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

Neil3030

3 more wins should do it for a CC spot, with Treviso and Zebre still to play. 4 wins would guarantee it.

Problem is that you've Ospreys, Edi, Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Glasgow in the remaining fixtures...

Marc O Polo

Hearing Heenan sub was just tactical so crisis averted!! And Ronaldson got MOM!

aimee1

Neil3030 wrote: »

3 more wins should do it for a CC spot, with Treviso and Zebre still to play. 4 wins would guarantee it.

Problem is that you've Ospreys, Edi, Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Glasgow in the remaining fixtures...

I think 20 points might be enough for them.

connemara man

vienne86 wrote: »

What's the World cup go to do with it?

the season is running later so its to stop an extra 3 games being fit into the schedule I'd assume

its_phil

Neil3030 wrote: »

3 more wins should do it for a CC spot, with Treviso and Zebre still to play. 4 wins would guarantee it.

Problem is that you've Ospreys, Edi, Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Glasgow in the remaining fixtures...

All those problem fixtures excluding Ulster and Edinburgh are at home. I'm very confident of results.

9/10 points over next two games would be huge.

ClanofLams

Neil3030 wrote: »

3 more wins should do it for a CC spot, with Treviso and Zebre still to play. 4 wins would guarantee it.

Problem is that you've Ospreys, Edi, Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Glasgow in the remaining fixtures...

Aim should be playoffs not cc. As someone said the other day on here must of them games are at home, no reason for Connacht to fear those teams in the Sportsground.

Billysays no

Redo91 wrote: »

This was my first thought too when I heard he went off. Hopefully it was just tactical.

We can lose Heenan and we can survive. Just hope tiernan lasts to the final weekend. He is the singular guy on the team we have no replacement for. IMO we should beat Munster. Saaili makes sure their back line will never fire and without an out half they really should be easy pickings. Never mind a porous defence

Iompair

That was definitely a game we stole. We seemed to spend most of it on the back foot and made a lot of unforced errors. Rodney was lucky to stay on from what I could see.

Still we got points when we managed to string a few phases together and held Dragons out to minimise their score. It's good to be top.

BrokenMan

Iompair wrote: »

That was definitely a game we stole. We seemed to spend most of it on the back foot and made a lot of unforced errors. Rodney was lucky to stay on from what I could see.

Still we got points when we managed to string a few phases together and held Dragons out to minimise their score. It's good to be top.

Nice to win one we should have lost so. Happened the other way around too much.

It's definitely time to start believing about a top 4. Any other team in our situation now would consider 6th a bad outcome.

Billysays no

BrokenMan wrote: »

Nice to win one we should have lost so. Happened the other way around too much.

It's definitely time to start believing about a top 4. Any other team in our situation now would consider 6th a bad outcome.

Everything in this game was mental for a reason. AJ made a total hames of things. Carty is out for the season. Top4 with Craig at 10 maybe.

connachta

A lot here remind the rule about top 6, nation-guaranteed spot, CC winner qualified.
But NOBOBY was able to tell me what happen if Connacht fail against a top 6 English team in final
This team would be qualified through his championsip
So who get this CC spot?

1) the 7th English team, gifted by nationality?
2) Or the CC runner-up, in my scenario Connacht!

Bazzo

connachta wrote: »

A lot here remind the rule about top 6, nation-guaranteed spot, CC winner qualified.
But NOBOBY was able to tell me what happen if Connacht fail against a top 6 English team in final
This team would be qualified through his championsip
So who get this CC spot?

1) the 7th English team, gifted by nationality?
2) Or the CC runner-up, in my scenario Connacht!

If it's the same as the old system the place goes to another team in the winner's league.

connachta

Why would it be the old system (except to favour the Anglo-French condominium)
The logic of EPCR should be rewarding the Challenge Cup involvment, i.e the runner-up.

galwaylad14

connachta wrote: »

Why would it be the old system (except to favour the Anglo-French condominium)
The logic of EPCR should be rewarding the Challenge Cup involvment, i.e the runner-up.

It's fairly archaic alright but let's be fair, we benefited twice from Leinster winning the Heineken Cup and were able to qualify when we had no right to really.

Anyway we have no reason to be worrying about this, if Leinster, Munster or Ulster were 5 points clear at the top do you think their fans would be worried about missing out on the Champions Cup if they finish 6th. Not a hope.

We'll finish in the top 4 and that has to be the minimum target now. Should be 5 more points coming against Zebre

MarinersBlues

galwaylad14 wrote: »

We'll finish in the top 4 and that has to be the minimum target now. Should be 5 more points coming against Zebre

Obviously a highest position possible should be our aim.
If for no other reason than to get a good seeding for the CC.


It would be useful to be able to rest a few players during the pool stages and still top our pool.
We should definitely be aiming for a home q-final next year.
A fully rested and fit team for the May finals would be great.


(I may be getting a bit carried away but I'm sure the fundamental thought process is sound)

cosalofa

Speaking of the Zebre match, I am planning to go to Parma for it. Can anyone tell me in which stand the Connacht supporters are planning to be in?

connachta

if we get the win in Italy, all right, let's imagine top 4.
Anyway, top 5 must be targeted to avoid the scenario of two Scottish/four Welsh out of the top six

Zzippy

cblaix wrote: »

Speaking of the Zebre match, I am planning to go to Parma for it. Can anyone tell me in which stand the Connacht supporters are planning to be in?

Check out the Connacht clan forum, there is usually a thread on away games with that info

wp_rathead

MarinersBlues wrote: »

Obviously a highest position possible should be our aim.
If for no other reason than to get a good seeding for the CC.


It would be useful to be able to rest a few players during the pool stages and still top our pool.
We should definitely be aiming for a home q-final next year.
A fully rested and fit team for the May finals would be great.


(I may be getting a bit carried away but I'm sure the fundamental thought process is sound)

I love this post
Imagine 4 Years ago any Connacht fan thinking like this?
#PatLam4Taoiseach

b.gud

I'm happy to see more people start talking about top 4, I've been saying it for a little while now that that's what we should be focusing on. There's no way the other provinces would be talking about securing 6th place if they were where we are in the table so neither should we.

Also good to see that the Indo are still doing a stellar job of recognising Connacht payers :rolleyes: (previous effort)

Robbo

Balls.ie have an amusing match report based entirely on what they can work out from stills of the match.

cosalofa

They've also made a balls of recognising the Connacht player in the 1st photo (pun very much intended). I'm pretty sure that is Muldoon and not Muldowney.

Digifriendly

Congratulations to Connacht. They have made me eat my words when I said they would struggle to win against the Dragons away after I had seen Dragons come close to beating Ulster away last week. If Connacht can win their remaining home games (and there's no reason they can't) and pick up points away from home in the process they will definitely finish in the top 4.

S12b

cblaix wrote: »

They've also made a balls of recognising the Connacht player in the 1st photo (pun very much intended). I'm pretty sure that is Muldoon and not Muldowney.

Ya you're right, I'd recognise those terrible 1980's style boots of his anywhere!!

S12b

Anyone know what happened Ciaran Gaffney, he's been listed as injured in the last few squad updates? With Henshaw away and Leader out for the season, we're a bit light at 15.....he may be needed to play fullback at some stage.

Bazzo

S12b wrote: »

Anyone know what happened Ciaran Gaffney, he's been listed as injured in the last few squad updates? With Henshaw away and Leader out for the season, we're a bit light at 15.....he may be needed to play fullback at some stage.

No idea what's going on with Gaffney but Fionn Carr should be back soon so he'll probably be covering full back.

BrokenMan

Didn't Healey fill in at FB a few games back and did ok

galwaylad14

Sure once Robbie gets back from international duty we'll be fine again for full back cover. So once Tiernan gets through the next two or 3 games we'll be fine on that front. Given how important every game is now I really couldn't see him throwing in Gaffney unless there was the mother of all injury crisis.

wp_rathead

Speaking of Full Backs, rather enjoyed Tiernan's "Player Diary" in today's Indo
http://m.independent.ie/sport/rugby/connacht-rugby/player-diary-tiernan-ohalloran-a-few-days-away-from-the-game-has-done-wonders-for-everyone-34445015.html

Crimsonforce

so it wasn't televised, OK i get that, but how the match is not available or highlights available on youtube or pro12 website is beyond me.

b.gud

Crimsonforce wrote: »

so it wasn't televised, OK i get that, but how the match is not available or highlights available on youtube or pro12 website is beyond me.

They don't put out highlights until all the weekends matches have taken place, so you'll have to wait until Sunday afternoon/evening

S12b

I'd rate Gaffney way ahead of Carr or Healy as a fb.

CMOTDibbler

b.gud wrote: »

I'm happy to see more people start talking about top 4, I've been saying it for a little while now that that's what we should be focusing on. There's no way the other provinces would be talking about securing 6th place if they were where we are in the table so neither should we.

Also good to see that the Indo are still doing a stellar job of recognising Connacht payers :rolleyes: (previous effort)

Meh, that's a sportsfile photo. The captioning would have come from them.

b.gud

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

Meh, that's a sportsfile photo. The captioning would have come from them.

Good point, and you are indeed correct Sportsfile have it incorrectly labeled, http://www.sportsfile.com/id/1103573/

I think the point still stands though. Someone took the time to do an interview with him so surely they would have been able to look at the pic and say wait a minute that's not Blade, lets find another one

Robbo

Updated injury list based on yesterday's Advertiser (doesn't take into account last night). Changes in bold:
Player|Knack|Expected Return
Jason Harris-Wright|Concussion against Brive|Available
Nathan White| Ireland Squad|6 Nations schedule permitting
JP Cooney|Shoulder|Available
Andrew Browne|A/C Fracture|Mid/Late February
Ben Marshall|Arm fracture|Possibly Next Week
Quinn Roux|Ankle|February-ish
Sean O’Brien|Concussion|Available
Eoin McKeon|Hip|Should have been this week
Nepia Fox-Matamua|ACL|Next Season
Kieran Marmion|Ireland Squad|6 Nations schedule permitting
John Cooney|Shoulder Dislocation/Tear|Ospreys/Late Feb
Dave McSharry|Concussion|Unknown
Conor Finn|???|???
Niyi Adeolokun|???|???
Darragh Leader|Wrist|Next Season
Ciaran Gaffney|Fracture of some kind|"Close"
Jack Carty|Spleen/Waterslide Ouch|1-3 months from early-February
Shane O'Leary|Hamstring|???

CMOTDibbler

b.gud wrote: »

Good point, and you are indeed correct Sportsfile have it incorrectly labeled, http://www.sportsfile.com/id/1103573/

I think the point still stands though. Someone took the time to do an interview with him so surely they would have been able to look at the pic and say wait a minute that's not Blade, lets find another one

The photos are added by the photo editors and not the journalist who writes the article.

It's a highly automated process these days, very few humans involved in putting a paper together.

connachta

Browne, Marshall, Roux and McKeon back or very close to it, give us some fresh air. Now Dillane can be retained for Ireland, and muldoon/muldowney have a break...

b.gud

Am I crazy or does this pic of CJ Stander look ridiculously like Craig Ronaldson

Bazzo

Robbo wrote: »

Updated injury list based on yesterday's Advertiser (doesn't take into account last night). Changes in bold:
Player|Knack|Expected Return
Jason Harris-Wright|Concussion against Brive|Available
Nathan White| Ireland Squad|6 Nations schedule permitting
JP Cooney|Shoulder|Available
Andrew Browne|A/C Fracture|Mid/Late February
Ben Marshall|Arm fracture|Possibly Next Week
Quinn Roux|Ankle|February-ish
Sean O’Brien|Concussion|Available
Eoin McKeon|Hip|Should have been this week
Nepia Fox-Matamua|ACL|Next Season
Kieran Marmion|Ireland Squad|6 Nations schedule permitting
John Cooney|Shoulder Dislocation/Tear|Ospreys/Late Feb
Dave McSharry|Concussion|Unknown
Conor Finn|???|???
Niyi Adeolokun|???|???
Darragh Leader|Wrist|Next Season
Ciaran Gaffney|Fracture of some kind|"Close"
Jack Carty|Spleen/Waterslide Ouch|1-3 months from early-February
Shane O'Leary|Hamstring|???

McKeon came on for Heenan yesterday. No idea what's up with Niyi or Finn.

S12b

connachta wrote: »

Browne, Marshall, Roux and McKeon back or very close to it, give us some fresh air. Now Dillane can be retained for Ireland, and muldoon/muldowney have a break...

McKeon played yesterday!

Getting Browne, Marshall and Roux back will be a huge bonus. Add in John Cooney and that's a great boost for the squad.

S12b

I'm going to preface this by saying I know a win or loss can't be attributed to one player solely BUT....thought the following was interesting nonetheless

Denis Buckley got injured against Munster on Nov 28th.

Our next 4 games in the Pro 12:

* Cardiff away - lost
* Ulster home - lost
* Leinster away - lost
* Scarlets away - lost

Denis Buckley returned against the Scarlets on Jan 30th

* Scarlets home - bp win
* Dragons away - bp win


Takeaway point.....Denis Buckley = God

connachta

S12b wrote: »

McKeon played yesterday!

That's why I said "back or very close to"

S12b wrote: »

I'm going to preface this by saying I know a win or loss can't be attributed to one player solely BUT....thought the following was interesting nonetheless

Denis Buckley got injured against Munster on Nov 28th.

Our next 4 games in the Pro 12:

* Cardiff away - lost
* Ulster home - lost
* Leinster away - lost
* Scarlets away - lost

Denis Buckley returned against the Scarlets on Jan 30th

* Scarlets home - bp win
* Dragons away - bp win


Takeaway point.....Denis Buckley = God

There we agree. BUT HOW ON EARTH COULD HE BE IGNORED FOR IRELAND???

b.gud

connachta wrote: »

There we agree. BUT HOW ON EARTH COULD HE BE IGNORED FOR IRELAND???

I think if he hadn't got injured when he did he would have been in the squad, he came back a bit too late. I think he'll def have a cap before the years out

connachta

b.gud wrote: »

I think if he hadn't got injured when he did he would have been in the squad, he came back a bit too late. I think he'll def have a cap before the years out

I could understand when Healy/McGrath both available. But not behind J.Cronin. Anyway, good for Connacht it could turn out he'll be decisive against Zebre once again...

Billysays no

flicking between the newcastle leicester game and the ulster glasgow game. Andy goode looks like he's had a few christmas puddings too many but its incredible that newcastle are ruling the game. proof that the connacht performance against newcastle rates well in the scheme of things

Crimsonforce

Billysays no wrote: »

flicking between the newcastle leicester game and the ulster glasgow game. Andy goode looks like he's had a few christmas puddings too many but its incredible that newcastle are ruling the game. proof that the connacht performance against newcastle rates well in the scheme of things

Lovely new hair on goode, retires bald, comes out of retirement with a full crop!

So how does everyone feel about results like Ulster tonight.

Lose and we have more margin for the top 4, win and they dent teams like Glasgow from narrowing the gap to 6th.

They had three games in hand on us so maybe that one was at least a good result.
The gap to 6th though is seriously slim(bit of a gap to 7th though).

Billysays no

so ulster and connacht at top of table. and in truth the two best teams in the league. so while leinster represent our effort at the 6n we are afforded our opportunity. so if joe wants what joe wants we take advantage. AJ, hit the feckin line. God knows Jack drove me nuts on this. munster cant even sign a player these days. What is going on down south? So they no longer rate. Its a 3 province situation but munster will likely lose against ospreys and glasgow over the next two weeks. Its a sad state of affairs for our friends

connachta

Billysays no wrote: »

so ulster and connacht at top of table. and in truth the two best teams in the league. so while leinster represent our effort at the 6n we are afforded our opportunity. so if joe wants what joe wants we take advantage. AJ, hit the feckin line. God knows Jack drove me nuts on this. munster cant even sign a player these days. What is going on down south? So they no longer rate. Its a 3 province situation but munster will likely lose against ospreys and glasgow over the next two weeks. Its a sad state of affairs for our friends

munster should win those two in our own interest

aimee1

Billysays no wrote: »

so ulster and connacht at top of table. and in truth the two best teams in the league. so while leinster represent our effort at the 6n we are afforded our opportunity. so if joe wants what joe wants we take advantage. AJ, hit the feckin line. God knows Jack drove me nuts on this. munster cant even sign a player these days. What is going on down south? So they no longer rate. Its a 3 province situation but munster will likely lose against ospreys and glasgow over the next two weeks. Its a sad state of affairs for our friends

Leinster are doing nicely. A season with disruption and the 20 internationals who missed pre season with new coaching ticket. And right up there