connacht v dragons

seanin4711

going good so far!
16-3 to the boys from the west
keep it up;)

thomond2006

Listening on GalwayBay fm.

http://www.galwaynews.ie/galwaybayfm

74 minutes gone, 16-3.

Connacht will be 7 games unbeaten at home in ML and ECC if they hold on.

seanin4711

great to keep the dragons out for a losing bonus point!
4 points in the bag!
Onwards and upwards!
sean:D
16-3 to us
-

thomond2006

FT.

16 - 3 win for Connacht.

Connacht's Run-in:

Leinster (a)
Edinburgh (h)
Munster (h)
Scarlets (a)
Ulster (a)

Leinster (h) - Date TBC

It's a tough list of remaining fixtures, three away games and at home against three teams with play-off aspirations.

P_1

Connacht are now on 16 points after 12 matches, thats 5 points behind Scarlets, 7 behind Cardiff with a game in hand and 9 points behind Ulster.

Realistically the only hope Connacht have of qualifying for next years HEC is if they win the ACC or one of Leinster or Munster winning the HEC.

The only way they can qualify through the Magners is if they finish above Ulster in the table is that right?

thomond2006

pithater1 wrote: »

The only way they can qualify through the Magners is if they finish above Ulster in the table is that right?

Yes. The HEC qualification changes scrapped the ML-Italian play-off. The top 3 Irish Provinces qualify for the HEC.

I doubt this will change next season, I'm sure the two Italian franchises will qualify automatically like Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Hennybug

The only way they can qualify through the Magners is if they finish above Ulster in the table is that right?[/QUOTE]


Or if Munster or Leinster win the HC, there's still places for 3 Irish Provinces

gavkm27

Great game,good crowd and atmosphere,Connacht played great,MOTM between Keatly and Carr imo,set pieces went great,O'loughlin was also very impressive at SH but was'nt a fan of Bradley changing him out.Had a couple of imfringements around good attacking mauls,dont know what was going on there.Overall delighted for the boys ahead of the big game in 2 weeks.
We usually finished with around 20 points,so here hoping to beat that:D

Zzippy

Great first half, completely dominant, and Keatley kicked very well out of hand throughout to pin Dragons back in their half. Lineout was excellent, pinched and disrupted their throws a good few times, scrum was good, Jamie Hagan had a field day. Swifty carried a lot of ball, as did Muldoon and Ofisa, and Mike McCarthy had a great game too. Niva Ta'auso was good but looks to have crocked his knee again, looked painful anyway. Bibo was lively, probably the best I've seen him play. And Fionn Carr strikes again! Nice try, and if he had spotted Duffy steaming up outside him and given the pass we would have been in under the posts again.
Good game and a good crowd, a very enjoyable evening!

ScrubsfanChris

thomond2006 wrote: »

Yes. The HEC qualification changes scrapped the ML-Italian play-off. The top 3 Irish Provinces qualify for the HEC.

I doubt this will change next season, I'm sure the two Italian franchises will qualify automatically like Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Right, at the moment the Scarlets will not qualify for next years H-Cup I think under the new changes.

Co45

Fionn Carr is a serious finisher. He needs to work on his defence though. I would of loved to see him go to Munster instead of Murphy.

thomond2006

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

Right, at the moment the Scarlets will not qualify for next years H-Cup I think under the new changes.

Correct.

siltirocker

O'Loughlin hasn't been offered a new deal but i've found him to be a quality player in his last few appearances. Better decision making than Murphy anyway.

siltirocker

siltirocker wrote: »

O'Loughlin hasn't been offered a new deal but i've found him to be a quality player in his last few appearances. Better decision making than Murphy anyway.

Very interesting news. Any more news on players heading in or out? Conor had a good game last night alright.

Also any word on how the A game went today, can't seem to find any info on it?

siltirocker

Robbie Morris, Aidan Wynne, Adrian Flavin, Ronan Loughney & all 3 scrum-half is what i've heard through the grapevine.

Won't hear anything about the game till reports are up, so with no media present at the game i'd say it'll be maybe 10pm by the time the result is widely known.

Thanks Siltirocker. Very interesting and in some cases surprising news. Loughney,Campbell, O'Loughlin and possibly Wynne aren't huge surprises.

Robbie Morris has been a good player for us over the past few years bar a few brain farts here and there, Hagan is stepping up but we need stength in depth at prop and Conor Higgins is very young an inexperienced at the top level. Maybe they're hoping the likes of Dennis Buckley will step up but while it'd be great to see these lads come through, none of these lads have much experience at present.

Frank Murphy is also surprising. With 3 sh's gone who's going to come in? I'd love to see Paul O'Donohue come in, Adam Kennedy would be fine as 3rd choice.2nd choice?

Flavin did well last night I think, don't know where we're going to get better backup to Cronin?

Are Tuohy and Nikora going to be around next season so:mad:? Wynne has much more to offer than Tuohy.

There was a rumour of Eoghan Hickey coming to us, don't know if there is an ounce of truth in it though.

siltirocker

Borders no.2 wrote: »

There was a rumour of Eoghan Hickey coming to us, don't know if there is an ounce of truth in it though.

Ugh. *cringe*

Paul O'Donohue is a must, with Boss signing with Leinster and two former Connacht stalwards Reddan & Keane ahead of him. Or Sam Cronin.

Some of those u-20's are looking decent too.

Dave Joyce

Jaysus lads, it WAS a great result but I thought it went very flat (play and atmosphere wise) in the second half and we made some amount of unforced errors which would have been punished by a better team than Dragons.

Fionn Carr is a serious finisher. He needs to work on his defence though. I would of loved to see him go to Munster instead of Murphy.

What???!!! I presume you weren't at the game last night as he didn't miss a tackle as far as I remember AND he actually put in with Liam Bibo one of the best hits in the game

Co45

Dave Joyce wrote: »

What???!!! I presume you weren't at the game last night as he didn't miss a tackle as far as I remember AND he actually put in with Liam Bibo one of the best hits in the game

Apologies. Carr, on the basis of one ML game, does not need to improve on his defense at all. He is perfect.

outwest

carr defence was fine in the ireland a game too, people seem to think he gets run over all the time he doesnt, but he does miss the odd tackle,

Co45

outwest wrote: »

carr defence was fine in the ireland a game too, people seem to think he gets run over all the time he doesnt, but he does miss the odd tackle,

His defence isn't solid enough for international rugby currently, it needs to improve. Hes a better finisher than Earls and probably even on speed but Earls is a hell of a lot better defensively (and even there Earls is weak compared to other wingers such as Bowe, Fitzgerald, Horgan currently) so if Carr wants to ever break into the Irish 22 he really needs to work on his defense. Hes a great prospect though don't get me wrong.

outwest

earls is a better player then fitz and horgan, carr prob wont get a cap becuase of those ahead of him, ireland have never been good at giving other players a spot in the team once a player is there,

Co45

outwest wrote: »

earls is a better player then fitz and horgan, carr prob wont get a cap becuase of those ahead of him, ireland have never been good at giving other players a spot in the team once a player is there,

Has potential to be a lot better than Horgan but hes not better than Fitzgerald from what I've seen. It's quite easy to forget just how effective Fitzgerald is now that hes injured but lets not forget hes the same age as Earls yet has a lot more Ireland caps and played in the actual Lions games.

outwest

ya but you must also note that earls is a lethal finisher, fitz isnt, ealrs will be at 11 till bod retirers, then go to 13, until then, fitz will have to be happy with a bench spot if lucky, ireland have exellent backs at this moment in time and all are playing very well

Co45

outwest wrote: »

ya but you must also note that earls is a lethal finisher, fitz isnt, ealrs will be at 11 till bod retirers, then go to 13, until then, fitz will have to be happy with a bench spot if lucky, ireland have exellent backs at this moment in time and all are playing very well

Bench spot if lucky? I really think you're understimating him. Fitzgerald can be a lethal finisher as well more in the mould of Hickie. Watch the video of Leinster tries I posted in the youtube thread, no other player has the step and turn of pace Fitzgerald has.
Lets not forget that up until injury Fitzgerald was ahead of Earls both for country and Lions and up until 2 weeks ago Earls looked poor (referring to South Africa and French game)
I know this forum is notorious for going OTT but saying Earls is 11 till O'Driscoll retires and Fitzgerald will get bench spot when Earls moves to 13 if lucky is ridiculous.

PhatPiggins

siltirocker wrote: »

Ugh. *cringe*

Paul O'Donohue is a must, with Boss signing with Leinster and two former Connacht stalwards Reddan & Keane ahead of him. Or Sam Cronin.

Some of those u-20's are looking decent too.

I'm sure Hickey is cringing too.

He'd be a good squad player though and better back up the Nikora

outwest

so co45 ur saying that when fitz gets back to fitness he will get his jersey back straight away, what im saying he will have to wait to get an opportunity to play for ireland, the backline is performing very well at this moment in time, noone their now deserves to be dropped (apart from sexton if he doesnt get his kicking boots back)

ether way this is a connacht thread.
if it is true that muphy isnt getting a new contract i say thank god, his decision making at times has been poor, pod keatley at 9 10 would work well,


hopefully o halloran will gets games instead of the journey men next year, we should also sign john o brien up too.

Co45

outwest wrote: »

so co45 ur saying that when fitz gets back to fitness he will get his jersey back straight away, what im saying he will have to wait to get an opportunity to play for ireland.

Come off it. You said Earls will be quote unquote 11 until O'Driscoll retires scoffing at the very notion that Fitzgerald can challenge for the jersey back before October 20th 2011. Which is quite frankly ridiculous.
You then went onto say Fitzgerald will be LUCKY to even make the 22 after Earls goes to 13. Two absolutely outrageous comments about a player who before his injury was miles ahead of Earls and every other winger in the country other than Bowe.