Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

KBurke85

https://twitter.com/connachtrugby/status/1357297350268616706/photo/1

Team named

Buckley Delahunt Bealham
Murray Thornbury
Boyle Oliver Papalii
Blade Carty
Robb Daly
Healy Sullivan Porch

Murphy Duggan Aungier Dowling E Masterson Marmion OBrien Wotton

Wegians89

Wonder is Shane Jennings anywhere near ready? Would like to see him get a chance

realhorrorshow

Wegians89 wrote: »

Wonder is Shane Jennings anywhere near ready? Would like to see him get a chance

Probably not, as due to COVID he and other young players haven't played much. In a normal season he would have had a full A campaign plus AIL games. Would be very hard for a young lad to come into senior rugby so cold. He's only just turned 20, there's no rush.

Fwiw when I last saw him play he was extremely raw, has all the tools no doubt but still a work in progress. Compared to someone like Jamie Osborne who at the same age looked a bit more first team ready.

Bazzo

Badly need a win. Be interesting to see how Dowling goes off the bench.

realhorrorshow

Bazzo wrote: »

Badly need a win. Be interesting to see how Dowling goes off the bench.

Second row stocks are stretched thin as per usual so it would be great if he settles in as fast as our other signings have this season.

FACECUTTR

Bazzo wrote: »

Badly need a win. Be interesting to see how Dowling goes off the bench.

It must be a year since it was announced he was joining. Great to finally get off the mark.

Is this our tallest ever pairing at lock ?

realhorrorshow

FACECUTTR wrote: »

It must be a year since it was announced he was joining. Great to finally get off the mark.

Is this our tallest ever pairing at lock ?

One for the Craggy Rugby lads. I reckon it likely is.

Wegians89

Interestingly Shane Jennings was pictured training with the senior team along with donncha Byrne and Darragh Murray. Dean also back training

Dubinusa

Think Dowling will be a good pick up. Pity that he's missed so much rugby this year.

connachta

Jamie Roberts vs Peter Robb, 210k trucks. It's concussion time!

its_phil

connachta wrote: »

Jamie Roberts vs Peter Robb, 210k trucks. It's concussion time!

Absolute lack of class

Lost Ormond

Dubinusa wrote: »

Think Dowling will be a good pick up. Pity that he's missed so much rugby this year.

He's like majority of rugby players. So many fringe players will have no rugby because of pro14/europe being only rugby played for most part.

connachta wrote: »

Jamie Roberts vs Peter Robb, 210k trucks. It's concussion time!

No need for that at all.

Zzippy

connachta wrote: »

Jamie Roberts vs Peter Robb, 210k trucks. It's concussion time!

Cop yourself on.


Papali'i would want to have a big game. He's been a big disappointment of a signing so far, a few big carries you could count on one hand and two red cards. If he doesn't put in a big shift I won't be sorry to never see him in green again.

realhorrorshow

Zzippy wrote: »

Cop yourself on.


Papali'i would want to have a big game. He's been a big disappointment of a signing so far, a few big carries you could count on one hand and two red cards. If he doesn't put in a big shift I won't be sorry to never see him in green again.

His appearance off the bench vs the Ospreys was encouraging, daft quick tap aside. Seemed like he had corrected his tackle height. Agree that he hasn't been a successful signing thus far, pressure is on now for him to earn a renewal.

Zzippy

Zzippy wrote: »

Cop yourself on.


Papali'i would want to have a big game. He's been a big disappointment of a signing so far, a few big carries you could count on one hand and two red cards. If he doesn't put in a big shift I won't be sorry to never see him in green again.

I think he's been very unfortunate and to judge him on mere minutes of rugby is a bit soon. Albeit its been a crazy few minutes he's played, I do see potential in him to be a decent player, hopefully he can get a run of games under him with no red cards so we get a better understanding of his capabilities.

RonnieL

I'd be inclined to give Papali'i more of a chance to prove he is progressing in the right direction, and forgive the odd mistake going forward, because we're unlikely to find someone else with his strength/size/athleticism. As Andy Friend has explained, with our budget constraints, we have to identify rough diamonds and hope they can be polished into top class players. He has had a horrible start, but he has also showed plenty of promise with some great carries. Fingers crossed he has a good game tonight, and when he leaves the field we're allowed to replace him with one of our subs!

Tommybojangles

I think it's an important game for Papalii, if he struggles against a team of the quality of the Dragons its not a good indication going forward.

I agree with most who are saying it's hard to form an opinion on him given he hasn't got a run of games or even minutes, and has shown about 30% crazy game braking ability and 70% utter madness. I wouldn't even call him a disappointment so far as I don't think most people were expecting anything (Sorry Connachta).

For the moment I'd still lean towards thinking he could be an asset, but we need to start seeing some progress for the remainder of the year. If he doesn't trend in the right direction in his next 5-10 games I think it's cut your losses time

connachta

Tommybojangles wrote: »

I think it's an important game for Papalii, if he struggles against a team of the quality of the Dragons its not a good indication going forward.

I agree with most who are saying it's hard to form an opinion on him given he hasn't got a run of games or even minutes, and has shown about 30% crazy game braking ability and 70% utter madness. I wouldn't even call him a disappointment so far as I don't think most people were expecting anything (Sorry Connachta).

For the moment I'd still lean towards thinking he could be an asset, but we need to start seeing some progress for the remainder of the year. If he doesn't trend in the right direction in his next 5-10 games I think it's cut your losses time

Agree with you

So no Connacht lads in the Ireland squad for Sunday. Very disappointing and not a fair reflection on our season especially in the half-back area.

sydthebeat

marley45 wrote: »

So no Connacht lads in the Ireland squad for Sunday. Very disappointing and not a fair reflection on our season especially in the half-back area.

I would have thought its actually a true reflection of Connacht's inconsistency so far this season

Connacht have lost 2 more games than the other 3 provinces combined.

Obviously im not gong to find much truck with this in the Connacht forum, but to say its "unfair" smacks of toys out of the pram.
Its hard to make an argument for any Connacht player to be involved in the 23 on sunday, ahead of those selected.... apart from an injured Bundee.

gally74

sydthebeat wrote: »

I would have thought its actually a true reflection of Connacht's inconsistency so far this season

Connacht have lost 2 more games than the other 3 provinces combined.

Obviously im not gong to find much truck with this in the Connacht forum, but to say its "unfair" smacks of toys out of the pram.
Its hard to make an argument for any Connacht player to be involved in the 23 on sunday, ahead of those selected.... apart from an injured Bundee.

I think its where we are, i felt Aki wasnt too great for us lately, I felt Daly was ahead of him... Roux might have made the 23,

but in reality its a pretty old team, little to be excited about,

its_phil

sydthebeat wrote: »

I would have thought its actually a true reflection of Connacht's inconsistency so far this season

Connacht have lost 2 more games than the other 3 provinces combined.

Obviously im not gong to find much truck with this in the Connacht forum, but to say its "unfair" smacks of toys out of the pram.
Its hard to make an argument for any Connacht player to be involved in the 23 on sunday, ahead of those selected.... apart from an injured Bundee.

When we start getting surplus Ireland players sent to us like some of the other provinces then you can start comparing our win/loss record to the others whose resources dwarf over the other 9 teams in the league.

sydthebeat

its_phil wrote: »

When we start getting surplus Ireland players sent to us like some of the other provinces then you can start comparing our win/loss record to the others whose resources dwarf over the other 9 teams in the league.

Can Connacht not produce test level players themselves?

surely their own performances are within their own hands... but perhaps you think its good enough to be beaten by a dismal ospreys side in the sportsground cos, you know, connacht havent gotten given better players by the IRFU.....

thomond2006

It's Connacht Rugby's fault that St. Michael's isn't in Galway.

FACECUTTR

marley45 wrote: »

So no Connacht lads in the Ireland squad for Sunday. Very disappointing and not a fair reflection on our season especially in the half-back area.

I'm not too pushed really. Aki has been injured lately but his performance in the Irish Jersey haven't been great. He is not utilized the same way he is at Connacht which is a shame.
Roux is unfortunate as is Dillane.
I'd have Blade ahead of Park in my opinion as he has been fantastic for about 2 years now.
Carthy needs more consistency. On his day he is fantastic.
1 player that I think should have been involved even if it's only for training is Delahunt. I think he offers more and has been good for the last year or so. Kellehers throwing is not up to standard and Herring is ok but not the most physical of players. Heffernan is is somewhere in between both of these.

Lost Ormond

sydthebeat wrote: »

Can Connacht not produce test level players themselves?

surely their own performances are within their own hands... but perhaps you think its good enough to be beaten by a dismal ospreys side in the sportsground cos, you know, connacht havent gotten given better players by the IRFU.....

They have and will continue to do so but when there's under 30 clubs in the province which is less than 50% whats in rest of the provinces and dont have schools near what others do(Resources) then they will produce far less.

sydthebeat

Lost Ormond wrote: »

They have and will continue to do so but when there's under 30 clubs in the province which is less than 50% whats in rest of the provinces and dont have schools near what others do(Resources) then they will produce far less.

i 100% agree

Im just making the point that sometimes it should not be surprising or "unfair" that it happens..

its very much a QED situation.

you cant on one hand complain that there arent more players in the match day squad if the performance at provincial level isnt top notch, and on the other hand argue its not top notch because you dont have the resources.

sydthebeat

sydthebeat wrote: »

I would have thought its actually a true reflection of Connacht's inconsistency so far this season

Connacht have lost 2 more games than the other 3 provinces combined.

Obviously im not gong to find much truck with this in the Connacht forum, but to say its "unfair" smacks of toys out of the pram.
Its hard to make an argument for any Connacht player to be involved in the 23 on sunday, ahead of those selected.... apart from an injured Bundee.

That's a fair enough point. I didn't realize Bundee was injured. I just look at the squad and see Healy, O Mahony, Murray, Sexton, Earls all going to be on their last legs at the next World Cup (if there at all) and have yet to perform at one in the peaks of their career.

We should really spend the full 4 year cycle preparing for the WC rather than the year or 2 coming up to it , hasn't worked before and won't work in the future. A couple of bad six nations is worth a WC semi or even final in my opinion.

serfboard

marley45 wrote: »

A couple of bad six nations is worth a WC semi or even final in my opinion.

Might be your opinion, but it's not the IRFU's.

Zzippy

sydthebeat wrote: »

Can Connacht not produce test level players themselves?

surely their own performances are within their own hands... but perhaps you think its good enough to be beaten by a dismal ospreys side in the sportsground cos, you know, connacht havent gotten given better players by the IRFU.....

Syd, you can't berate a team for not producing test players and compare them performance-wise to a province with essentially 4/5 fully funded private academies, and 2 other provinces with far greater budgets being handed players from those academies too. It smacks of entitlement and superiority complex not to see the disparity and to criticise teams for not being as rich, or lucky, as yours. And how many internationals were in that Ospreys team, compared to Connacht's?