Connacht vs Montpellier, Friday 7pm

thomond2006

15. Troy Nathan, 14. Liam Bibo, 13. Niva Ta'auso, 12. Keith Mathews, 11. Fionn Carr, 10. Ian Keatley, 9. Frank Murphy, 1. Brett Wilkinson, 2. Sean Cronin, 3. Robbie Morris, 4. Michael Swift, 5. Bernie Upton, 6. Mike McCarthy, 7. Ray Ofisa, 8. John Muldoon (capt),

Replacements: 16. Adrian Flavin, 17. Ronan Loughney, 18. Jamie Hagan, 19. Andrew Browne, 20. George Naoupu, 21. Conor O'Loughlin, 22. Miah Nikora, 23. Aidan Wynne



15. Jean-Matthieu Alcalde, 14. Benjamin Thiery, 13. Ollie Smith, 12. Grant Rees, 11. Thierry Brana, 10. Jaques Schutte, 9. Adrien Tomas, 1. Eugène Van Staden, 2. Joan Caudullo, 3. Bruce Douglas, 4. Michel Macurdy, 5. Mamuka Gorgodze, 6. Vassili Bost, 7. Giorgi Chkhaidze, 8. Marc Giraud,

Replacements: 16. Fabien Rofes, 17. Na'ama Leleimalefaga, 18. Mickael Demarco, 19. Sakiusa Matadigo, 20. Maxime Castell, 21. Geoffrey Doumayrou, 22. Sebastien Max, 23. Juan Figallo


Massive game for Connacht. Let's hope there's a good crowd at the Sportsground and the team will do the business.

G'WAN CONNACHT!

d-gal

Connacht should beat them, Montpellier have left some of the big guns behind.

Connacht with a bonus point please
Troy Nathan to get a hat trick

siltirocker

I hope Connacht don't under estimate them. That is my biggest concern.

Delighted Nikora isn't starting. And i still have mixed feeling about McCarthy in the Backrow.

gavkm27

siltirocker wrote: »

I hope Connacht don't under estimate them. That is my biggest concern.

Delighted Nikora isn't starting. And i still have mixed feeling about McCarthy in the Backrow.

Yeah same,wondering where Johnny O'Connor has got to,injured?

thomond2006

d-gal wrote: »

Connacht should beat them, Montpellier have left some of the big guns behind.

Connacht with a bonus point please
Troy Nathan to get a hat trick

If he scores one, I'll eat my tie.

irishbucsfan

gavkm27 wrote: »

Yeah same,wondering where Johnny O'Connor has got to,injured?

Ofisa is a far better player than O'Connor

johnnyboy4711

Time to stand up and be counted connacht !
This is our chance do really do something and take what we deserve for once!
Its there to be had,so lets get amongst them and take it!
I will be roaring from the stand in the sportsground tomorrow and will get as many as i can muster to go with me for what will hopefully be the waking point in our very long slumber!
Last weeks Montpellier top14 team that beat Castres:
http://www.scrum.com/francetop14/rugby/match/99418.html
slan
Johnnyboy

Definitely a huge game for us tomorrow.We've all seen Connacht play poorly in the matches that really counted in the past but this is basically a Montpellier A team and although a similar side to the one they are putting out tomorrow won in Worcester I really think that if Connacht are serious about making a statement in the Challenge Cup they need to win and win fairly well tomorrow. A bonus point would be terrific but tbh I'm sure we'll take any kind of win. Big opportunity for us in the next 2 games, looking at the results tonight, top seeding isn't beyond Connacht if they can do the business tomorrow night.

C'mon Connacht!!!:D

Aidric

thomond2006 wrote: »

If he scores one, I'll eat my tie.

That wasn't funny the first time.
Montpellier should have too much class for Connacht, a 6-8 point winning margin I reckon.

Hyperbullet

Missing Gavin Duffy is a big concern because I dont rate Troy "man about town" Nathan at all. However this should be a cracker of a game. Connacht were the far hungrier side in the away fixture so lets hope to see that hunger again.

irishbucsfan

Aidric wrote: »

That wasn't funny the first time.
Montpellier should have too much class for Connacht, a 6-8 point winning margin I reckon.

Which player in that Montpellier lineup do you think has too much class for Connacht?

They've sent a weak team over, no Trinh-Duc, no Ouedraogo. Pretty much a second team.

Aidric

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Which player in that Montpellier lineup do you think has too much class for Connacht?

They've sent a weak team over, no Trinh-Duc, no Ouedraogo. Pretty much a second team.

Gorgodze for one but there is no point looking at it in terms of one or two individuals. As a collective Montpellier are a more accomplished side imo.

siltirocker

I completely disagree Aidric. If they can beat a better team in France they'll beat this lot. Connacht has consistantly beaten Montpelier over the past 14 years when they've come to Galway. And many Connacht fans tomorrow will be looking for a BP win.

outwest

aidric, ur resent comment on this topic and on croinin show me u dont like connacht.

connacht bonus point win.

Aidric

outwest, that is not the case, I like to see all the Irish provinces doing well. As a betting man, however, it doesn't pay to leave the heart rule over the head.

johnnyboy4711

Aidric wrote: »

outwest, that is not the case, I like to see all the Irish provinces doing well. As a betting man, however, it doesn't pay to leave the heart rule over the head.

GWAN CONNACHT!!!
slan
j

Aidric

Aidric wrote: »

outwest, that is not the case, I like to see all the Irish provinces doing well. As a betting man, however, it doesn't pay to leave the heart rule over the head.

With Montpellier priced at 9/4 there's some handy money to be made for you this evening.

Connacht by 10+ I hope and expect.

johnnyboy4711

Borders no.2 wrote: »

With Montpellier priced at 9/4 there's some handy money to be made for you this evening.

Connacht by 10+ I hope and expect.

any odds(and no i dont mean your lunch money!)
slan#
john

Zzippy

Can't wait for the game this evening! Bringing a few mates, hopefully there will be a big and vocal crowd. Bit worried about Nathan at FB, but his tackling and positioning has improved a lot this year so hopefully the loss of Duffy won't be felt too much. Pack looks good, I'm a fan of McCarthy, there will be no lack of commitment from him. Connacht need to front up and get into their faces from the very start, you can't let any French team get a good start. I think the talk of BP wins is fanciful, I'd take any kind of win.

COME ON CONNACHT!

toomevara

Zzippy wrote: »

Can't wait for the game this evening! Bringing a few mates, hopefully there will be a big and vocal crowd. ]

You lucky, lucky sod, would give my eye-teeth to see a game of rugby live this weekend...just have to wait till next weekend. Looking for a big performance from Connacht this eve. Shame its not being televised...

johnnyboy4711

toomevara wrote: »

You lucky, lucky sod, would give my eye-teeth to see a game of rugby live this weekend...just have to wait till next weekend. Looking for a big performance from Connacht this eve. Shame its not being televised...

All I can offer i am afraid,but better than nothing,rob murphy screaming in the commentary box,all good!
slan
j
GWAN YA GOOD THING!

thomond2006

johnnyboy4711 wrote: »

All I can offer i am afraid,but better than nothing,rob murphy screaming in the commentary box,all good!
slan
j
GWAN YA GOOD THING!

Will give it a listen.

Slán
t

leeroybrown

Finally some rugby at the Sportsground! Hopefully this will be a decent game with a good attendance. It's slightly concerning to see Troy Nathan at full back. He's actually done well in most games this season but hasn't played a lot at full back. Likewise Mike McCarthy has plenty of experience of playing at six but hasn't played much competitive rugby there for quite a while. We should definitely have the beating of Montpellier so long as the team turn up in the right frame of mind.

tomombo

http://www.thesportreview.com/tsr/2010/01/connacht-rugby-2010-pivotal-year/

Check this out lads. Come on the lads we gotta make history tonight!!!!

danthefan

Was 3-0 after 15 mins.

Bukman13

3-3

Juwwi

3-3 Montpelier playing with the wind 1st half. 32 mins gone

thomond2006

G'wan Connacht!

eyeball kid

Any update on the score?

Judgement Day

Connacht try! 13-3

crisco10

Judgement Day wrote: »

Connacht try!

Where are you watching it?

gavkm27

Bibo try! 13-3 now G''wan Connacht,Keep her lit!

Judgement Day

crisco10 wrote: »

Where are you watching it?

Connacht 2nd try 20-3. On Galway Bay FM.

crisco10

Judgement Day wrote: »

Connacht 2nd try 20-3. On Galway Bay FM.

ah...2 more for the bonus point!

Bukman13

Great result on the cards!!!

they have a great chance of being 1st seeds now. Wasps look like the only other team who can beat them.

galwayrush

crisco10 wrote: »

ah...2 more for the bonus point!

Don't need a bonus point

crisco10

galwayrush wrote: »

Don't need a bonus point

Always a "bonus" though! :D






I'll get my coat...

skelliser

20-10

full time

Nice one!!! Great result!

galwayrush

Fantastic result.:cool:

crisco10

Brilliant result alright.

I could go and check but one of you would know of the top of your head....

Does this basically guarantee a home QF now? Any idea of likely oppo?

Marto10

Fantastic result!! top of the pool finish

Cosmo Kramer

Great stuff.

Quick question - if Connacht are the 1st seeded team, who do they play in the quarters? Is it the worst ranked group winner, one of the Heineken Cup teams dropping in, or is it an open draw?

Bukman13

crisco10 wrote: »

Brilliant result alright.

I could go and check but one of you would know of the top of your head....

Does this basically guarantee a home QF now? Any idea of likely oppo?

Not guaranteed a home draw yet, but is extremely likey, (at least a draw against madrid would make sure)

Likely opponents,
more than likely a Heniken cup team, unless they can clinch 1st seeds.

For that to happen they need 5pts against Madrid and hope Racing Metro stop Wasp from getting a BP win.

Cosmo Kramer

Bukman13 wrote: »

Not guaranteed a home draw yet, but is extremely likey, (at least a draw against madrid would make sure)

Likely opponents,
more than likely a Heniken cup team, unless they can clinch 1st seeds.

For that to happen they need 5pts against Madrid and hope Racing Metro stop Wasp from getting a BP win.

Interesting. Connacht should get the 5 next week, and Wasps have to travel and might feel they have little to play for, so you'd never know there.

There are some tasty home QF possibilities looking at the Heineken Cup tables.

Bukman13

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Interesting. Connacht should get the 5 next week, and Wasps have to travel and might feel they have little to play for, so you'd never know there.

There are some tasty home QF possibilities looking at the Heineken Cup tables.

Yea excatly, I think they have a great chance to be 1st seeds, and at home you would fancy them against most.

phog

Great result for Connacht, hopefully one of 4 Irish wins this week-end. A home QF should get the supporters up of their behinds and get them behind Connacht again. What with a new coach and a few decent results next year could be the dawning of a new era in Connacht rugby.

johnnyboy4711

would have liked to see the players applaud the crowd,but you cant have it all!
Connacht defence was great from the off!
Thats what gave them a platform.
Terrible night for rugby must be said!
on to madrid and 4 more tries there will do very nice!
Delighted that we have a real chance of going somewhere this season,and who knows ,dare I say it,even off the bottom of the ML table?
slan
john

Diabhal Beag

Great result. ****e weather for a match but they a win is a win.

First of all well done to the lads. It was an awful night and one for dogging it out and we soaked up the pressure well against the monsoon in the first half and closed it out well from there.Looking good now but we must keep going to complete the clean sweep and give us a realistic chance of making further inroads in the competition.

This is the broad situation if anyone wants to read through it and make sense of my ramblings.Basically if Connacht get the 5 points next week and Wasps fail to get the 4 try bonus away at Racing Metro( Thursday night so we will now where we stand ahead of Saturday) we will pass them out by virtue of having more tries scored than them.The rules from erc are below if anyone wants to confirm that.

If we were to get the top seeding likely opponents look like either Leeds/Bourgoin or else Toulon/Saracens whichever one of the group winners finish on the lower points total.Don't ask me to try and figure who we would be playing as second seed as there is too much of the hc still to play to make an accurate call but its probably unlikely to be Ulster.


Ok the situation looks a lot clearer now.Newcastle just got the win against Albi but no bp means they can score a max of 24.Similarly with Leeds/Bourgoin in pool 1.Toulon are scoring out of a max of 23 at this stage with Saracens scoring out of a max of 22.Wasps are on 22 and must play away to Racing Metro next Thursday.

Now going by the European rules down the bottom here if Wasps win but fail to pick up a bp they go to 26.At present they have 19 tries scored we have 18 so basically to sum up all this if Wasps fail to pick up a 4 try bp next Thursday we know that if we score 5 tries against Madrid we will get the top seeding.

Its looking more like a possibility that it might be Toulon rather than Leeds at home if we got top seed though.



Pool 1
1 Bourgoin 5 4 0 1 14 6 8 123 77 46 2 1 19
2 Leeds Carnegie 4 3 0 1 14 3 11 113 48 65 2 0 14
3 Bucuresti Oaks 5 1 0 4 5 15 -10 61 120 -59 0 2 6
4 Rugby Parma FC 4 1 0 3 3 12 -9 46 98 -52 0 0 4


Pool 2
1 Connacht Rugby 5 5 0 0 18 5 13 133 63 70 1 0 21
2 Montpellier 5 3 0 2 17 10 7 150 89 61 2 1 15
3 Worcester Warriors 4 1 0 3 10 7 3 83 72 11 1 2 7
4 Olympus Rugby XV Madrid 4 0 0 4 4 27 -23 41 183 -142 0 0 0


Pool 3
1 Toulon 5 4 0 1 21 6 15 176 78 98 2 0 18
2 Saracens 5 4 0 1 9 5 4 128 75 53 1 0 17
3 Castres Olympique 5 2 0 3 23 6 17 163 85 78 2 1 11
4 Femi-CZ Rugby Rovigo 5 0 0 5 2 38 -36 33 262 -229 0 0 0


Pool 4
1 London Wasps 5 5 0 0 19 2 17 159 50 109 2 0 22
2 Racing Métro 92 4 2 0 2 20 2 18 144 41 103 2 2 12
3 Bayonne 4 2 0 2 11 3 8 102 53 49 1 1 10
4 Rugby Roma 5 0 0 5 1 44 -43 22 283 -261 0 0 0


Pool 5
1 Newcastle Falcons 5 4 0 1 14 6 8 126 74 52 2 1 19
2 Montauban 4 3 0 1 6 4 2 74 53 21 0 0 12
3 Albi 5 2 0 3 11 11 0 97 110 -13 2 1 11
4 Petrarca Padova 4 0 0 4 6 16 -10 69 129 -60 0 1 1


Key Tournament Rules

The Tournament will be played under the IRB Laws of the Game.

The knock-out stages of future Amlin Challenge Cup tournaments will now include
three teams who will qualify through the Heineken Cup.

The introduction of three teams who have finished as Pool runners-up in that seasons’
Heineken Cup (the third, fourth and fifth ranked Heineken Cup Pool runners-up), to meet
the five Amlin Challenge Cup Pool winners, will enhance both the quality and profile
of the Amlin Challenge Cup knock-out matches.

The top four Amlin Challenge Cup Pool winners will enjoy home advantage in the
quarter-finals with the top Pool winner playing the 5th, while the other three Pool winners
will welcome the Heineken Cup sides.

Quarter-finalists
1 ACC 1 (Top ranked ACC Pool winner)
2 ACC 2 (Second ranked ACC Pool winner)
3 ACC 3 (Third ranked ACC Pool winner)
4 ACC 4 (Fourth ranked ACC Pool winner)
5 Heineken Cup 1
6 Heineken Cup 2
7 Heineken Cup 3
8 ACC 5 (Fifth Ranked ACC Pool winner)

Quarter-final Pairings
1 (ACC 1) v 8 (ACC 5)
2 (ACC 2) v 7 (Heineken Cup 3)
3 (ACC 3) v 6 (Heineken Cup 2)
4 (ACC 4) v 5 (Heineken Cup 1)

Clubs in the same Pool
(ii) if Clubs are equal on points and the Clubs are in the same Pool, then qualification /
ranking will be based on the two matches played between the Clubs concerned:
(a) the Club which has earned the most number of match points from the two
matches (four points for a win, two points for a draw and bonus points).
(b) the Club which has scored the most tries in the two matches.
(c) the Club with the best aggregate points difference from the two matches.

Clubs from different Pools
(iii) if still unresolved, or the teams have not played each other previously in the Pool
stage, qualification/ranking will be based on:
(a) the number of tries scored in all Pool matches.
(b) aggregate points difference from all Pool matches.
(c) the Club with the fewest number of players sent off and / or suspended in all Pool
matches.
(d) toss of a coin.

Amlin Challenge Cup Semi-final Pairings
Winner of ECC 1 v ECC 5 quarter-final v winner of first quarter-final drawn
Winner of second quarter-final drawn v winner of third quarter-final drawn

Amlin Challenge Cup teams to have home advantage, otherwise home advantage
decided by draw.

ERC European Ranking points
The ERC European Ranking Points available for teams in Amlin Challenge Cup
knock-out stages have also been revised with the maximum points now available for the
winner increased from five points to six.

(ii) in the event of a tie at full-time in the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final, extra
time of 20 minutes (10 minutes each way) will be played.
(iii) if the result is still unresolved the winner will be decided by the following criteria:
(a) the Club which has scored the most tries in that match, including extra time.
(b) place-kick competition to determine the winner.

LowOdour

Was at the match tonight. Was a poor, scrappy first half...not helped by the bad conditions.

Second half conditions improved, and connacht came out with more hunger. They got 2 decent tries and deservedly won the game.

Crowd was very muted though....wasnt much of an atmosphere

Bukman13

Yea, it will all come down to the Wasps game. There is a decent chance that Wasps won't get the BP.

If they are 2nd seeds it will be likely by the 2nd place team from either pool 2 (Ulster), pool 4 (Gloucester).