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

Funk It

Sadly, we had the chances to win the game and couldn't convert them.

First Connacht game I got to watch live on TV in a long time, feel gutted, which certainly brings back (unwanted) memories of old.

Some real positive performances though. Aki, unbelievable. Connolly was immense. TOH and Healy did very well, and impressed with O'Donnell when he came on.

Hope the injuries aren't serious. Porter was able to hobble on for a while, and Marmion didn't seem all that bad asides the cut, so fingers crossed for him as well.

Looking forward to getting to the Ulster game already!

BrokenMan

Very unlucky losing both scrum half for an entire half. Healy did ok but was a bit predictable. Not fault of his of course, its a long time since he played SH. Think if marmion stayed on we would have won that.

Funk It

freyners wrote: »

I read on twitter (tg4 went down) there was a load of knock ons by us so we goosed ourselves as well it seems.

If they were from Cardiff fans I'd ignore them. They were shouting for knock-ons the whole time.

flouncer

.ak wrote: »

No abuse of refs or players tolerated.

Sorry .ak in this case it is totally justified. That was the worst reffing I have seen at a pro12 and I personally think I have every right to say so. Tiernan and bundee are a joy to watch. Zzippy said tiernan was too exciting to play for Ireland. I totally disagree. Aki and toh are insanely good

beertons

What was the score?

Iompair

Fairly gutted after watching that, injuries and those 2 line outs near the end of either half along with losing both scrum half's meant we were on the back foot.

Lots of positive play, just seemed to be lacking some composure. The ref had a middling game.

Bazzo

beertons wrote: »

What was the score?

Cardiff 20 - 16 Connacht

Neil3030

How on earth can the Welsh commentators not reference the fact that Connacht played an ENTIRE HALF without a scrum half when summing up the game?

Some lovely rugby at times by Connacht tonight; hope they can keep the momentum going and they soon get back a few of the bajillion lads who seem to be injured.

ionapaul

20-16 in favour of the Blues.

freyners

Funk It wrote: »

If they were from Cardiff fans I'd ignore them. They were shouting for knock-ons the whole time.

From the Connacht account actually, and the 42

WallyGUFC

Is this amount of injuries merely coincidental or is there an issue with S&C? Our injured team would probably have a 50/50 chance against the fit team!

Bazzo

WallyGUFC wrote: »

Is this amount of injuries merely coincidental or is there an issue with S&C? Our injured team would probably have a 50/50 chance against the fit team!

Looking at the range of injuries I don't think you can really blame S&C.

The Lost Sheep

aimee1 wrote: »

this ref is a disgrace, or else needs glasses

Wasn't disgraceful. Was one of Andys poorest games in a while though

Funk It wrote: »

Joke of a ref. Didn't want to complain about him, but this is another farce in Cardiff.

Connachts handling didn't help them. Referee made a few poor decisions and not helped by some calls made by assistants/TMO but injuries to Connacht again was an issue

ClanofLams wrote: »

I'd say it's sixth game ever never mind pro, good god he was horrific and whoever was tmo was as bad. The ref should be back to junior club rugby at best

Nonsense.

connachta

Honnestly I would have taken a BP before the match, I would have taken it from 42th min without SH, so I'm taking it now without much regret. It's ok, it could be worthwile and we've shown charachter

WallyGUFC

I suppose just thinking about it there, Henshaw broke his hand in offloading, few concussions. That plastic pitch can't be good for ankles, knees and hips. Still though, it's horrific luck. Just as well people like Robb, Parata, O' Donnell, Connolly etc. are so talented and hungry to improve.

seanin4711

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Wasn't disgraceful. Was one of Andys poorest games in a while though
Connachts handling didn't help them. Referee made a few poor decisions and not helped by some calls made by assistants/TMO but injuries to Connacht again was an issue

Nonsense.

we had them on the ropes and let them off simples!
ref was middling.
cannot keep blaming ref for every loss,no complaints in the previous wins!

beertons

Hard luck. Was a great first half. On another day with another ref....

Cosmo Kramer

It has to be more than just bad luck, there are just too many injuries. Potentially Loughney, Roux, Marmion, Porter, Aki and Ronaldson injured tonight. And every week the Connacht squad update seems to produce an injury that I didn't spot during the game. Injuries could undo the entire season for Connacht at this rate.

its_phil

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Wasn't disgraceful. Was one of Andys poorest games in a while though
Connachts handling didn't help them. Referee made a few poor decisions and not helped by some calls made by assistants/TMO but injuries to Connacht again was an issue

Nonsense.

Not helped by TMO? He made an absolute balls of that last tackle by Carty on his own accord. Only nonsense was that call and the refs arrogance in looking for something that didn't happen.

ClanofLams

[quote="The Lost Sheep;97966836"

Nonsense.[/quote]

I was a bit over dramatic but he was very poor, genuinely looks like he needs another while at AIL. Although as I said the tmo was as bad and should really be doing more to help an inexperienced ref. tom against munster seemed much more vocal

ClanofLams

seanin4711 wrote: »

we had them on the ropes and let them off simples!
ref was middling.
cannot keep blaming ref for every loss,no complaints in the previous wins!

No complaints?! You must have missed the week long debate about the pen try last week!

Bazzo

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

It has to be more than just bad luck, there are just too many injuries. Potentially Loughney, Roux, Marmion, Porter, Aki and Ronaldson injured tonight. And every week the Connacht squad update seems to produce an injury that I didn't spot during the game. Injuries could undo the entire season for Connacht at this rate.

Marmion and Ronaldson were concussions, you can't condition for that.

Aki twisted an ankle, Porter and Loughney I think both did something similar and the plastic pitch could quite easily be to blame for that, the BBC commentary even talked about how disastrous that pitch is for injuries like that.

Can't remember exactly what happened to Roux, think he may have twisted an ankle/knee in a tackle?

flouncer

So I'm not going to focus on the ref. And then I said I told you so. I simply did not understand why delahunt and white were not playing. Yes Denis was injured but as I said in previous post Dave was 4th choice hooker. We put a team out that was likely to lose. And that I simply don't understand

Marc O Polo

I'm all for the way lam has us playing expansive, wide rugby but was very frustrating to see how little penetration we had! The entire 2nd half we where just shovelling the ball along the back line making it far too easy to defend against!
I realise the team was been held together with duck tape at the end due to injuries!
I just don't think we'll have such winnable game for the foreseeable future!!

aimee1

Marc O Polo wrote: »

I'm all for the way lam has us playing expansive, wide rugby but was very frustrating to see how little penetration we had! The entire 2nd half we where just shovelling the ball along the back line making it far too easy to defend against!
I realise the team was been held together with duck tape at the end due to injuries!
I just don't think we'll have such winnable game for the foreseeable future!!

on issue was TOH not kicking the ball i felt. sometimes they just need to take the prudent action

Cosmo Kramer

Sounds like McKeon went off injured as well. An absolute disaster of an evening in hindsight. Don't think you can blame the pitch - Cardiff play on it all the time and as far as I know they don't have 21 players out injured.

Bazzo

Marc O Polo wrote: »

I'm all for the way lam has us playing expansive, wide rugby but was very frustrating to see how little penetration we had! The entire 2nd half we where just shovelling the ball along the back line making it far too easy to defend against!
I realise the team was been held together with duck tape at the end due to injuries!
I just don't think we'll have such winnable game for the foreseeable future!!

It was frustrating to watch but with Healy having to play scrum half for the first time in 7+(?) years there really was nothing to be done about it.

Funk It

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Sounds like McKeon went off injured as well.

Certainly looked that way. Got taken off behind the posts after Cardiffs try and seemed injured.

Gallee

The "no arms" penalty was harsh but more worryingly (and no one here mentioned it) was the entry into the ruck that followed the Carty penalty by Blues No.4. He entered the ruck head below hips and shoulder first into Muldoons head. The TMO should really have picked that up as Muldoon was injured. Wouldn't surprise me if he was Cited - anyone else see that?

phog

The ref was poor, in such a close game it could well have cost Connacht the win.

gally74

Gallee wrote: »

The "no arms" penalty was harsh but more worryingly (and no one here mentioned it) was the entry into the ruck that followed the Carty penalty by Blues No.4. He entered the ruck head below hips and shoulder first into Muldoons head. The TMO should really have picked that up as Muldoon was injured. Wouldn't surprise me if he was Cited - anyone else see that?

Yep and mul felt it

ClanofLams

To offer some positivity, Aki was exceptional again tonight. Best player in the Pro12 this season, hopefully he's well back for Ulster.

Zzippy

Gallee wrote: »

The "no arms" penalty was harsh but more worryingly (and no one here mentioned it) was the entry into the ruck that followed the Carty penalty by Blues No.4. He entered the ruck head below hips and shoulder first into Muldoons head. The TMO should really have picked that up as Muldoon was injured. Wouldn't surprise me if he was Cited - anyone else see that?

Was wondering how Muldoon got hurt there alright. Terrible decision...

maoriincork

its_phil wrote: »

Not helped by TMO? He made an absolute balls of that last tackle by Carty on his own accord. Only nonsense was that call and the refs arrogance in looking for something that didn't happen.

That's right. But straight after in the maul there 4 attacked the head of Mildowney without using his arms and used his shoulder. That was an instant red in the RWC.
And just before all of that Bundee tackled in the air we lose the ball and Cardiff scrum.
What was the TMO and assistants doing in this game.
Just feel so frustrated I said after 5 minutes this ref is going to get is.

flouncer

maoriincork wrote: »

Sorry connachta I have to agree with Flouncer and say. TOH should be on the wing and Leader if he has to be on the field then he has to be at fullback. Not a winger.

There ya go. Somebody agrees with me :-). Connachta, hmmmm. In reality the game wasn't lost because of darragh. It wasn't lost because of a turnover of scrum halves, it wasnt lost because of the referee, it was lost because we didn't treat Cardiff with enough respect. I do plant the blame on pat this time. Poor choice for the game pat. Yes we can get away with stuff at Newcastle. This was an important game and pat did not show the level of respect that Cardiff deserve. And maybe I said that since team selection?

Now its just a matter of counting the injured

MayoForSam

Ulster may well be missing a few key players themselves for the game in a few weeks, including Henderson, Cave and Touhy, might even things up a bit.

connachta

Big moment for Robb, McSharry, Marshall, O'Brien and Blade. They are so talented that I'm still confident. Has to be short-term injuries.

flouncer

So 'my opinion' is that we will lose muldowney (he deserves this SO much) then marmion (hope he is OK), toh, henshaw. I am so looking forward to henshaw and aki with toh at fullback for Ireland. What a combination

connachta

flouncer wrote: »

So 'my opinion' is that we will lose muldowney (he deserves this SO much) then marmion (hope he is OK), toh, henshaw. I am so looking forward to henshaw and aki with toh at fullback for Ireland. What a combination

I guess we could send 20 great players to Joe, but on a stretcher:rolleyes:

Bazzo

What is our injury list going to look like after tonight? These are the players who have been out injured up until now and those who are likely injured after tonight. Any ideas on who is due back?

Buckley, Loughney, JP Cooney, McCartney, Roux, Browne, Marshall, Masterson, McKeon, Fox-Matamua, Heenan, Cooney, Marmion, Porter, MacGinty, Ronaldson, Carr, Poolman, Henshaw, Finn, Pewhairangi ,McSharry(?). Aki and Healy both look like they may have done something minor toward the end of the match but toughed it out but I wouldn't be relying on either of them being available for the next couple weeks.

Look at that, a full match day squad!

flouncer

Bazzo wrote: »

What is our injury list going to look like after tonight? These are the players who have been out injured up until now and those who are likely injured after tonight. Any ideas on who is due back?

Buckley, Loughney, JP Cooney, McCartney, Roux, Browne, Marshall, Masterson, McKeon, Fox-Matamua, Heenan, Cooney, Marmion, Porter, MacGinty, Ronaldson, Carr, Poolman, Henshaw, Finn, Pewhairangi ,McSharry(?). Aki and Healy both look like they may have done something minor toward the end of the match but toughed it out but I wouldn't be relying on either of them being available for the next couple weeks.

Look at that, a full match day squad!

We need Ali g indiahouse :-)

connachta

Bazzo wrote: »

What is our injury list going to look like after tonight? These are the players who have been out injured up until now and those who are likely injured after tonight. Any ideas on who is due back?

Buckley, Loughney, JP Cooney, McCartney, Roux, Browne, Marshall, Masterson, McKeon, Fox-Matamua, Heenan, Cooney, Marmion, Porter, MacGinty, Ronaldson, Carr, Poolman, Henshaw, Finn, Pewhairangi ,McSharry(?). Aki and Healy both look like they may have done something minor toward the end of the match but toughed it out but I wouldn't be relying on either of them being available for the next couple weeks.

Look at that, a full match day squad!

The important thing is McSharry, Heenan, Poolman, Marshall, Masterson and Buckley were all announced "minor or ending injuries", and should be back for Ulster:)

connachta

yosser hughes wrote: »

Did the ref reverse the penalty that led to the Cardiff try? Why? Was there afters? I missed it.I just saw the replay of the Cardiff player taking the Connaught player out.

I need a clear answer/debate too

Borders no.2

connachta wrote: »

I need a clear answer/debate too

It seem that John Muldoon had pulled the ball out of the scrum and the ref misheard the penalty call from the touch judge initially. Given the crowd were going mad I figured something like that may have happened. However, following on from that Vosawai was laying into Heffernan on the ground at the feet of the referee without any action taken.

connachta

Bazzo wrote: »

What is our injury list going to look like after tonight? These are the players who have been out injured up until now and those who are likely injured after tonight. Any ideas on who is due back?

Buckley, Loughney, JP Cooney, McCartney, Roux, Browne, Marshall, Masterson, McKeon, Fox-Matamua, Heenan, Cooney, Marmion, Porter, MacGinty, Ronaldson, Carr, Poolman, Henshaw, Finn, Pewhairangi ,McSharry(?). Aki and Healy both look like they may have done something minor toward the end of the match but toughed it out but I wouldn't be relying on either of them being available for the next couple weeks.

Look at that, a full match day squad!

Official : Connacht Rugby decided starting T'morrow to publish a "fit players update" rather than an "injuries update", to gain some useful time:D

Anyway, we can only have "better news" than the worst list expected there

connachta

Borders no.2 wrote: »

It seem that John Muldoon had pulled the ball out of the scrum and the ref misheard the penalty call from the touch judge initially. Given the crowd were going mad I figured something like that may have happened. However, following on from that Vosawai was laying into Heffernan on the ground at the feet of the referee without any action taken.

Yeah I saw the final part on Heff, but I just hope the "original penalty" signaled by the assist. ref was at least "existing". Don't wanna feel totally "Hodged" again after Cardiff game:o

flouncer

Bazzo wrote: »

What is our injury list going to look like after tonight? These are the players who have been out injured up until now and those who are likely injured after tonight. Any ideas on who is due back?

Buckley, Loughney, JP Cooney, McCartney, Roux, Browne, Marshall, Masterson, McKeon, Fox-Matamua, Heenan, Cooney, Marmion, Porter, MacGinty, Ronaldson, Carr, Poolman, Henshaw, Finn, Pewhairangi ,McSharry(?). Aki and Healy both look like they may have done something minor toward the end of the match but toughed it out but I wouldn't be relying on either of them being available for the next couple weeks.

Look at that, a full match day squad!

Poor decisions tonight pat. We lost a game we really should of won 'me Julie'. Sorry it is my favourite film :-)

Bazzo

flouncer wrote: »

Poor decisions tonight pat. We lost a game we really should of won 'me Julie'. Sorry it is my favourite film :-)

Blaming the team selection for the loss tonight is incredibly harsh and IMO just wrong. I don't see what impact White could have had that Ah You didn't as the scrum was rock solid and Rodney put in a good performance in the loose. Same goes for Naoupu coming in to the second row, affected the scrum not at all and as a back row he's naturally fairly effective outside of the set piece anyway.

Can't see how switching TOH & Leader's positions would have made any difference.

typhoony

sorry but Leader is a very average player, without all the injuries he would'nt get near the 1st team IMO, i worry again next week more injuries if we try to protect our home record and send out players who are already stretched to the limit.

flouncer

Bazzo wrote: »

Blaming the team selection for the loss tonight is incredibly harsh and IMO just wrong. I don't see what impact White could have had that Ah You didn't as the scrum was rock solid and Rodney put in a good performance in the loose. Same goes for Naoupu coming in to the second row, affected the scrum not at all and as a back row he's naturally fairly effective outside of the set piece anyway.

Can't see how switching TOH & Leader's positions would have made any difference.

OK bazzo, I do enjoy having a laugh. But I did say some time back that delahunt is an utter beast. I said that Buckley/delahunt/white would do the business. As they have. But instead our front row today did not compare. I did say this! It upsets me hugely. We lost a game we should have won