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

b.gud

connachta wrote: »

Big blow for Connacht. Robbie Henshaw ruled out for around 6 weeks with fracture in his hand. Denis Buckley out for 3 weeks

Buckley is probably the bigger blow of the 2 in some ways. Don't get me wrong I always want to see Robbie on the team sheet but with the RWC this year we've created some depth at centre to make up for his absence.

Buckley has been an integral part of our pack for the past year and we've really come to rely on him for scrum dominance. At least Loughney is back fit though

S12b

connachta wrote: »

Big blow for Connacht. Robbie Henshaw ruled out for around 6 weeks with fracture in his hand. Denis Buckley out for 3 weeks

With Loughney back and Ronaldson, Aki, TOH in such good form, it's manageable v Cardiff and Newcastle.

Losing Robbie for the interpro's is a big blow however.

wp_rathead

Masterson out for 3 weeks aswell
Still no word on Poolman
But positives are following are available for Cardiff :
Rodney Ah You
Quin Roux
Dave McSharry
Eoin McKeon
Ben Marshall

Robbo

Sky Sports team of the week; featuring Henshaw, Aki, Muldowney, Muldoon and Connolly. As someone who spent a lot of time wondering how many more seasons Muldoon has in him, it was a real turn-back-the-clock performance, even if the Sky commentators reckon he's from Ballinasloe.

6 weeks for Henshaw plus the 6 Nations means we'll be lucky to see him play 5-6 times more this season.

This is a real chance for Dave McSharry to re-establish himself. Also the options we have to rotate the backs must make us damn near impervious to video analysis this season.

S12b

Still no word on Poolman, out since the middle of October.....that minor hamstring strain is dragging on for 6+ weeks!!

connachta

The best news is having Rodney back. So that we can switch Bealham to substitute LH of Lough, and White/AhYou for TH. Very nice, and it will let Buckley the 3 weeks he needs (but please could he be back for Ulster, that would be my best Christmas gift)

Bazzo

Also included in the update is the bad news with regards to Fox-Matamua. It was his ACL and he'll be out for up to 6 months with surgery scheduled for January.

connachta

Bazzo wrote: »

Also included in the update is the bad news with regards to Fox-Matamua. It was his ACL and he'll be out for up to 6 months with surgery scheduled for January.

Heenan isn't far at all, he should be there for Ulster

typhoony

connachta wrote: »

Heenan isn't far at all, he should be there for Ulster

i would'nt like to see him thrown straight into a high level competitive game at least not as a starter

S12b

typhoony wrote: »

i would'nt like to see him thrown straight into a high level competitive game at least not as a starter

No, lets just pray to jaysus his shoulder is finally right.....he's 2.5 years into a 3 year contract and has only been fully fit for 4 months.....shows how much of an impression he made in those 4 months!

connachta

S12b wrote: »

No, lets just pray to jaysus his shoulder is finally right.....he's 2.5 years into a 3 year contract and has only been fully fit for 4 months.....shows how much of an impression he made in those 4 months!

Yes, he's so great. he was due in October, so he had enough times to recover correctly. Play him 15 min against Newcastle and full game against Ulster. Crucial to finish 2015 on a high

Bazzo

http://www.sportsjoe.ie/rugby/pat-lam-reckons-signing-dan-carter-for-connacht-would-be-a-waste-of-time/52473

Lam talks about buying in players vs developing them. Seems to be a great attitude to have, he really looks to want to build at Connacht.

connachta

with squad update they are the obvious choices

1) Lough
2) Delahunt
3) White
6) Muldoon
7) Connolly
8) McKeon
9) Marms
11) Healy
12) Ron
13) Aki

17) Bealham
18) AhYou
21) Porter


And then the possibilties for Lam to choose

4/5/19 between Roux/Dillane/Marshall/Muldowney
14/15/23 Parata/Leader, TOH/Leader, Parata/TOH, Niyi/TOH, Niyi/Leader
10/21 AJ or Carty

Marc O Polo

I Wudnt be surprised to see lam give Aki a rest versus Cardiff! He's played every game and with mcsharry and parata fit, I reckon it's a strong possibility!

Cosmo Kramer

Connacht to win the Pro 12: 6-1

Any Welsh team to win the Pro 12: 9-1

Changed times.

ClanofLams

Marc O Polo wrote: »

I Wudnt be surprised to see lam give Aki a rest versus Cardiff! He's played every game and with mcsharry and parata fit, I reckon it's a strong possibility!

I would be and hope he doesn't. Aki has been of our best players all year and this is a huge game to keep the momentum going. Ronaldson and himself have really developed an understanding, not the time to disrupt that imo.

Rest him against Newcastle. Great to have viable alternatives though.

connachta

connachta wrote: »

And then the possibilties for Lam to choose

4/5/19 between Roux/Dillane/Marshall/Muldowney
14/15/23 Parata/Leader, TOH/Leader, Parata/TOH, Niyi/TOH, Niyi/Leader
10/21 AJ or Carty

Sorry I forgot n°20 Naoupu or Sean O'Brien

wp_rathead

connachta wrote: »

Yes, he's so great. he was due in October, so he had enough times to recover correctly. Play him 15 min against Newcastle and full game against Ulster. Crucial to finish 2015 on a high

After the farce of last season of bringing him in when he wasn't ready I would wait until he is 100%
Only so many times someone can reconstruct their shoulder

I know he has played every game so far but I'd play Aki against Cardiff, he seems fit and is playing magic rugby - can rest him in the two European games against Newcastle

connachta

wp_rathead wrote: »

I know he has played every game so far but I'd play Aki against Cardiff, he seems fit and is playing magic rugby - can rest him in the two European games against Newcastle

Agree with that part. McSharry/Parata can prepare their partenairship for Newcastle double-header

MarinersBlues

I wouldn't go diving in for the 6/1 just yet.
If you really want I'll lay you 2/1 or even 6/4 if you ask me nicely.

http://www.oddschecker.com/rugby-union/uk-ireland/guinness-pro12/grand-final-winner

Zzippy

connachta wrote: »

Agree with that part. McSharry/Parata can prepare their partenairship for Newcastle double-header

You want to not just rest Aki but change the whole centre partnership for two players who have never played together? In a vital Pro12 game? I'm not having that, by all means make changes for Nerwcastle but we can't go changing combinations wholesale for Cardiff. Ronaldson/Parata if you're going to rest Aki for Cardiff, but I think Aki will play and get a rest the following week.

wp_rathead

Zzippy wrote: »

You want to not just rest Aki but change the whole centre partnership for two players who have never played together? In a vital Pro12 game? I'm not having that, by all means make changes for Nerwcastle but we can't go changing combinations wholesale for Cardiff. Ronaldson/Parata if you're going to rest Aki for Cardiff, but I think Aki will play and get a rest the following week.

I think connachta meant McSharry and Parata can train for Newcastle while Aki and Ronaldson play Cardiff

connachta

Zzippy wrote: »

You want to not just rest Aki but change the whole centre partnership for two players who have never played together? In a vital Pro12 game? I'm not having that, by all means make changes for Nerwcastle but we can't go changing combinations wholesale for Cardiff. Ronaldson/Parata if you're going to rest Aki for Cardiff, but I think Aki will play and get a rest the following week.

No, no no, sorry wasn't clear enough. I meant Ronaldson/Aki maintained for Cardiff, and McSharry/Parata to prepare during training sessions their 2 Challenge Cup games.

I'd prefer keeping the momentum for both pairing than breaking this with "individual" rotations games after games

connachta

wp_rathead wrote: »

I think connachta meant McSharry and Parata can train for Newcastle while Aki and Ronaldson play Cardiff

Yeah thank you:)

Zzippy

connachta wrote: »

No, no no, sorry wasn't clear enough. I meant Ronaldson/Aki maintained for Cardiff, and McSharry/Parata to prepare during training sessions their 2 Challenge Cup game.

I'd prefer keeping the momentum for both pairing than breaking this with "individual" rotations games after games

My bad. Apologies!

flouncer

Had a look back at that penalty try and there 3 problems with it
1/ if the pass was to get to Conway then Muldoon would have been in the way and the pass would have to go forward.
2/ marmion was looping back and if the pass had gone to hand he would at least tackled Conway, at worst pushed him towards the posts
3/ toh was coming towards Conway and would have covered this eventuality

Anyway will upload the full game and analysis from my media server tomorrow and provide a link to those who wish to download it.

From a Munster point of view thought saili was excellent and the keatley breaks were good. Not so good is that he seems to have lost total confidence in his kicking

errlloyd

flouncer wrote: »

Had a look back at that penalty try and there 3 problems with it
1/ if the pass was to get to Conway then Muldoon would have been in the way and the pass would have to go forward.
2/ marmion was looping back and if the pass had gone to hand he would at least tackled Conway, at worst pushed him towards the posts
3/ toh was coming towards Conway and would have covered this eventuality

Anyway will upload the full game and analysis from my media server tomorrow and provide a link to those who wish to download it.

From a Munster point of view thought saili was excellent and the keatley breaks were good. Not so good is that he seems to have lost total confidence in his kicking

I'm sure that video will be available far and wide. Distributed in schools. Made into a play perhaps? Poetry could be recited during half time.

Stan27

Just looked at the remaining games 14 pro12 games and on this form no reason why we can't win at least 9 of them.

Hagz

flouncer wrote: »

Had a look back at that penalty try and there 3 problems with it
1/ if the pass was to get to Conway then Muldoon would have been in the way and the pass would have to go forward.
2/ marmion was looping back and if the pass had gone to hand he would at least tackled Conway, at worst pushed him towards the posts
3/ toh was coming towards Conway and would have covered this eventuality

I'm sorry but that's the most biased view of the situation yet. The cherry on top is saying Tiernan O'Halloran would have actually been able to make a cover tackle.

S12b

flouncer wrote: »

Had a look back at that penalty try and there 3 problems with it
1/ if the pass was to get to Conway then Muldoon would have been in the way and the pass would have to go forward.
2/ marmion was looping back and if the pass had gone to hand he would at least tackled Conway, at worst pushed him towards the posts
3/ toh was coming towards Conway and would have covered this eventuality

Anyway will upload the full game and analysis from my media server tomorrow and provide a link to those who wish to download it.

From a Munster point of view thought saili was excellent and the keatley breaks were good. Not so good is that he seems to have lost total confidence in his kicking

Hagz wrote: »

I'm sorry but that's the most biased view of the situation yet. The cherry on top is saying Tiernan O'Halloran would have actually been able to make a cover tackle.

1) Eh no, not forward. 3) TOH would not have gotten across. 2) Marmion may well have stopped a try however!

Can anyone tell me how to post a screenshot here?

Bazzo

S12b wrote: »

1) Eh no, not forward. 3) TOH would not have gotten across. 2) Marmion may well have stopped a try however!

Can anyone tell me how to post a screenshot here?

Upload the image to a hosting website like imgur.com, get the direct link to it and paste it into your post with [IMG][/IMG] brackets on it.

errlloyd

If Conway caught that flat out, no one would have caught him. But Conway was either gonna have to majorly check his run, or he wasn't gonna catch it. There is no point posting a screenshot, we all know there is no one ahead of Conway, the point is that he was slowing down, everyone else was spedding up.

death1234567

Stan27 wrote: »

Just looked at the remaining games 14 pro12 games and on this form no reason why we can't win at least 9 of them.

I wouldn't be getting ahead of yourself. Form is temporary. There'll be a sticky patch along the way.

connachta

death1234567 wrote: »

I wouldn't be getting ahead of yourself. Form is temporary. There'll be a sticky patch along the way.

And in the end, we had a tackling rate inferior to the Munster's one, which is worrying. Collective defence and cohesion is good (no try conceeded in open play), individual tackling is still to improve a lot

Winters

I know this is from back in June and apologies if it has been posted here but I found it interesting what Willie said about Connacht looking at their options.

Also the 5,600 average attendances last season and the 100 persons employed figure is impressive.

Mr Ruane responded: “It’s something we are looking at right now. We have formed a new facilities working group to understand our needs and in terms of a stadium to ensure we fulfil our commercial ambitions and for fans for the match day experience.

“We will look at alternative venues if needs be; the Sportsground has the benefit of the city centre and a ‘walk-up’ crowd – that can be lost in an out-of-town stadium. There are alternatives that can be looked at.

“We’d like to think we can be contained in the Sportsground, but we’re looking at other facilities as well,” said Mr Ruane.

http://connachttribune.ie/connacht-rugby-set-to-examine-new-home-option-301/

CatFromHue

Is most of The Sportsground standing?

One of the reasons why I think Leinsters attendances jumped with the move to the RDS from Donnybrook is that most of the RDS is seated. Being mostly seated makes it much more appealing to the less than die hard supporters.

wp_rathead

The location of the Sportsground is second to none
Cardiff Arms Park would be my template of kind of stadium we could turn Sportsground into
Firstly I'd recommend renovating the Main Stand Terrace into a more seated focus stand (if that makes any sense)

Bazzo

CatFromHue wrote: »

Is most of The Sportsground standing?

One of the reasons why I think Leinsters attendances jumped with the move to the RDS from Donnybrook is that most of the RDS is seated. Being mostly seated makes it much more appealing to the less than die hard supporters.

Yeah the vast majority of it is standing. The sportsground is in a very handy location but it is a very small stadium. I wonder what the other venues he was talking about are? Pearse stadium?

Zzippy

Bazzo wrote: »

Yeah the vast majority of it is standing. The sportsground is in a very handy location but it is a very small stadium. I wonder what the other venues he was talking about are? Pearse stadium?

Pearse would be too large IMO, both pitch size and stand. Terryland would be ideal size ground but you'd have to lose the parking area and extend the pitch to fit in in-goal areas. If they bought out Galwegians they could develop it as a green-field site, it would entail re-aligning the pitch to fit in stands but more room than Terryland.
The ideal option is buying out the greyhound people and developing the SG. It would be so much better if the track wasn't there and stands were closer to the pitch.

wp_rathead

Bazzo wrote: »

Yeah the vast majority of it is standing. The sportsground is in a very handy location but it is a very small stadium. I wonder what the other venues he was talking about are? Pearse stadium?

Only two other stadiums in Galway really are Terryland Park and Pearce Stadium
Pearce Stadium be a disaster getting through Galway for people who traveled from outside Galway city
Terryland is also bit out of the way and effectively no Parking around it

Winters

CatFromHue wrote: »

Is most of The Sportsground standing?

One of the reasons why I think Leinsters attendances jumped with the move to the RDS from Donnybrook is that most of the RDS is seated. Being mostly seated makes it much more appealing to the less than die hard supporters.

I dont think the seating was high on the list of reasons. RDS has much better transport links than Donnybrook stadium and it was also timing - the team, competitions and sport were gaining in profile then.

Leinster cleverly (unlike Cardiff Blues) tested the water by only having the European Cup games moved to RDS initially.

Regarding the Sportsground, not owning the ground and the dog track are some of the issues I suspect. The alternatives, off the top of my head, are new build out of town, new build in docklands and Terryland Park..?

evil_seed

Can I put an end to the stadium talk as it will only go like this....

something something Bórd na gCon
something Terryland
something Pearse Stadium
something McHale park
something Dubarry Park

:pac::D;)

MarinersBlues

Zzippy wrote: »

The ideal option is buying out the greyhound people and developing the SG. It would be so much better if the track wasn't there and stands were closer to the pitch.

Neither Connacht nor the IGB own the Sportsground.
It is owned by the The Galway Agricultural & Sports Society Ltd since forever.
It isn't that long ago that Connacht had small crowds and the dogs had a much bigger following. The doggie lads were keen to get rid of Connacht and build a better track.
The pitch means the bends aren't as safe as they could be for the dogs.

I don't think Connacht will ever have the Sportsground outright.
Galwegians seems the most realistic prospect, haven't they been trying to sell for a few years?
Sounds like a win for every party involved.
It could be worthwhile trying to get Galway United in on the act.
Split some bills and get more Government money possibly.
Although Utd are perfectly happy where they are.

b.gud

Murray Kinsella got the gifs out for Connacht http://www.the42.ie/connacht-munster-analysis-pat-lam-2476196-Dec2015/

S12b

b.gud wrote: »

Murray Kinsella got the gifs out for Connacht http://www.the42.ie/connacht-munster-analysis-pat-lam-2476196-Dec2015/

Some pleasant reading there!!

testtech05

Anyone else heading over to Cardiff this weekend? Any tips for where to head before/after the game?

The Lost Sheep

wp_rathead wrote: »

Only two other stadiums in Galway really are Terryland Park and Pearce Stadium
Pearce Stadium be a disaster getting through Galway for people who traveled from outside Galway city
Terryland is also bit out of the way and effectively no Parking around it

Pearce is a no go. Terryland wouldn't be too bad. Isnt too much parking around ground but parking in University/Dangan etc would suffice... Connacht wont move from Sportsground to either

MarinersBlues wrote: »

Neither Connacht nor the IGB own the Sportsground.
It is owned by the The Galway Agricultural & Sports Society Ltd since forever.
It isn't that long ago that Connacht had small crowds and the dogs had a much bigger following. The doggie lads were keen to get rid of Connacht and build a better track.
The pitch means the bends aren't as safe as they could be for the dogs.

I don't think Connacht will ever have the Sportsground outright.
Galwegians seems the most realistic prospect, haven't they been trying to sell for a few years?
Sounds like a win for every party involved.
It could be worthwhile trying to get Galway United in on the act.
Split some bills and get more Government money possibly.
Although Utd are perfectly happy where they are.

Connacht never will have Sportsground outright. Wegians wouldn't work. Site is way too compact for anything major to be done. Wegians don't have enough space for their own sides in their without anything else thrown in on top of them

Shelflife

testtech05 wrote: »

Anyone else heading over to Cardiff this weekend? Any tips for where to head before/after the game?

Check out the Connacht Clan website , they will have the details there as to whos going from the clan and where they are meeting up,what tickets to get etc.

b.gud

As well as beautiful rugby, great memories of my first trip to Thomand park and an improved belief that Connacht are building a squad that are able to overcome adverse situations and close out games where the score is tight, this game have given me something else brilliant. 2 new gifs that are going to get used endlessly in this forum

First up is the Bundee approves gif for when we score a brilliant try, have a great win or announce an important signing *cough* Robbie *cough*



Next up is Pat most certainly does not approve, to be used for horrendous refing decisions or poorly informed journalists writing articles about Connacht that are pure crap, e.g. this

flouncer

So we lose henshaw, Masterson and Buckley and can still put out something like
Toh
Poolman/parata
Aki
ronaldson
Healy
Aj/carty
Marmion
Loughney
Delahunt
White
Dillane
Muldowney
Muldoon
Connolly
McKeon
Not bad at all