Connacht Rugby Thread - Part III - The Violence of the Lams

CMOTDibbler

connachta wrote: »

34 for a FB is not the same than 34 for a lock. Do you think POC last season with Munster was such a disaster?

Indeed. Nathan Hines (retired at 39), Jamie Cudmore (37 still playing), Victor Matfield (38 still playing) would tend to agree with you.

Hype710

What's Shane Layden at these days?

ClanofLams

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Anyone know what the story is regarding the four lads that haven't had their contracts renewed but haven't been confirmed as leaving?

Agree that Shane O'Leary will be kept and probably Qualter. He hasn't gotten much game time but did well when called upon.

No idea about the other two either.

ClanofLams

Hype710 wrote: »

What's Shane Layden at these days?

Sevens I think.

The Lost Sheep

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Anyone know what the story is regarding the four lads that haven't had their contracts renewed but haven't been confirmed as leaving?

Shane O'Leary I think has done enough to earn a new contract, especially given that he covers 10 and centre. With all our other out half options likely to feature in a first choice 23 next season we need someone like Shane to offer cover. He might even be worth a two year deal imo.

With both Muldowney and Naoupu leaving, even if a Kiwi second row is signed, there's room in the squad for Danny Qualter. He's shown enough in his few appearances to suggest that there's potential there if he can get some more game time next season.

It's harder to know with JP Cooney and Conor Finn because we have seen little enough of them due to injury. The fact that they weren't named in the list of departures suggests they'll get another 1 year contract each but then again maybe there's some doubt as nothing has been announced yet.

This two week break would seem a good time to get all the existing players contracted for next year.

Shane has been on a development contract and as you say is good cover for across the backline so should be kept.. Probably is room for Qualter but don't think others will be kept. Yes they've had injuries but is there a need to keep either of them?

Hype710 wrote: »

What's Shane Layden at these days?

Had played some 7s last year but hasn't been involved in recent training camp.

Bazzo

Whatever about JP Cooney(who I think is an alright squad option) I think Finn deserves to be given another year to show if he can do anything. He's only 23 so it's not like there's huge money being spent on him. I think keeping both of them on for another year is sensible enough.

I'd imagine everybody not listed as departing in that press release will get an extension of some sort.

Billysays no

Bazzo wrote: »

Whatever about JP Cooney(who I think is an alright squad option) I think Finn deserves to be given another year to show if he can do anything. He's only 23 so it's not like there's huge money being spent on him. I think keeping both of them on for another year is sensible enough.

I'd imagine everybody not listed as departing in that press release will get an extension of some sort.

Agreed. Conor is a fine player. Suspect mcsharry won't return. Truthfully I don't want him to return as its a huge risk to his personal health. Rugby is a game, nothing else, I do not wish to see Dave mcsharry going through another 'groggy' incident.

connachta

Marnitz Boshoff not in Lions Currie Cup team. Is that a sign that he is in Super Rugby team for Saturday? Perhaps Jantjies is resting?

FACECUTTR

connachta wrote: »

Marnitz Boshoff not in Lions Currie Cup team. Is that a sign that he is in Super Rugby team for Saturday? Perhaps Jantjies is resting?

Janties starting. Boshoff not on the bench..... is he been frozen out of the squad ?

connachta

I hope at least he'll be in Europe in July/august, not November after Curriecup

connachta

So, rumours seem to go in a good way for injuries ending

Pat should have headaches for the 3 next games

3) Bealham or White
Backrow : 2 of McKeon Heenan and SOB
10) and 22) 2 of McGinty Carty or O'Leary
12) Robb or Ronaldson
13) Aki or Henshaw implying
15) TOH or Henshaw
14) and 23) Niyi, Poolman Parata or Carr

16) Heffernan or JHW (or even Delahunt)
19) Roux or Browne
21) Blade or Cooney

former total

Boshoff is injured

Evil_g

former total wrote: »

Boshoff is injured

Source?

Evil_g

Marnitz Boshoff’s unavailability due to a niggle means Ackermann was forced to call up utility back JW Bell as the replacement backline player for the trip to Port Elizabeth.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/rugby/2016/04/22/kings-to-unleash-fiery-fetchers-on-the-lions

Stan27

When you think of where we are, with all our injurys, it really has been a great season.

porterbelly

Talk of a current Leinster academy back trying to force a move to us but Leinster want to keep him.

Adam Byrne and Tom Daly are signed up so it's not them. I can't really see it being Ross Byrne or Joey Carberry as we have 3 10's for next year although I could be wrong.

Of the players left who Leinster would want to hang onto, my money would be on Cian Kelleher or Billy Dardis.

IMO Kelleher would be an excellent addtition with his pace and ability to play wing or 15

Bazzo

Hearing Buckley has picked up a pretty serious injury

connemara man

Bazzo wrote: »

Hearing Buckley has picked up a pretty serious injury

Ah balls

connachta

Bazzo wrote: »

Hearing Buckley has picked up a pretty serious injury

Season ending?? I hope not. Back for Semi-final at least please!!

Bazzo

connachta wrote: »

Season ending?? I hope not. Back for Semi-final at least please!!

If what I've heard is true, and there's no reason to believe it's not at the minute, it's season ending.

b.gud

Bazzo wrote: »

If what I've heard is true, and there's no reason to believe it's not at the minute, it's season ending.

I do not like what you've heard. Please go back and return with better rumour.

Sincerely all Connacht fans

Cosmo Kramer

Bealham to LH for the rest of the season then? And maybe a late reprieve for Dave before his exit...

Anything on Bundee - when I saw a post about a season ending injury I initially assumed it was him?

connachta

Buckley out is worse than Bundee. That's our main position of weakness. No depth. Have to play Bealham and hope White/JP are back 100% on the other side. If not semi-final will be hard to win.

Billysays no

Stan27 wrote: »

When you think of where we are, with all our injurys, it really has been a great season.

Lot of players have really stepped up. Dealing with IQ players have been so impressed with Sean O'Brien. Bealham has gone from a natural bench replacement to one of the finest front rowers in the country. Ultan Dillane has gone from a potential bencher to a definite starter at second row. Masterson has gone from academy to huge backrow player. AJ has taken the opportunity with jacks injury by the horns. Always my gripe with Marmion has been messing about in the scrum but with Pats philosophy of quick ball he has no choice but to do what he's told and has been great since then. Matt has proved he can walk though walls (can see a future as a magician for him), Niyi has suprised me with his development, TOH has been rock solid at full back. And then you have Denis buckley (he is not allowed to be injured) is and has been simply the best LH possible for connacht. Its amazing watching Finlay and Denis offloading like wingers. We are where we are because an abundance of talent and its such a joy to watch. Peter Robb has shown his ability and has a huge future. And as connachta says players are now coming back from injury (personally I'm happy we lost to grenoble as it allows this to happen). So we will be heading towards a full strength squad (I am worried that Bundee played on when injured which will mean recuperation time will be increased) but then Robbie can team with Peter at centre which isn't half bad. One comment that was made was that Robbie has not been as effective in recent times. This is not a surprise as he plays a very different game with Ireland.

Will watch the Grenoble game tonight and hope they beat Harlequins. They are a good team to watch.

connemara man

Bundee breakdown by Murray

http://www.the42.ie/video-analysis-connacht-bundee-aki-2730648-Apr2016/?utm_source=twitter_self

Billysays no

porterbelly wrote: »

Talk of a current Leinster academy back trying to force a move to us but Leinster want to keep him.

Adam Byrne and Tom Daly are signed up so it's not them. I can't really see it being Ross Byrne or Joey Carberry as we have 3 10's for next year although I could be wrong.

Of the players left who Leinster would want to hang onto, my money would be on Cian Kelleher or Billy Dardis.

IMO Kelleher would be an excellent addtition with his pace and ability to play wing or 15

tom daly is wasted at leinster. pity

Cosmo Kramer

porterbelly wrote: »

Talk of a current Leinster academy back trying to force a move to us but Leinster want to keep him.

That sentence would have been unthinkable a year or two ago. It wasn't long ago that those types of players were trying to stop the irfu from forcing them to Connacht against their wishes.

S12b

Bazzo wrote: »

Hearing Buckley has picked up a pretty serious injury

In training? I didn't think they were training this week?

Bazzo

S12b wrote: »

In training? I didn't think they were training this week?

Heard it from a friend of a friend without many specifics, but to be honest I would have expected to hear something myself by now so I'm getting hopeful it might just be bull****.

connemara man

Bazzo wrote: »

Heard it from a friend of a friend without many specifics, but to be honest I would have expected to hear something myself by now so I'm getting hopeful it might just be bull****.

I'm hoping the same. I asked someone I know in there and they hadn't heard anything

Bazzo

connemara man wrote: »

I'm hoping the same. I asked someone I know in there and they hadn't heard anything

Well the source of the rumour would know pretty sharp if he was injured but I'm hoping he had a few pints on him and was taking the piss(badly)

connemara man

Bazzo wrote: »

Well the source of the rumour would know pretty sharp if he was injured but I'm hoping he had a few pints on him and was taking the piss(badly)

So do we all as long as no of has left the country or doing anything mildly interesting (not even dangerous) in this down week we should be grand

b.gud

I saw all the forwards out to lunch on Thursday and Buckley looked fine, so unless it happened after that hopefully it's wrong

connachta

As we seem to privilege a high-profile 2nd row, I still think we can enlist a backrow prospect for n 8.

For now, the best option would be an IQ squad player to replace Naoupu, who can occasionally play blindside, to cover for McKeon/Muldoon/SOB, waiting for Masterson to be back.

Willie Ryan fits these conditions perfectly, and is out of contract with Rotherham. Apparently has got ball-carrying and tacking abilities, as we need...

Add the Kiwi lock, Ryan and Kelleher to what we already have, and that will be enough to claim our squad is ready to eat any team next year!

thomond2006

Connacht will need a few more players to fight on both fronts. Their likely high seeding for Europe will help a lot.

FACECUTTR

thomond2006 wrote: »

Connacht will need a few more players to fight on both fronts. Their likely high seeding for Europe will help a lot.

You are right. A strong squad will be needed to fight both fronts next season. We need to add to the full squad. We cannot be so reliant on the academy even though it worked this season.

connachta

FACECUTTR wrote: »

thomond2006 wrote: »

Connacht will need a few more players to fight on both fronts. Their likely high seeding for Europe will help a lot.

You are right. A strong squad will be needed to fight both fronts next season. We need to add to the full squad. We cannot be so reliant on the academy even though it worked this season.

with 3 additions, the senior squad would already have 44-45 units. That's enough

bkqwerty

The attrition rate in rugby really is outrageous. Squad's of nearly 50 players and virtually every one of them likely to see reasonable game time due to the amount of injuries picked up.

ClanofLams

bkqwerty wrote: »

The attrition rate in rugby really is outrageous. Squad's of nearly 50 players and virtually every one of them likely to see reasonable game time due to the amount of injuries picked up.

Is it any worse than soccer? I would say it is in terms of the seriousness of injuries but soccer players always seem to be picking up niggles and strains etc I just Googled there and man United have played 35 different players this season.

MarinersBlues

Are the Clan terrace season tickets sold out?

Zzippy

MarinersBlues wrote: »

Are the Clan terrace season tickets sold out?

I think they expected them to sell out last week. I wouldn't be surprised if the main stand sells out soon too. I know a few lads who have just bought STs for the first time, and most STHs have probably renewed already at the renewal price.

bkqwerty

ClanofLams wrote: »

Is it any worse than soccer? I would say it is in terms of the seriousness of injuries but soccer players always seem to be picking up niggles and strains etc I just Googled there and man United have played 35 different players this season.

Really? That's effectively like using probably 45 in rugby so because obviously you only play 11 soccer players at a time.

That figure must be an outlier though surely? That seems an insane amount. I just checked Leicester city's there and they've only used 22. But obviously they had no European competition and had good luck with injuries so then I checked Arsenal's and they have used 29 and that includes 3 guys that made just one appearance off the bench.

Also it needs to be factored in that a soccer team involved in European Competition probably plays close to 60 games in a season. Professional Rugby teams play closer to 30

lostboy75

Zzippy wrote: »

I think they expected them to sell out last week. I wouldn't be surprised if the main stand sells out soon too. I know a few lads who have just bought STs for the first time, and most STHs have probably renewed already at the renewal price.

That's a great sign for next year. Does anyone have detail on numbers of season tickets, and how they are split between clan and main, out of interest?

b.gud

There aren't enough curse words to describe my current mood
https://twitter.com/linleymackenzie/status/724569247100329984

spurscormac

Buckley news is true apparently - fractured ankle according to Linley Mackenzie on the tweet machine.
Oh FFS, just when we were starting to get guys back.

thomond2006

b.gud wrote: »

There aren't enough curse words to describe my current mood
https://twitter.com/linleymackenzie/status/724569247100329984

At least it's several weeks and not several months.

Bazzo

On this occasion I take no pleasure in being right.

I don't know whether I'd prefer to see Bealham move to LH and Rodney given 1 last shot at redemption for Treviso or just have Loughney start and let Conan O'Donnell wear the 17 jersey.

For Glasgow we should hopefully have Bealham at LH and White at TH.

Bazzo

Double post, no idea how to delete with the new site and legacy site is banjaxed for me.

b.gud

thomond2006 wrote: »

At least it's several weeks and not several months.

true, and he is known to get back to fitness earlier than he was expected to. Still though it's hard to imagine that we'll see him again this season

MarinersBlues

If Bundee is only out for the Treviso game, that's amazing.