Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

testtech05

Silly by JJ at the end. Could have had a chance to snatch a tbp

Shehal

Talking back to the ref overrides a high tackle penalty?

Still talking back to the ref as the way the game ends and halt Connacht's charge for a BP is such a Connacht thing to do.

Burkie1203

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121417190#Comment_121417190

Yeah but how many times does it happen and to what cost.

ElisaAtWar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121417336#Comment_121417336

Now that annoyed more than anything else. It was always going to be a hard ask but stupidity like that cracks me up.

The team was well beaten and I wasn't terribly surprised. It's simply a hard place to go to. But such stupidity at the end is annoying.

Overall one win out of two is not a shabby return. So it's not a disaster. But that penalty reversal was so irritating

Tommybojangles

What exactly happened at the end? I switched off in a rage and went for a pint

ElisaAtWar

Next week's selection is going to be so difficult. Hansen, Porch, Kilgallen, Ralston will be available on the wing. Forde, Farrell, Bundee, Hackshaw will be available at centre, O'Reilly and Blade will be available at 9, JJ and Jack at 10. And so many choices in the pack it's crazy. It's my belief we have the best competition for places on this Connacht team I have ever seen. Probably the only place there is no competition for a place is fullback. And that's bizarre as Tiernan was already written into the history books by many. Strange thing he seems faster this year than ever.

phog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121417413#Comment_121417413

Connacht had a penalty advantage, play continued across the field, ref stopped play for a knock on, as he was walking back to give the penalty to Connacht, JJ must have said something, ref blew his whistle to award a penalty to Bulls

Ref was questioned about it as he was pointing out the spot for the Bulls penalty and he said, "I don't care" and something else but I missed what else he said.

SqueakyKneecap

I thought Aki was out of contention for next week?

ElisaAtWar

For me Joe Joyce, Byron Ralston and Colm O'Reilly continue to be incredibly good. I will be incredibly disappointed if any one of these don't feature next week. Ralston deserves the call over Porch and I think Kilgallen also deserves the bench over Porch. And does Farrell deserve to get dropped at centre. This is so hard

macslash

Quick question. Why don't the matches in SA be played in the evening time? Mightn't have made a huge difference but even playing at 7.35 (5.35 Irish time) might make it a little cooler? Fair play to the lads for keeping going, they must be shattered.

Jansen only lasted 40. I wonder was that premeditated? And I have to say, there wasn't a whole lot Oliver could do that time for the YC. Maybe I'm wrong.

ShineyShiney

Good, bad and downright ugly !!

The good imo set piece and maul defence. Front row and centres performing week in week out regardless of who plays.

The bad, unforced errors, game management and lack of a spark in attack when blade is missing.

The Ugly, restarts, exits and control from both 10's. Compounding errors and also we are consistently losing the battle in the air and need to fix it.

Not to bothered about the loss, still bothered by the Edinburgh loss though.

My team for next week,

Dooley, Heffernan, Bealham, Joyce , nMurray, Prendergast Oliver sob blade JJ porch Forde Farrell killgalen toh

DTM aungier Buckley Thornberry shl Hawkshaw Ralston Reilly

macslash

Have to imagine Butler will be involved next week as he's fresh. Hansen if fit will be involved too. Ralston has a lot of minutes played

SqueakyKneecap

I'm a bit disappointed they couldn't sneak the TBP but that was about as sloppy as I was expecting the defense to be. Bulls are a serious team and Willie Le Roux had our number all day long.

4/10 points away in South Africa isn't a terrible return considering we had 2 very inexperienced back 3 players and a rotated half back partnership.

If we came out of that trip with minimal injuries I'd be happy out.

ElisaAtWar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121417369#Comment_121417369

What exactly are you saying. Is it that he overcooked one kick, is it that he kicks away posession. Explain your issue

Burkie1203

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121418052#Comment_121418052

Every game there is 2 or 3 poor kicks which puts huge pressure on his team

Kicks out on the full or missing touch with pens.

ElisaAtWar

Expected to lose that game. It would have been nice to get a bonus point

StevenToast

The South African aspect of this league really adds something....not sure how sustainable it is long term....

But just so refreshing to see.....if you dont turn up down there, you will get your arse handed to you....

ElisaAtWar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121418495#Comment_121418495

True. So 4 points was a decent return but 5 points would have been nicer. What was JJ thinking 😟

Digifriendly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121418495#Comment_121418495

Tend to agree. Lots of tries even if one sided scorelines.

Happyhouse22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121417578#Comment_121417578

I always presumed it was to do with safety. Like you probably don’t want to be wandering around Pretoria in the dark after a match…

That said they do play some evening matches… so it can’t be that bad.

StevenToast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121419447#Comment_121419447

You certainly dont want to be hanging around Ellis Park when the sun goes down.....

Wegians89

Didn’t see that match, is there any point watching it back? How did Jansen go at 8 and Hawkshaw at 13? Any positives at all to take?

Kilgallen has some fry scoring record. 11 tries in 20 caps

kita99

Jansen.He looked very hard tackler. And he showed good carries twice at least. He looked unbearable the heatwave and thin air after long absence. I think that he is genuine as same as another Sean. Hawkshaw worked hard as same as Ralston, Forde and O'Harolan. He looks to fit at 10 than 13 (my opinion) . He looks to spare no effort. Maybe you wonder that why Connacht sufferedsuch a big lost at this game while holding such good players. It was because of the intense heatwave and high altitude. The good thing was that there was no sirious injury. I'm sorry my poor English. Can you understand my feedback?

The Moist Buddha

Rodney Ah You has been a huge miss since leaving . he would have made a big difference yesterday, hopefully the rumours are true and he is returning

ShineyShiney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121419862#Comment_121419862

I don't think Jansen had any impact on the game really. First outing so wouldnt be judging him too harshly but sob stood out when he came on for me where Jansen had been pretty anonymous. Hopefully better days ahead as he get his match fitness back.

Hawkshaw had a good day, tackled and carried hard when the chance presented and released Forde with an nice delayed pass for Killgalens try. I wouldn't be cringing if we had to play him at 13 again. He's an interesting one for me, always performs well when selected but not selected often. I wonder where he sits in the managements thoughts. 10, 12, utility? He's a pretty high quality 3rd/4th/5th choice 10/12 with Carty, JJ, Forde, Daly and bundi all in the mix. Would he be worth a look at 15 ?

ElisaAtWar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121419862#Comment_121419862

It's always worth watching a game back, win or lose, Wegians89. Bulls is a really good team. What impressed me most about Bulls was positional kicking. They pushed Connacht onto to back foot every time. And then our lineout really didn't function as well as they have in the past. So that had a double whammy effect.

In return our kicking was letargic and poor in general. To be fair to Jack I don't think JJ improved the quality much.

And while you can say the 35 degrees didn't make it easy for Connacht I don't believe that's an excuse. When one is playing at high altitudes with high temperatures the key is to gain field position with the minimum of effort.

Instead it was full on effort by Connacht while Bulls just played the conditions perfectly. Obviously Bulls should know the conditions but Connacht really should have been smarter.

And I think that's a fair assessment.

ElisaAtWar

So overall, if I were to assess our trip to SA, I would say the team worked their hearts out, but strategy sucked. And you can't blame the players for that

ElisaAtWar

So next week against Leinster, what will be the plan. More of the same I suspect. Biggest problem I have Connacht at the moment is just to manage territory. And that's the 10 s fault or the game management fault of the coaches

CuriousCucumber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121420150#Comment_121420150

Wow, there is something I would happily bet my entire life's savings on never reading/hearing

SqueakyKneecap

It's a great single-poster PR drive from Rodney Ah You's marketing division