Connacht Team Talk Thread V - The Friend Zone

Utopia Parkway

Try going to the TMO.

theVersatile

Oh my

Utopia Parkway

Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat.

Euphoriasean

Unbelievable

ScrubsfanChris

Ah lads.....

shootermacg

Sensational!!!

Bazzo

Mul, it's over

Ah Connacht. That sums up what it's like to be a supporter in a single match.

Diabhal Beag

Well that was a brilliant last 5

Donkey noises were kept to a minimum for those 2 tries.

Larbre34

The flurry of ninja edits going on.....

its_phil

Mul, it's over

This f***ing team would drive you spare. Well done lads.

Heffo was sensational

Mul, it's over

Amazing.

MayoForSam

Mul, it's over

Holy moly and there was me nearly leaving early to beat the crowd!

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Jaysus. Pretty shocking performance but nice to keep glimmer of hope alive. Copeland deserves a start next week.

Leinstertomas

Just looking at Connacht's chances of qualifying and while they're slim it's definitely not impossible. A loss against Toulouse today will mean Montpellier wont be interested in round 6 so if Connacht manage any win at home to Toulouse they could well finish on at least 17.

Runner up out of Clermont/Ulster almost certainly wont be caught
Northampton are on 9 points. They will hopefully get nothing today and their -13 pd could get significantly worse (Connacht -18 atm). They will probably get 5 points at home to Benneton though so Connacht may have to hope they lose or at least miss out on BP away to Lyon

Glasgow are on 8 points currently and likely to be on 13 after today. However their last 2 games are Exeter (H) and Sale (A) so definitely within Connacht's reach.

Last is Munster's pool. It looks to me like best scenario for Connacht is Munster to lose to Saracens and Racing, and Racing beat Saracens although not analysed it properly.
May have made some mistakes here

Tommybojangles

Mul, it's over

Ill look at the qualification permutations when my hands warm up, but regardless of bonus points, performances etc, that really was one that will stand out as a great memory, against our bogey team as well.

Bazzo

Mul, it's over

Kerins looks like another quality 9 in the making

realhorrorshow

Bazzo wrote: »

Kerins looks like another quality 9 in the making

He looked like a quality 9 in the making 3 and a half years ago, don't know why he's featured so little in his career so far.

MarinersBlues

Mul, it's over

No LBP for Montpellier.

We are up against it now to qualify but 2nd in the group is up for grabs.

gally74

The Friend Zone

Heff and dillane plus McCoy and daly had big games

Tommybojangles

Mul, it's over

La rochelle beating Glasgow which would be a great result for us

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Ulster and Clemont are through. Two out of Munster group too.

Last place looks to be between Northampton, Glasgow (both on 9 points) and Gloucester/Connacht (9 points, 8 points). Aside from the far from straightforward task of Connacht winning their two games, likely need Glasgow and Northampton to have a loss too.

Would expect Exeter to have a very good chance in Glasgow based on current form. Northampton have treviso (h) and Lyon (a). They’re going to be strong favourites for both, presuming Lyon decide not to put out first XV.

Connacht still big outsiders but good to be in the mix given looked buried at half two today.

Zzippy

What a comeback. Said with 5 mins left I couldn't see us scoring once never mind twice. Some great individual performances, mostly in the pack... Heff, McCoy, Dillane, the whole back row. Backs defended well but struggled to convert chances. Porch continues to impress. But even more impressive was the collective refusal to lie down. Getting a win from that position shows real character. Roll on next week!

On another note, we must be really scraping the barrel for fit back 3 players. Niyi was clearly not ready, heavily strapped and limping from the start. At least the next few weeks we can pick from the whole squad and academy. Presumably we'll see Goddard against Munster.

realhorrorshow

Zzippy wrote: »

What a comeback. Said with 5 mins left I couldn't see us scoring once never mind twice. Some great individual performances, mostly in the pack... Heff, McCoy, Dillane, the whole back row. Backs defended well but struggled to convert chances. Porch continues to impress. But even more impressive was the collective refusal to lie down. Getting a win from that position shows real character. Roll on next week!

On another note, we must be really scraping the barrel for fit back 3 players. Niyi was clearly not ready, heavily strapped and limping from the start. At least the next few weeks we can pick from the whole squad and academy. Presumably we'll see Goddard against Munster.

Think Peter Sullivan would be the next cab off the rank. I’ve seen Goddard play twice in the last two weeks and I wouldn’t say he’s ready for first team rugby.

I’m more worried about loosehead. McCabe and Matt Burke both came off injured this weekend. Next in line seems to be Declan Adamson, who was playing hooker until very recently.

connachta

Disagree about Northampton/Sarries
Both are focused on Premiership and there's a good chance they let it slip vs Racing (home but against a proper opposition interested for Top2 seeding), and Lyon (away, vs a team which need to offer their fan a real home win)
Same for Glasgow (home vs motivated Exeter AND away vs Sale which won't give up their final home match)
Munster are entitled to lose in Paris and finished with 17.

So YES there is a decent chance we make it through, we can take 10 with Thornbury/McAlister/Healy/O'Halloran/Marmion, we'll be full-strenght for the last two!

connachta

BTW.
1) we should have take the TBP in the first 60
2) we should have lost it after 74 minutes
3) we're Connacht, we're doing it like nobody else

connachta

Don't forget there's no more 2 but 3 spots of "second-best" for the taking

IMO chances are Ulster 99% and Gloucester 1% (won't win in Toulouse)

So the remaining 2 spots are

Northampton 35% chances
Sarries 35%
Glasgow 25%
And us 5%

The big task is taking the 5 vs Toulouse (IMO they won't send a 100% full-team, but with most and quality substitutes they'll be good-looking. However not untouchable at all, we saw it last month even with our deplated team, and yesterday)

Diabhal Beag

connachta wrote: »

we'll be full-strenght for the last two!

I pulled my hamstring just reading this

connemara man

The Friend Zone

Connacht have only ever scored a TBP in the champions cup against Zebre, we need 10 points from the last 2 games to have a shot of qualification

connachta

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

I pulled my hamstring just reading this

Even Farrell will be there in 3 weeks.
I don't get your reaction. Except SOB everybody will be there.
And we'll rotate in both Leinster/Ulster away. We can (and will) go full-strenght vs Munster and Toulouse


McAllister coming back we be a huge releive. 2 weeks to play for Buck (Paddy is due for new year), without M.Burke and McCabe, he has to play the full 80 next week at least.

Diabhal Beag

connachta wrote: »

Even Farrell will be there in 3 weeks.
I don't get your reaction. Except SOB everybody will be there.
And we'll rotate in both Leinster/Ulster away. We can (and will) go full-strenght vs Munster and Toulouse


McAllister coming back we be a huge releive. 2 weeks to play for Buck (Paddy is due for new year), without M.Burke and McCabe, he has to play the full 80 next week at least.

I think we should be careful expecting reasonable to very good pool of fit players going by 2019/2020 so far. We've been absolute mobbed with injuries and there's 3 tough interpros coming where we might not have a panel of 25 to rotate in and out. That'll put more pressure on.