Connacht v Treviso Friday 2nd Dec sportsground 19.30 on gbfm

its_phil

Embarrasing, 8 losses is a joke.

we can b**** and moan about budgets etc but that's no excuse for unnecessary knock on's and losses like that tonight.

Im getting more and more embarrassed to be a fan and if i dont see results soon, i want to make sure Elwood feels the pressure because there's no way he's getting the same easy ride as Bradley got for years.

The only reason we were in that game tonight was because Brendan Williams couldn't catch a cold!

Fed up

I can tell you if i was in that crowd tonight i wouldnt have dared clap them off!what team that loses 8 games in a row in the way we have deserves applause.bar mcsharry,gannon,duffy, muldoon and ohalloran they all deserve booing

Marto10

Not good enough at all, after all the work put in to the sportsground we should be give the fans something to shout about, over 3,000 showed up in terrible weather to see a really poor performance and we still cant close out games.

Hagz

twice Treviso were down to 14, and judging by the twitter feed Connacht had opportunities. Not good enough really.

thomond2006

Gloucester were beaten by lowly Newcastle in the Lansdowne Premiership tonight.

If Connacht lose their back to back (which they look likely to do tbh) that's 10 successive losses! :eek:

We'll be going to Aironi in early January looking to avoid 13 defeats on the bounce. Anyone who thinks we can get anything in the next four games isn't in the real world. Toulouse will put 60+ on these lads if they get a dry day.

Players and management aren't up to it. We have the likes of McSharry and O'Halloran who look promising along with Griffin but they won't wait around if this is whats offered to them. I bet Mike McCarthy is regretting not joining the exodus last summer. John Muldoon battled well and tried to drag us back into it but we have fallen back so far this year in all aspects.

As I said on another thread the Connacht branch will fudge the issue and Elwood will be left to carry on. and they'll be wondering why the support dissappeared. These are the people who let Bradley carry on for 7 years when his time was up after 2 or 3. They won't dare threaten Eric Elwoods position.

thomond2006

It's such a shame because the supporters are finally turning up...

Shelflife

Just back from the game, disappointed and have to say disgusted at that performance, drove 75mins each way to pay and watch that ****e.

Totally unprofessional performance, basic basic handeling errors terrible game management at 10 (need to send NOC home) i could have played at 10 tonight, garryowen or shovel ball to static backs or even more static forwards.

murphy at 9, ahhh sweet jasus how long does it take to get the ball out of a ruck and do you have to take 5 steps backwards before you pass the ball.

rodney ahhhh......rodney maybe you should ask santa for some fingers so you can hold onto a ball and maybe learn to bend your back so that you can take the ball into contact in a position that isnt upright.

Eric and co seriously was a garryowen your "go to" tactic for this game?? is that the best move you could come up with as a former international outhalf i really hope that youre ashamed of the performance.

we need an outhalf that will at least take the ball up an odd time, either give someone young a shot but we seem to be wasting our time with NOC and nikorah, at this stage id prefer to see a budding talent get a run rather then persevere with the journeymen thats there at the moment.

Connacht need to take a really hard look at themselves tonight and decide whether they are good enough to pull on the jersey again.

tonight simply was not good enough !

thomond2006

So Nikora, Jarvis, NOC out....

...Dan Carter in! :pac:

Robbo

I was driving and listening to the first half on the radio and nearly binned the car when I heard how the second Treviso try happened. Basic errors and sheer carelessness.

How was Tonetti? Didn't hear much of him although McSharry was apparently carving it up.

wp_rathead

what a pathetic display. the 2nd try for Treviso was embarrassing, I was thought at u9's "play to the whistle"
whole team stopped and expected ball to cross the line

our half backs were WOEFULL! Murphy and O'Connor were brutal.. how many times did Frank f**K up?! not even gonna start on NOC, guy is like a Keith Andrews of rugby- brain dead... as said above TOH, McSharry, Muldoon and Duffy played well but was soo so poor from the team..

that said, fair play to Treviso on their first away win in the comp..

CatFromHue

wprathead wrote: »

that said, fair play to Treviso on their first away win in the comp..

They're having a topsy turvy season so far, tonight was their third win away from home. They've only won twice at home!

Hagz

CatFromHue wrote: »

They're having a topsy turvy season so fat, tonight was their third win away from home. They've only won twice at home!

They're doing better than they were this time last season.

CatFromHue

Looking at Connachts fixture lists the home games against Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aironi are winnable games, as is the away game to Aironi. I can see losing bonus points in the games at home to Munster and Leinster. This would give you about the same as last season. Considering this years team is weaker that's not too bad.

From the away games to Glasgow, Cardiff, Dragons, and Lanelli I'd expect Connacht to pick up a few points. Last season ye got 6 points from these games.

CatFromHue

CatFromHue wrote: »

Looking at Connachts fixture lists the home games against Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aironi are winnable games, as is the away game to Aironi. I can see losing bonus points in the games at home to Munster and Leinster. This would give you about the same as last season. Considering this years team is weaker that's not too bad.

From the away games to Glasgow, Cardiff, Dragons, and Lanelli I'd expect Connacht to pick up a few points. Last season ye got 6 points from these games.

Ah but 14 points came during the world cup. Ulster were the only team we have played this season who were at full strength and those performances were poor too. The Sportsground has seen three very average pro 12 sides come away with victories in recent weeks. Glasgow are much stronger this season, Edinburgh will be tough, wouldn't fancy us away to Aironi. If this side finishes with over 30 points I'll be shocked.

Podge_irl

CatFromHue wrote: »

Looking at Connachts fixture lists the home games against Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aironi are winnable games

So was today's...

totallegend

I'm sure the usual talk about connacht being the poor relations will be trotted out, lack of budget etc but losing at home to an understrength treviso is inexcusable.

The next time someone asks " why did Carr/Keatley/Hagan/Cronin leave", you can refer to this.

freyners

****e performace, mccrea should be shot for the second try, play to fcúking whistle. I was in the stand and it look a cert to go out but the winger was very smart to hack it in. Also was way too greedy in the 1st half at one point, got back for the kick and with duffy and toh (i think) outside with two in front he tried to go on his own

Mcsharry is a beast, dangerous everytime he took on the ball. solid carrying again by brett,duffy was solid, muldoon was brilliant and i thought reynecke had a very good game, constantly looked for turnovers, got one in the 1st half was the rest of the team just stopped.
the speed of TOH is something else to get under them garryowens

we still dont have a gamebreaker the way fionn and keatley used to be, lads who can create something or finish an opportunity, tonetti didnt do anything major, solid defence but thats about it, didnt see alot of ball in fairness

Elwood needs to turn things round fast

porterbelly

It may still be early in the season but I think it needs to be said. We need a clearout of players and management. The same problems are arising week in week out without solutions in sight. We lack a gameplan, we are clueless beyond 3rd or 4th phase, our scrum is appalling, we have half backs who don't get the backs moving, our clearouts at ruck time are terrible, we never have quick ball and we make so many bloody unforced errors. Week in week out.

These problems existed last year, but we got out of the mire by winning about 4 home games on the spin against weakened opposition due to the 6 nations and that papered over the cracks. A bit of Fionn Carr or Keatley individual brilliance saved us from time to time.

I listened to McFarland after the Toulouse game saying how we were never going to win the game, budget size, squad wise etc. We were poor on the day that was the bottom line. How does that translate to the players? Off the hook, hard luck lads. Losing mentality. Elwood talks about little things being wrong every week. Excuses, excuses. We have fundamental problems that aren't being adressed. Some of the ball skills are just shocking, for pro rugby players its a disgrace.

On the players front, it's clear alot of the lads aren't up to it. Ah You is still clearly overweight and can't scrum. Flavin is an honest slugger, but not up to this level, Reyneke is a headless chicken. Rogers doesn't look up to it, Maguire is very very raw, may be 2 years before he's up to this standard. Naoupu is overweight and I feel that's the reason we're seeing him in the 2nd row. TJ Anderson is a poor mans Mike McComish, Eoghan Grace appears very light, Ofisa has been a superb player for us for years but he's not able to put himself about physically anymore. We are AIL standard at fly half and scrum half. Beggars belief why Dave Moore and Jarvis aren't getting a run. Fa'afili is a very poor signing, no pace and can't defend. Brian Tuohy is an AIL player. If Vainikolo was any good he'd be playing.

For me, Swifty is still carrying this team and at 34 years of age that's not good enough. Muldoon, McCarthy, Wilko, a fit George and Concrete are the only other forwards who are showing up for us. Gannon and Loughney are solid. The only backs worth their salt are Duffy, O Halloran, Griffin and McSharry. I'll reserve judgement on Tonetti and McCrea.

If we don't arrest this slump then we risk losing the likes of McSharry, O Halloran and Griffin as contract renewals come up very soon. And it wouldn't shock me to see Muldoon or some of the older heads jump ship and try their hand somewhere else.

From the outside looking in, we appear to have a nicey nice culture around the place. Mistakes are swept under the carpet, poor form is not punished. If this slide continues, the axe must be wielded on the coaching team and some of the players. Alot of the staff are around since the Bradley era. We need a straight shooter like Eddie O Sullivan around the place with a good back room team in toe who are not afraid to let rip and build en ethos and a hard element within the team.

d-gal

porterbelly wrote: »

It may still be early in the season but I think it needs to be said. We need a clearout of players and management.

Management needs to take a long look at itself. Being honest the Strength and Conditioning team should be fired; George is massively overweight, AhYou can't last 80mins, Loughney and Rogers are no way at this level either.

Some of the signings have been appalling.

Front Row - Rogers/Loughney/Flavin/Reynecke are absolutely useless. Maguire is very raw but at least he can improve. AhYou has great potential but he is very unfit and needs to improve his conditioning immensely. Wilko is the only one in the front row who is decent and I reckon Munster could take him next year and get rid of DuPreez.

Second Row - Our best position. McCarthy and Swift are great players. Nolan/Browne are both injured but huge potential, same with Kearney as well potential wise. Gannon has come in for cover and has done a honest job at least

Back Row - Ofisa and Muldoon are both very good players. Mul should go play with Munster and get some deserved success, magnificent player. JOC is good but way too injury prone. George is a fat mess at the moment, plain and simple, that is the coaches fault again. Can they not remember how good he was less than 2years ago?! Grace is a honest player but no way good enough for this level. Oh a word to the Connacht coaches - stop playing ****ing second rows in the backrow!!!

Scrum Half - All are way too inconsistent. POD is all over the shop, Murphy was more concerned about his moustache looking good than passing the ball through the whole of November. How hard is it to pass the call from the ground, not stand up take 10steps and then pass it! Why they signed Moore is beyond me.

Out Half - I can see why Ulster were delighted to see the back of NOC, absolutely terrible player, you might as well put John Hayes in at out half (no offense to the Bull). Nikora is horribly inconsistent, a very bad version of Charlie Hodgson confidence wise. Why was Jarvis signed? the one player that has shown a couple of decent sparks and has potential is playing AIL rugby with 'Wegians now

Centres - Fa'afili is another very bad journeyman - when leeds supporters are delighted to see him leave you know you have a bad one! Griffin and McSharry have huge potential but have to be disheartened and could easily be snagged up by various provinces/clubs. Tonetti is a good player and we must give him a chance after only playing one game so far

Wings/FB - TOH and Duffy are both great players. TOH needs to be around better to shine and Duffy is just a player that does the basics so well. McCrea is terrible, Vainikolo would leave now if he got a chance and again why sign Loxton if you are never going to play him. Another plying away in AIL now. Tuohy is hard working but just not good enough

Overall if you look at that current crop there is around 15 you would keep out of a 36 man squad. That's scary. Out of the academy, the only 1's that look potentially good enough are Layden and Kearney.

If the IRFU want us to survive then we have to start getting players that are not journeymen and at least have potential. The likes of Munster's Deasy, Holland, Henry and Nagle should all have had a couple of years at Connacht.
Leinster's Tom Sexton, Conney, McGrath, Macken and half their academy would come along so much more. Proof is Keatley, Hagan, Carr and Croinin

Rant ****ing over :mad:

porterbelly

Loxton has a broken leg, out for the season

liam12989

we should be looking at guys like ivan dineen,timmy ryan,billy holland, couple of 2nd rows from munster. Sean henry(hooker) sligo man playing in munster academy.surely some of leinsters backs should be looking to come this way.
Was anyone seen jarvis and moore play? are they any better then what we have?

Shelflife

Unfortunately i have to agree with porterbelly and d gal, i will differ on one point, its not early in the season we are half way through.

If there are players who are not at the races conditioning wise at this stage of the season , then either they should have their contract terminated or the conditioning coach should be terminated. if they are not fit enough to do their job then they should get gate simple as that.

Its time for both team and management to put up or get out, this WAS a golden chance to capitalise on the other teams being weakened by the RWC and we have blown it, we have had enough opportunities to beat leinster, cardiff,ospreysand treviso and have nothing to show for those games thats 16 points , we should be top of the league and there should be a huge buzz around the place, but no we are third from the bottom and 5 points adrift from ulster.

last night was the final straw, our season is now over and our battle will now be to stay ahead of gwent and aironi.

Wasted opportunity and the connacht team in its entirety should be ashamed of themselves.

Amazotheamazing

Crazy plan here, but how about having an "outhalf camp" whereby connacht invite every outhalf who played Irish u20 but didn't break through for the last 5 years to see if they merit a second chance, plus every outhalf in AIL 1. Guys like Dufficy with Clontarf, Burke with Young Munster, Slattery etc. Get former Irish outhalves like Campbell, Ward, Burke, Dean etc to run them through their paces. Fair enough, most of these guys didn't make it for a reason but if one was discovered it'd be worth it.

thomond2006

When do the contracts of Jarvis, NOC and Nikora run out?

d-gal

liam12989 wrote: »

we should be looking at guys like ivan dineen,timmy ryan,billy holland, couple of 2nd rows from munster. Sean henry(hooker) sligo man playing in munster academy.surely some of leinsters backs should be looking to come this way.
Was anyone seen jarvis and moore play? are they any better then what we have?

Unless it's Nagle we don't need other 2nd rows, it's our strongest position with 5/6 very good locks and a lot of them with potential to improve more

Jarvis is playing well with 'wegians at the moment, Moore doesn't look great tbh

porterbelly

thomond2006 wrote: »

When do the contracts of Jarvis, NOC and Nikora run out?

All are on 2 year deals. It's crazy but we wouldn't have got them otherwise and we needed to replace Keatley, unfortunately, IQ 10's like Staunton and Steenson were tied up and I doubt they'd have been interested anyway

its_phil

d-gal wrote: »

Out of the academy, the only 1's that look potentially good enough are Layden and Kearney.

Im actually embarrassed for you if you think that's all the potential in our academy. Jack Carty, Aaron Conneley, Calum Boland, Kieran Marmion, Conor Finn?

:rolleyes:

porterbelly

its_phil wrote: »

Im actually embarrassed for you if you think that's all the potential in our academy. Jack Carty, Aaron Conneley, Calum Boland, Kieran Marmion, Conor Finn?

:rolleyes:

Carty, Boland, Layden, Conneely, Heffernan, Leader, Buckley and Kearney all have good potential. Lets hope we can integrate them into a better senior side

its_phil

porterbelly wrote: »

Carty, Boland, Layden, Conneely, Heffernan, Leader, Buckley and Kearney all have good potential. Lets hope we can integrate them into a better senior side

Marmion and Carty are the most important imo at the moment.

its_phil

Jarvis had 5 conversions from 5 and two penalties for wegians today. Please let him have the 10 jersey next week

CIARAN_BOYLE

I don't have much faith in Marmion, he was poor in the U20 RWC imo

Has he come on much in the AIL/U20s since then?

Marto10

To be honest elwood is not going to bring in a rake of academy players this season. he already brought in buckley who is average enough and is getting killed at the scrums and also dermot murphy who it seems can't throw the play, when i was playing he was a flanker, duno how he is a hooker! layden was drafted into one or two of the games at showed potential at senior level, he has produced the goods at u20 scoring 3 against munster.

Finn gormely, conor murphy, aaron connelly, eoin mckeon and jack carty should get a look in.

Murphy is a great example of a pure out-half at Corinthians and is playing well for them and also carty is playing well for buccs! the amount of useless ex-u20 or junior all blacks that we have brought in are useless.
Remember that bibo guy a few years back, why the hell was he signed? Management need to get this right and stop bringing in these useless "experienced" players and focus on players that deserve to play and have excelled at u20 and 'A'.

porterbelly

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I don't have muchfaith in Marmion, he was poor in the U20 RWC imo

Has he come on much in the AIL/U20s since then?

Still under again this year. Playing most weeks for Corinthians and was very good for our 20s

its_phil

Marto10 wrote: »

To be honest elwood is not going to bring in a rake of academy players this season.

Awh no way will he this season, but next year a bit more bulk on the lads and a few runs are inevitable.but the academy prospects are very exciting

porterbelly

its_phil wrote: »

Awh no way will he this season, but next year a bit more bulk on the lads and a few runs are inevitable.but the academy prospects are very exciting

We need them coming into a decent team though. They can't be expected to carry us.

d-gal

its_phil wrote: »

Im actually embarrassed for you if you think that's all the potential in our academy. Jack Carty, Aaron Conneley, Calum Boland, Kieran Marmion, Conor Finn?

:rolleyes:

Finn, Marmion and Conneley are not up to it. Carty has a chance and same with Boland but nothing that is going to set the world alight.
From what other Connacht and AIL players have said - Layden, Kearney, Qualter and Heffernan (forgot him) are proper prospects

CIARAN_BOYLE

d-gal wrote: »

Finn, Marmion and Conneley are not up to it. Carty has a chance and same with Boland but nothing that is going to set the world alight.
From what other Connacht and AIL players have said - Layden, Kearney, Qualter and Heffernan (forgot him) are proper prospects

There is two Coneleys brothers the younger one is quality while the older one just makes up numbers

d-gal

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

There is two Coneleys brothers the younger one is quality while the older one just makes up numbers

McKeon and two brothers were all good at school level with the younger Coneeley and McKeon being the best. McKeon is no way near Connacht level yet (way off pace for debut last year) but is doing averagely ok at no.8 for 'wegians. Aaron C should be eating people alive in the back row of corinthians in the 2nd division if he is to step up

People also have to realise the standard of AIL rugby is terrible at the moment, no way near what it was like 5/10years ago

its_phil

d-gal wrote: »

Finn, Marmion and Conneley are not up to it

Guess we'll have to see then

Marto10

d-gal I have to disagree with you saying Aaron Conneely isnt up for it. Possible 1 of our best backrow underage players for u16 to u20 and has done well with his small opportunities at "A" level. Did well for the Irish u20's aswell and looks a hell of a lot better than the likes of grace and TJ anderson. If he gets a chance I think he will be up for it, have played with him in the past and is an all around good player and along with layden, carty, qualter and finn, it looks like there is potential. these players have all performed well winning u18 and u20 interpro's against some very good leinster and munster players

Dave Joyce

After last weeks performance against the Ospreys, I wasn't taking a night off teaching to go to last night's game and was I glad!! This is getting so depressing, especially when there are decent enough numbers showing up to games and performances like last nights:(

While George IS overweight, I wouldn't say massively so but I know I've said it before but Ah You is a complete disaster and he has had enough time (he's ****ing here since the end of last season if I'm not mistaken) and he's not even match fit, WTF!!!???? There is no excuse for that either from him or the S+C team. I remember saying how poor our fitness looked in games last year and these are pretty much the same guys in charge! I went to a fitness course organised by the Branch a while back and all I can say after attending it is it's no wonder that is the level some of the players are at (S+C wise) considering some of the presentations given:rolleyes:

If the Academy can produce players like Eoin Griffen and Tiernan O'Halloran, then we should be concentrating much more on that than signing so many crap "journeymen"

porterbelly

Dave Joyce wrote: »

After last weeks performance against the Ospreys, I wasn't taking a night off teaching to go to last night's game and was I glad!! This is getting so depressing, especially when there are decent enough numbers showing up to games and performances like last nights:(

While George IS overweight, I wouldn't say massively so but I know I've said it before but Ah You is a complete disaster and he has had enough time (he's ****ing here since the end of last season if I'm not mistaken) and he's not even match fit, WTF!!!???? There is no excuse for that either from him or the S+C team. I remember saying how poor our fitness looked in games last year and these are pretty much the same guys in charge! I went to a fitness course organised by the Branch a while back and all I can say after attending it is it's no wonder that is the level some of the players are at (S+C wise) considering some of the presentations given:rolleyes:

If the Academy can produce players like Eoin Griffen and Tiernan O'Halloran, then we should be concentrating much more on that than signing so many crap "journeymen"

Alot of the time we end up with no choice but to sign journeymen to fill our squad. We haven't the player base ourselves and so many fringe players at other provinces have no desire to play for us. As I've said before, with our lack of funds it can be very hit and miss, more often miss. Ah You, Ezra Taylor and possibly a couple of this years incumbents at the head of the miss list, but on the flipside you have Ofisa in his prime, George in his first stint and hopefully his 2nd and Paul Warwick who've offered big contributions

freyners

honestly i think the criticism of reynecke is harsh, made loads of carrys, was clearing in every second ruck and his scrumming and throwing was spot on
he made a lovely turnover in the first half too

headless chicken i can accept, he takes the ball on without checking for support sometimes but other than that i cant see why he is being written off

admitted thats the 1st full game ive seen from him (is it the first game hes started actually???) but i would prefer to see him start a few more

porterbelly

freyners wrote: »

honestly i think the criticism of reynecke is harsh, made loads of carrys, was clearing in every second ruck and his scrumming and throwing was spot on
he made a lovely turnover in the first half too

headless chicken i can accept, he takes the ball on without checking for support sometimes but other than that i cant see why he is being written off

admitted thats the 1st full game ive seen from him (is it the first game hes started actually???) but i would prefer to see him start a few more

I agree he was decent last night, but yes as I've described him before as a headless chicken, he often takes the ball on with no support runners making the breakdown a contest and slowing down our ball. He has the raw materials to be good, his throwing has been surprisingly good considering it was poor at Sarries, my other worry is that physically he'll be bullied against stronger packs. That was about his 4th start, hit and miss up to now