Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Somebody mentioned Byrne was in a moonboot after the Castres game. Missed why Oliver went off.

Strong squad but them are up against it.

Lol typical Leinster knob.

Four players are going to miss crucial Connacht league games (admittedly games Connacht don't seem likely to get anything out of based on Friday anyway) so they can play some second tier South African sides on a rabble of a tour. It's a joke.

Ah yes coming into Connacht thread and throwing a pointless dig was real mature. IRFU can do no wrong.

Well firstly you might want to get your facts straight, it's a minimum of two games. The high likelihood is it will be three games (the tour has a fixture on Sunday October 9 and Connacht play Leinster on Friday October 14), given anyone touring won't be able to train until Tuesday October 11 at the earliest, I would be surprised if they were selected for Friday night, certainly anyone who played the previous Sunday won't be chosen, maybe one or two of them will be on the bench, but that will probably reflect poor performances or injuries. Either way, if any are in the 23 for the Friday fixture their preparation will be very far from ideal clearly. Three games out of an 18 game league is a not inconsiderable chunk.

All for a tour outside of an international window playing second tier sides. The league right now is the strongest it has been in years and the IRFU are clearly undermining that.

Bundee Aki returned in round four last year when the Lions tour finished on August 7. He is returning in round two this year after a tour that finished three weeks earlier on July 16. The IRFU aren’t making any major concession here.

The player management programme has been long established and is related to actual international rugby not some development tour outside of an international window.

The URC has emphasised repeatedly and publicly that they will seek to avoid clashing with international windows so that squads will have as strong as sides as possible, the IRFU has quite clearly undermined that and made the league look second rate.

Yeah I don’t think they won’t be allowed to play but the earliest they can train is Tuesday (given they won’t be in to Dublin until Monday morning at the earliest, even then can prob only train on Tuesday assuming they didn’t play on the Sunday).

They will only have Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of an interpro against Leinster as Connacht won’t train on the Thursday. Maybe it will be dire straits and they will be thrown in but they’re not really available for selection in the proper meaning of the phrase either and obviously were any of them to play, they would have pretty poor preparation.

Farrell might be keen to see Hansen play a bit more 15.

The way thinks are shaping up I'd say the back three options for the Worl Cup could be:

left wings: Lowe, Stockdale

right wings: Hansen, Conway/Baloucoune

fullback: Keenan

...with Hansen being the back up 15.

Yeah Thornbury and Oliver injured. The 42 reported yesterday Connacht were hopeful he would fly out later this week but today say himself and Oliver are "ruled out" so I presume he won't be flying out now. Jack Carty is expected to fly out later in the week along with few other players to replace those departing.

Hopefully. The 42 seems definitive about it.

"Lock Gavin Thornbury, who captained the side in their dismal 36-10 loss to Ulster on Saturday, and flanker Conor Oliver have also been ruled out, but it’s expected that Carty, who underwent wrist surgery during the summer, will link up with them."

Pete Wilkins: Adam Byrne's omission from South Africa tour 'no big story' (the42.ie)

This emerging Ireland players thing is stupid. They get much better experience playing URC, Champions Cup or even Challenge cup matches.

Who else does this type of thing?

We have an Ireland A for off-season games. That's enough in my opinion.

This is really hurting smaller clubs who don't have the depth that bigger clubs do.

That’s on the IRFU though, we could have been having them much more frequently.

To suddenly bring 35 players away on a tour in the second season of a new league which has altered schedule and made a deliberate aim of not clashing with international windows is a ridiculous move.

Also according to Bernard Jackman, they wanted to bring a second string, those on the fringes of the Irish squad but there was no communication with the provinces about it, the provinces were unhappy with it so it ended up with this mish mash of a squad which includes a lot of guys miles from the senior squad. So the tour isn’t even serving the intended purpose.

Lads, missed the game on Saturday. Saw the YouTube highlights and read a bit about it. But listening to the Craggy Rugby Pod yesterday they basically said a few were miles off.

Who was bad? And any good spots other than Murphy? Thanks.

He hasn't had a lot of luck with injuries over the past couple of years but, even when fully fit, the braintrust would start Butler at 8 to make minimal impact. He seemed to lose a lot of confidence to back himself since his mistake off the back of the scrum at home to 13 man Munster last year.

I agree that DTM was good, his throws were good (Heff inevitably overthrows/goes crooked at least 1/2 per game) and made an impact in the loose. He plays without fear and could become an important player for us.

Quite liked Byron Ralston, he seemed confident and decent in defense. Wootton made a key contribution to our only try, good decision on the pass after making a lot of ground. If himself and Byrne aren't injured, I don't understand why they're not going to SA.