Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Possibly, I wouldn’t have thought there would be much need for resting at the moment as after the Ulster game there is a month break but could be right.

Tbh with papalii I’m sure the minutes he plays will be watched very closely. There were times in the first half last week that he looked gassed.

Not sure why ye would prefer papal over Boyle? Boyle a lot better.

A late train will also be added leaving Heuston at 20:20 and serving Athlone, Ballinasloe, Woodlawn, Athenry and Oranmore as well as Galway

https://www.connachtrugby.ie/travelling-to-the-aviva-all-you-need-to-know/

Carty misses a sitter of a pen straight in front. Perfect conditions really so can’t blame the weather. Just hooked it left.

Gets a second chance from almost the same position now.

This would be a really bad result given the tough run of games to come. Perfect conditions but Connacht just haven't done much today. Opted to kick pens in the first half when they maybe could have kicked a couple into the corner and gone for it. Haven't really managed to get in behind the Dragons defence.

Every time Connacht get back into it they immediately do something braindead to gift the Dragons a handy 3 points.

**** performance. Losing gimmes like home to the dragons make it almost impossible to have a decent season...

New competition, same s**** from Connacht. As usual zero questions will be asked of Friend. I saw one pre season preview that said we were "Lucky to have him"?

His tenure hasn't been awful, hasn't been good. One absolutely glaring thing is out management of the game when the opposition goes down to 14. Seen twice already this season and countless times over the last 4 years. I honestly think we need a coach who will try to instill some basics and stop obsessing over having a nice style of play, which we don't even have anymore.

Dragons were a good bit better than us and deserved it.

It was a very decent Connacht team. But players are all over the shop. There is nothing to say.

I'm very worried as to where we are at and have been for some time. Its hard to even know where to start. The lack of resources is an issue but that's always going to be the case. You get on with what you have and to me we aren't building anything of substance.

Throughout Friends tenure I'd have nothing bad to say about him as a person (other than the fact he's too open to interviews with the media) but the fact he seems such a likeable guy in itself is maybe half the problem.

I don't see anyone really driving standards at Connacht in any meaningful way. When things start going wrong in games they go catastrophically wrong all too regularly. The volume and nature of the scores conceded against lots of average sides over the past season or so is alarming.

Full credit to dragons for Saturday but I'd be pretty certain they won't score anything close to 35 points away from home again in the league.

Looking at Friends job record it's all short stints. I remember when he first came the vibes from him was that he was pitching up here for a couple of years and he'd be off again. Everything with Connacht just feels cosy and unchallenged at the moment.

The loss of Nigel Carolan in particular is very clear. The back room has changed a bit but to me it's a weaker setup now when we needed experienced coaches coming in.

Kieran Keane was clearly a man who the players didn't respond to but with Friend I think we're too far the other way. As a short term stop gap to bring some positive vibes he might have been ok but long term I think we are just drifting and losing our way.

Whatever about our away record, even in our worst days a team that won at the sportsground generally knew they'd had to fight hard for anything they earned. As a team to me we no longer place any real value in doing the dirty work.

Dragons are definitely an improved side but they're still going to be in the bottom half at the end of the season and they won quite comfortably on Saturday.

I might be alone in this but I get no joy out of losing a match 30-40 for example. It might be entertaining to some but a dour workmanlike 12-10 win suits me perfectly.

In years gone by we'd be under the cosh defensively at home and I'd usually expect us to find a way of turning over the ball. There was an air of inevitability about all Dragons tries the last night.

The first try we got out of jail moments beforehand and everything from the moment the penalty was awarded to the try was scored summed up Connacht perfectly.

The one off wins here and there have seriously papered over the cracks. We might come up with a great performance out of nowhere in the weeks ahead but in reality with the way the league is skewed our league season is as good as over already.

The sad thing is while I'll always support this team I feel no connection to it at the moment.

Some people are giving the mistaken idea that Andy Friend is carrying on what Pat Lam started. I couldn't disagree more. This current team have no respect for the ball and no coherent game management.

A lot went wrong that shouldn't have. A lot of basic skills failures in the first half that would have meant we were a lot further ahead heading in to the second half and it's probably a totally different game.

Despite having a lot of excellent players and prospects in the back row they never seem to click cohesively as a unit. I'd be tempted to give 6. Boyle 7. Oliver 8. Papali'i a go with Prendergast to come off the bench at 50. Butler seems a bit off the boil at the minute. It does mean that you risk one of your second rows having to put in a big shift there's an injury, and one of them having to cover the back row but there are plenty of options there capable of doing that.

We desperately need Aki back in the team for his jackal threat if nothing else. Boyle seemed to be contesting a fair bit(though not getting much change from the ref) but at least he was slowing the ball down.

Consistently inconsistent. I think we have enough quality in the team to be a tough outfit to beat but the performances game to game can just swing so wildly. I said it last season that either the game plan is not being translated from the coaching staff well enough or there is something else not right internally. Yes with the new coaches there will be a bit of bed in time but results will have to pick up regardless if they are against Leinster or Ulster or whoever.

I don't like to single out players but Butler is not cutting it the last few seasons. He was fantastic for the first 2 seasons after arriving. I realistically thought he would even get capped for ireland if he kept going the way he was. He is good when dealing with referees but I do doubt his leadership skills. Oliver is a good 7 for urc level but not in Europe. I gladly take back Colby Faingaa and let Butler move on.

Enough of the rant anyway, and let's hope we get things together and start to move in the right direction.