Connacht Team Talk Thread V - The Friend Zone

Lucas44 · 15-12-2019 1:39pm

realhorrorshow wrote: »

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.

He wasn’t playing hooker, he is a hooker

realhorrorshow · 15-12-2019 2:36pm

Lucas44 wrote: »

He wasn’t playing hooker, he is a hooker

Semantics, he played 30 mins at loosehead this weekend anyway.

connachta · 15-12-2019 3:26pm

Bazzo · 15-12-2019 3:29pm

Mul, it's over

Aki will have 2 weeks off over Christmas like other internationals

connachta · 15-12-2019 3:33pm

Bazzo wrote: »

Aki will have 2 weeks off over Christmas like other internationals

2 weeks?:eek::eek:

But he was rested/had a little knock in Toulouse. Optimistic it was negociated with IRFU

ClanofLams · 15-12-2019 4:28pm

Mul, it's over

All RWC players have two full weeks off without training or anything Andy Friend said. So Aki and Carty will definitely miss ulster game and either Munster the week before or Leinster the week after.

Would think Munster will give most of their RWC players the next two weeks off and get them some minutes before Europe. Think that’s what most provinces will do. Connacht might do the opposite given injury toll and next week being only home fixture.

Burkie1203 · 15-12-2019 4:39pm

Mul, it's over

connachta wrote: »

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.

Saints will TBP v Benetton IMO so cannot see them throwing away a QF chance away to Lyon. Surely Lyon would be more focussed domestically seen as they are out of Europe?

R92 beat Munster and they win the group but they cannot be a top 2 seed due to the draw in Thomond as two of Leinster, Exeter and Toulouse will take those spots IMO. So they may rest players away to Saracens

Leinster Exeter Toulouse R92 Clermont will win their groups

Ulster will qualify with a win over Bath
Sarries will move onto 15 with TBP win v Ospreys meaning any win v R92 who are likely to rotate if they have won the group

connachta · 15-12-2019 4:50pm

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Saints will TBP v Benetton IMO so cannot see them throwing away a QF chance away to Lyon. Surely Lyon would be more focussed domestically seen as they are out of Europe?

R92 beat Munster and they win the group but they cannot be a top 2 seed due to the draw in Thomond as two of Leinster, Exeter and Toulouse will take those spots IMO. So they may rest players away to Saracens

Leinster Exeter Toulouse R92 Clermont will win their groups

Ulster will qualify with a win over Bath
Sarries will move onto 15 with TBP win v Ospreys meaning any win v R92 who are likely to rotate if they have won the group

Right about Top2 but R92 would risk an away QF if they don't win in Sarries (even if Toulouse lose against us). They'll play the game.
Lyon will be home to save a catastrophic campain and Northampton are quite poor.
I'm optimistic Glasgow will lose one of their last two.

So as I said, we're not favorite for a spot, but it's far from impossible

ClanofLams · 15-12-2019 5:04pm

Mul, it's over

I think Exeter will beat Glasgow and rule them out. I’m assuming two will come out of Munster group. Connacht need to win their two and hope Northampton lose to lyon. I wouldn’t totally rule out Treviso shocking them either though Northampton obviously strong favourites.

Would happily take eight points now to leave Connacht on 16.

Bazzo · 15-12-2019 5:11pm

Mul, it's over

Saw a stat there during one of the matches, Aki currently has the 3rd most turnovers in the Heineken cup this year.

gally74 · 15-12-2019 5:20pm

The Friend Zone

Bazzo wrote: »

Saw a stat there during one of the matches, Aki currently has the 3rd most turnovers in the Heineken cup this year.

thats fair, but i felt HEFF was man of the match on Saturday, best ive seen him in a long time,

dillans best game for Conn too for a long time, we must have stole, 3 line outs,

connachta · 15-12-2019 5:24pm

ClanofLams wrote: »

I think Exeter will beat Glasgow and rule them out. I’m assuming two will come out of Munster group. Connacht need to win their two and hope Northampton lose to lyon. I wouldn’t totally rule out Treviso shocking them either though Northampton obviously strong favourites.

Would happily take eight points now to leave Connacht on 16.

Munster will finish on 16/17.
We need a BP somewhere IMO. Maybe 2
Northampton might get 9/10. If we got 10/10, still game on!
Same for Glasgow, who might win both but without any BP. 9/10 may get us through

I know it's hard task to take BP vs Toulouse/Montpelllier but we proved how close we are in the first leg

Lucas44 · 15-12-2019 5:26pm

Looks like Goddard will be staying on after Christmas, great coup if he does stay.. was very highly rated in school.. on the other hand he’ll be the 6th Aussie in Galway, bit of a south Africa and Munster vibe starting to be created

connachta · 15-12-2019 5:28pm

gally74 wrote: »

thats fair, but i felt HEFF was man of the match on Saturday, best ive seen him in a long time,

dillans best game for Conn too for a long time, we must have stole, 3 line outs,

These are two players i've been calling into the squad many times for one simple reason : we need ball-carriers, they are!
Most teams have this kind of n°8, we have other profiles (Butler or McKeon aren't contact-gainers, Boyle is still young)

Bealham/McCoy helped a lot too

connachta · 15-12-2019 5:29pm

Lucas44 wrote: »

Looks like Goddard will be staying on after Christmas, great coup if he does stay.. was very highly rated in school.. on the other hand he’ll be the 6th Aussie in Galway, bit of a south Africa and Munster vibe starting to be created

Huge difference is he's IQ, we don't break the rules:P

ClanofLams · 15-12-2019 5:31pm

Mul, it's over

connachta wrote: »

Munster will finish on 16/17.
We need a BP somewhere IMO. Maybe 2
Northampton might get 9/10. If we got 10/10, still game on!
Same for Glasgow, who might win both but without any BP. 9/10 may get us through

I know it's hard task to take BP vs Toulouse/Montpelllier but we proved how close we are in the first leg

Northampton might get six too. Sure ideally Connacht would get nine or ten points but eight will give them a decent chance.

connachta · 15-12-2019 5:33pm

ClanofLams wrote: »

Northampton might get six too. Sure ideally Connacht would get nine or ten points but eight will give them a decent chance.

Yes I expect Lyon to beat tham. What I meant is we have to focus on ourselves, even if others win, it's not over...

Burkie1203 · 15-12-2019 5:39pm

Mul, it's over

connachta wrote: »

Right about Top2 but R92 would risk an away QF if they don't win in Sarries (even if Toulouse lose against us). They'll play the game.
Lyon will be home to save a catastrophic campain and Northampton are quite poor.
I'm optimistic Glasgow will lose one of their last two.

So as I said, we're not favorite for a spot, but it's far from impossible

Your narrative keeps changing to suit what Connacht need. Two weeks ago Toulouse would send a rotated side to Galway because of the top14 schedule. Now that idea is sidelined because winning a meaningless game means something.

Surely Montpellier would be the same as Lyon then? Trying to save a catastrophic campaign in R6 in front of their own fans?

connachta · 15-12-2019 6:29pm

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Your narrative keeps changing to suit what Connacht need. Two weeks ago Toulouse would send a rotated side to Galway because of the top14 schedule. Now that idea is sidelined because winning a meaningless game means something.

Surely Montpellier would be the same as Lyon then? Trying to save a catastrophic campaign in R6 in front of their own fans?

That's true. What you can't admit (and I've done it) is BOTH can happen

Montpellier OR Lyon can play to win or throw the towel (I'd bet on Lyon playing because they only beat Treviso when Montpellier beat Gloucester)

Toulouse (away to us) OR R92 (away to Sarries) can play full-squad or slighly rotate, (I'd bet on R92 to give it all because it's the final game and they'd know more clearly what to expect, depending on other results)

So you have my points, it's 50/50 each way, there's no need for controversy.

macslash · 15-12-2019 9:06pm

Mul, it's over

Lucas44 wrote: »

Looks like Goddard will be staying on after Christmas, great coup if he does stay.. was very highly rated in school.. on the other hand he’ll be the 6th Aussie in Galway, bit of a south Africa and Munster vibe starting to be created

Where are you getting this from?
I wonder will we see him next weekend.

Digifriendly · 15-12-2019 9:49pm

Honestly can't see Connacht winning in Montpellier even though the French side have only pride to play for. Hope I'm wrong but if Connacht can't win in Gloucester it's hard to see them winning in the south of France. Yes they played well for 60 minutes away to Toulouse but came away with nothing in the end. Chances of Connacht qualifying for KO stages are slim IMHO and if Toulouse produce anything like their performance away to Montpellier in Galway, Connacht's closing game in the pool stages will be academic anyway

connachta · 15-12-2019 9:56pm

Digifriendly wrote: »

Honestly can't see Connacht winning in Montpellier even though the French side have only pride to play for. Hope I'm wrong but if Connacht can't win in Gloucester it's hard to see them winning in the south of France. Yes they played well for 60 minutes away to Toulouse but came away with nothing in the end. Chances of Connacht qualifying for KO stages are slim IMHO and if Toulouse produce anything like their performance away to Montpellier in Galway, Connacht's closing game in the pool stages will be academic anyway

I'm not impressed by Toulouse and even less by Montpellier
Would have been much harder vs Exeter, Clermont, even LaRochelle on a good day.
Don't get me wrong, won't be easy, but we can take 9 points. Except Leinster game, there wasn't any game we were far out of what's needed to win so far this season

its_phil · 15-12-2019 10:13pm

Mul, it's over

Digifriendly wrote: »

Honestly can't see Connacht winning in Montpellier even though the French side have only pride to play for. Hope I'm wrong but if Connacht can't win in Gloucester it's hard to see them winning in the south of France. Yes they played well for 60 minutes away to Toulouse but came away with nothing in the end. Chances of Connacht qualifying for KO stages are slim IMHO and if Toulouse produce anything like their performance away to Montpellier in Galway, Connacht's closing game in the pool stages will be academic anyway

Actually in the south of France we have a better chance than England. We haven't won in England for 10 years, we have a 61% win record, IIRC, when playing French teams. Usually win our French away games in Challenge Cup.

Still don't think we'll get out but I'd rather Montpellier away than an English side away with our record.

Utopia Parkway · 16-12-2019 5:52pm

Jack passed out by Ross Byrne and Billy Burns for the first Ireland meet up.

Tough on him but probably not that much of a surprise. Been a difficult start to the season for him.

connachta · 16-12-2019 6:19pm

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Jack passed out by Ross Byrne and Billy Burns for the first Ireland meet up.

Tough on him but probably not that much of a surprise. Been a difficult start to the season for him.

don't worry C.Fitzgerald will pass them before 2023

MarinersBlues · 16-12-2019 6:50pm

Mul, it's over

connachta wrote: »

I don't get the hype with C.Fitz.

....

Can't believe some would even have him ahead of international Carty because the latter had a bad day..:mad:

;)

connachta · 16-12-2019 6:55pm

MarinersBlues wrote: »

;)

Absolutely no change of mind.
Fitzgerald is 22, he's behind Carty
He'll be 26 in 2023 and has good chance to be international if he progresses bit by bit the way he is

Bazzo · 16-12-2019 7:14pm

Mul, it's over

Carty actually had quite a few big non typical moments in the game at the weekend, noticed on the highlights earlier. For one he smashed someone in a big clear out just before the winning try.

connachta · 16-12-2019 7:19pm

Bazzo wrote: »

Carty actually had quite a few big non typical moments in the game at the weekend, noticed on the highlights earlier. For one he smashed someone in a big clear out just before the winning try.

Noticied it too, his involvement in this ruck was important

Diabhal Beag · 16-12-2019 7:27pm

I'm a big fan of Carty but he isn't a a quarter of where he was this time last year. It might take a few months to get back to that level but I'd be confident he'll bounce back.

Delighted for Blade, Roux and Dillane. The latter was a monster against Glaws and Blade/Roux have been excellent this season.

Hope it can be a huge boost for Heff too. He still has a ways to go to displace McCartney but he was brilliant on Saturday.

Connacht Team Talk Thread V - The Friend Zone

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