Connacht make another signing

Zzippy

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/content/view/81410/7/

Connacht have signed Samoan centre Niva Ta'auso for the forthcoming season from Super 14 side, the Highlanders.

The 28 year old centre will not be arriving in Galway until October due to completing the current season in New Zealand with Counties Manukau but Connacht Manager Tim Allnutt sees Ta'auso as a major addition to his side.

"Niva is a very powerful strong running centre," he said. "He's a linebreaker and a good distributor of the ball and we feel he'll improve our play in a crucial area".

Ta'auso will be bringing a wealth of experience with him to Connacht having previously played with the Waikato Chiefs before joining the Highlanders in 2007. He has also been capped 22 times in Super 14 competition and was also capped by the Junior All Blacks in 2006.

Never heard of him before, but if he's played Super14 he can't be too bad! Another addition of a bit of quality to the backline

Stev_o

They are shaping up to having a very decent backline this season lets hope they can play the right style of rugby to exploit it

[Jackass]

Zzippy wrote: »

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/content/view/81410/7/



Never heard of him before, but if he's played Super14 he can't be too bad! Another addition of a bit of quality to the backline

Yeah, feckin hell, fair play, that's some back line you're shaping up there.

It has to be said that throughout the ML as a whole, the squads are getting stronger and stronger each year, but this has been a special off-season for Connacht, they've really recruited well, with Keatley at 10, this guy in centre, Carr probably at 15 and the rest, it's the guts of a strong backline.

Hope you have a cracking season.

Zzippy

[Jackass] wrote: »

Yeah, feckin hell, fair play, that's some back line you're shaping up there.

It has to be said that throughout the ML as a whole, the squads are getting stronger and stronger each year, but this has been a special off-season for Connacht, they've really recruited well, with Keatley at 10, this guy in centre, Carr probably at 15 and the rest, it's the guts of a strong backline.

Hope you have a cracking season.

Reckon Carr will be played more on the wing, Gavin Duffy is well established at 15. Great to see some depth anyway, quite a few backline positions were not well covered with talent the last couple of seasons

Goodluck2me

Carr will be out until late sept-ish though so its good they have a bit of strength and depth to work with.

il gatto

Highlanders shipped 338 points last season. That's an average of of 26 points a match. Hope Ta'auso wasn't responsible for too many of them:eek:
Hopefully he's another in a list of what looks like quality signing this summer. Now there might be a reason to get the ball out to the backs.:pac:

guapos

does anyone know how many non irish players connacht have now? obviously its within regulations but it seems quite high for our development province

toomevara

Does anyone know what's actually being 'developed' in Connacht (apart that is, from a piss-poor win-loss record)...

d-gal

Connacht good actually make a decent impact this year.

1. Brett Wilkinson
2. Sean Cronin
3. Rob Morris
4. David Gannon
5. Andrew Farley
6. Ray Ofisa
7. Johnny O'Connor
8. John Muldoon
9. Frank Murphy
10. Ian Keatley
11. Fionn Carr
12. Danny Riordan
13. Niva Ta'auso
14. Mark Roberts
15. Gavin Duffy

With swift, flavin, mccarthey, dunne, matthews, deane, wynne and campbell backing up that is a great 15

Zzippy

guapos wrote: »

does anyone know how many non irish players connacht have now? obviously its within regulations but it seems quite high for our development province

As has been pointed on this forum before, it was suggested that Connacht would be a development squad, but this was never officially designated. We get the odd player to "develop" from other provinces, but nothing like what we would get if it was officially a development squad.

toomevara wrote: »

Does anyone know what's actually being 'developed' in Connacht (apart that is, from a piss-poor win-loss record)...

Thanks for that, you sound just like a Man Utd fan. Condescending *****

toomevara

Zzippy wrote: »

Thanks for that, you sound just like a Man Utd fan. Condescending *****

Thanks for your response, sorry you've taken it so personally. It was an honest question genuinely meant...Though I would in an ideal world, love to see ireland genuinely support 4 competitive professional teams...Imo, it cant as things stand...The IRFU should either get properly behind the team or it should be wound up and the resources put somewhere they can have a greater impact..

Obviously i cant see under the asterisks (damn and blast, but possibly for the best)...but I cant think of any greater slur than a comparison to a Man Utd fan...ouch!!!;)

Abercrombie Dud

d-gal wrote: »

Connacht good actually make a decent impact this year.

1. Brett Wilkinson
2. Sean Cronin
3. Rob Morris
4. David Gannon
5. Andrew Farley
6. Ray Ofisa
7. Johnny O'Connor
8. John Muldoon
9. Frank Murphy
10. Ian Keatley
11. Fionn Carr
12. Danny Riordan
13. Niva Ta'auso
14. Mark Roberts
15. Gavin Duffy

With swift, flavin, mccarthey, dunne, matthews, deane, wynne and campbell backing up that is a great 15

vey good team but id probably put matthews in before roberts/o'riordan because matthews was probably the only half decent player in the back line last season.

but aside its great for us Connacht fans to see our best team since the season we narrowly lost Quins in the ECC!:D

zAbbo

Looks good, I'm planning on making the trip over for a game this season.

Zzippy

toomevara wrote: »

Thanks for your response, sorry you've taken it so personally. It was an honest question genuinely meant...Though I would in an ideal world, love to see ireland genuinely support 4 competitive professional teams...Imo, it cant as things stand...The IRFU should either get properly behind the team or it should be wound up and the resources put somewhere they can have a greater impact..

Obviously i cant see under the asterisks (damn and blast, but possibly for the best)...but I cant think of any greater slur than a comparison to a Man Utd fan...ouch!!!;)

Sorry, I'm just fed up of Munster/Leinster heads being condescending about our win/loss ratio etc, not taking into account the meagre resources available in comparison. Having a professional team here is doing wonders for the game in terms of popularity in the province, with more school and club teams popping up all the time, so talk of winding the team up because they don't win anything smacks of the old IRFU boys club. And its extremely insulting to the genuine rugby fans here.

The asterisks cover a word describing the content of your post, I thought the Man U comparison was strong enough :P

Maccers55

Does anyone else think Bradley is a lucky man to still be at the helm in Connacht.
He has had plenty of time and has still achieved very little.

Last season's injury time victory away to Dragons was Connacht's first away win in something like 20 months (excluding San Salvador). That, imo, is not good enough.

It appears you can do no wrong at Connacht. You win a few games you are a hero and miracle worker. You lose 90% of games and come last in the ML every season its ok you hadn't the resources.

The attitude seems to be its acceptable to lose and just put up a brave show.

I for one would have been glad to see Bradley get the Munster job as he would have been gone from Connacht and they could have got a fresh start.

[Jackass]

Maybe bring EO'S back? He's a much wiser man since he last left the provence, and with the squad they have now and his experience (although not a top class coach, would certainly be the best out of the bottom half of ML teams) he should have the smarts to topple a couple of other ML teams, maybe Dragons and Glasgow, and nip into 8th or even 7th...to be honest, isn't a massive challange for Connacht and is more withing their reach (even in the lasy couple of seasons imo) than people give them credit for.

toomevara

Zzippy wrote: »

The asterisks cover a word describing the content of your post, I thought the Man U comparison was strong enough :P

Yep, I deserved it, my original post come across as smartass on rereading...but Man U, Oh the indignity...!!!

Jigsaw

Could be close between Connacht and Ulster this year going by this.

il gatto

Maccers55 wrote: »

Does anyone else think Bradley is a lucky man to still be at the helm in Connacht.
He has had plenty of time and has still achieved very little.

Last season's injury time victory away to Dragons was Connacht's first away win in something like 20 months (excluding San Salvador). That, imo, is not good enough.

It appears you can do no wrong at Connacht. You win a few games you are a hero and miracle worker. You lose 90% of games and come last in the ML every season its ok you hadn't the resources.

The attitude seems to be its acceptable to lose and just put up a brave show.

I for one would have been glad to see Bradley get the Munster job as he would have been gone from Connacht and they could have got a fresh start.

I think most fans want shot of him. I've never heard anyone call him a miracle worker based on a few wins. Most people are sickened by the spineless run in this season. The reason he's there is because he's an IRFU boy, not because the fans want him. Personally I'd be happy to see someone/anyone who'd put some steel into the team take over.

Abercrombie Dud

Maccers55 wrote: »

Does anyone else think Bradley is a lucky man to still be at the helm in Connacht.
He has had plenty of time and has still achieved very little.

Last season's injury time victory away to Dragons was Connacht's first away win in something like 20 months (excluding San Salvador). That, imo, is not good enough.

It appears you can do no wrong at Connacht. You win a few games you are a hero and miracle worker. You lose 90% of games and come last in the ML every season its ok you hadn't the resources.

The attitude seems to be its acceptable to lose and just put up a brave show.

I for one would have been glad to see Bradley get the Munster job as he would have been gone from Connacht and they could have got a fresh start.

that is a load of garbage.now if you would take a look at some of the other connacht forums on this site,you would notice that close to every connacht fan wants a new coach!

and connacht cant use the media like the other 3 provinces or ireland to oust a coach because our coverage is not as big.the media think bradley is doing a good job which is quite the contrary.

this season should give the final verdict on connachts future for the next 5 years rugby imo.

if we get a HC spot,the future may be solid and we could attract more players.i really think we can do it this season,so fingures crossed!:rolleyes:

Maccers55

Abercrombie Dud wrote: »

that is a load of garbage.now if you would take a look at some of the other connacht forums on this site,you would notice that close to every connacht fan wants a new coach!

I'm not sure why you are saying this is garbage because you are actually agreeing with what i am saying. Maybe i should have made it clearer but i'm not referring to the attitude of the Connacht fans i am referring to the general attitude of the irfu, media and some other irish rugby fans.

But i think this seems to be the general attitude outside connacht regardless of who the coach is. What i was saying is that it appears no coach can do wrong - that failure is acceptable as long as they put in a few 'brave' performances along the way because they have the excuse of lack of resources, etc.

The fact that Bradley was mooted for the Munster job was laughable never mind being allowed coach an Irish team on a SH tour. I'm well aware of Bradley's close ties with the IRFU bigwigs and this is probably the main reason he is still around.

what i'm basically getting at is that regardless of who the coach is they should be measured on their results not these brave performances. And goals such as finishing ahead of the Dragons and Glasgow should be seen as requirements not as bonuses.

I am a connacht fan btw and I just find it so frustrating the way the media and the IRFU accept these failures.

JWAD

Maccers55 wrote: »

The fact that Bradley was mooted for the Munster job was laughable never mind being allowed coach an Irish team on a SH tour. I'm well aware of Bradley's close ties with the IRFU bigwigs and this is probably the main reason he is still around

That Irish team didn't do too bad, did they? Ran the All Blacks and Wallabies closer than any other touring side.

Maccers55

JWAD wrote: »

That Irish team didn't do too bad, did they? Ran the All Blacks and Wallabies closer than any other touring side.

Its just i wonder how much influence Bradley actually had. He only had a couple of weeks with them before hand. It was after all a very settled side that has been playing together for years with many players realising they may be facing the chop with a new coach coming in so they needed big performances.

The team pretty much picked itself and i don't think he pulled any master strokes. I would, however, give him credit in that he made the required changes early in both tests something EOS never did.

But once again it comes down to the same frustrations i have with Connacht - that these were seen by many observers as good and brave performances. Thats not good enough we should be annoyed (in fairness some of the players were) that we threw away a great chance of beating these sides. At the end of the day its the result that matters.

Anyways regardless of that tour he has had 5 years with Connacht and hasn't achieved anything so i think his time should be up.