Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

KBurke85

Listened to today’s press conference on the Craggy rugby patreon page

Friend was suggesting they’ll be using the next two games to maybe try a few lads that haven’t gotten much game time this season.

connachta

KBurke85 wrote: »

Listened to today’s press conference on the Craggy rugby patreon page

Friend was suggesting they’ll be using the next two games to maybe try a few lads that haven’t gotten much game time this season.

I perfectly back this strategy.

More than 10 games to go let's keep in mind.

Gallagher back now is nice, he will have his chance before mid-June.

connachta

KBurke85 wrote: »

Listened to today’s press conference on the Craggy rugby patreon page

Friend was suggesting they’ll be using the next two games to maybe try a few lads that haven’t gotten much game time this season.

We have to rest Daly, Bealham, Thornbury, Boyle, Blade, Carty, Porch


+ Aki, Heff, Dillane maybe brought in the Irish squad



And try over the two games : S0B 2.0, Tierney-Martin, Kenny, Gallagher, Murray, S.Masterson, Reily, C.Fitz+Dean, O'Donnell

Wegians89

The team is go for this weekend:

Buckley (was on media duty)
Delahunt
Aungier
Prendergast
Dowling
E Masterson
Oliver
Papalii
Reilly
Carty
Wootton
Daly
Bod
Sullivan
Toh

DTM
Duggan
McCoy
Murray
S Masterson
Blade
Forde
Kilgallen

And for scarlets:
Duggan
Murphy
Bealham
Murray
Thornbury
Prendergast
Butler
Boyle
Marmion
Fitzgerald
Healy
Bundee
Sob3.0
Kilgallen
Mcnulty

DTM
McAllister
Kenny
Gallagher
McCormack
Reilly
Daly/ Forde
Porch

connemara man

I wouldn't go heavy heavy on rotation.

We still need 3 points from the last 2 games, to mathematically guarantee 2nd and a better champions cup seeding. I know that's assuming that Scarlets get 10 points but we'll know how much we can rotate after this weekend

Bazzo

Reilly is injured I think? Not as seriously as they thought be might be but doubt he'll be available straight away.

connachta

Wegians89 wrote: »

The team is go for this weekend:

Buckley (was on media duty)
Delahunt
Aungier
Prendergast
Dowling
E Masterson
Oliver
Papalii
Reilly
Carty
Wootton
Daly
Bod
Sullivan
Toh

DTM
Duggan
McCoy
Murray
S Masterson
Blade
Forde
Kilgallen

And for scarlets:
Duggan
Murphy
Bealham
Murray
Thornbury
Prendergast
Butler
Boyle
Marmion
Fitzgerald
Healy
Bundee
Sob3.0
Kilgallen
Mcnulty

DTM
McAllister
Kenny
Gallagher
McCormack
Reilly
Daly/ Forde
Porch

Two quite nice team except i think Dean will be ahead of Forde for nw, but who knows..

BOD is NOT a 13. Not enough density.
Ok to try him there, just to eliminate the idea...

Wegians89

connachta wrote: »

Two quite nice team except i think Dean will be ahead of Forde for nw, but who knows..

BOD is NOT a 13. Not enough density.
Ok to try him there, just to eliminate the idea...

Dean is injured last I heard.

connachta

Wegians89 wrote: »

Dean is injured last I heard.

that explains why he wasn't in th eagles team!
thought he had fallen in the picking order for those A games

Bazzo

https://twitter.com/TheLooseH/status/1369740206564384771?s=19

Good quick look at picking apart Munster's lineout. Boyle deserves a lot of credit.

Wegians89

Contract news incoming

SqueakyKneecap

All renewed:
Finlay BEALHAM
Paul BOYLE
Denis BUCKLEY
Matthew BURKE
Jack CARTY
Shane DELAHUNT
Ultan DILLANE
Jordan DUGGAN
Conor FITZGERALD
Dave HEFFERNAN
Eoghan MASTERSON
Sean MASTERSON
Oran MCNULTY
Niall MURRAY
Conor OLIVER
John PORCH
Cian PRENDERGAST
Colm REILLY
Peter SULLIVAN
Gavin THORNBURY
Alex WOOTTON

SqueakyKneecap

Quinn Roux is out of contract and I believe Tom Farrell also.

arsebiscuits1

SqueakyKneecap wrote: »

Quinn Roux is out of contract and I believe Tom Farrell also.

I'd be gobsmacked if either of them go - unless they got deals elsewhere.

Any other notable omissions pointing to player departure?

Wegians89

arsebiscuits1 wrote: »

I'd be gobsmacked if either of them go - unless they got deals elsewhere.

Any other notable omissions pointing to player departure?

Papalii and bod are two I think we’re on one year deals. Was Arnold one or two?

Arnold, dowling and aungier all signed two year deals

arsebiscuits1

Wegians89 wrote: »

Papalii and bod are two I think we’re on one year deals. Was Arnold one or two?

Didn't Arnold turn down a Munster contract to come to Connacht? Can't imagine he'd have agreed to a one year deal as an internationally capped player

SqueakyKneecap

Marmion, Blade, Healy and Daly are already signed for next season anyways IIRC.

ClanofLams

Very happy to see John Porch on that list. Happy to see others too but thought Porch might be lost.

Lebute

SqueakyKneecap wrote: »

Marmion, Blade, Healy and Daly are already signed for next season anyways IIRC.

So is Farrell from examiner in January

Connacht have already nailed down key players such as Bundee Aki, Kieran Marmion, Jarrad Butler, Caolin Blade, Tom Daly, Tom Farrell, and Tiernan O’Halloran over the past year or more but the concern now is around the level of experience of the players due for contract renewals, with five of them having made more than 100 appearances.

In relation to BOD the fact you would be tempting him to leave the 7's there was probably a 2 yr contract on the table.

Wegians89

ClanofLams wrote: »

Very happy to see John Porch on that list. Happy to see others too but thought Porch might be lost.

Yeah I was a little worried about that myself. Back three looks nicely settled now for next season

yerrahbah

Delighted for Wootton, part of me was hoping he'd come back to Munster although that was never likely

Great to see him performing

ShineyShiney

Aungier ? McAlister?

bayern

ShineyShiney wrote: »

Aungier ? McAlister?

2 years for Aungier.

its_phil

Farrell is signed up

https://www.connachtrugby.ie/boost-for-connacht-as-ohalloran-obrien-and-farrell-all-sign-contract-extensions/

Shocked Buckley is sticking around. Should be getting the €€€ abroad.

ShineyShiney

Great work Connacht

serfboard

its_phil wrote: »

Shocked Buckley is sticking around. Should be getting the €€€ abroad.

It's more like "could be getting the €€€ abroad".

Obviously he's happy where he is, which is a good thing to be able to say.

Wegians89

realhorrorshow wrote: »

Loosehead

Denis Buckley (30) - Signed 2 year contract in 2019
Matthew Burke (23) - Signed contract in 2019
Jordan Duggan (22) - Signed contract in 2020
Paddy McAllister (31) - Signed contract in 2019

Charlie Ward (20) - Academy year 1

Tighthead

Jack Aungier (21) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Finlay Bealham (29) - Signed 2 year contract in 2019
Conor Kenny (24) - Signed 1 year contract in 2020
Dominic Robertson-McCoy (26) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020

Hooker

Shane Delahunt (26) - Signed 1 year contract in 2020
Dave Heffernan (29) - Signed contract in 2019
Jonny Murphy (28) - Signed contract in 2018

Declan Adamson (21) - Academy year 2
Eoin De Buitléar (u20) - Academy year 1
Dylan Tierney-Martin (21) - Academy year 3

Lock

Ultan Dillane (26) - Signed 2 year contract in 2019
Oisin Dowling (23) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Cillian Gallagher (23) - Signed contract in 2018
Niall Murray (20) - Signed contract in 2020
Quinn Roux (29) - Signed 2 year contract in 2019
Gavin Thornbury (26) - Signed 2 year contract in 2019

Darragh Murray (u20) - Academy year 1
Cian Prendergast (20) - Academy year 1

Back row

Paul Boyle (23) - Signed 2 year contract in 2019
Jarrad Butler (29) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Eoghan Masterson (27) - Signed 2 year contract in 2018
Sean Masterson (22) - Signed contract in 2020
Sean O'Brien (25) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Conor Oliver (24) - Signed 1 year contract in 2020
Abraham Papali’i (27) - Signed contract in 2020

Ciaran Booth (20) - Academy year 1
Donnacha Byrne (u20) - Academy year 1
Hubert Costello (u20) - Academy year 1
Joshua Dunne (20) - Academy year 3
Oisin McCormack (19) - Academy year 2

Scrumhalf

Caolin Blade (26) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Stephen Kerins (24) - Signed contract in 2019
Kieran Marmion (28) - Signed 3 year contract in 2020
Colm Reilly (21) - Signed contract in 2020

Outhalf

Jack Carty (28) - Signed 2 year contract in 2019
Conor Dean (22) - Signed contract in 2020
Conor Fitzgerald (22) - Signed contract in 2019

Cathal Forde (19) - Academy year 1

Centre

Bundee Aki (28) - Signed 3 year central contract in 2020
Sammy Arnold (24) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Tom Daly (27) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Tom Farrell (26) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Peter Robb (26) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020

Shane Jennings (19) - Academy year 2
Sean O'Brien (22) - Academy year 3

Back 3

Stephen Fitzgerald (24) - Signed contract in 2019
Matt Healy (31) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
Ben O'Donnell (25) - Signed contract in 2020
Tiernan O'Halloran (29) - Signed 2 year contract in 2020
John Porch (26) - Signed contract in 2019
Peter Sullivan (22) - Signed contract in 2020
Alex Wootton (26) - Signed 1 year loan contract in 2020

Colm de Buitléar (22) - Academy year 3
Diarmuid Kilgallen (20) - Academy year 1
Oran McNulty (20) - Academy year 3

*Ages as at 01/09/2020

McAllister
Murphy
Gallagher
Roux
Papalii?
Kerins
Dean
S Fitz
Bod

Look like they’re all out of contract

DTM
Dunne
Sob
De buitlear
All in 3 year of academy

KBurke85

Wegians89 wrote: »

McAllister
Murphy
Gallagher
Roux
Papalii?
Kerins
Dean
S Fitz
Bod

Look like they’re all out of contract

DTM
Dunne
Sob
De buitlear
All in 3 year of academy

That would be right. there was around 28 players out of contract. 19 have renewed + two new contracts so the numbers appear right.

Wegians89

KBurke85 wrote: »

That would be right. there was around 28 players out of contract. 19 have renewed + two new contracts so the numbers appear right.

Connacht said contract negotiations are still on going and further announcements to be made in due course, hopefully that’d be roux.

Dubinusa

I think Gallagher would be a good pick up for another province! He would be relatively cheap. Shame about Stephen Fitz. I thought he would have been a cracking player.