Connacht 2017 - 2018

[sunshiner1]

by simonokeeffe

if they fell for that they should be glad they didn't wake up in the service of the Royal Navy

Agreed. Talk about the oldest trick in the book.

by dropkick

Conroy is 23. A bit old to be joining the academy but they might fast track him.

Connacht have gone along the lines of academy players get a 1 year contract and depending on how well you do you'll either be promoted to a development/senior, released or given a second year.

[scentofgunpowder]

Strong team (on paper) for the Cardiff game:

(15-9) Darragh Leader, Cian Kelleher, Bundee Aki, Craig Ronaldson, Rory Scholes, Andrew Deegan, Kieran Marmion, (1-8) Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham, Ultan Dillane, Quinn Roux, Eoghan Masterson, Jarrad Butler, John Muldoon (Capt)
Replacements (16-23): Shane Delahunt, Denis Coulson, Conor Carey, Gavin Thornbury, Eoin McKeon, Caolin Blade, Tom Farrell, Stacey Ili.

[Peg Leg]

A must win game to stay with the "haves" of the league. Treviso, Edinburgh and dragons (to a lesser extent) looking to crawl out of the "have nots".

[simonokeeffe]

Ronaldson at 12 makes an ocean of difference for them

0 from 4 for Cardiff if they hopefully lose this

[scentofgunpowder]

Ronaldson at 12 makes an ocean of difference for them

0 from 4 for Cardiff if they hopefully lose this

And inside him Deegan at 10 will hopefully attack the line more than Carty and create some space outside.

That's about as strong a starting pack and bench as we can put out, lineout could be an issue though.

[simonokeeffe]

Ronaldson at 12 makes an ocean of difference for them

0 from 4 for Cardiff if they hopefully lose this

And inside him Deegan at 10 will hopefully attack the line more than Carty and create some space outside.

That's about as strong a starting pack and bench as we can put out, lineout could be an issue though.

am I right in thinking its rare start together for Dillane and Roux?

[scentofgunpowder]

Pretty rare yeah, the lineout struggles badly when they do. I went through the stats a while back, 75% success in games they start together.

[simonokeeffe]

Pretty rare yeah, the lineout struggles badly when they do. I went through the stats a while back, 75% success in games they start together.

Yeesh thats not great

Hopefully Butler blances things out

[scentofgunpowder]

Copy and paste of my post on the Connacht forum, if anyone's interested in a Connacht fan's take on that mess.

An exciting finish saved the game as a spectacle somewhat, but up til then that was one of the worst games I've ever seen. Awful performance from us in pretty much every regard.

Defensive system was very poor against an extremely average Cardiff attack, the players clearly don't know where to be, Halaholo cut straight through for his try on first phase ball (?) running a simple outside to in line.

Attack was rudderless, first try only came after 29 painful phases of one out runners struggling to break the gainline, again lads blatantly didn't know what to do at times. Cardiff had a 96% tackle success rate, because we did very little to make things difficult for them. They were able to chop down our ball carriers with low tackles very easily. Backs only created one clean break, which was due to a rubbish read from Cuthbert.

Set piece was pretty good, 100% success at lineout and scrum.

We won a few turnovers at the breakdown but didn't protect our own ball well enough.

Whereas the coaches have to take the blame for the lack of structure in attack and defence, the players have to shoulder the responsibility for the atrocious discipline. Muldoon's yellow and McKeon's the penalties were incredibly infuriating.

Skill levels were poor, conditions were a lot worse than they appeared on TV but I was still disappointed with the handling on show.

Positives, hmm. Delahunt, Carey, Farrell, and Ili all brought a good impact from the bench. Heffernan was immense, but had to work with some very dodgy ball. Dillane showed signs of being back to his abrasive best.

Being realistic, I don't think we're going to qualify for Europe this year, I'd be happy with a clear improvement in our structures and development of individual players.

[sunshiner1]

Anyone see how Thornbury did? He got 15-20 minutes in this game apparently.

[simonokeeffe]

Discipline and composure seem to be a problem

Buckley, Bealham, and Muldoon seem to give away a lot of silly penalties

did this fly under the radar for anyone else?



We are delighted to announce the signing of Fijian international centre Eroni Vasiteri Narumasa on a one-year deal with the option for a further year.

28-year-old Eroni joins from the National Rugby Championship in Australia where he is currently playing for Fijian side Fijian Drua. He has previously played for French Top 14 side Agen and Nadroga Rugby Fiji, where he was voted the best player of the Fijian Championship in 2014.

[sunshiner1]

We are delighted to announce the signing of Fijian international centre Eroni Vasiteri Narumasa on a one-year deal with the option for a further year.

28-year-old Eroni joins from the National Rugby Championship in Australia where he is currently playing for Fijian side Fijian Drua. He has previously played for French Top 14 side Agen and Nadroga Rugby Fiji, where he was voted the best player of the Fijian Championship in 2014.

Nope. Apparently he's being brought in to replace Aki when he goes on International duty. He's a big bruiser of a guy who can off-load as well. That's Eroni I'm talking about not Aki.

[simonokeeffe]

We are delighted to announce the signing of Fijian international centre Eroni Vasiteri Narumasa on a one-year deal with the option for a further year.

28-year-old Eroni joins from the National Rugby Championship in Australia where he is currently playing for Fijian side Fijian Drua. He has previously played for French Top 14 side Agen and Nadroga Rugby Fiji, where he was voted the best player of the Fijian Championship in 2014.

Nope. Apparently he's being brought in to replace Aki when he goes on International duty. He's a big bruiser of a guy who can off-load as well. That's Eroni I'm talking about not Aki.

Chapeau

Didnt see jack about it til today

Not to be pessimistic but if he was any use he wouldnt be playing Aussie club rugby at his age. Unless he really didnt settle in France

[johng]

Didnt see jack about it til today

And what did Jack tell you about it?

[Dave Cahill]

Didnt see jack about it til today

And what did Jack tell you about it?

he said he'd rather fleetwood mac

[Dexter]

The way Kieran Keane deals with Graham Simmons and his inane post game questions is hilarious.
I have to admit that this particular Sky interviewer annoys the hell out of me every time he's on, for some reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oit-H0RAoNk

[simonokeeffe]

Didnt see jack about it til today

And what did Jack tell you about it?

He told me to not let my babies grow up to be cowboys

[sunshiner1]

Not to be pessimistic but if he was any use he wouldnt be playing Aussie club rugby at his age. Unless he really didnt settle in France

He can't be much worse than Griffin or Farrell. Connacht seriously need a guy who can deliver in the centre apart from Aki. Griffin is a shadow of himself, Farrell can't defend to save his life and Robb is out on a long-term injury. Ronaldson is the business but is extremely injury-prone. They also let Parata go which was a baffling move imo.

[simonokeeffe]

Not to be pessimistic but if he was any use he wouldnt be playing Aussie club rugby at his age. Unless he really didnt settle in France

He can't be much worse than Griffin or Farrell. Connacht seriously need a guy who can deliver in the centre apart from Aki. Griffin is a shadow of himself, Farrell can't defend to save his life and Robb is out on a long-term injury. Ronaldson is the business but is extremely injury-prone. They also let Parata go which was a baffling move imo.

agree with you 100% on Ronaldson
I never thought Griffin was any good at 13 in his first spell, he played 12 for a while before he left and he seemed to go far better

[sunshiner1]

agree with you 100% on Ronaldson
I never thought Griffin was any good at 13 in his first spell, he played 12 for a while before he left and he seemed to go far better

Griffin was decent when he first came through but then saw the writing on the wall when Henshaw was mooted for centre and left for London Irish where he picked up injury after injury. It seems some of them left a permanent marker because he's lost a lot of pace and him and Aki just don't seem to click.