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

Bazzo

Neil3030 wrote: »

Stream on S4C is gone loco, I had to abandon it. Is that game over? What did Lougney do?

Lifted a player's legs above the horizontal in a clearout.

Inspector Coptoor

It shouldn't have been such a frenetic finish.

They should have had more points on the board by the end of the first half.

Missed opportunities, sloppy kicking, idiotic red mist moment by Loughney.

Connacht contrived to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.

1 point up with 2 mins 15 seconds left....
The inability to close out that game is very worrying.

I felt nervous any time Niyi got the ball. I just don't think he's good enough to be starting games against the top 6 teams in the Pro 12, even allowing for all the injuries to backs at the moment.

Very very disheartening result

Zzippy

Connacht have only got Connacht to blame for that. Brainless at the end, you need an exit strategy there and ruck after ruck on your own 22 is not the right one. Loughney was stupid to do that. So much hard work thrown away by one moment of idiocy. Couldn't even blame tiredness, he should have been pretty fresh. Last play Scarlets tacklers were lying all over the place, not releasing and hands in the ruck everywhere and no penalty, but Mitrea was good overall.

:mad:

hogandrew

What stupidity to run the ball in the position. Could well have cost them a place in Europe

ClanofLams

Sick. Don't want to hear anything about ref or tmo calls from Lam/Connacht - threw that away all on our own.

typhoony

no too disheartened as long as we keep picking up the bonus points now then get the wins when we need to, probably should have won it but at least we can't blame the ref, too many needless penalties also. but i'll take the LBP.

connachta

typhoony wrote: »

no too disheartened as long as we keep picking up the bonus points now then get the wins when we need to, probably should have won it but at least we can't blame the ref, too many needless penalties also. but i'll take the LBP.

Agree

Max Headroom

With 90 seconds on the clock WHY would you up=end a plater...sometimes they are their own worst enemies...:rolleyes:

molloyjh

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

The player never left the ground. It was hardly dangerous.

He clearly did.

MarinersBlues

typhoony wrote: »

no too disheartened as long as we keep picking up the bonus points now then get the wins when we need to, probably should have won it but at least we can't blame the ref, too many needless penalties also. but i'll take the LBP.

Hopefully the frustration from this loss can become a driver for the rest of the season.

hogandrew

Max Headroom wrote: »

With 90 seconds on the clock WHY would you up=end a plater...sometimes they are their own worst enemies...:rolleyes:

Would it have been a penalty for holding on regardless? I think so

molloyjh

wp_rathead wrote: »

It was so inevitable after first half only bein 7 up after dominating..

I fear that there is an element of that in the players psyche as well. That game was not over until Loughney let loose an almighty brain fart. Despite all the issues and mistakes Connacht were still leading with 3 to go.

typhoony

When Scarlets come to visit we should have near enough full strength squad to pick from, ronaldson seem to pick up a minor shoulder injury, i pray for heenan he looked in trouble coming off.

connachta

We've shown we're up to the standard. that's the main point. We knew the period from Cardiff away to Brive away is the hardest. That's ok, if we're keeping this quality starting Scarlets return leg

freyners

Lam badly needs to drill exits in the lads. This isn't the first time we done ourselves over after scoring like that. Inside your ten. Get the ball safe and boot it

Losty Dublin

Annoyed to have lost this. Whilst playing poorly Connacht held in throughout and showed a lot of character to earn the late penalty only to give it away with a reckless penalty. Lam can take a lot from this one but he should have been taking away the win.

connachta

typhoony wrote: »

i pray for heenan he looked in trouble coming off.

That's the main point. Seemed to walk-off properly so it shouldn't be a long-term injury once again..

wp_rathead

I get what we were trying end of match - Connacht did brilliant end of first half against Leinster to keep possession and wind down the clock until half time..

It is risky to do when only 1 score up as need players to maintain discipline - which evidently Loughney didn't do..

molloyjh

For those who think the Scarlets player never left the ground have a look at this and let me know what part of his body is touching the ground.

Stheno

That was a shame how it ended

The Rape of Lucretia

More than not closing the game in the last two minutes, Lam has more to drill into them. The last failure was consistent with what they were doing through the game. Connacht should have been comfortably 10+ in the lead. The lack of control was there throughout and made a game of it.
Shame. Had it within themselves to win that one cleanly, not just with their last score.

aimee1

molloyjh wrote: »

For those who think the Scarlets player never left the ground have a look at this and let me know what part of his body is touching the ground.

his head

Hagz

Is he not on no.19(the Connacht player) there? I think what the poster was professing was that player wasn't airborne. Doesn't matter anyway. All that matters is whether the legs went above the horizontal.

thomond2006

Connacht really aren't leaving a lot of room with regards to a European spot. Their run-in is pretty rough.

ironkiwi

Positives:
We are now consistently competing with the top sides.
Heads never went down after the two tries Scarlets got and kept fighting back in the second half.
Played a very good territory game today. Nice to see it mixed in with the running game.
Negatives:
Decision making under pressure needs to improve a lot to remain in top 6. A few occasions players seemed to take wrong option.
Still too many stupid penalties given away. Loughney at the end a prime example.
Lacking that little bit of spark to create the breaks. Healy superb at it but need a bit more around the centre areas.

wp_rathead

When you compare and contrast Leinsters win in Swansea with us today you see how far we have to go...

Whenever someone mentions Flavin to me, despite the brilliant servant he had been to Connacht I instantly think of his missed tackle away to Gloucester..
..I fear I'm going to do the same whenever someone mentions Ronan Loughney..

CMOTDibbler

Hagz wrote: »

Is he not on no.19(the Connacht player) there? I think what the poster was professing was that player wasn't airborne. Doesn't matter anyway. All that matters is whether the legs went above the horizontal.

There's a second part to that law which refers to the tackled player being dropped or driven into the ground. Neither of those happened imo. He was rolled onto his back as far as I could see.

The worst I thought it should have been was a penalty. Which would have been pretty much as bad.

But it brings the can opener move into doubt now.

connachta

ClanofLams wrote: »

Sick. Don't want to hear anything about ref or tmo calls from Lam/Connacht - threw that away all on our own.

The TMO was decisive. Whatever you say.

wp_rathead

connachta wrote: »

The TMO was decisive. Whatever you say.

Please Don't connachta

molloyjh

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

There's a second part to that law which refers to the tackled player being dropped or driven into the ground. Neither of those happened imo. He was rolled onto his back as far as I could see.

The worst I thought it should have been was a penalty. Which would have been pretty much as bad.

But it brings the can opener move into doubt now.

Being dropped or driven into the ground is a red.

connachta

wp_rathead wrote: »

Please Don't connachta

No problem to claim this. It doesn't contradict the fact we must have done better in our 22 in the end.

connachta

Connacht 35 points
Osprey 27 points

Not so bad all in all

Zzippy

molloyjh wrote: »

For those who think the Scarlets player never left the ground have a look at this and let me know what part of his body is touching the ground.

INSERT MAHOOOOOSIVE PHOTO HERE

You couldn't post a normal size pic for those of us without 70" monitors?

connachta

thomond2006 wrote: »

Connacht really aren't leaving a lot of room with regards to a European spot. Their run-in is pretty rough.

Look at the one of our main rival too
Also very uneasy



Ospreys v Glasgow Warriors Liberty Stadium

Munster Rugby v Ospreys Irish Independent Park TG4/S4C

Ospreys v Edinburgh Rugby Liberty Stadium

Connacht Rugby v Ospreys Sportsground TG4

Leinster Rugby v Ospreys RDS Arena Sky

Ospreys v Scarlets Liberty Stadium

Newport Gwent Dragons v Ospreys Rodney Parade

Ospreys v Benetton Treviso Liberty Stadium

Cardiff Blues v Ospreys Principality Stadium BBC Wales

Ospreys v Ulster Rugby Liberty Stadium

CMOTDibbler

molloyjh wrote: »

Being dropped or driven into the ground is a red.

Not all the time in the case of being dropped. There's also the case of Gray and Ford at the RWC.

But here there is no dropping that I can see, so it's quite harsh to get a yellow.

Bazzo

Semantics anyway. It was always a penalty and that was the losing of the game(Yes we should have done better earlier, but the fact remains without that penalty we more than likely go on to win by 1 point).

TOH was immense today, serious quality, should definitely be in the extended 6n squad.
Healy is a menace in attack, love to see him getting the ball out wide.
Bealham I thought did very well, glad to see he's kicking on.
Bundee mixed the good with the bad, hopefully he settles himself, was a bit hotheaded at times today.
Dillane disappointed tbh, he's capable of better.
Ronaldson likewise, some silly mistakes.

EDIT: Carty also did quite well I think. Always happy to see him doing well.

Pajo17

Very disappointing result. Better team but silly indisciplne cost the victiry. Mitrea did well overall but did not mske the call late in furst half for Healy's second try..he thought it was a try but let the TMO make the (wrong) call for him...

Zzippy

Pajo17 wrote: »

Very disappointing result. Better team but silly indisciplne cost the victiry. Mitrea did well overall but did not mske the call late in furst half for Healy's second try..he thought it was a try but let the TMO make the (wrong) call for him...

It was the right call. The Masterson one was wrong IMO. He relied on his TMO who had a better view. He's one of the best refs in the Pro12, far better than most.

irishbucsfan

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

Not all the time in the case of being dropped. There's also the case of Gray and Ford at the RWC.

But here there is no dropping that I can see, so it's quite harsh to get a yellow.

Taking the player past horizontal is a yellow in a lot of cases. It's more rare for it to be a penalty without a card. Not harsh at all.

molloyjh

Zzippy wrote: »

You couldn't post a normal size pic for those of us without 70" monitors?

Is it really that big. Did all that in my phone.....

connachta

Zzippy wrote: »

He's one of the best refs in the Pro12, far better than most.

Yes

Bazzo

Zzippy wrote: »

It was the right call. The Masterson one was wrong IMO. He relied on his TMO who had a better view. He's one of the best refs in the Pro12, far better than most.

TBH I think he might have doubted the Masterson call and was inclined to give the benefit of the doubt for Healy's 2nd as a result.

Pajo17

I thought Masterson call was right but Healy was a try.. Mitrea was going to award try, then asked TMO if he had any further to add... some refs need to be more decisive... hand on ball when ball touched ground with downward pressure.. then it squirted forward... shouldn't have come down to these two calls though... Top 6 is very much in Connacht's grasp.. just need to be more professional.

uote="Zzippy;98364319"]It was the right call. The Masterson one was wrong IMO. He relied on his TMO who had a better view. He's one of the best refs in the Pro12, far better than most.[/quote]

ClanofLams

Between today and Cardiff away (more forgiveable considering we had Healy at 9 for a half), we have increased the pressure on ourselves, have a winnable run coming up before tough run in.

Scarlets (h)
Dragons (a)
Zener (a)
Ospreys (h)

The last three are during 6N. We need to win all four which would give us 51 points (assuming no bp, though given how weakened Zebre will be, should really be targeting 5 there) after 16 games.

To bring a little positivity to today, for all the justified talk about Matt Healy, T'OH was brilliant, sending a message to Schmidt after not being included in a 50 man squad.

Bazzo

Pajo17 wrote: »

I thought Masterson call was right but Healy was a try.. Mitrea was going to award try, then asked TMO if he had any further to add... some refs need to be more decisive... hand on ball when ball touched ground with downward pressure.. then it squirted forward... shouldn't have come down to these two calls though... Top 6 is very much in Connacht's grasp.. just need to be more professional.

Healy's I think was the right call. It looked like it might have been good from every angle except I think he showed one last angle where it looked like he dropped it, I'd have to see it again.

Masterson's though was almost certainly wrong. The ball ended up where it was because of hands in the ruck by a Scarlet's player, then Masterson dives on it (potentially) touches it down, it goes BACKWARDS and then he touches it down again: scrum red?????

wp_rathead

Pajo17 wrote: »

I thought Masterson call was right but Healy was a try.. Mitrea was going to award try, then asked TMO if he had any further to add... some refs need to be more decisive... hand on ball when ball touched ground with downward pressure.. then it squirted forward... shouldn't have come down to these two calls though... Top 6 is very much in Connacht's grasp.. just need to be more professional.

Mitrea said he couldn't see the screen and couldn't make out if it was a knock on or not and so was relying on TMO to make decision
it looked like a knock on on TG4- maybe HD would show if Healy had a finger or anything
Thought Mitrea handled it well - although at the time I was effing and blinding the TMO about it

Masterson try had 4 incidents:
1) was illegal hands in ruck by Scarlets player- so should been Connacht advantage regardless of what happened in the in-goal area
2) was it downward pressure by Masterson first time- I'm not 100% convinced it was
3) was it a knock on by Masterson - no the ball clearly goes backwards
4) was downward pressure by Masterson second time - clearly
TMO awards a knock on

Pajo17

Absolutely.. very important to get results in next 4 matches... Carty played better today..just need to grind out the march wins... no more "played well but didn't win" games...... C'MON CONNACHT...!!!

ClanofLams wrote: »

Between today and Cardiff away (more forgiveable considering we had Healy at 9 for a half), we have increased the pressure on ourselves, have a winnable run coming up before tough run in.

Scarlets (h)
Dragons (a)
Zener (a)
Ospreys (h)

The last three are during 6N. We need to win all four which would give us 53 points (assuming no bp, though given how weakened Zebre will be, should really be targeting 5 there) after 16 games.

To bring a little positivity to today, for all the justified talk about Matt Healy, T'OH was brilliant, sending a message to Schmidt after not being included in a 50 man squad.

connachta

Comparison

Connacht

Scarlets (home)
Newport (away)
Zebre (a)
Osprey (h)
Edinburgh (a)
Leinster (h)
Ulster (a)
Munster (h)
Treviso (a)
Glasgow (h)Ospreys

Glasgow (h)
Munster (a)
Edinburgh (h)
Connacht (a)
Leinster (a)
Scarlets (h)
Dragons (a)
Treviso (h)
Cardiff (a)
Ulster (h)


NB : impacted by 6 nation tournament, in Connacht's favour in theory

Bazzo

connachta wrote: »

Comparison

Connacht

Scarlets (home)
Newport (away)
Zebre (a)
Osprey (h)
Edinburgh (a)
Leinster (h)
Ulster (a)
Munster (h)
Treviso (a)
Glasgow (h)Ospreys

Glasgow (h)
Munster (a)
Edinburgh (h)
Connacht (a)
Leinster (a)
Scarlets (h)
Dragons (a)
Treviso (h)
Cardiff (a)
Ulster (h)

I knew you'd get there in the end

former total

Just for context; here's the clearout McCloskey was RED carded and suspended for.

https://vine.co/v/OQuEmlxZWlX