterman, Conor McPhilips is another talented player from Connaught

Flash Gordon · Post by **Flash Gordon** » February 16th, 2006, 2:11 pm

thecoofreak wrote:Look at Ulster, they get much greater amount of funds and the only players that they have that deserve to be in an Irish 22 are S. Best and Trimble.

Leinsterman, Conor McPhilips is another talented player from Connaught

The difference is that Ulster are the best supported team in the Celtic League.....so there's commercial potential there. More recently they've had Kieran Campbell, Best the backrower, Neil Doak, Roger Wilson, Humph, Tommy Bowe, Rory Best in Irish 22's, so they are supporting Irish rugby. Historically they've been a strong supplier as Messers Gibson, Kyle and McBride will testify......

thecoolfreak · Post by **thecoolfreak** » February 16th, 2006, 2:16 pm

More recently they've had Kieran Campbell, Best the backrower, Neil Doak, Roger Wilson, Humph, Tommy Bowe, Rory Best in Irish 22's,

And do you think that Campell, R Best, Doak and Bowe are good enough to play for Ireland

sewa · Post by **sewa** » February 16th, 2006, 2:17 pm

So we should just cut off a province from the rest of the country and leave it to rot. Havent we tried that already up North?

Leinsterman · Post by **Leinsterman** » February 16th, 2006, 2:17 pm

Flash Gordon wrote:the supporters club has been wound up,

That was because of the criticism the supporters club aimed at the Connacht Branch and the IRFU.

Flash Gordon · Post by **Flash Gordon** » February 16th, 2006, 2:25 pm

thecoofreak wrote:
More recently they've had Kieran Campbell, Best the backrower, Neil Doak, Roger Wilson, Humph, Tommy Bowe, Rory Best in Irish 22's,
And do you think that Campell, R Best, Doak and Bowe are good enough to play for Ireland

Well 3 of them have.....scrum half is a problem position for us and Boss and Campbell are young guys coming thorugh who could be contenders.

Leinsterman · Post by **Leinsterman** » February 16th, 2006, 6:04 pm

Flash - you can hardly say that Boss is a product of Ulster rugby.

Flash Gordon · Post by **Flash Gordon** » February 16th, 2006, 7:54 pm

Leinsterman wrote:Flash - you can hardly say that Boss is a product of Ulster rugby.

Who cares, he's Irish and he's playing for Ulster. That's all that matters to me!

Leinsterman · Post by **Leinsterman** » February 16th, 2006, 11:52 pm

Flash Gordon wrote:
Leinsterman wrote:Flash - you can hardly say that Boss is a product of Ulster rugby.
Who cares, he's Irish and he's playing for Ulster. That's all that matters to me!

WHERE'S ME LUCKY CHARMS???

HERE'S A CONTRACT INSTEAD. YOU'RE IN SON!"