Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

myself and pal going to saracens match, staying in air bb right beside Wembley Stadium, anyone know of some good watering holes around north London close to Stone x stadium? cheers folks

I see that potentially Tiernan and Willie le Roux might be facing off this weekend. I still cringe at the tackle Le Roux made on Tiernan. And the ensuing top of the back vs landing on his head argument was such a joke https://twitter.com/i/status/746729181988392960

Earliest he'll be back is the first European game

Would be interested in seeing an analysis of how our centre partnership failed to trigger last weekend. We depend on Forde and Farrell breaking lines which simply didn't happen. Don't understand rugby well enough to identify the cause

Rodney Ah You is back in training

RC Vannes

McElroy and Reilly continue with starting spots is interesting.

I'd have thought 12 is where you'd be more concerned about size. More likely to get a big back row running at you. At 13 you typically want someone with a bit more mobility. Aki /Henshaw & ringrose for instance. McCloskey & Hume. It's also why wingers tend to cover 13 more than 12.

Now what'll be interesting is if he has the defensive head for the 13 channel.

Given the absence of Farrell, Heff, and especially Prendergast, I think management are treating this as a shot to nothing. This selection meas that everyone on the tour squad has received some minutes, so will be good for morale.

Hawkshaw is not wanting for bravery or fight, it'll be interesting to see how he manages at outside centre. I liked him at 12 last year, but there is a bottleneck there so it makes sense to try and redeploy him. Instinctively I'd have put Ralston in at 13, but good to see them try something new?

I'm actually disappointed to see Carty in the 23, never mind starting.

That 10minutes period against Edinburgh basically cost us the game. He should need to earn his spot back in the team, but it doesn't feel that way. Obviously I dont see how he performs in training, but too often in matches his errors have hurt us way more than anything positive he has done

Definitely seems to be some risk-taking with the deployment of Hawkshaw at outside centre. A difficult position if you're used to playing 12 and we saw Bundee get caught out playing there for Ireland against Italy in the 6N this year. Be great if it works out.

I too thought he was great playing at 12, but between Cathal and Bundee he's going to be third choice there.

It's an interesting team selection. I wouldn't be a fan of it. Couple of things are hugely striking. It's clear that Jack is expected to kick down the middle and we have to handle the opposition coming at us full tilt. As such the 6-2 split on the bench makes sense.

And then it seems the Leinster game is being considered so JJ gets a rest while Reilly both deserves and needs the gametime.

So we have Porch and Hansen on the wings for Leinster. And we have potentially Reilly and JJ.

So what we are seeing for this weekend is both interesting and yet maybe not a terrible call. We know it's going to be attritional. And maybe if we manage to hold the strain thru the first half we might be able to get away with a LBP

Team for Leinster may well be

Dooley

Heff

Aungier

N.Murray

Thornbury

SHL

Prendergast

Oliver

Blade

JJ

Forde

Farrell

Hansen

Kilgallen

Porch

I'm looking forward to Thornbury's return but would be shocked if he starts against Leinster at a moment when competition for second row depth is as intense as it is. Amazing that this is despite Josh Murphy being on sabbatical.

Its not pink. Its blush. We Leinster fans know these things.😁