Connacht Team Talk Thread V - The Friend Zone

testtech05

Some Like It TOH

Good performance from the 3 lads today. Delighted for Jack to get the motm. Some birthday present for him!!

Lucas44

realhorrorshow wrote: »

Does anyone know anything about the following players?

Mark Balaski
Josh Dunne
Cian Huxford
Colm Reilly
Liam Winnett

Jordan Duggan is injured afaik.

Mark, On Erasmus in France
Josh dunne is year two academy
Huxford released
Reilly year 2 academy, currently injured
Winnett left the set up

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

Lucas44 wrote: »

Mark, On Erasmus in Toulouse a spot being kept for him when he’s back next year
Josh dunne is year two academy
Huxford released
Reilly year 2 academy, currently injured
Winnett left the set up

Winnett left? Where’d he go?

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

Academy still hasn’t be officially announced?

testtech05

Some Like It TOH

Murray Kinsella reporting on the 42 this am reckons Marmion is to lose out to Luke McGrath for the 31 man squad with Carty in as 3rd choice out half.

Be disappointed for Kieran if true!

Zzippy

testtech05 wrote: »

Murray Kinsella reporting on the 42 this am reckons Marmion is to lose out to Luke McGrath for the 31 man squad with Carty in as 3rd choice out half.

Be disappointed for Kieran if true!

Would be a joke going on form over the last 12 months, but I'd be only too happy to see him playing for us against Scarlets on the 28th. Dillane and Bealham too. Hopefully we can pick up a few good wins during the RWC and get a good start to the league.

Mr Tickle

Zzippy wrote: »

Would be a joke going on form over the last 12 months, but I'd be only too happy to see him playing for us against Scarlets on the 28th. Dillane and Bealham too. Hopefully we can pick up a few good wins during the RWC and get a good start to the league.

Last time Connacht had this kind of a head start good things happened

Zzippy

Mr Tickle wrote: »

Last time Connacht had this kind of a head start good things happened

Exactly. Let's wait til we win a few of those games before we call it an actual headstart, though!

Utopia Parkway

testtech05 wrote: »

Murray Kinsella reporting on the 42 this am reckons Marmion is to lose out to Luke McGrath for the 31 man squad with Carty in as 3rd choice out half.

Be disappointed for Kieran if true!

Gutted for him. Completely out of the blue as he's been second behind Murray for ages and was playing well. Was zero signs that he wouldn't make the squad.

BrokenMan

I can't believe it's not Butler

Unless it’s injury related I can’t see the logic. Proven in big international games and don’t see what McGrath has done to pass him.

Diabhal Beag

Never been more gutted for a player missing out as I am for Marmion. He honestly couldn't have done more to prove himself to the coaches.

Huge congrats to Jack and Bundee.

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Seriously strange call. Wtf.
So unlike Schmidt too. His tendency has always been to trust players who have delivered for him. Marmion must be completely gutted.

Zzippy

ClanofLams wrote: »

Seriously strange call. Wtf.
So unlike Schmidt too. His tendency has always been to trust players who have delivered for him. Marmion must be completely gutted.

Yep. Marmion's delivered big time for Joe vs NZ, England and Australia in the last couple of years. McGrath made a great try-saving tackle on Saturday, but that's about the only contribution of note I can recall in an Irish jersey.

Mr Tickle

Zzippy wrote: »

Yep. Marmion's delivered big time for Joe vs NZ, England and Australia in the last couple of years. McGrath made a great try-saving tackle on Saturday, but that's about the only contribution of note I can recall in an Irish jersey.

He also fell over while trying to cover Owen Lane for his try. Now i know jack missed the first attempt but mcgrath really could have done better. Meanwhile Marmion wins a jackal turnover and gets dropped

irishgrover

I'm dumbfounded on the decision (but assume JS has his reasons)
I'm gutted for the fella on a personal level
I'm feeling guilty about feeling a little happy on a Connacht level

irishgrover

Mul, it's over

irishgrover wrote: »

I'm dumbfounded on the decision (but assume JS has his reasons)
I'm gutted for the fella on a personal level
I'm feeling guilty about feeling a little happy on a Connacht level

Yup gutted for him. He was doing media and everything last week - really odd decision.

As a filthy biased Leinster supporter I never felt there was much between Marmion and McGrath but given how many options both got from Joe it was beyond clear who he favoured.

Zzippy

The only logic I can see is a possible injury. Marmion limped off on Saturday - he was taken off as soon as he felt it really, which suggested he was being wrapped in cotton wool, but maybe its enough of a worry to put doubt in Joe's mind. I can't see any rugby reason to pick McGrath over him.

Bridge93

With only two scrum halves any tiny knock would need to be very seriously looked at. Any doubt he might miss a game would rule him out

Shelflife

Zzippy wrote: »

The only logic I can see is a possible injury. Marmion limped off on Saturday - he was taken off as soon as he felt it really, which suggested he was being wrapped in cotton wool, but maybe its enough of a worry to put doubt in Joe's mind. I can't see any rugby reason to pick McGrath over him.

Maybe, but if Joe is using that logic then Carberry, Henshaw ,Earls and Sexton dont travel either.

Really feel for Marmion, has never let Ireland down always done what was asked of him and now gets shafted.

RobbieRuns

Marmion is not injured, and every player comes off with a few bumps after any test match. If they don't, they're not trying hard enough !

testtech05

Some Like It TOH

Bridge93 wrote: »

With only two scrum halves any tiny knock would need to be very seriously looked at. Any doubt he might miss a game would rule him out

If that was the case and it was injury related surely he would have mentioned as much in his announcement earlier, instead of just saying it was a tight call?

At the risk of derailing the thread slightly could it be more too do with McGrath's experience with Sexton and Carbery at club level? (Bit late in the day to be making that a factor though)

Mr Tickle

testtech05 wrote: »

If that was the case and it was injury related surely he would have mentioned as much in his announcement earlier, instead of just saying it was a tight call?

At the risk of derailing the thread slightly could it be more too do with McGrath's experience with Sexton and Carbery at club level? (Bit late in the day to be making that a factor though)

I doubt that has much to do with it. Marmion's played along side sexton plenty of times and in a couple of big games. And given that Carty is the inexperienced half back in there i'd have thought that kind of thinking would go in Marmion's favor.
I agree, they would surely have used an injury to soften the blow if it was the case.

realhorrorshow

irishgrover wrote: »

I'm dumbfounded on the decision (but assume JS has his reasons)
I'm gutted for the fella on a personal level
I'm feeling guilty about feeling a little happy on a Connacht level

It’s nice that we’ll have him for the Pro14 games but long term it’ll be much easier to keep our players if they’re in the international picture. I was very pleasantly surprised the last time Buckley and O’Halloran re-signed.

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Shocked I’m posting this but fair play to Luke Fitzgerald. He’s going bananas about Kleyn inclusion on twitter. He seems to be one of the rare people who were making a stand on principle about Akis inclusion when he became eligible. Still don’t particularly like the way he did by personalizing the issue but at least he’s consistent. Plenty of others who went crazy during that time are quiet today.

Squidgy Black

ClanofLams wrote: »

Shocked I’m posting this but fair play to Luke Fitzgerald. He’s going bananas about Kleyn inclusion on twitter. He seems to be one of the rare people who were making a stand on principle about Akis inclusion when he became eligible. Still don’t particularly like the way he did by personalizing the issue but at least he’s consistent. Plenty of others who went crazy during that time are quiet today.

He's lost the plot with it a little bit, fair enough he's consistent with his argument against it but the whole 'South Africa A' thing is a bit cringe worthy, even though that's probably the whole angle he's going for these days.

On another note, Agustin Pichot spoke out about it also, which I thought was unusual, mostly because you never really hear of players who've played in France mention anything about JIFF players etc.

Burkie1203

Mul, it's over

ClanofLams wrote: »

Shocked I’m posting this but fair play to Luke Fitzgerald. He’s going bananas about Kleyn inclusion on twitter. He seems to be one of the rare people who were making a stand on principle about Akis inclusion when he became eligible. Still don’t particularly like the way he did by personalizing the issue but at least he’s consistent. Plenty of others who went crazy during that time are quiet today.

I hate the whole Project player thing. It's of benefit to a small number of countries who can afford to target and lure players with big money contracts and the opportunity to play international rugby.

Argentina, PIs in particular are not in a position to take advantage of this at all. They can only lose, especially the PIs. The 5 years will help but hope WR can stretch it out again in the future to eliminate it altogether.


I dont get the Marmion and Kleyn selections. Marmion should be starting IMO

Burkie1203

Mul, it's over

Squidgy Black wrote: »

On another note, Agustin Pichot spoke out about it also, which I thought was unusual, mostly because you never really hear of players who've played in France mention anything about JIFF players etc.

Pichots argument in particular relates to how Argentina are unable to attract players from other countries because they don't have the cash to.

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Squidgy Black wrote: »

He's lost the plot with it a little bit, fair enough he's consistent with his argument against it but the whole 'South Africa A' thing is a bit cringe worthy, even though that's probably the whole angle he's going for these days.

On another note, Agustin Pichot spoke out about it also, which I thought was unusual, mostly because you never really hear of players who've played in France mention anything about JIFF players etc.

Ah yeah it’s way over the top but at least they’re his genuinely held views or seem to be. The likes of Donal lenihan were a joke, zebo was dropped at the same time so he decided to have a hit on Aki. I recall O’Driscoll stirring it on newstalk too which I had never seen him do before or since in relation to project players.

It was pretty disgusting the level of attention Aki got compared to the many before and after him.

Pichot is a disingenuous little twerp. He tweeted some ‘data’ before about players representing country not born in. It was taken from a YouTube video and totally off base, the data included the likes of Joey Carbery and Jamie Heaslio (born in Israel or somewhere I think?). Totally misleading.

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Burkie1203 wrote: »

I hate the whole Project player thing. It's of benefit to a small number of countries who can afford to target and lure players with big money contracts and the opportunity to play international rugby.

Argentina, PIs in particular are not in a position to take advantage of this at all. They can only lose, especially the PIs. The 5 years will help but hope WR can stretch it out again in the future to eliminate it altogether.


I dont get the Marmion and Kleyn selections. Marmion should be starting IMO

Yeah that’s a reasonable position. It’s a hard to legislate for to a certain degree cos NZ are gonna keep poaching x amount of islanders at 15 or whatever a year on scholarship and I guess you can’t rule them out?

Have no issue with anyone against project players though, just the level of personalized attention Aki got was disgusting.

Zzippy

Lads project players is off topic for this thread, and like the Ireland thread it will only end badly. So no more, thanks.