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

wp_rathead

Borders no.2 wrote: »

When Poolman is playing there is always hope of a try.

5th Try for Poolman in his 6th match this season

Borders no.2

Juan Socino on for Newcastle will provide them with a threat in 2nd half.

Borders no.2

Penalty try for Newcastle straight away and YC for Eoghan Masterson could have turned the game in the space of a minute!

Robbo

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Penalty try for Newcastle straight away!

And a yellow card. Jesus wept.

wp_rathead

Ben Whitehouse again.. yellow for Masterson and Penalty try for not retreating..

Also apparently Masterson wasn't held in first half so his try in opening half should have stood

wp_rathead

another try for Newcastle... games slipping away from us..

Borders no.2

Newcastle heading toward a bonus point which will leave them within 2 of us and with the better head to head.

Akrasia

wp_rathead wrote: »

another try for Newcastle... games slipping away from us..

Connacht seem to play better against the wind

wp_rathead

...Shane O'Leary is injured now too...

Jesus wept..

edit: he is okay

Zzippy

Akrasia wrote: »

Connacht seem to play better against the wind

Apparently the wind died so we won't have any wind advantage this half.
Blade off for HIA, no backs left on the bench, this injury jinx is ridiculous!

b.gud

Blade came back from HIA so Porter is back on the bench now

Borders no.2

Newcastle all over us. Bonus point seems inevitable.

Crimsonforce

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Newcastle all over us. Bonus point seems inevitable.

Worrying considering Newcastle have no wins in their own league...

Borders no.2

And another penalty try. 5 pointer for Newcastle. We'll just have to go and win in Brive now.

Borders no.2

And another. This 2nd half is proving to be a disaster.

Robbo

Urgh, this is turning very ugly.

thomond2006

I don't see how it's worrying given Connacht's injury situation, being unable to field a full 23 is unprecedented in fairness. I haven't followed the recent lineups but I'm sure there have been a number of players who have played consecutive weeks without rest. Hopefully by Rounds 5 & 6 they will have more players back. Brive will probably rest players and Enisei at home is a 5 pointer. Grenoble have to go to London Irish so a home quarter final is still possible.

wp_rathead

jaysus just try and get through last 20 with no more injuries..

wp_rathead

....Poolman injured now.. FUUUUUCCCKKKK

Robbo

Could we just press pause on the season for a month so we can get some lads back onto two feet?

connachta

this was predictible. Doesn't matter

connachta

Poolman injury is a worry though

EDIT : he walked off by himself

Stheno

What's the score lads?

Borders no.2

29-5

Zzippy

connachta wrote: »

Poolman injury is a worry though

EDIT : he walked off by himself

Rib injury. Walking off means nothing. You don't need your ribs to walk

BrokenMan

It's time to get a priest or witch doctor or someone into the Sportsground to lift this damn injury curse. There's no way it's coming from natural causes.

CatFromHue

BrokenMan wrote: »

It's time to get a priest or witch doctor or someone into the Sportsground to lift this damn injury curse. There's no way it's coming from natural causes.

They bless the roads in Mayo and they have a bizarre low accident rate for such a big rural county, especially when you look slightly North to Donegal, so maybe there is something in it doing a ceremony!

Borders no.2

Thankfully that's over. Disappointing but by no means fatal to our European hopes. Still in our hands to win the group if we win in Brive and even if we lose in Brive we should still qualify in 2nd place with a 5 pointer against Enesei. Looking ahead to Ulster, we'll have to examine the body count.

connachta

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Thankfully that's over. Disappointing but by no means fatal to our European hopes. Still in our hands to win the group if we win in Brive and even if we lose in Brive we should still qualify in 2nd place with a 5 pointer against Enesei. Looking ahead to Ulster, we'll have to examine the body count.

I really hope we won't finish 'one of the 3 best 2nd" , for an away quarter-final once more. Could only hurt more the squad, uselessly. We have to focus on Pro 12, now, heavy schedule to come.

Stheno

What competition was todays match part of?

connachta

Stheno wrote: »

What competition was todays match part of?

Competition to play the most 20 year-old players out of position. Connacht won by far

ClanofLams

So who are we likely to have back next week?

Muldoon and Connolly in the back row?
Dillane in the 2nd row?
Any word on Loughney, McCartney?
Marmion and Aki should be available?
TOH?
Matt Healy?

flouncer

The one position on the field we have consistently struggled is a replacement for Denis. Good to hear that Conan stood up to the task. With all the injuries (and I'm disappointed for peter and danie) we could possibly field
O'halloran
Parata (I know niyi played well but defensively I prefer Rory and ulster will test weaknesses)
Aki
Ronaldson
Healy
Carty
Marmion
Conan (time to hit the limelight in Denis' absence)
Delahunt (pure animal and very solid with his throwing)
White
Dillane
Muldowney
Muldoon
Connolly
Masterson

If we can field that type of team (indicators are that they should be available) then its probably as strong as any team we could field against ulster

jacothelad

The Connacht injury list is a disaster. I hope the guys today are just routine bumps and bruises. It's a feckin' awful way for a really promising season to unravel if that is the case.

S12b wrote: »

We have nothing to fear from Robbie Diack or Nick Williams....two distinctly average players. I'd 100% back Muldoon/Connolly/Masterson to hold their own with them.

typhoony wrote: »

i expect toulouse to massively up for tomorrow's game against Ulster who won't be looking forward to a trip to the sportsground in a weeks time against a form team with players coming back after a rest

Diack was outstanding today. He has rarely if ever given such a hard edged performance. He is an absolutely top notch l/o player.

When Williams came on he was one of the best players on the pitch - as he usually is. He has some flaws but one thing he is not - average.

Looks like Toulouse weren't 'up enough for it.' Considering that Payne, Bowe, Olding and Henderson were missing that was a good result. should have been a bonus point win too. I suspect that there will quite a few for the next game. Probably Paul Marshall, Stevenson, Clive Ross, Warwick, Herring, Lutton and maybe Reidy starting with Scholes and Arnold appearing in the backs.

connachta

Quite agree with you Flouncer I was about to post

it will be something like

1) Lough
2) Delahunt
3) White
4) Dillane
5) Muldowney
6) Muldoon
7) Connolly
8 ) Mastertson
9 ) Marmion
10) Carty
12) Ronaldson
13) Aki
11) one of Niyi/Parata
14) one of Healy/Poolman (depends on fitness)
15) TOH

16) Heff/JHW
17) Bealham
18) Ahyou
19) Browne
20) Heenan/McKeon (Naoupu if both not ready yet)
21) Porter
22) ? (McGinty not far from return in theory)
23) ? (depends on the others)

typhoony

at least we have Niyi to come in for Poolman if he has an injury, looking forward now to the build-up to next weekends game. not much rest for the players over the christmas period, not even a wing of turkey allowed i'd say

evil_seed

why wouldn't they be allowed turkey? They're not fighters cutting weight

flouncer

Niyi is a fine player and a really nice bloke. Parata is a stronger winger

connachta

flouncer wrote: »

Niyi is a fine player and a really nice bloke. Parata is a stronger winger

Parata has the advantage to be able to switch to 13 if needed. Hope Dannie is ok though

evil_seed

What's the body count after the Newcastle game?

CMOTDibbler

evil_seed wrote: »

What's the body count after the Newcastle game?

Well you could add Peter Robb and Danie Poolman to the ever increasing list. Robb might make it back but Poolman's rib injury could take a bit longer.

Short term (hopefully) injuries:
Bundee Aki (ankle sprain)
Craig Ronaldson (concussion)
KieranMarmion (concussion)
Dave McSharry (concussion)
Tiernan O'Halloran (knee?)
John Muldoon (calf)
Nathan White (?)
Peter Robb (concussion)
Danie Poolman (rib)

Long term injured include:
Nepia Fox-Matamua (ACL) - entire season
Ben Marshall (fractured arm) - 3 months
John Cooney (shoulder surgery) - 3 months
Tom McCartney (hamstring) - 1 month
Darragh Leader (hand) - 1-2 months
Quinn Roux (ankle) - 1-2 months
Jake Heenan (shoulder) - 1-2 months
Denis Buckley (ankle) - 2 months
Robbie Henshaw - (hand) - 1 month

Others I don't know the status of:
AJ McGinty
Eoin McKeown
Conor Finn
JP Cooney

I'm sure I've missed some

Zzippy

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

Well you could add Peter Robb and Danie Poolman to the ever increasing list. Robb might make it back but Poolman's rib injury could take a bit longer.

Bundee Aki (ankle sprain) could be back as could Craig Ronaldson (concussion), Marmion (concussion), Dave McSharry (concussion), Tiernan O'Halloran (knee?) and John Muldoon (calf).

Long term injured include:
Ban Marshall (fractured arm) - 3 months
John Cooney (shoulder surgery) - 3 months
Tom McCartney (hamstring) - 1 month
Darragh Leader (hand) - 1-2 months
Quinn Roux (ankle) - 1-2 months
Jake Heenan (shoulder) - 1-2 months
Denis Buckley (ankle) - 2 months
Robbie Henshaw - (hand) - 1 month

Others I don't know the status of:
AJ McGinty
Eoin McKeown
Api Pewhairangi - back, has played for the Eagles last 2 weeks
Conor Finn
JP Cooney
Nathan White - think he'll be ok
Nepia Fox-Matamua - out for the season, ACL injury
Andrew Browne - played yesterday, did he get injured?

I'm sure I've missed some

Edited a few above

CMOTDibbler

Zzippy wrote: »

Edited a few above

Must have missed Browne on the team sheet yesterday. I still think I'm missing somebody though...

b.gud

Unless Ronaldson picked up a concussion yesterday that I missed he should be good to go this weekend

wp_rathead

Ronaldson is good to go- listening to match on Galway Bay it sounds like both Carty and O'Leary both took knocks despite seeing the game out so might have to add them to Robb and Poolman

Masterson sounded like he had a great game which is promising

Shelflife

I was at the game , we were all over them in the first half but couldn't convert our good ball into points which was disappointing. We really should have gone in ahead at half time.

I thought that Masterson's try was good. He wasn't held and I level if they were hanging on by a shoelace he is allowed to place the ball. Poor call Imo.

The pen try and YC was simply wrong ! The quick tap was taken from the wrong place and was taken inside the 5m line, it should have been called back to be retaken instead in was a YC and a pen try.

That seemed to drain the life out of the team and suddenly we were on the back foot and everything became a huge effort.

In fairness they worked hard but nothing seemed to work for them at all.

If Masterson's try was allowed it would have been a totally different game , same goes for the pen try and YC , Newcastle would prob have taken the 3 points and we would have restarted at 8-5 and a full team.

typhoony

Shelflife wrote: »

I was at the game , we were all over them in the first half but couldn't convert our good ball into points which was disappointing. We really should have gone in ahead at half time.

I thought that Masterson's try was good. He wasn't held and I level if they were hanging on by a shoelace he is allowed to place the ball. Poor call Imo.

The pen try and YC was simply wrong ! The quick tap was taken from the wrong place and was taken inside the 5m line, it should have been called back to be retaken instead in was a YC and a pen try.

That seemed to drain the life out of the team and suddenly we were on the back foot and everything became a huge effort.

In fairness they worked hard but nothing seemed to work for them at all.

If Masterson's try was allowed it would have been a totally different game , same goes for the pen try and YC , Newcastle would prob have taken the 3 points and we would have restarted at 8-5 and a full team.

so what you're saying effectively is that over the 80 minutes we were the better team?

b.gud

By my reckoning these are the options we have for the back line for the Ulster match.
They are not in preferential order but more order of players we know are fit first. Then are the players who may be available with the last known injury status of that player

Scrum half: Porter, Blade, Marmion (should be OK)
Fly Half: Ronaldson, McKeon, Carty (potential doubt), O'Leary (potential doubt)
Wings: Niyi, Parata, Gaffney, Healy (hopeful), Poolman (doubtful), Carr (unknown)
Centre: Ronaldson, Api, Parata, Aki (hopeful), Robb (concussion)
FB: Gaffney, TOH (hopefully)

Shelflife

typhoony wrote: »

so what you're saying effectively is that over the 80 minutes we were the better team?

No not saying that. Effectively a game of two halves, we dominated the first half they dominated the 2nd half .

We had a try disallowed that would have given us further impetus they were awarded a try that gave them a huge lift.

b.gud

Shelflife wrote: »

No not saying that. Effectively a game of two halves, we dominated the first half they dominated the 2nd half .

We had a try disallowed that would have given us further impetus they were awarded a try that gave them a huge lift.

Also worth noting that disallowed try came was in the 1st or second minute of the game so it could have had a big affect on both teams