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

flouncer

connemara man wrote: »

Definitely overpaid, for the amount and games he played.
But brought a public spotlight at the start of the season which drove ticket sales (no proof just opinion)
Was spoken very highly from the camp.

But overall not worth it? I dunno.. It's hard to tell if he hasn't left how he did (the circumstances and charges which he was cleared of) I'd say we'd have a far more positive view of his time

Even by your reference he is not cleared. I feel so sorry for mils. once the slur is provided, nothing can ever clear that slur. He, his wife, and family will have to live with that even though its proven as waffle for the rest of their lives. everybody just remembers the sensational headlines.

former total

flouncer wrote: »

Even by your reference he is not cleared. I feel so sorry for mils. once the slur is provided, nothing can ever clear that slur. He, his wife, and family will have to live with that even though its proven as waffle for the rest of their lives. everybody just remembers the sensational headlines.

It wasn't "proven as waffle" or as a "slur", the case was dropped before trial due to insufficient evidence.

That means he is presumed entirely innocent but it doesn't entitle anyone to make presumptions about the accusations or the person making them.

Getting into mod-angering territory there but it's an important distinction.

Clegg

former total wrote: »

Was he the worst overseas signing ever? In terms of value for money and hype vs delivery? Quite possibly. I know he was injured arriving but he was still woeful and got a huge wedge of cash.

Christian Cullen? He was class when he played for Munster, but was a crock when he signed and kept getting injured. What a player though.

S12b

former total wrote: »

Was he the worst overseas signing ever? In terms of value for money and hype vs delivery? Quite possibly. I know he was injured arriving but he was still woeful and got a huge wedge of cash.

I'd say Kane Douglas was right up there. Whilst Mils was poor on the pitch, his arrival led to our highest ever season ticket sales and general attendance at games. He was also clearly very well liked by all of the squad.

Douglas arrived on big money, put in a lot of very average performances, left and then started bad mouthing Ireland and Leinster.

Funk It

Great to see Matt Healy extending his contract. Been a brilliant player for us.

freyners

Team v leinster

15 Tiernan O'Halloran
14 Niyi Adeolokun
13 Bundee Aki
12 Craig Ronaldson
11 Matt Healy
10 Jack Carty
9 Kieran Marmion

1 Finlay Bealham
2 Tom McCartney
3 Nathan White
4 Aly Muldowney
5 Andrew Browne
6 John Muldoon (captain)
7 Jake Heenan
8 Eoghan Masterson

Replacements:

16 Dave Heffernan
17 Ronan Loughney
18 Rodney Ah You
19 Ultan Dillane
20 Sean O'Brien
21 Ian Porter
22 AJ MacGinty
23 Rory Parata


Really hope heenan is 100%.

typhoony

great to see Heenan back I remember his first couple of games and he was unreal, I hope he takes easy in first game back, McCartney back is a huge boost, think a BP is easily within our grasp a win would be special, Aki v Ringrose should be interesting

connachta

Jake Heenan!! Jake Heenan!!Jake Heenan!!Jake Heenan!!Jake Heenan!!Jake Heenan!!

Special mention to the mods, I require special authorisation to flood when it's about Jake Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenan!:pac:

Stan27

When is henshaw announcing his decision. I read he wanted to have it sorted by Christmas

b.gud

Stan27 wrote: »

When is henshaw announcing his decision. I read he wanted to have it sorted by Christmas

Think that it's an IRFU decision about when the announcement happens. I remember reading something from Kearney the elder that his contract had been sorted for a month or two before it was announced. Will try to dig up the article

Bridge93

Forgive my ignorance but who exactly is Jake Heenan? I've heard the name and on reactions before and now I gather he's quite good but I've never actually seen him. What's his story?

Stheno

Bridge93 wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance but who exactly is Jake Heenan? I've heard the name and on reactions before and now I gather he's quite good but I've never actually seen him. What's his story?

Same here

connachta

Bridge93 wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance but who exactly is Jake Heenan? I've heard the name and on reactions before and now I gather he's quite good but I've never actually seen him. What's his story?

He's just the best openside of all times:D
More seriously, he came to Connacht from N-Z in 2013, all black U20, and was absolutely excellent immediately, and with regularity. Tackling and turnover machine. Then gets injured 3 times. Shoulder reconstruction. And finally back now, explaining our happiness.

Stheno

connachta wrote: »

He's just the best openside of all times:D
More seriously, he came to Connacht from N-Z in 2013, all black U20, and was absolutely excellent immediatly, and with regularity. Tackling and turnover machine. Then gets injured 3 times. Shoulder reconstruction. And finally back now, explaining our happiness.

So SOB II?

oneofakind32

Hopefully the shoulder will hold up for him. They need to shoot some stem cells in there or something. Great to see him back but I really hope this game isn't too much too soon fro him.

connachta

No, SOB 2.0 is another Connacht young talented guy (named Sean O'Brien, so there's a copyright here )

ClanofLams

Bridge93 wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance but who exactly is Jake Heenan? I've heard the name and on reactions before and now I gather he's quite good but I've never actually seen him. What's his story?

He's excellent. Former NZ u20s captain, one of Lam's first signings IIRC. Hugely impressive on field so and quietly confident off it, he did an interview with the Indo where he said his goal was to be the best no.7 in the world.

Unfortunately each season so far has been heavily affected by injuries (shoulder mainly) so hopefully he can stay fit for the rest of the season.

porterbelly

Bridge93 wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance but who exactly is Jake Heenan? I've heard the name and on reactions before and now I gather he's quite good but I've never actually seen him. What's his story?

Mods, surely a 2 week ban minimum for ignorance?

connachta

porterbelly wrote: »

Mods, surely a 2 week ban minimum for ignorance?

It's Christmas time, I'd let it go, for once:o:P

oneofakind32

Where is SOB II from? He needs a nickname like SOB I "The Tullow Tank".

wp_rathead

Bridge93 wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance but who exactly is Jake Heenan? I've heard the name and on reactions before and now I gather he's quite good but I've never actually seen him. What's his story?

They say he's as big as four cats and has a retractable leg so he can leap up at you better and he lights up at night and he's got four ears, two are for listening and the other two are kind of back up ears and his claws are as big as cups and for some reason it's got a tremendous fear of stamps, Neil Francis was telling me he's got magnets on his tail, so if you're made of metal, he can attach itself to you and instead of a head, he's got four arses

oneofakind32 wrote: »

Where is SOB II from? He needs a nickname like SOB I "The Tullow Tank".

A Galway man

connachta

The Galway Battleship?

S12b

Bridge93 wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance but who exactly is Jake Heenan? I've heard the name and on reactions before and now I gather he's quite good but I've never actually seen him. What's his story?

I'd put him in the same boat as Marmion, Henshaw and Aki as our very best players.....has the potential to be an international openside if he can stay injury free.

flouncer

The big day dawns. History in the making me thinks

vienne86

flouncer wrote: »

The big day dawns. History in the making me thinks

Weather is awful here in Dublin. Could be a messy affair.

Zzippy

Hitting the road soon. Hip flask filled and ready. Apparently going to the Bridge afterwards for the celebrations...

aimee1

Zzippy wrote: »

Apparently going to the Bridge afterwards for the celebrations...

Are you transferring East with Henshaw?

Bloody woeful again.

Won't be holding in the top 6 on the basis of the last month.

MarinersBlues

On the plus side Scarlets lost.

10 points covers the top eight.

Every game is crucial, all will be the equivalent of derbies.
It could be that the weather just doesn't suit us at the moment.

wp_rathead

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Bloody woeful again.

Won't be holding in the top 6 on the basis of the last month.

Thought our gameplan in first 40 was spot on and executed brilliantly to be only 3 points down against that wind and Leinster pressure

Second half gotta tip the hat to Leinster

gally74

All hail the heenan,

McCartney excellent too, masterson a class act

flouncer

wp_rathead wrote: »

Thought our gameplan in first 40 was spot on and executed brilliantly to be only 3 points down against that wind and Leinster pressure

Second half gotta tip the hat to Leinster

Tip the hat to Leinster or wonder about what we should have done? at halftime i was delighted but this incessant usage of backline no matter the conditions. brings you back to the harlequins win. it was ****e weather, but the end result was what counted. and the backline didnt see the ball.

as i said no alarm bells but i hope we learnt from this display. in truth i thought we already should have been smart enough to know such basics?

flouncer

Zzippy wrote: »

Hitting the road soon. Hip flask filled and ready. Apparently going to the Bridge afterwards for the celebrations...

Zzippy, passed by it on the way back into the city centre but was so utterly soaked I just said screw it. I did consider it though but it was not for very long. Sorry bout that. As with missing wprathead on the bus home, there will be other times!

jacothelad

I was very impressed by the Connacht front rows. Bealham looks to be a very good player indeed. I had the impression when he arrived at Ulster that he was a tighthead. Considering that they put it up to what was essentially a very possible Ireland tight 5, they were great.

Clancy is a poor excuse for a referee. To paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan, with apologies to the great men, "He is the very model of a modern major homer." The very idea that he is an international standard ref is laughable.

Aki was also pretty great on the night. I think Connacht were very unfortunate to be left with nothing from the game.

CMOTDibbler

jacothelad wrote: »

I was very impressed by the Connacht front rows. Bealham looks to be a very good player indeed. I had the impression when he arrived at Ulster that he was a tighthead. Considering that they put it up to what was essentially a very possible Ireland tight 5, they were great.

Clancy is a poor excuse for a referee. To paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan, with apologies to the great men, "He is the very model of a modern major homer." The very idea that he is an international standard ref is laughable.

Aki was also pretty great on the night. I think Connacht were very unfortunate to be left with nothing from the game.

Jaco, I like your analysis and your knowledge but I really don't like ref's being bashed. They all make mistakes, including the great Nigel who made (which he later admitted) a humungous howler in the match that never happened.

Clancy had a very tough job last night. So many knock ons and a lot of ruck-ball slowing in the worst conditions imaginable that he was bound to miss stuff. Line outs were often a shambles with the wind blowing so heavily and scrums going down because of the sodden ground. I thought he took the pragmatic view that keeping the game moving was far preferable than constantly resetting wobbly scrums on a skating rink. If the ball looked like coming out well he was letting it come and be damned if the scrum looked like a maypole dance in the process. Nigel does that as well and I applaud it because I really hate teams milking penalties with illegal scrummaging.

Fair enough if a scrum is dominant and moving forward, but too many times you see boring in when the ref's on the other side and the penalty goes to the illegal scrummager.

Sorry about the rant but I used to be that soldier and found that it's easier to just allow the ref make a decision without endless questioning afterwards, because it's pointless.

freyners

jacothelad wrote: »

I was very impressed by the Connacht front rows. Bealham looks to be a very good player indeed. I had the impression when he arrived at Ulster that he was a tighthead. Considering that they put it up to what was essentially a very possible Ireland tight 5, they were great.

Clancy is a poor excuse for a referee. To paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan, with apologies to the great men, "He is the very model of a modern major homer." The very idea that he is an international standard ref is laughable.

Aki was also pretty great on the night. I think Connacht were very unfortunate to be left with nothing from the game.

Bealham has really progressed in the last 12 months. Seems to have supplanted Loughney at the moment as LH cover and he is no slouch. Between him and Conan coming up we have very good depth in the row

The match thread is a disaster on the ref front, prefer not to get into it. I share your sentiment on his performance and his quality as a referee but when you are nilled you cannot point the finger far away from yourself.

b.gud

Excellent news Dillane is in the extended squad http://the42.ie/2527144

connachta

connachta wrote: »

White, and who knows a big Dillane surprise, might be in the Irish camp

Gooood, I've predicted this on the 22nd of December on this thread:pac:

connachta

AhYou's face on the replay reduced my level of regret. Try might have been grounded, even if I highly doubt Clancy saw it, and still believe he asked a "homer" question.

But whatever, my point was I'm not looking down Connacht for being scoreless. conceeding 6 or even 13 points margin at the RDS against a very good Leinster team is correct and was expected.

Add Buckley (scrum and ruck), Henshaw (creativity) Roux (ball carriying and gainline advantage) and Poolman (high ball catches were a disaster yesterday), and we're right in it against an international side.
Which prooves what any Connacht fans knows : with a full-team, we can threaten anyone, but the squad depth, very decent thinking about average age/experience, isn't good enough yet

connachta

Best news you can imagine, Embra beat Glasg once again. I really hope it will be helping in the end.

connachta

Osp and Glasgow have both 7 games winnable, no more IMO (including they're gonna be impacted by 6 nations). We are 6 points ahead.
So we still have our destiny in our own hand with 6 wins including one of then at home, in one of the double header against direct opponent

Which would mean

Zebre and Benetton away
Scarlets home
One of Dragons/Edinburgh away
One of Munster/Leinster home
One of Ospreys/Glasgow home

Very few rights to make mistakes, but it's possible. The last 2 games may be the hardest (Treviso and Glasgow), the squad needs to be fit and fresh in April.

connachta

More exciting academy players in Connacht graduating onto senior contracts. Peter Robb and Sean O'Brien get the promotion next season.

connachta

Masterson : 17 tackles 0 misses, 28 meters run, 1 defender beaten, no pen or turnover conceeded

ClanofLams

According to the IT, four Connacht members were involved in yesterday's Ireland session, White, Dillane, Marmion and Henshaw, disappointing for Muldowney, Matt Healy and Tiernan O'Halloran especially.

connachta

ClanofLams wrote: »

According to the IT, four Connacht members were involved in yesterday's Ireland session, White, Dillane, Marmion and Henshaw, disappointing for Muldowney, Matt Healy and Tiernan O'Halloran especially.

Yeah but that's good news for Robbie, should be fit for Brive, and, who knows, Scarlets

flouncer

ClanofLams wrote: »

According to the IT, four Connacht members were involved in yesterday's Ireland session, White, Dillane, Marmion and Henshaw, disappointing for Muldowney, Matt Healy and Tiernan O'Halloran especially.

Matt or Tiernans style of play is not what Joe wants. Think they both may be regretting their contract extensions rather than following the money

former total

flouncer wrote: »

Matt or Tiernans style of play is not what Joe wants. Think they both may be regretting their contract extensions rather than following the money

To where?

flouncer

former total wrote: »

To where?

Are you seriously suggesting that Matt and Tiernans agents had no other options?

Hagz

Unlikely they had options that were significantly greater than the deals they made with Connacht from a financial perspective. The marketplace isn't that lively.

flouncer

Hagz wrote: »

Unlikely they had options that were significantly greater than the deals they made with Connacht from a financial perspective. The marketplace isn't that lively.

Madigans move would suggest otherwise