Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

The only thing Connacht have been good at so far is giving the ball back to Lyon.

Did Sexton get shown on tv, with the Connacht coaches, at one stage?

that makes more sense... when was he given a gig up there?

Getting squeezed badly at the scrum and breakdown, and unfortunately having our 4th choice hooker and tighthead on the bench is not going to help. Defence has been fine we're just having to do too much of it because we can't get our hands on the ball. Lyon don't look too solid defensively themselves so if we can get something approaching parity in possession we may have an outside chance of sneaking a result.

Now Lyon 20 Connacht 17

Great maul try

Lyon's D is poor

Our maul looks strong in attack today. Shame about the throw on their 5m messed it up again

Thank god Carty is off

Mcdonald is decent for his first start

Love to see Jenning get a few consecutive games, looks good too

BP try for Lyon with 5 mins left

Pathetic

Frustrating result. At 20-17 there was something there and 2 butchered opportunities at 27-17 where Lyon were looking vulnerable but ultimately not good enough.

For some reason our coach wants to rest players for league games in a months time. If that's his thought process fair enough but if he puts out a stronger team for the dead rubber next week it'll add even more ammunition to the fact that his team selections have no logic behind them.

Even accounting for the injuries and absentees I felt that Lyon weren't 14 points the better. I think if we beat Bristol next week we'd almost be guaranteed to be one of the of the 6 bottom sides that get into the Challenge Cup, which unfortunately is the level of this team in 2024.

Still think they should've at least got a TBP a LBP but they didn't seem to back themselves in the last 15 minutes whatsoever. You can say what you want about injuries, players being out of position, harshly called scrum penalties etc but the lads look tired and low on confidence when the screws turn.

If people thought we were outclassed they need to have a look at the munster game, been hanging on by their fingertips and doing well to be within 7.

As others have said we were decent in parts, including defence where we looked very committed but if you give almost any opposition that much ball they're going to score.

Some good shifts from Mcelroy, Jansen and particularly Bolton, the late changes to the front row didn't help but thought we did better than the penalty count would suggest in the scrum.

Know we won't see it as he's a connacht player but Bolton brings something on the wing that not not many do and deserves to be in with a shout of a call up.

Edit: and just like that Munster draw level, really good effort to be level as they've been second best here.