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

Funk It

Robb and Ronaldson will surely want to lift their game against Leinster, so I'm fine with that. It's historically been the other provinces that unload the big guns from the bench against us, so to be able to bring on some of the quality on ours will be juicy.

Major battle up front no doubt.

wp_rathead

...hopefully Ronaldson is okay..

(all I can say about the game so far)

BeardySi

Fingers crossed. I think we all got a very clear demonstration of the difference his presence makes yesterday....

CatFromHue

Gerry Thornley has written a book on Connacht

Bazzo

Do we reckon we'll see Boshoff this weekend?

wp_rathead

we only have 3 fit props in JP Cooney, Conor Carey and McCoy
Finlay gone Shtates and Buckley, Loughney, Sorkora, Dever, Kenny, Kyne, Saba and O'Donnell all injured

edit: Peter Robb prob big enough to prop :pac:

typhoony

so if I've got this right there are 2 books out in November, the one by John Fallon looks more interesting, the other one by Thornley I hope is more accurate than some of his newspaper articles have been over the last year, quite often he gets facts wrong.

connemara man

typhoony wrote: »

so if I've got this right there are 2 books out in November, the one by John Fallon looks more interesting, the other one by Thornley I hope is more accurate than some of his newspaper articles have been over the last year, quite often he gets facts wrong.

Gerrys is about last season John's is a history of Connacht one I think

Bazzo

wp_rathead wrote: »

we only have 3 fit props in JP Cooney, Conor Carey and McCoy
Finlay gone Shtates and Buckley, Loughney, Sorkora, Dever, Kenny, Kyne, Saba and O'Donnell all injured

edit: Peter Robb prob big enough to prop :pac:

Maybe Buckley will be fit? They were hoping for early November weren't they?

macslash

What happens if we only have the 3 fit props?

connemara man

A medical joker might not be outside the realms of reality. But I'd say Connacht will have to just get on with it and hope someone is fit sooner rather than later

Zzippy

macslash wrote: »

What happens if we only have the 3 fit props?

We line out with 22 players, and hope one prop can play 80 minutes

case885

Zzippy wrote:

We line out with 22 players, and hope one prop can play 80 minutes

Could a club prop not be called up? Would be better than nothing.

Yeah you'd almost certainly get an AIL player to sit on the bench for you in case of emergency.

Is there legitimately not even a sub-academy player available?

Nightmare.

I know people don't want to see the game watered down anymore and a removal of the breakdown leads to something which is effectively Rugby League but isn't this current situation a perfect example that Union is just too dangerous, especially the ruck.

Sure its great to see the breakdown operate but guys are going down left, right and centre with head injuries every week and surely the health of the players over rides any notion of "changing the game I love"... especially head trauma.

I know all of those injuries aren't from the breakdown but there's definitely too many players going down in that area on a regular basis.

Is there any obvious compromise or should nothing be done long term.

The Lost Sheep

connemara man wrote: »

Gerrys is about last season John's is a history of Connacht one I think

I dont think. Gerrys looks a lot at the past and 03 plans by IRFU etc but Fallon can talk from perspective of being manager of connacht for few years...

macslash wrote: »

What happens if we only have the 3 fit props?

Club prop will be called up but if only had 3 connacht would just play with 22 in squad

RichieRich89

case885 wrote: »

Could a club prop not be called up? Would be better than nothing.

What about Royce Burke-Flynn? He played for Leinster but is back playing club rugby now. Might be worth giving him a call

wp_rathead

The 3 props involved with Eagles game against London Irish was Gleeson, East and Ja Naughton

wp_rathead

RichieRich89 wrote: »

What about Royce Burke-Flynn? He played for Leinster but is back playing club rugby now. Might be worth giving him a call

first off, if ever a named screamed "PRIVATE SCHOOL" it is Royce Burke-Flynn
secondly, he did seem like a decent prop alright but unfortuntaly i can't see it happening

irishbucsfan

Surely Gleeson is next up, fair amount of experience and playing for the As

The Lost Sheep

wp_rathead wrote: »

The 3 props involved with Eagles game against London Irish was Gleeson, East and Ja Naughton

Ja retired and only playing due to injuries. Doubt he'll be called up. Cronan on trial with Connacht, essentially, so could be up next..

b.gud

https://twitter.com/connachtrugby/status/794147232144621568

MarinersBlues

Connacht team to face Dragons
Friday 4th November, kick off 19:15, Rodney Parade
(Connacht caps in brackets)
15 Tiernan O Halloran (108)
14 Niyi Adeolokun (40)
13 Bundee Aki (48)
12 Peter Robb (21)
11 Stacey Ili (4)
10 Jack Carty (61)
9 Caolin Blade (28)
1 JP Cooney (35)
2 Shane Delahunt (21)
3 Conor Carey (5)
4 Quinn Roux (37)
5 Andrew Browne (148)
6 Eoin McKeon (93)
7 Jake Heenan (40)
8 John Muldoon (captain) (283)
Replacements:
16 Dave Heffernan (65)
17 Saba Meunargia (2)
18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy (2)
19 James Cannon (1)
20 James Connolly (21)
21 Conor McKeon (2)
22 Shane O Leary (21)
23 Cian Kelleher (7)
Injured: Tom McCartney, Denis Buckley, Ronan Loughney, Ivan Soroka, Conan O Donnell, Ben Marshall, Sean O Brien, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Eoghan Masterson, Rory Moloney, John Cooney, Craig Ronaldson, Matt Healy, Josh Rowland, Darragh Leader, Ciaran Gaffney.
Ireland squad: Finlay Bealham, Ultan Dillane, Kieran Marmion

Should be enough to win it.

Is there any notion of a youtube stream or the like?

Bazzo

Some interesting ones there. Delahunt to start ahead of Heffernan, Ili ahead of Kelleher, no SOB in the 23, no sign of Boshoff yet either.

wp_rathead

Happy enough with that team considering our "injured/Unavailable" list

I still have no idea how Ili is at defending ha

Hopefully Newport is better craic than Llanelli - but apparently it's an even worse town 0_o

connemara man

The break can't come soon enough players need to recharge with that injured list Id wage people have played more game time than they should have

Isn't this like the first game in since the 14/15 season Finlay won't have any game time in?

connachta

Sabaaaaaaaaaaa! pfeeew we were close to run out of props

connachta

Careful, probably close to their best team
Dragons: 15 Tom Prydie, 14 Pat Howard, 13 Sam Beard, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Ashton Hewitt, 10 Angus O Brien, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Ed Jackson, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Lewis Evans (c), 5 Rynard Landman, 4 Nick Crosswell, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Thomas Rhys Thomas, 1 Phil Price
Replacements: 16 Rhys Buckley, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Lloyd Fairbrother, 19 Matthew Screech, 20 Nic Cudd, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Geriant Rhys Jones, 23 Adam Warren

Dog Botherer

Even weakened, that Connacht team is more than good enough to beat that Newport side. A lot of very, very, very average lads there.

Adbrowne

Dog Botherer wrote: »

Even weakened, that Connacht team is more than good enough to beat that Newport side. A lot of very, very, very average lads there.

The dragons always pull a few results out of nowhere each season. You just have to hope it isnt this week.

FACECUTTR

Hopefully there's a backlash from the poor performance against Leinster. Would have thought Boshoff would have made the bench but as he said in his interview there's a lot of calls to learn so maybe it will be the next game.

connachta

FACECUTTR wrote: »

Hopefully there's a backlash from the poor performance against Leinster. Would have thought Boshoff would have made the bench but as he said in his interview there's a lot of calls to learn so maybe it will be the next game.

I remember having read when he came in Galway that Manitz was prepared for Cardiff game. BTW very happy of SOL against Zebre (and McKeon can kick in the end). More worried for our props. Wait and see

Dog Botherer

Adbrowne wrote: »

The dragons always pull a few results out of nowhere each season. You just have to hope it isnt this week.

True but it's hard to see where tries are going to come for them. Bar a Connacht implosion, or a dirty, scuttery arm wrestle of a game, BP should be expected.

connachta

Dog Botherer wrote: »

Adbrowne wrote: »

The dragons always pull a few results out of nowhere each season. You just have to hope it isnt this week.

True but it's hard to see where tries are going to come for them. Bar a Connacht implosion, or a dirty, scuttery arm wrestle of a game, BP should be expected.

Connacht still very weakened with 12 injuries, 3 international caps. BP without key players is hard to predict. Hope so, weather looks decent, it could help

BeardySi

Was there an injury update this week?

If we had Ronaldson available, I'd have said it would have been a doddle for that team. Unfortunately we've seen too many implosions this season when he's not been playing.

I've a nagging feeling it's going to be tougher than we'd like. I hope to be proved wrong though!

Bazzo

Treadhead wrote: »

Was there an injury update this week?

If we had Ronaldson available, I'd have said it would have been a doddle for that team. Unfortunately we've seen too many implosions this season when he's not been playing.

I've a nagging feeling it's going to be tougher than we'd like. I hope to be proved wrong though!

Yeah there was:

Squad Update ahead of Dragons game

31st October 2016

Ahead of Friday’s Guinness PRO12 round 8 game away to Newport Gwent Dragons, the Connacht Rugby medical team have provided the following update.

Ronan Loughney remains unavailable this week following the hamstring injury sustained in training two weeks ago.

Sean O’Brien sustained a hamstring injury against Leinster on Saturday and will be monitored ahead of team selection this week.

Rory Molony suffered a concussion in a club game with Buccaneers RFC and will follow the graduated return to play protocols.

Craig Ronaldson sustained a concussion v Leinster and will follow the graduated return to play protocols.

The Connacht team to face Newport Gwent Dragons will be named on Thursday at 12 noon.

Dragons v Connacht
Friday November 4th
Rodney Parade
Kick off 19:15

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/squad-update-ahead-of-dragons-game-6/#ConnachtNews

I'm also a little nervous about this one but I'm sure the boys will be chomping at the bit to put in a good performance after last weekend.

Also didn't realise this wasn't on TV

Cathalthesmart

What's the story with Ronaldson?

wp_rathead

got concussion v Leinster

tobdom

Should be commentary on GB GM for this??.......

wp_rathead

Yup, live commentary from 7.15, is a build up show from 6:45 on the website

mjp

Any of the welsh channels showing this. S4C on sky used be good for these type matches

Bazzo

mjp wrote: »

Any of the welsh channels showing this. S4C on sky used be good for these type matches

Not listed at all in the pro 12 broadcast schedule, s4c have the Scarlets game and BBC Wales are taking Ospreys so...

The Lost Sheep

mjp wrote: »

Any of the welsh channels showing this. S4C on sky used be good for these type matches

S4C don't show Friday night games. BBC Wales do and theyre showing Ospreys game

Nift

what's the story with Cian Romaine? is he injured?

Bazzo

Nift wrote: »

what's the story with Cian Romaine? is he injured?

He was injurd at the start of the season and he didn't line out in the last Eagles game so I presume he is still injured.

connachta

Browne out, setpieces a disaster, Robb 3rd knock-on, turnovers conceeded, Ili missed tackle, Dragons lead 7-0

Bazzo

Dragons 10 - 0 now. Lineout is apparently a complete disaster.

Bazzo

Carty lands a penalty to make it 10-3. Robb has just knocked on for the fourth time...

Your Face

Come on Robb, you're better than that.

ironkiwi

Bazzo wrote: »

Carty lands a penalty to make it 10-3. Robb has just knocked on for the fourth time...

Didn't see the bench but is there anyone to replace Robb... sounds like the head is gone at this stage