Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Bazzo

molloyjh wrote: »

Anyone know why Carty ran into an area of the pitch where he'd have no support a min ago? Its as well the game is over because that was daft.

He was looking for the reason he hasn't been selected for the national side

its_phil

Hopefully that last defensive set against the maul at the end will be a good springboard mentally for the team.

realhorrorshow

When we stopped giving away soft penalties it was clear just how inept the Dragons are. Job done but discipline and maul defence are massive work ons moving forward.

Dave_The_Sheep

FACECUTTR wrote: »

I'm going to predict a 5 pointer tonight. Hopefully the Ospreys muck show is well and truly put to bed.

Got there in the end!

molloyjh

Only saw the last 30, but Connacht were by far the better side. Marmion and Daly the stand outs in that time. Pitch was in some state. You cant get more than a TBP though so job done.

connachta

Massive, massive 5 points. If we're in Europe next season it's because of tonight peculiarly

Utopia Parkway

molloyjh wrote: »

Only saw the last 30, but Connacht were by far the better side. Marmion and Daly the stand outs in that time. Pitch was in some state. You cant get more than a TBP though so job done.

Rodney Parade always seems to look like a ploughed field somehow.

Bazzo

I would say that there were signs of improvement and we came away with the points so I'm happy but I feel like I'm saying that way too much lately. The first half was a disgrace. Carty was excellent in play but very dodgy goal kicking.

ElisaAtWar

Connacht is a right puzzle these days. Intercept trys like never before. But on the flip side they no longer know how to maul. Andy Friend may have brought some positives from his sevens experience but overall this team is going backwards at a rate of knots. To nearly equate to Dragons sums up his tenure. His experience is not what is needed in Connacht. Nice guy but the team is all over the shop

molloyjh

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Rodney Parade always seems to look like a ploughed field somehow.

I remember a few years back we played our opener there. They had just done up the pitch and it was in really good nick. I thought "oh, maybe they're getting their act together". Well, more fool me.

I know the weather has been crap, but that pitch surely shouldn't have been that bad.

ClanofLams

Bazzo wrote: »

I would say that there were signs of improvement and we came away with the points so I'm happy but I feel like I'm saying that way too much lately. The first half was a disgrace. Carty was excellent in play but very dodgy goal kicking.

Very much this.

Incredibly frustrating to see more or less errors the same and very much avoidable repeatedly happen.

Anyway beat Cardiff at home next and that should nearly be enough to secure Europe. Should have wrapped it up already really but that would represent season objective achieved I suppose.

tobdom

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

Connacht is a right puzzle these days. Intercept trys like never before. But on the flip side they no longer know how to maul. Andy Friend may have brought some positives from his sevens experience but overall this team is going backwards at a rate of knots. To nearly equate to Dragons sums up his tenure. His experience is not what is needed in Connacht. Nice guy but the team is all over the shop

Bullsh**, respectfully.......
Need a new defence coach, delighted that Friend was retained

its_phil

molloyjh wrote: »

I remember a few years back we played our opener there. They had just done up the pitch and it was in really good nick. I thought "oh, maybe they're getting their act together". Well, more fool me.

I know the weather has been crap, but that pitch surely shouldn't have been that bad.

Think I heard craggy podcast say there hasn’t been a game there since December. Awful pitch

ionadnapokot

its_phil wrote: »

Marmion been the difference since coming on

Still find his fall from Farrell’s grace a little perplexing

Obviously his preference is for Park & Byrne
But Marmion is a superior half back
& Carty!

SqueakyKneecap

When one of the worst teams in the league were a couple of solid passes sticking away from beating us you know there's a lot of worries defensively in spite of a 5 pointer.

The maul is criminally weak. It's actually getting worse now that teams are pinpointing it. I'm probably repeating myself to an annoying degree but it is cataclysmically poor for a professional union side. It's like watching Sonia O'Sullivan in Athens trying to break early despite knowing you're about to be slaughtered.

Positives were Healy, Blade, Delahunt, Boyler back at 8 and Carty for being savvy enough to take a drop on a poor enough night by his high standards.

Borders no.2

Happy with the result even if it was a lot harder than it needed to be. 5 points on the road is a good evenings work all the same.

Two more games coming up against Cardiff and Treviso. 2 wins would go a long way to securing 2nd place. Sooner we get this wrapped up the better.

Even if we secure 2nd in the pool it shouldn't paper over the cracks. This season we have effectively played 2nd string teams in 3/4 of our games so really the league position isnt reflective of where we are.

We have a lot of fundamentals of a good side but the maul defence plummeted to a new low tonight and some of the other penalties to give dragons field position were incredibly dumb. At 20-20 with another ref we could easily have been down to 14. If there was a crowd there I think we'd probably have lost with the pressure that would come on the ref.

For now we need to knuckle down and finish the season strong but I hope behind the scenes the work is going in to change things up for next season. Andy Friend needs to be ruthless now in terms of coaches and playing personnel or we cant advance any further.

its_phil

its_phil wrote: »

Think I heard craggy podcast say there hasn’t been a game there since December. Awful pitch

Newport County FC play there too. Doubt their known for their champagne football on that surface.

molloyjh

SqueakyKneecap wrote: »

When one of the worst teams in the league were a couple of solid passes sticking away from beating us you know there's a lot of worries defensively in spite of a 5 pointer.

The maul is criminally weak. It's actually getting worse now that teams are pinpointing it. I'm probably repeating myself to an annoying degree but it is cataclysmically poor for a professional union side. It's like watching Sonia O'Sullivan in Athens trying to break early despite knowing you're about to be slaughtered.

Positives were Healy, Blade, Delahunt, Boyler back at 8 and Carty for being savvy enough to take a drop on a poor enough night by his high standards.

Was the DG really that smart? They had advantage in the 22 in a very, very kickable position. The 3 points were effectively in the bag. Have a go at more. Worst case scenario is that they go through a few phases and run down the clock a bit more, effectively guaranteeing the result by leaving Dragons too little time to get 2 scores. Best case scenario get 5 or 7 and run down the clock as a result. The DG was probably the worst of the options available. No more points than already in the bag and no time run down on the clock. It obviously didn't matter in the end, but seemed a poor option at the time to me.

connachta

I do think we will naturally advance further. I'm optimistic (for once) on the long term

Duggan
Aungier
Murray
Dowling
Prandergast
Boyle
Reilly
Sullivan

Are all U23, already showing senior level

Porch is great games after games.
Carty, Daly and SH are very good
Dillane, Thornbury, Delahunt, Heff, Bealham in career for 5 years too
Oliver is small but a nice openside
+ Bundee

We've always been less complete, less filled province but...
That's 20 names to build on for a very bright future

(I put aside injury prone guys and 30+ ones, and still found 20 at least as a core bone in 2025)

SqueakyKneecap

molloyjh wrote: »

Was the DG really that smart? They had advantage in the 22 in a very, very kickable position. The 3 points were effectively in the bag.

He missed a handy penalty from a very similar position against Munster. It was much smarter than risking a repeat.

ionadnapokot

Boyle is 24 now
Just nitpicking!
Nice BR

connachta

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Boyle is 24 now
Just nitpicking!
Nice BR

I knew.
But he's been so brillant for 2 seasons he deserved to be in the youth list!

its_phil

molloyjh wrote: »

Was the DG really that smart? They had advantage in the 22 in a very, very kickable position. The 3 points were effectively in the bag. Have a go at more. Worst case scenario is that they go through a few phases and run down the clock a bit more, effectively guaranteeing the result by leaving Dragons too little time to get 2 scores. Best case scenario get 5 or 7 and run down the clock as a result. The DG was probably the worst of the options available. No more points than already in the bag and no time run down on the clock. It obviously didn't matter in the end, but seemed a poor option at the time to me.

But they were only 7 up. If he felt it was worth having two chances at 3 to get the insurance score, I wouldn’t think it was that poor a call.

Conservative would be a fair shout on it.

ionadnapokot

SqueakyKneecap wrote: »

He missed a handy penalty from a very similar position against Munster. It was much smarter than risking a repeat.

He should have just hoofed it up in the air across the pitch giving the winger a 0 or 20% chance of getting the ball.
Remind you of anyone?

Carty took the correct % play considering the clock and score.
Miss and you go back and have a 3 point kick anyway.

Borders no.2

I remember Connacht went years without kicking a drop goal. They had some record that they had never kicked a drop goal in Europe or something. Not sure if anyone remembers the details. Remember a few games where we'd be going over and back with no notion of a drop goal in our head so I'm always happy to see us take one when needed.

The ref tonight allowed fairly good advantages so Connacht might have had a shot at a try but bp was in the bag no need to risk advantage over in that situation. At that stage 3 points was as good as a try in my mind. It was the nail in Dragons coffin. They werent going to retrieve a 10 point deficit even with Connachts propensity to throw them lifelines.

The one that bugs me with Carty is the conversion for try 2. It's one you have to nail every time but those type of kicks are ones he misses too often and it spoils his other excellent work.

Tommybojangles

molloyjh wrote: »

Only saw the last 30, but Connacht were by far the better side. Marmion and Daly the stand outs in that time. Pitch was in some state. You cant get more than a TBP though so job done.

Lucky b******!

ionadnapokot

Borders no.2 wrote: »

I remember Connacht went years without kicking a drop goal. They had some record that they had never kicked a drop goal in Europe or something. Not sure if anyone remembers the details. Remember a few games where we'd be going over and back with no notion of a drop goal in our head so I'm always happy to see us take one when needed.

The ref tonight allowed fairly good advantages so Connacht might have had a shot at a try but bp was in the bag no need to risk advantage over in that situation. At that stage 3 points was as good as a try in my mind. It was the nail in Dragons coffin. They werent going to retrieve a 10 point deficit even with Connachts propensity to throw them lifelines.

The one that bugs me with Carty is the conversion for try 2. It's one you have to nail every time but those type of kicks are ones he misses too often and it spoils his other excellent work.

His kicking style off the tee is quite unique. Diego Dominguez like.
Without the consistency!

He strikes across the ball. Much like how he kicks from hand.
It’s excellent for spirals from hand & he’s one of the few who kick like that.
But the ball comes out a bit flatter off the tee and he pulls a few.

ElisaAtWar

tobdom wrote: »

Bullsh**, respectfully.......
Need a new defence coach, delighted that Friend was retained

Don't need to worry about hurting my feelings ☺️. But something is very wrong in the state of Connacht rugby at the moment. There is no leadership all across the pitch. It's just a bunch of individuals.

Who is leading this team. Paul Boyle is not ready and I believe Fainja covered up for Butler so I don't believe Butler is the answer. And honestly I can't think of one player on this team that might a team leader. Maybe at a stretch Tom Daly?

ionadnapokot

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

Don't need to worry about hurting my feelings ☺️. But something is very wrong in the state of Connacht rugby at the moment. There is no leadership all across the pitch. It's just a bunch of individuals.

Who is leading this team. Paul Boyle is not ready and I believe Fainja covered up for Butler so I don't believe Butler is the answer. And honestly I can't think of one player on this team that might a team leader. Maybe at a stretch Tom Daly?

Leaders are really difficult to come by.
Look at Ireland!

Leadership in the pack is key.
Boyle just mightn’t be ready.

Allot of changes this season probably hasn’t helped bed in a leadership group on the pitch.

its_phil

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

Don't need to worry about hurting my feelings ☺️. But something is very wrong in the state of Connacht rugby at the moment. There is no leadership all across the pitch. It's just a bunch of individuals.

Who is leading this team. Paul Boyle is not ready and I believe Fainja covered up for Butler so I don't believe Butler is the answer. And honestly I can't think of one player on this team that might a team leader. Maybe at a stretch Tom Daly?

Fourth straight win away from home. Relax a little, the maul is our biggest mess but we’re in prime position in our conference while not playing to our potential.