Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Utopia Parkway · 24-01-2021 5:47pm

Another one. Fitz gets robbed.

And Connacht will get one more chance. And lose it again. Sigh.

its_phil · 24-01-2021 5:48pm

Papa has been a disaster signing

Utopia Parkway · 24-01-2021 5:48pm

Had loads of chances here in the end but couldn’t hold onto the ball.

UAEguy2020 · 24-01-2021 5:48pm

I’m impressed at how good Connacht have been at consistently ****ing up a good chance...

testtech05 · 24-01-2021 5:49pm

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Another one. Fitz gets robbed.

And Connacht will get one more chance. And lose it again. Sigh.

Don't think he even lost it nearly handed to him in the end.

Not sure why we tapped and went there. Our decision making in tight games is really awful the last while

ClanofLams · 24-01-2021 5:50pm

Friend has done a decent job and recruited well in particular but the persistent inconsistency in performance is a real issue and the same areas repeatedly being weaknesses doesn’t reflect well either. Team doesn’t seem to learn from errors either.

Maybe just frustration after that and the players have to take their share of responsibility but from my perspective a change wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Bazzo · 24-01-2021 5:50pm

That was absolute ****

VANG1 · 24-01-2021 5:50pm

Connacht are so frustrating, they can beat Leinster and lose to ospreys, crazy.

Zzippy · 24-01-2021 5:51pm

Frustrating beyond belief.

realhorrorshow · 24-01-2021 5:52pm

ClanofLams wrote: »

Friend has done a decent job and recruited well in particular but the persistent inconsistency in performance is a real issue and the same areas repeatedly being weaknesses doesn’t reflect well either. Team doesn’t seem to learn from errors either.

Maybe just frustration after that and the players have to take their share of responsibility but from my perspective a change wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Definitely agree that change is needed, whether that should be head coach or assistants I'm not sure. Were not very good and as you say there have been persistent issues throughout Friend's reign but we are definitely better than when he took over.

connachta · 24-01-2021 5:52pm

We're so poor with our forwards.

LBP is a gift from Ospreys in the end, not kicking the penalty

KBurke85 · 24-01-2021 5:52pm

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Another one. Fitz gets robbed.

And Connacht will get one more chance. And lose it again. Sigh.

Fitz had some good games in his first season but he has a long way to go and needs to improve a lot if he wants to play regularly at this level.
Throwing away a 12 point lead in 5 mins and with them having 14 at the start of the half is unforgivable.

Zzippy · 24-01-2021 5:53pm

its_phil wrote: »

Papa has been a disaster signing

He's just a one year contract, right? Right???

Utopia Parkway · 24-01-2021 5:53pm

VANG1 wrote: »

Connacht are so frustrating, they can beat Leinster and lose to ospreys, crazy.

Ospreys are improving in fairness. Probably the best Welsh side this season.

connachta · 24-01-2021 5:53pm

Defence coach and forward coach rather than head coach IMO

KBurke85 · 24-01-2021 5:53pm

VANG1 wrote: »

Connacht are so frustrating, they can beat Leinster and lose to ospreys, crazy.

They can beat Leinster thirds and not ospreys first team to put some context on it also

realhorrorshow · 24-01-2021 5:54pm

connachta wrote: »

We're so poor with our forwards.

LBP is a gift from Ospreys in the end, not kicking the penalty

Good point, guess that's one of the issues with the conference system.

Utopia Parkway · 24-01-2021 5:55pm

KBurke85 wrote: »

Fitz had some good games in his first season but he has a long way to go and needs to improve a lot if he wants to play regularly at this level.
Throwing away a 12 point lead in 5 mins and with them having 14 at the start of the half is unforgivable.

Webb ran over him for his try as well.

Utopia Parkway · 24-01-2021 5:56pm

KBurke85 wrote: »

They can beat Leinster thirds and not ospreys first team to put some context on it also

In fairness Connacht weren’t at full strength for the Leinster game either.

SqueakyKneecap · 24-01-2021 5:57pm

The last two matches haven't been good enough. We're going backwards.

its_phil · 24-01-2021 5:57pm

If one of the KPIs for the season was a 90% win record at home than losing to Bristol, Scarlets, Ospreys, Ulster and Munster means something has to change.

Bundee on the field for 20 minutes didn’t get served one ball, but we ran three telegraphed loops off 9 from set pieces and got turned over three times. Madness.

testtech05 · 24-01-2021 6:01pm

We need to get a couple of wins from somewhere to make sure of europe for next season.

Today was a great chance being 12 up against the run of play at halftime. Our record when playing against 14 men must make for grim reading can't remember a time when we have really capitalized on it.

Apart from maul defence and breakdown as others have mentioned, 1 constant issue I notice is the amount of times we mess up receiving a kick off. Normally just after we have scored just hand the other team back the momentum then....

Utopia Parkway · 24-01-2021 6:03pm

Maul defence again was horrendous. Been a lingering major problem all season.

thomond2006 · 24-01-2021 6:05pm

Zzippy wrote: »

He's just a one year contract, right? Right???

Careful, you'll be hounded upon by the BIG PAPA fanboys.

Bazzo · 24-01-2021 6:08pm

thomond2006 wrote: »

Careful, you'll be hounded upon by the BIG PAPA fanboys.

Depending on how much he's getting paid he could still be worth it. The physicality be brings is something we badly miss(and I notice he had his face about 3 inches off the ground making that tackle where be bounced someone and turned the ball over).

The tap and go was stupid but I mean the performance was littered (read: a landfill) of stupid mistakes.

realhorrorshow · 24-01-2021 6:08pm

KBurke85 wrote: »

Fitz had some good games in his first season but he has a long way to go and needs to improve a lot if he wants to play regularly at this level.
Throwing away a 12 point lead in 5 mins and with them having 14 at the start of the half is unforgivable.

The problem is that we don't have an experienced backup, unlike all the other provinces. In my mind, the ideal squad breakdown is: first choice (Sexton, Carbery, Burns), solid backup (Byrne, Hanrahan, Madigan), and prospect (Byrne, Healy, Johnston). Issue being that we don't have an experienced hand to turn to if Carty is absent, we have two prospects.

connachta · 24-01-2021 6:12pm

We may finish 4th in a full-season league

our main chance is Europe won't change rule next season, but in 2022 to integrate the S-A

Then we'll have our home play-off facing Glasgow, very poor too, and we could win it.

In May who knows, there might be some crowd in this, let's dream

Utopia Parkway · 24-01-2021 6:13pm

Also surely no side has worse end of game decision making than Connacht? Some absolutely bonkers decisions made late on in games this season.

FACECUTTR · 24-01-2021 6:27pm

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Also surely no side has worse end of game decision making than Connacht? Some absolutely bonkers decisions made late on in games this season.

Looks to me like there is something unsettling the players. The inconsistent performances from game to game are unreal. Maul issue has been going since last season along with ruck defence.
We signed Pete Wilkins from a poor Edinburgh at the time and I'm not sure his plans translate onto the pitch. Some games we're excellent at shutting teams out then it decends into crap in others.
As I said something is not right whether its Covid-19 related issues affecting the whole setup or the coaching ticket needs a bit of a shake up to get things fresh again. Something needs to change or we could end up losing a few good players from the team and in the current climate it would be extremely difficult to replace them. We have the best squad of players ever right now and it would be a shame to regress.

24-01-2021 7:33pm

VANG1 wrote: »

Connacht are so frustrating, they can beat Leinster and lose to ospreys, crazy.

You could argue the Leinster game wasn't that unbelievable.

They lost Sexton after twenty mins and didnt even have close to a competent replacement, it was also a poor Leinster team.

I certainly don't think it reflects "what this team can do on their day", the Munster and Ulster games were the reflection.

Fitzgerald's two mistakes had a big bearing on their first try for me.
He threw a nothing ball out of play and on his next possession he got blocked and they ran it over a few phases later.
He missed the tackle for their last try and basically had the ball just pulled off him in our last real attack.

Our back options are really poor, Porch is quality and we've ok in the centre but it's much muchness between the rest.

I'd like to see us get a NIQ winger.

Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

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