Johnny O'Concrete to Connacht

finlma

I see that Johnny O'Connor has rejoined Connacht for next season with more signings promised. A good bit of business for the province - it would be great if they could make some smart signings and push the other provinces in the Celtic League. Paul Warwick is a big loss though.

themarcus

Really? That's good to hear, they've lagged behind too long - love to see O'Connor get another shot with Ireland, so much competition for 6 and 7 though...

daveirl

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il gatto

Woo Hoo:) I remember it was rumoured about two years ago, but nothing came of it. He's a real groundhog. Good signing. To be fair, Connacht have pushed Munster in the Celtic league this year as it is. It's been nip and tuck most of this season between them (I know Munster would whip them if they really put their minds to it).

tHE vAGGABOND

brilliant - best thing the lads west of the shannon could have asked for..

Get our lads out of that over rated league over the water and back to play with our own lads

GreenHell

Question to connacht fans, what has the attendance in the sports ground been like this season?

Would like to see Connacht being more than a feeder province to the provinces, but can't really see that happening unless they have a large core group of supporters.

Any word on Duffy going west?

il gatto

With the exception of Galway city, the Sports Grounds have not got the large urban population that Thomond, Musgrave Park, Donnybrook and Ravenhill have. It's easier to fill small stadia when the bulk of your crowd only has to travel short distances to get there. Personally, it's a two hour drive, and with my work, not something I get to do too often.
And as a feeder club, success is not expected or likely, so increasing the fan base is unlikely. Even Leinster played to small crowds at Donnybrook before they became a top flight team. And that's in a city of 1.5 million potential fans.
I'm not sure about this whole "feeder" idea. Connacht has been that for quite a while, and doesn't seem to be really feeding anything towards the other provinces. Leinster, Ulster or Munster, don't seem too keen to let go of young talent like Fitzgerald or Ferris so they can develop at Connacht for a season or two. Connacht is basically opperating as a lesser club to the other provinces, and struggling on. I think it would be better if the I.R.F.U. sent a few almost top notch players and make then a fourth competitive province, qualifying for the Heineken Cup, and contributing players to the national team. As it stands, Connacht falls between two stools, being neither a true developement team or a fully competitive club.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

I think only 3 Irish teams can qualify for the EC anyway.

finlma

georgiecasey wrote:

I think only 3 Irish teams can qualify for the EC anyway.

Correct - the top 3 in the Celtic League - I think that's what he was saying.

Not a Connacht supporter as such but I live in Galway and go to a good few games. Attendences have been decent enough but the Sportsground is an awful stadium. No atmosphere whatsoever.

GreenHell

There is a round robin competition between the best placed non qualifying sides from ireland, scotland, wales and italy i think.

daveirl

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Conor_8

It would be nice to see the IRFU making a bit more of an effort with Connacht! O'Connor and Duffy should help things, but why are more players who are struggling to get even Celtic League action with the other provinces not moving? Is it up to the players or the IRFU or the other provinces?

I can't see Luke Fitzgerald going, but what about Gary Brown, Ross McCarron or Stephen Grissing spending a year or two there?

jackbhoy

il gatto wrote:

Leinster, Ulster or Munster, don't seem too keen to let go of young talent like Fitzgerald or Ferris so they can develop at Connacht for a season or two. Connacht is basically opperating as a lesser club to the other provinces, and struggling on.

I think the problem for Leinster/Munster is that during the 6N and Autumn internationals they are without 8/9 of match 22, this means they need to keep lads like you mentioned above around so they can remain competitive in ML. Another problem is they probably want these players to follow coaching/development cycle specific to Leinster/Munster setup etc.

As a Leinster STH but someone who used to live in Galway and attend Galweigans/Connacht games I would love to see them more competitive and to be treated with a bit more respect by the IRFU!! I also think if above issues were resolved youung Leinster/Munster players would benefit a lot more by playing 15-20 ML/Shield games for Connacht than by warming bench for 3/4 of season at home....

thirdmantackle

2,000 - 3,000 per game?

there isn't much rugby in Connacht
20 clubs at most

but i'd agree that the younger players on contracts should be at connacht playing matches

having Luke fitzgerald etc on a team would boost attendences by a few hundred

where else is there for Connacht to play their games? the sportsground is an awful ground due to the greyhound track

Sangre

The likes of Fitzgerald would go to England before going to Connacht.

daveirl

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Diamondmaker

il gatto wrote:

. Even Leinster played to small crowds at Donnybrook before they became a top flight team. And that's in a city of 1.5 million potential fans.

I think it would be better if the I.R.F.U. sent a few almost top notch players and make then a fourth competitive province, qualifying for the Heineken Cup, .

1st point is very true it is only the rise of the "superstars" on the international scene that has woken up dubs and Leinster people to the top flight rugby which was always going on there.
I started going when I finished college back when Pontyprid was a team, I always just paid as I went, never a problem for tickets back then.

I would be very doubtful that the IRFU would ever do anything to risk ( Munster especially ) the other provinces ERC qualifying chances. A slightly stronger Connacht may well have been able to close out those nearly games this season, which would have possibly seen Munster not qualify for ERC next year.

I believe this would have brought extra competitiveness and be better in the long run but in the short term the IRFU could not possibly have its flag ship club not qualify, hence they are not only stripped of talent but they never get any up side....they are too much of a threat and their progression does not bring any of the trappings that the other rpovices progression does!!

Eoin

daveirl wrote:

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Were the IRFU not talking about disbanding the entire provincial setup a couple of years ago?

il gatto

18 months ago the I.R.F.U. had their grubby paws on the cable, and were just about to pull the plug. Only prevented by fans having to take the time to travel to Dublin and stand outside the I.R.F.U. with placards.
I had a big long post full of brilliant ideas for Connacht, but boards.ie wasn't working properly the other night, and it wouldn't accept the post, and now I've forgotten what it was I'd typed:(

daveirl

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Jimmy Hoffa

Have to agree with dave irl Connacht are underacheivers.Im a Galway man myself living in dublin.Two mates of mine went to amatch 2 years ago and said never again would they go as the backs never got arun kept it in the forwards. Same two people were saying irfu were adisgrace trying to get rid of connacht but they show no interest in matches only 20 mins from where they live.In as funding goes it would be nice if they got the same money as other provinces but thats being unrealistic other provinces full of internationals.But if u are ayoung good player playing for connacht whats the chance of u playing for ireland? slim at best even if u have the talent.So they lose there best and brightest players to bigger clubs better contracts etc.

Webbs

Agree Connacht 'underachieve' due to a strange rotation policy when they should be just putting best 15 out on pitch all the time, they don't have the luxury of good back up.

As for losing last minute cliffhangers this again is due to the small core of good players. They cannot bring on decent replacements when other teams are able to shore up their scrum etc. This is an example of a post I made on another thread about too many replacements. Connacht are a classic example of this being a negative.

They will also be down near the bottom of the pile as every other team are able to have a 'gamebreaker' whether that be a O/H, centre etc. (hell even the borders have Townsend and Danielli, and Glasgow have Parks, Henderson Lamont etc)

Connacht have no pace even less than Munster and thats saying something, and until they get someone to break the gain line regularly then they will struggle.

This is where the IRFU are missing a big trick in getting players who are just getting splinters on their backsides to play with Connacht. I think this short sighted policy will come back to bite Ireland in the future

Webbs

Jimmy Hoffa wrote:

But if u are ayoung good player playing for connacht whats the chance of u playing for ireland? slim at best even if u have the talent.So they lose there best and brightest players to bigger clubs better contracts etc.

Serious question. How much is down to the player and how much down to the IRFU telling which player to go where?

I feel that there are more young players out there looking for bigger money rather than try to get noticed. I would have thought that it would be better for their Irish credentials to star in a Connacht team than play for 2nd string Munster in nothing ML game