Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

KBurke85

SqueakyKneecap wrote: »

Can't believe how awful they've been since ht. They wouldn't fight sleep.

This is a disgraceful performance second half. I think we really need to consider bringing in a new defence coach next season.

its_phil

21 points up and now not getting a LBP.

Combined with Edinburgh this is awful. There’s a question around the coaching staff and a call for freshness

sioda

I can't believe this is the same match.

Whitehouse at his usual level that last lineout wasn't anywhere near straight

UAEguy2020

Jesus, this is a monumental collapse even by Connacht standards...

testtech05

SqueakyKneecap wrote: »

Feck me Bealham has been an utter disaster on wheels

I've a feeling he might have been having a few beers in ireland camp when he got the late call. Has been poor

Buer

Thought they had the try 2 carries before, to be honest. Looked grounded on the line before he pushed it back.

It's irritating given a certain red card was weasled out of by the TMO.

Boscoirl

That offside intercept pen looked very close to ok from me. And the fact the Welsh TV didn’t show a replay prob meant he was onside

Bazzo

Buer wrote: »

Thought they had the try 2 carries before, to be honest. Looked grounded on the line before he pushed it back.

It's irritating given a certain red card was weasled out of by the TMO.

Red card no excuse at all. They were 21 points up at half time without it. Failing to close that out is an embarrassment.

UAEguy2020

Even after all this and needing a big 5 minutes to turn it around Connacht still give away cheap penalties...

Utopia Parkway

An unbelievable collapse really. From 21 points up at half time to actually being well beaten in the end.

Connacht have had a handful of disastrous losses towards the end of games this season but this might take the cake.

CMcsporty

testtech05 wrote: »

I've a feeling he might have been having a few beers in ireland camp when he got the late call. Has been poor

He looks in bits!!

Buer

Bazzo wrote: »

Red card no excuse at all. They were 21 points up at half time without it. Failing to close that out is an embarrassment.

Indeed. I was just trying to give a little consolation, to be honest!

29-0 to the Scarlets since the break is horrendous.

tobdom

KBurke85 wrote: »

This is a disgraceful performance second half. I think we really need to consider bringing in a new defence coach next season.

We've realistically needed a new defence coach for a number of seasons now. Always undoing our good attacking work, so frustrating.....

IngazZagni

Boscoirl wrote: »

That offside intercept pen looked very close to ok from me. And the fact the Welsh TV didn’t show a replay prob meant he was onside

I rewound it and froze it. Looks like he was onside to me. Just serious line speed made him look offside.

Buer

A half time substitute gets MOTM. Sort of sums it up.

Boscoirl

IngazZagni wrote: »

I rewound it and froze it. Looks like he was onside to me. Just serious line speed made him look offside.

A 14point swing then

its_phil

To be fair that was a class drop off

CMcsporty

Cripes! Friend must be tearing his hair out!

Utopia Parkway

Connacht have had a good season on paper. 2nd in their conference. Would be in the play offs in a normal year. Qualified for Champions Cup.

But they've thrown away at least 4 games this season that they really should have won. Robbed one from Benetton alright.

its_phil

The players and management owe the supporters an apology for that.

A nothing game but I’m mortified to support the team after that. Nothing to be proud of when you can be that arrogant.

One player in particular needs a good look at himself for the condition he showed up in tonight.

SqueakyKneecap

Obviously the players need to take a hell of a lot of blame for the gutless second half but this is the wake-up call needed that the defending has been suspect for too long. We need a new face in to coach the defense.

Embarrassing result.

its_phil

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Connacht have had a good season on paper. 2nd in their conference. Would be in the play offs in a normal year. Qualified for Champions Cup.

But they've thrown away at least 3 and probably 4 games this season that they really should have won.

Scarlets Home
Edinburgh Home
Ospreys Home
Scarlets Away

How did we throw them away?

Bazzo

They had an absolute golden opportunity to take their first ever win in Parc Y Scarlets tonight and produced that ****show of a second half.

There should be some very hard questions asked after that.

WallyGUFC

Absolutely shameful 2nd half. Leicester will enjoy their run out against us I think.

CMcsporty

its_phil wrote: »

The players and management owe the supporters an apology for that.

A nothing game but I’m mortified to support the team after that. Nothing to be proud of when you can be that arrogant.

One player in particular needs a good look at himself for the condition he showed up in tonight.

Fitting that "The Crying Game" is on there after the game

realhorrorshow

Wow, what a game. Choose your cliché. Going into this I would have tolerated a loss, hard to expect us to beat a team who have something to play for when we do not. The nature of the second half implosion, and the fact that it is not the first time this year, is very concerning and hints at severe mental fragility within the squad. Obviously the first half was encouraging and we played some lovely rugby, but our defence was frankly atrocious. Even when up a man we looked all at sea. Every phase there is a frantic scramble to get in position. We constantly overfold around the ruck, spacing was all over the place around the guard position, caught narrow consistently, tackling was woeful. Peter Wilkins has been with us a long time now but has shown no signs that he can implement a top class defence. Seems a decent bloke and I’m sure there’s a role for him within the club but would like to see us make a change there.

The result was obviously very disappointing, but my main focus coming into this game was the performance of the young and fringe players.

Jordan Duggan: Another really good performance. Solid if not destructive in the scrum, and robust in the loose. Has had a very impressive season especially given he missed all of 19/20 through injury.

Niall Murray: Looking really promising. I had him down as potentially a slow burner given his frame but he has surpassed my expectations so far. Nice to see he hasn’t lost the pace as he has bulked up. Reminds me of James Ryan in how despite not being the heaviest he knows exactly how to take contact on his terms to win collisions. Interestingly, he scrummaged at tighthead too when Thornbury went off. Looks like a future international.

Abraham Papali’i: Exactly what you’d want from him. Loads of hard carries and worked hard on both sides of the ball. Understand that he is probably a divisive figure but I personally would love to see him stay.

Conor Fitzgerald: After some struggles earlier in the year, looking more like the player who kept Jack Carty out of the team at times last season. Has a lovely range of passing, he loves that flat ball right on the gainline.

Sean O’Brien: His best performance so far, though still tends to slip off a few tackles and makes his fair share of handling errors. In normal circumstances I think he would get a dev deal for next year, but if the provinces are under pressure to cut costs it could be hard to justify contracting 6 centres. In actuality Peter Robb is basically a non-factor but I don’t know if the IRFU will see it that way.

Ben O’Donnell: Not good. I’m sure the attacking side of the game will come to him once he notches a try or two and gets his confidence up. Made some awful reads in defence.

Subs were thrown onto a sinking ship so wouldn’t be too harsh on them.

The non-red card was a shambolic call and if it happened in a consequential game we would all be up in arms. Think the game needs specialist TMOs rather than shoehorning in refs that they have removed from the pool for being ****e (Ian Williams was the second worst ref I have ever seen, Leighton Hodges takes the gold for those curious).

connachta

I'm not unhappy.

1) SOB 2.0 looks pretty good, I'm less worried to miss Bundee
2) Talking about Hodges, I remembered Cardiff and we s**** them again, ousting them from the 3rd place in the league by giving Scarlets the win
3) I'd have taken the 2 BP before K.O, and the result again does not matter. Roll on Leicester and Rainbow Cup!

freyners

realhorrorshow wrote: »

Wow, what a game. Choose your cliché. Going into this I would have tolerated a loss, hard to expect us to beat a team who have something to play for when we do not. The nature of the second half implosion, and the fact that it is not the first time this year, is very concerning and hints at severe mental fragility within the squad. Obviously the first half was encouraging and we played some lovely rugby, but our defence was frankly atrocious. Even when up a man we looked all at sea. Every phase there is a frantic scramble to get in position. We constantly overfold around the ruck, spacing was all over the place around the guard position, caught narrow consistently, tackling was woeful. Peter Wilkins has been with us a long time now but has shown no signs that he can implement a top class defence. Seems a decent bloke and I’m sure there’s a role for him within the club but would like to see us make a change there.

The result was obviously very disappointing, but my main focus coming into this game was the performance of the young and fringe players.

Jordan Duggan: Another really good performance. Solid if not destructive in the scrum, and robust in the loose. Has had a very impressive season especially given he missed all of 19/20 through injury.

Niall Murray: Looking really promising. I had him down as potentially a slow burner given his frame but he has surpassed my expectations so far. Nice to see he hasn’t lost the pace as he has bulked up. Reminds me of James Ryan in how despite not being the heaviest he knows exactly how to take contact on his terms to win collisions. Interestingly, he scrummaged at tighthead too when Thornbury went off. Looks like a future international.

Abraham Papali’i: Exactly what you’d want from him. Loads of hard carries and worked hard on both sides of the ball. Understand that he is probably a divisive figure but I personally would love to see him stay.

Conor Fitzgerald: After some struggles earlier in the year, looking more like the player who kept Jack Carty out of the team at times last season. Has a lovely range of passing, he loves that flat ball right on the gainline.

Sean O’Brien: His best performance so far, though still tends to slip off a few tackles and makes his fair share of handling errors. In normal circumstances I think he would get a dev deal for next year, but if the provinces are under pressure to cut costs it could be hard to justify contracting 6 centres. In actuality Peter Robb is basically a non-factor but I don’t know if the IRFU will see it that way.

Ben O’Donnell: Not good. I’m sure the attacking side of the game will come to him once he notches a try or two and gets his confidence up. Made some awful reads in defence.

Subs were thrown onto a sinking ship so wouldn’t be too harsh on them.

The non-red card was a shambolic call and if it happened in a consequential game we would all be up in arms. Think the game needs specialist TMOs rather than shoehorning in refs that they have removed from the pool for being ****e (Ian Williams was the second worst ref I have ever seen, Leighton Hodges takes the gold for those curious).

Ah Hodges. I will never forgive him for that Cardiff game.

Tommybojangles

Hard to believe we finished second to Munster and managed to have the most frustrating season I can remember. (First went to games in 01 before anyone accuses me of a short memory.) I've lost count of the points thrown away. The last 2 games and Munster obviously stand out, ignoring the bonus point against Bristol. 12 points up at half time against Ospreys. Just thank God its over and who the hell knows what to expect from the Leicester game

Utopia Parkway

Loads of bonus points this season. So well capable of scoring lots of tries and when they lose it's very often close games they lose.