Connacht Team Talk Thread V - The Friend Zone

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

gally74 wrote: »

Not a headache.

A happiness...

For me I wouldn't change the team. Aki and carty to start on the bench

Would expect this next week too. Only reason to maybe change it would be amount Conor Fitzgerald has played, hasn’t really had break at all.

Will be interesting to see what is picked first round of Europe.

Diabhal Beag

That's a huge win. Any win in Wales is great. 4/5 wins is great going.

SameOleJay

Absolutely terrific performance.

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

According to TG4 stats, Connacht missed two out of 112 tackles, that’s insane if right.

Ospreys made less than half the metres Connacht made.

tobdom

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

That's a huge win. Any win in Wales is great. 4/5 wins is great going.

Great win, as you say away in Wales. Really good start to the season and momentum building, would be massive to keep it going by beating Leinster next week....

Some stat there in the match summary, 110 tackles made, ONLY 2 MISSED!!!

realhorrorshow

Not the prettiest but I'm sure we'll all take any kind of win in Wales. Positives for me were the handling, defensive lineout, the centres, and the tackling. There was some lovely interplay in tight spaces between backs and forwards. Negatives were the scrum, maul, maul defense, and the concession of needless silly penalties.

Wouldn't like to have to pick the centres for the next two games. Robb was excellent, he really relishes contact in both defense and attack, cuts some lovely lines and has nice hands to boot.

Ospreys were poor, Welsh rugby seems to be in real trouble.

Good win, but more specifically as we only have one game we'll be favourites to win between now and February.
Im sure we'll win some of them since its sport but its a horrible run ahead.

connachta

ClanofLams wrote: »

According to TG4 stats, Connacht missed two out of 112 tackles, that’s insane if right.

Ospreys made less than half the metres Connacht made.

Crazy champions stats!

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

ClanofLams wrote: »

Connacht missing both first choice props, both first choice second rows, first choice 7, 10, 11, 12 and 15. Only losing two to the World Cup is half the story.

Teams Connacht beat to win pro12 were back to full strength.

Id make a case for s. Fitz, sob and Godwin being first choices too, nearly a full team

connachta

Clearly those jounalists were completely out of reality

1) McAlister
2) McCartney
3) Bealham
4) Roux
5) Thorbury
6) SOB
7) Faing'aa
10) Carty
12) Aki
15) TOH

We were missing 2/3 of our main team (eve if there are tight calls). Made it a really, really impressive performance away from home!

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

Got to love the depth being built by Connacht this year. Huge credit to the coaching staff

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Some hit by Gallagher. Would like to see him and Roux playing together, they could be a very physical pairing

https://twitter.com/sporttg4/status/1190694711503310849?s=21

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

ClanofLams wrote: »

Some hit by Gallagher. Would like to see him and Roux playing together, they could be a very physical pairing

https://twitter.com/sporttg4/status/1190694711503310849?s=21

I’d be really interested to see thornbury dillane one weeks and Gallagher roux the next week think they’d be very interesting pairs

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Could be a seriously strong bench for Leinster game next week. Hopefully Bealham and Roux are back available. Bench including Gallagher, SOB, Blade, Carty and Aki would make some impact in the last thirty minutes.

Interesting too to see what side Leinster go with, guess they will look to bring back most internationals but they do have Treviso first up at home in champions cup so that gives them more leeway than might otherwise be the case.

Fancy Connacht to make it five on the bounce either way.

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

Next three games are huge and I’m sure we’ll see all four but how the **** do you pick two centers from. Farrell, Robb, Godwin and Bundee?

Think I’d like to see Robb-Farrell against Leinster, Bundee-Godwin against Montpellier and Robb-Bundee against Toulouse

connachta

Gallagher looks good. Maybe he could stun the other 3 we're expecting for and make it into the Irish setup before next RWC!

connachta

For God's Sake 110 out of 112 tackles!!!!!
Someone able to find better rate in the archives?

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Wegians89 wrote: »

Next three games are huge and I’m sure we’ll see all four but how the **** do you pick two centers from. Farrell, Robb, Godwin and Bundee?

Think I’d like to see Robb-Farrell against Leinster, Bundee-Godwin against Montpellier and Robb-Bundee against Toulouse

No clue. Never had a quartet close to being this good. Even in ‘16 Aki Henshaw and Ronaldson were playing really well but there was a drop to Robb/Parata, both were young prospects and in fairness played well generally but these four are all around their peak.

Agree with you on selection for Leinster, guess need to see how that goes first but if Robb and Farrell play as well as they did tonight it’s going to be difficult to change the following week.

Really like the back row at the moment too. Masterson back to his best, having big moments in every game. Butler just been a superb signing, doesn’t get credit he deserves, gets through mountain of work every game and never seems to have bad game, appears an excellent captain too. Paul Boyle is getting better and he’s still only 22, his carrying has improved this season, or maybe he just does more of it at 8. Maybe some rotation needed though with six day turnaround for Leinster after two draining enough games in the last seven days.

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

connachta wrote: »

Gallagher looks good. Maybe he could stun the other 3 we're expecting for and make it into the Irish setup before next RWC!

Certainly wouldn’t rule it out. Himself and James Ryan for the u20s were close enough in terms of ability. Obviously Ryan has gone to a different level since then but Gallagher could still make breakthrough, 23 very young for a second row.

connachta

ClanofLams wrote: »

Could be a seriously strong bench for Leinster game next week. Hopefully Bealham and Roux are back available. Bench including Gallagher, SOB, Blade, Carty and Aki would make some impact in the last thirty minutes.

Interesting too to see what side Leinster go with, guess they will look to bring back most internationals but they do have Treviso first up at home in champions cup so that gives them more leeway than might otherwise be the case.

Fancy Connacht to make it five on the bounce either way.

16 McCartney vs S.Cronin

18 Bealham vs Porter
19 Roux vs Ryan
20 SOB/Fainga'a vs Ruddock/VdF
21 Blade vs McGrath
22 Carty vs Sexton
23 S.Fitzgerald/Healy vs Kearney/Larmour




That's gonna be a particular kind of game you can arrive 55 minutes late to see big show :D

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

ClanofLams wrote: »

No clue. Never had a quartet close to being this good. Even in ‘16 Aki Henshaw and Ronaldson were playing really well but there was a drop to Robb/Parata, both were young prospects and in fairness played well generally but these four are all around their peak.

Agree with you on selection for Leinster, guess need to see how that goes first but if Robb and Farrell play as well as they did tonight it’s going to be difficult to change the following week.

Really like the back row at the moment too. Masterson back to his best, having big moments in every game. Butler just been a superb signing, doesn’t get credit he deserves, gets through mountain of work every game and never seems to have bad game, appears an excellent captain too. Paul Boyle is getting better and he’s still only 22, his carrying has improved this season, or maybe he just does more of it at 8. Maybe some rotation needed though with six day turnaround for Leinster after two draining enough games in the last seven days.

I think Copeland could sneak into the starting team against Leinster with sob on the bench

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

ClanofLams wrote: »

Certainly wouldn’t rule it out. Himself and James Ryan for the u20s were close enough in terms of ability. Obviously Ryan has gone to a different level since then but Gallagher could still make breakthrough, 23 very young for a second row.

Gallagher has been plagued by injuries since than too tbh fair to him.

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Wegians89 wrote: »

I think Copeland could sneak into the starting team against Leinster with sob on the bench

It would be a nice addition if Copeland could stay fit and make an impact. Can’t remember who said it on here but someone pointed out he had big second seasons at both Cardiff and Munster.

Fainga’a should be a million miles away? Thought the original prognosis was around a month, thought it would might have been mentioned if he was going to be available that soon:

connachta

ClanofLams wrote: »

It would be a nice addition if Copeland could stay fit and make an impact. Can’t remember who said it on here but someone pointed out he had big second seasons at both Cardiff and Munster.

Fainga’a should be a million miles away? Thought the original prognosis was around a month, thought it would might have been mentioned if he was going to be available that soon:

1 month, a month ago, so, I've big hopes, at least for Europe
He was player of the season for very good reasons!

Zzippy

Anyone here get a replacement season ticket in the post? I got one in Friday despite not requesting one. Just wondering if more got them and if it was a system error?

Robbo

I can't believe it's not Butler

Colby Faingaa and SOB should be ready for the weekend.

testtech05

Some Like It TOH

Robbo wrote: »

Colby Faingaa and SOB should be ready for the weekend.

Ultan went off with a back spasm at the weekend, hopefully it isn't too bad or we will be down to bare bones in the 2nd row.

connachta

Robbo wrote: »

Colby Faingaa and SOB should be ready for the weekend.

Why not SOB in 2nd row if needed! on the bench at least


Something like


19) SOB

20) Colby


4) Roux (or Copeland if really needed)

5) Gallagher

connachta

Robbo wrote: »

Colby Faingaa and SOB should be ready for the weekend.

Hell yeah, right on time for Champions Cup!

The Lost Sheep

Love how connacht do this.
https://www.connachtrugby.ie/connacht-player-club-ambassador-programme-launched-for-2019-20/

Would be great if other provinces did it as well with players in leinster, Munster, Ulster primarily focused on the junior and smaller clubs and not so much the cons, Blackrocks, etc