Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Utopia Parkway

Another one. Fitz gets robbed.

And Connacht will get one more chance. And lose it again. Sigh.

its_phil

Papa has been a disaster signing

Utopia Parkway

Had loads of chances here in the end but couldn’t hold onto the ball.

UAEguy2020

I’m impressed at how good Connacht have been at consistently ****ing up a good chance...

testtech05

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Another one. Fitz gets robbed.

And Connacht will get one more chance. And lose it again. Sigh.

Don't think he even lost it nearly handed to him in the end.

Not sure why we tapped and went there. Our decision making in tight games is really awful the last while

ClanofLams

Friend has done a decent job and recruited well in particular but the persistent inconsistency in performance is a real issue and the same areas repeatedly being weaknesses doesn’t reflect well either. Team doesn’t seem to learn from errors either.

Maybe just frustration after that and the players have to take their share of responsibility but from my perspective a change wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Bazzo

That was absolute ****

VANG1

Connacht are so frustrating, they can beat Leinster and lose to ospreys, crazy.

Zzippy

Frustrating beyond belief.

realhorrorshow

ClanofLams wrote: »

Friend has done a decent job and recruited well in particular but the persistent inconsistency in performance is a real issue and the same areas repeatedly being weaknesses doesn’t reflect well either. Team doesn’t seem to learn from errors either.

Maybe just frustration after that and the players have to take their share of responsibility but from my perspective a change wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Definitely agree that change is needed, whether that should be head coach or assistants I'm not sure. Were not very good and as you say there have been persistent issues throughout Friend's reign but we are definitely better than when he took over.

connachta

We're so poor with our forwards.

LBP is a gift from Ospreys in the end, not kicking the penalty

KBurke85

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Another one. Fitz gets robbed.

And Connacht will get one more chance. And lose it again. Sigh.

Fitz had some good games in his first season but he has a long way to go and needs to improve a lot if he wants to play regularly at this level.
Throwing away a 12 point lead in 5 mins and with them having 14 at the start of the half is unforgivable.

Zzippy

its_phil wrote: »

Papa has been a disaster signing

He's just a one year contract, right? Right???

Utopia Parkway

VANG1 wrote: »

Connacht are so frustrating, they can beat Leinster and lose to ospreys, crazy.

Ospreys are improving in fairness. Probably the best Welsh side this season.

connachta

Defence coach and forward coach rather than head coach IMO

KBurke85

VANG1 wrote: »

Connacht are so frustrating, they can beat Leinster and lose to ospreys, crazy.

They can beat Leinster thirds and not ospreys first team to put some context on it also

realhorrorshow

connachta wrote: »

We're so poor with our forwards.

LBP is a gift from Ospreys in the end, not kicking the penalty

Good point, guess that's one of the issues with the conference system.

Utopia Parkway

KBurke85 wrote: »

Fitz had some good games in his first season but he has a long way to go and needs to improve a lot if he wants to play regularly at this level.
Throwing away a 12 point lead in 5 mins and with them having 14 at the start of the half is unforgivable.

Webb ran over him for his try as well.

Utopia Parkway

KBurke85 wrote: »

They can beat Leinster thirds and not ospreys first team to put some context on it also

In fairness Connacht weren’t at full strength for the Leinster game either.

SqueakyKneecap

The last two matches haven't been good enough. We're going backwards.

its_phil

If one of the KPIs for the season was a 90% win record at home than losing to Bristol, Scarlets, Ospreys, Ulster and Munster means something has to change.

Bundee on the field for 20 minutes didn’t get served one ball, but we ran three telegraphed loops off 9 from set pieces and got turned over three times. Madness.

testtech05

We need to get a couple of wins from somewhere to make sure of europe for next season.

Today was a great chance being 12 up against the run of play at halftime. Our record when playing against 14 men must make for grim reading can't remember a time when we have really capitalized on it.

Apart from maul defence and breakdown as others have mentioned, 1 constant issue I notice is the amount of times we mess up receiving a kick off. Normally just after we have scored just hand the other team back the momentum then....

Utopia Parkway

Maul defence again was horrendous. Been a lingering major problem all season.

thomond2006

Zzippy wrote: »

He's just a one year contract, right? Right???

Careful, you'll be hounded upon by the BIG PAPA fanboys.

Bazzo

thomond2006 wrote: »

Careful, you'll be hounded upon by the BIG PAPA fanboys.

Depending on how much he's getting paid he could still be worth it. The physicality be brings is something we badly miss(and I notice he had his face about 3 inches off the ground making that tackle where be bounced someone and turned the ball over).

The tap and go was stupid but I mean the performance was littered (read: a landfill) of stupid mistakes.

realhorrorshow

KBurke85 wrote: »

Fitz had some good games in his first season but he has a long way to go and needs to improve a lot if he wants to play regularly at this level.
Throwing away a 12 point lead in 5 mins and with them having 14 at the start of the half is unforgivable.

The problem is that we don't have an experienced backup, unlike all the other provinces. In my mind, the ideal squad breakdown is: first choice (Sexton, Carbery, Burns), solid backup (Byrne, Hanrahan, Madigan), and prospect (Byrne, Healy, Johnston). Issue being that we don't have an experienced hand to turn to if Carty is absent, we have two prospects.

connachta

We may finish 4th in a full-season league

our main chance is Europe won't change rule next season, but in 2022 to integrate the S-A

Then we'll have our home play-off facing Glasgow, very poor too, and we could win it.

In May who knows, there might be some crowd in this, let's dream

Utopia Parkway

Also surely no side has worse end of game decision making than Connacht? Some absolutely bonkers decisions made late on in games this season.

FACECUTTR

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Also surely no side has worse end of game decision making than Connacht? Some absolutely bonkers decisions made late on in games this season.

Looks to me like there is something unsettling the players. The inconsistent performances from game to game are unreal. Maul issue has been going since last season along with ruck defence.
We signed Pete Wilkins from a poor Edinburgh at the time and I'm not sure his plans translate onto the pitch. Some games we're excellent at shutting teams out then it decends into crap in others.
As I said something is not right whether its Covid-19 related issues affecting the whole setup or the coaching ticket needs a bit of a shake up to get things fresh again. Something needs to change or we could end up losing a few good players from the team and in the current climate it would be extremely difficult to replace them. We have the best squad of players ever right now and it would be a shame to regress.

VANG1

VANG1 wrote: »

Connacht are so frustrating, they can beat Leinster and lose to ospreys, crazy.

You could argue the Leinster game wasn't that unbelievable.

They lost Sexton after twenty mins and didnt even have close to a competent replacement, it was also a poor Leinster team.

I certainly don't think it reflects "what this team can do on their day", the Munster and Ulster games were the reflection.

Fitzgerald's two mistakes had a big bearing on their first try for me.
He threw a nothing ball out of play and on his next possession he got blocked and they ran it over a few phases later.
He missed the tackle for their last try and basically had the ball just pulled off him in our last real attack.

Our back options are really poor, Porch is quality and we've ok in the centre but it's much muchness between the rest.

I'd like to see us get a NIQ winger.

freyners

gilberto_eire wrote: »

You could argue the Leinster game wasn't that unbelievable.

They lost Sexton after twenty mins and didnt even have close to a competent replacement, it was also a poor Leinster team.

I certainly don't think it reflects "what this team can do on their day", the Munster and Ulster games were the reflection.

Fitzgerald's two mistakes had a big bearing on their first try for me.
He threw a nothing ball out of play and on his next possession he got blocked and they ran it over a few phases later.
He missed the tackle for their last try and basically had the ball just pulled off him in our last real attack.

Our back options are really poor, Porch is quality and we've ok in the centre but it's much muchness between the rest.

I'd like to see us get a NIQ winger.

Not a hope. We have porch and bod both niq

Borders no.2

Incredibly frustrating game to watch. I don't know how we were 12 up at half time, Ospreys very close to a couple of tries but having got in that position and having an extra man for the first 8 or so minutes of the 2nd half we really should have had the springboard to go on and win the game from there.

Honestly I don't know how we are 2nd in our conference. We obviously benefited from some teams missing internationals but in the main I think Connacht have been poor this season. Racing was dressed up as a major success as a narrow defeat but we were one pass away from that being a 30-40 point hammering.

Edinburgh and Leinster are the only games I'd be happy with this season. There were good patches in some other games but overall we lose shape so quickly when the tide is going against us and our decision making at crunch times is desperate.

The maul in both directions is absolutely laughable on a consistent basis. Its always been a problem for Connacht in defence but generally we'd manage but this season pretty much every team is destroying us in this area.

In terms of personnel the squad isn't good enough and with Covid we are going to continue to be bottom of the queue in terms of strengthening our squad. Once we are down a couple of players in key positions you really see the lack of depth being painfully obvious. To me we need to start asking serious questions of ourselves in defence and in the forwards. We clearly don't have the power in the forwards. We need to find a way of either recruiting some bulk or finding a way to cope with this.

Teams are overpowering us up front and our defence out wide consistently looks threadbare at best. None of the back 3 are good defenders being honest. Wooton has done great going forward but what is he doing for the first try. I love Porch as an attacker but he's not able to defend especially as a last line. Some of the missed tackles today were embarrassing. We got away with it more than once but were deservedly punished in the end.

I think its time major questions were asked about Jimmy Duffy and Pete Wilkins. We can't be happy with the sort of tries we are conceding on a regular basis. I like Andy Friend, he seems an all round good guy but to me it seem things are all a bit too nice at the moment.

I do wonder who is laying down the law to make sure that we make good decisions when the pressure comes on. Butler was an ok captain for a couple of seasons but the decisions made by the group as a whole and when the pressure comes on doesn't seem to be improving at all. When we are on the back foot, the decision making just seems to get more and more kamikaze.

Every chance we get to take a strangehold of 2nd position in our group we mess it up. Could easily find ourselves missing out on Top 3 altogether if the other teams get their act together.

Finally, I never thought a referee would make me want to see George Clancy in charge but its beyond belief that Frank Murphy has climbed as far up the refereeing ladder as he has. Im not blaming him for the defeat in any shape or form but his overall inconsistency is just baffling.

Lost Ormond

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Incredibly frustrating game to watch. I don't know how we were 12 up at half time, Ospreys very close to a couple of tries but having got in that position and having an extra man for the first 8 or so minutes of the 2nd half we really should have had the springboard to go on and win the game from there.

Honestly I don't know how we are 2nd in our conference. We obviously benefited from some teams missing internationals but in the main I think Connacht have been poor this season. Racing was dressed up as a major success as a narrow defeat but we were one pass away from that being a 30-40 point hammering.

Edinburgh and Leinster are the only games I'd be happy with this season. There were good patches in some other games but overall we lose shape so quickly when the tide is going against us and our decision making at crunch times is desperate.

The maul in both directions is absolutely laughable on a consistent basis. Its always been a problem for Connacht in defence but generally we'd manage but this season pretty much every team is destroying us in this area.

In terms of personnel the squad isn't good enough and with Covid we are going to continue to be bottom of the queue in terms of strengthening our squad. Once we are down a couple of players in key positions you really see the lack of depth being painfully obvious. To me we need to start asking serious questions of ourselves in defence and in the forwards. We clearly don't have the power in the forwards. We need to find a way of either recruiting some bulk or finding a way to cope with this.

Teams are overpowering us up front and our defence out wide consistently looks threadbare at best. None of the back 3 are good defenders being honest. Wooton has done great going forward but what is he doing for the first try. I love Porch as an attacker but he's not able to defend especially as a last line. Some of the missed tackles today were embarrassing. We got away with it more than once but were deservedly punished in the end.

I think its time major questions were asked about Jimmy Duffy and Pete Wilkins. We can't be happy with the sort of tries we are conceding on a regular basis. I like Andy Friend, he seems an all round good guy but to me it seem things are all a bit too nice at the moment.

I do wonder who is laying down the law to make sure that we make good decisions when the pressure comes on. Butler was an ok captain for a couple of seasons but the decisions made by the group as a whole and when the pressure comes on doesn't seem to be improving at all. When we are on the back foot, the decision making just seems to get more and more kamikaze.

Every chance we get to take a strangehold of 2nd position in our group we mess it up. Could easily find ourselves missing out on Top 3 altogether if the other teams get their act together.

Finally, I never thought a referee would make me want to see George Clancy in charge but its beyond belief that Frank Murphy has climbed as far up the refereeing ladder as he has. Im not blaming him for the defeat in any shape or form but his overall inconsistency is just baffling.

Would agree with a lot of that.
The maul is constantly an issue both ways. Weight of pack could be an issue with that but technique is poor more often than not with players starting off too loose, too high and just get destroyed by any sides who can hit well and low.
On Frank. Think he's not great but main issue is he's climbed ladder to pro level a bit too quick. Started reffing the season after he finished and within 2 seasons was reffing pro14 games.

Former Coach

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Incredibly frustrating game to watch. I don't know how we were 12 up at half time, Ospreys very close to a couple of tries but having got in that position and having an extra man for the first 8 or so minutes of the 2nd half we really should have had the springboard to go on and win the game from there.

Honestly I don't know how we are 2nd in our conference. We obviously benefited from some teams missing internationals but in the main I think Connacht have been poor this season. Racing was dressed up as a major success as a narrow defeat but we were one pass away from that being a 30-40 point hammering.

Edinburgh and Leinster are the only games I'd be happy with this season. There were good patches in some other games but overall we lose shape so quickly when the tide is going against us and our decision making at crunch times is desperate.

The maul in both directions is absolutely laughable on a consistent basis. Its always been a problem for Connacht in defence but generally we'd manage but this season pretty much every team is destroying us in this area.

In terms of personnel the squad isn't good enough and with Covid we are going to continue to be bottom of the queue in terms of strengthening our squad. Once we are down a couple of players in key positions you really see the lack of depth being painfully obvious. To me we need to start asking serious questions of ourselves in defence and in the forwards. We clearly don't have the power in the forwards. We need to find a way of either recruiting some bulk or finding a way to cope with this.

Teams are overpowering us up front and our defence out wide consistently looks threadbare at best. None of the back 3 are good defenders being honest. Wooton has done great going forward but what is he doing for the first try. I love Porch as an attacker but he's not able to defend especially as a last line. Some of the missed tackles today were embarrassing. We got away with it more than once but were deservedly punished in the end.

I think its time major questions were asked about Jimmy Duffy and Pete Wilkins. We can't be happy with the sort of tries we are conceding on a regular basis. I like Andy Friend, he seems an all round good guy but to me it seem things are all a bit too nice at the moment.

I do wonder who is laying down the law to make sure that we make good decisions when the pressure comes on. Butler was an ok captain for a couple of seasons but the decisions made by the group as a whole and when the pressure comes on doesn't seem to be improving at all. When we are on the back foot, the decision making just seems to get more and more kamikaze.

Every chance we get to take a strangehold of 2nd position in our group we mess it up. Could easily find ourselves missing out on Top 3 altogether if the other teams get their act together.

Finally, I never thought a referee would make me want to see George Clancy in charge but its beyond belief that Frank Murphy has climbed as far up the refereeing ladder as he has. Im not blaming him for the defeat in any shape or form but his overall inconsistency is just baffling.

27 missed tackles today........

ElisaAtWar

TBH I think Jarrod is struggling in many ways. So many mistakes today, but my biggest concern with him is that he adds nothing to the back row, both physical or dynamic.

I thought the game was a quality game. I thought Connacht were lucky to be leading at half time. I thought papali brought an agressiveness that was needed.

Dave hit his lineouts every time. Ospreys are a good team and they were well up for it.

I think Connacht were beaten in many areas and Ospreys deserved to win.

As for Frank's performance, I listened with interest to what he was saying. And every single time it was Connacht don't do this and Connacht don't do that. I don't believe he mentioned the word Ospreys within the 80 minutes. I don't know what his issue is but he has a burning issue.

But as said Ospreys were the deserved winners. I really don't give a shyte about Frank's problems in life

Lost Ormond

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

TBH I think Jarrod is struggling in many ways. So many mistakes today, but my biggest concern with him is that he adds nothing to the back row, both physical or dynamic.

I thought the game was a quality game. I thought Connacht were lucky to be leading at half time. I thought papali brought an agressiveness that was needed.

Dave hit his lineouts every time. Ospreys are a good team and they were well up for it.

I think Connacht were beaten in many areas and Ospreys deserved to win.

As for Frank's performance, I listened with interest to what he was saying. And every single time it was Connacht don't do this and Connacht don't do that. I don't believe he mentioned the word Ospreys within the 80 minutes. I don't know what his issue is but he has a burning issue.

But as said Ospreys were the deserved winners. I really don't give a shyte about Frank's problems in life

Bit harsh to say Jarred adds nothing to backrow. Poor today but adds nothing?

I dont see how this game was a quality game.
Connacht were very sloppy and were lucky to lead at half time.
Ospreys had over 70% of possession in second half then Murphy should be mentioning Connacht more as he will be calling for team without ball to stay onside, on feet etc a lot more than team in possession

Bazzo

It's something we've all been saying for a while.

Lineout, maul, ruck protection, tackling. They're consistent problems... probably for 2+ years now.

Wegians89

Bazzo wrote: »

It's something we've all been saying for a while.

Lineout, maul, ruck protection, tackling. They're consistent problems... probably for 2+ years now.

I like Jimmy Duffy but I’d it time to start looking at changing things up?

Bazzo

Wegians89 wrote: »

I like Jimmy Duffy but I’d it time to start looking at changing things up?

It certainly looks like something needs to change in the coaching setup. Most have been in situ for a good while now and the problems aren't getting fixed.

Could also add receiving restarts to that list actually, was it another 2? knocked on under no pressure last night, at least one of which led to an Ospreys try. Butler had a bit of a mare yesterday, but he was very consistent for a long time so I'd be confident he can find form again.

ionadnapokot

Lads whats the story with Carty? Is it Covid related?

Not in the squad v Ospreys and not even a mention of him in the press this morning either.

Bazzo

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Lads whats the story with Carty? Is it Covid related?

Not in the squad v Ospreys and not even a mention of him in the press this morning either.

There weren't any positive PCR tests before the Ospreys game. He was likely just rested.

KBurke85

Bazzo wrote: »

There weren't any positive PCR tests before the Ospreys game. He was likely just rested.

Likely rested. He was at the game yesterday TG4 showed him after the game on the clan terrace with a gear bag

ionadnapokot

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Lads whats the story with Carty? Is it Covid related?

Not in the squad v Ospreys and not even a mention of him in the press this morning either.

Blade, Marmion, Bealham all miss out too. Must be seriously frustrating for these guys. The Ireland selection has been frustrating me for years now honestly makes it hard for me to get excited for them anymore. Casey, Gibson-Park and McGrath ahead of both our SH's ? Give me a break.

Wouldn't hold anything against them if they were to go to France or England for big bucks at this stage.

Edit: I see McGrath in fact isn't included which is some respite at least.

FACECUTTR

Bazzo wrote: »

There weren't any positive PCR tests before the Ospreys game. He was likely just rested.

Likely would have known he wasnt to be involved with Ireland so no need to play him. Was due a rest.

ionadnapokot

I find it crazy that Carty is not even in the squad.
Farrell giving him no game time in the Autumn was ridiculous & shortsighted

Also ridiculous that Marmion, Blade or even Casey didn't get a run in that tournament.

Sexton et al should not have played one minute of that tournament. We are seeing the consequence of it now.

Bazzo

From an unbelievably selfish provincial point of view having Blade, Marmion and Carty all available puts us in a much stronger position for the next 6 weeks. Missing both Roux and Dillane will weaken us significantly, especially with our set piece and offensive breakdown problems.

testtech05

Bazzo wrote: »

From an unbelievably selfish provincial point of view having Blade, Marmion and Carty all available puts us in a much stronger position for the next 6 weeks. Missing both Roux and Dillane will weaken us significantly, especially with our set piece and offensive breakdown problems.

While I agree with this point about having the lads for our games (hopefully we might have 1 of Roux/Dillane sometimes too), you would wonder what some players have to do in order to be involved while others cant seem to be dropped no matter what.

It's getting to the point where I would start to worry about our chances of retaining some of the lads if they see no chance of progressing internationally it would be hard to begrudge them looking out for themselves financially.

It probably sounds like provincial bias to highlight our guys but there are players in the other provinces being treated similarly, John Cooney the obvious one who comes to mind....

Bazzo

https://twitter.com/bernardjackman/status/1353654095970754560

Buernard Jackman weighing in on some of the scrum reffing from yesterday.

macslash

It needs more highlighting from the media. I remember that scene yesterday and seeing Andy in the stand looking down and I just felt he must know full well they're dammed either way out there. Murphy is an odd ref. Totally inconsistent.

Number 137

I always find it interesting when certain individuals decide to constantly castigate a referee. It's usually very generic, nothing specific, in terms of what the referee's actual issues are. I'd be curious to know what your particular bug bears are, instead of hiding behind cliched buzz terms. I fully accept that watching games can be frustrating when decisions don't go our way. But let's be honest, Connacht don't lose games because referee A or B is refereeing. They lose games because of their own short comings.