Connacht Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

thomond2006

ScareGilly wrote: »

Think I heard somebody say he was going to Toulouse/Toulon... Not too sure on the truth in that though...

There's no way either club would sign him. In any case Toulon have signed Delve and Masoe.

ScareGilly

thomond2006 wrote: »

There's no way either club would sign him. In any case Toulon have signed Delve and Masoe.

That's what I would've thought, just overheard somebody say that the last day and wasn't 100% sure...

f1dan

Was at the A game today, finished Einsei STM 35 - 5 Connacht A.

The Russians were physically way bigger and stronger than the Connacht guys and were very well organised too. They fully deserved their win, 5 converted tries to Connacht's 1 try.

The scrum was under severe pressure in the first half, Buckley came on for Bealham at half time and steadied the ship a bit. Moylette showed well in the line outs along with Qualter, some solid throwing from O'Byrne helped matters. Einsei totally dominated the breakdown and were able to force several turnovers from their extra power.

It was difficult for the backs with no solid platform and a strong wind but I was disappointed with Marmion, a lot of his passes forced guys to take the ball standing or catch balls above their heads. McSharry was very ineffective too against the well organised defense. Conor Finn was solid and took his try very well. Layden and Loxton didn't really get a chance to show their worth.

Overall a good learning experience for a young team and a good opportunity to learn how to play against a physically dominant opponent.

dougieruggie

If Rugby gets big in Russia then they'll be a scary prospect. Physically Russians are incredibly strong, one only needs to look at their medal tally in the Olympics

liam12989

Has anyone heard anything about the Rees rumours.

On sky at weekend they said he was leaving cardiff but it had not be annouced where to...sounded like they knew but wouldnt say so could be Connacht

Borders no.2

liam12989 wrote: »

Has anyone heard anything about the Rees rumours.

On sky at weekend they said he was leaving cardiff but it had not be annouced where to...sounded like they knew but wouldnt say so could be Connacht

Going to be battling it out with O'Leary at London Irish it appears unfortunately.

durkadurka

f1dan wrote: »

The scrum was under severe pressure in the first half, Buckley came on for Bealham at half time and steadied the ship a bit.

there's a sentence I didn't think I'd see.

siltirocker

durkadurka wrote: »

there's a sentence I didn't think I'd see.

What do you mean? Buckley has been a revelation this season in my eyes.

EDIT: Oh I get ya, Mushy!

wp_rathead

Clan Stand sold out for Saturdays game with Ulster:cool:

should be another cracker in the Sportsground

shuffol

I see Elwood has been speaking to the Irish Times saying that Connacht wont be making any further signings this season.

porterbelly

Johnny O Connor and George Naoupu are back in training for the weekend

wp_rathead

Be great to have JOC and George back

Ray will ofcourse will have to start the next two games, but be great to have Johnny on the bench

ki

liam12989 wrote: »

Has anyone heard anything about the Rees rumours.

On sky at weekend they said he was leaving cardiff but it had not be annouced where to...sounded like they knew but wouldnt say so could be Connacht

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Going to be battling it out with O'Leary at London Irish it appears unfortunately.

Joining Edinburgh

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/news/13762.php

CIARAN_BOYLE

Connacht team for the weekend named.

15 Gavin Duffy (C)
14 Tiernan O’Halloran
13 Kyle Tonetti
12 Henry Fa’afili
11 Fetu’u Vainikolo
10 Miah Nikora
09 Frank Murphy
01 Brett Wilkinson
02 Ethienne Reynecke
03 Ronan Loughney
04 Michael Swift
05 Mike McCarthy
06 John Muldoon
07 Ray Ofisa
08 George Naoupu

16 Adrian Flavin
17 Denis Buckley
18 Rodney Ah You
19 Mick Kearney
20 Johnny O’Connor
21 Paul O’Donohoe
22 Matthew Jarvis
23 Eoin Griffin

CatFromHue

Is Niall O Connor injured?

Robbo

CatFromHue wrote: »

Is Niall O Connor injured?

Hair line fracture in the noggin. He says he's back in some form of training now though.

CatFromHue

According to the Independent today NOC is out for the rest of the season.

its_phil

CatFromHue wrote: »

According to the Independent today NOC is out for the rest of the season.

Really? Surprised to hear that, he said on Saturday before Ulster game chatting to BBC that he was to be back training on Monday.

Nikora is doing well right now so would have been hard for him to break back in anyway.

CatFromHue

its_phil wrote: »

Really? Surprised to hear that, he said on Saturday before Ulster game chatting to BBC that he was to be back training on Monday.

Nikora is doing well right now so would have been hard for him to break back in anyway.

Yup, it was the last paragraph in an article on Brett Wilkinson.

---

Elwood also confirmed that fly-half Niall O'Connor will also miss the remainder of the season because of a head injury, while prop Jamie Stephens faces an extend recuperation period after he ruptured his Achilles playing for Galwegians at the weekend.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/wilkinson-faces-fitness-race-for-ireland-tour-3082270.html

---

fatguy2k1

Reminder -

Tomorrow at 5pm is the deadline to claim the 2 free tickets for this years season ticket holders.

after that, don't be giving out to *ME* because *YOU* didn't claim them all season.

stiffler123

fatguy2k1 wrote: »

Reminder -

Tomorrow at 5pm is the deadline to claim the 2 free tickets for this years season ticket holders.

after that, don't be giving out to *ME* because *YOU* didn't claim them all season.

Do we have to collect them in the branch?

Amazotheamazing

How do people feel Niall O'Connor has done this season? It'd be great for Ireland to have another outhalf option.

Wexfordboy89

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

How do people feel Niall O'Connor has done this season? It'd be great for Ireland to have another outhalf option.

havent really seen much of him but from what ive seen hes done well would have liked to have seen more of jarvis at OH or has he been injured a lot.does nikora bcome IQ in the summer?

jacothelad

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

How do people feel Niall O'Connor has done this season? It'd be great for Ireland to have another outhalf option.

It won't be him.

Amazotheamazing

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

How do people feel Niall O'Connor has done this season? It'd be great for Ireland to have another outhalf option.

It's not Niall.

Personally think Jarvis is the one with the most potential. He is a brutal kicker though truth be told. His technique is way off. However, that should not be a big deal if they can manage to get Tonetti into the team as he has a decent boot.

Parks will hopefully be able to teach someone how to kick a ball well enough to allow them have him as starting 10. He runs a backline well, far more in the style of Sexton/iHumph/Madigan than ROG/Parks anyway.

freyners

fatguy2k1 wrote: »

Reminder -

Tomorrow at 5pm is the deadline to claim the 2 free tickets for this years season ticket holders.

after that, don't be giving out to *ME* because *YOU* didn't claim them all season.

Claimed mine monday morning after forgetting about them all year:p

totallegend

Wexfordboy89 wrote: »

does nikora bcome IQ in the summer?

Yes, I think so. Not really sure he's international quality though.

Wexfordboy89

totallegend wrote: »

Yes, I think so. Not really sure he's international quality though.

true maybe a call up to the wolfhounds squad against Fiji in November??was he injured for most of the season didnt see he name on any connacht squads for ages up until two or three months ago.

Digifriendly

I'm an Ulster supporter but I was somewhat annoyed when opening up Monday's Belfast News Letter to discover that a report on Saturday's game covered barely a third of a page. I'm pretty sure if Ulster had won there would have been a full page or even 2 page spread. This kind of attitude irks me. Connacht were the better team and deserved to win but little credit was given to them in the article. There was more about Paul Marshall's injury. I know that these articles are always going to be written from a particular prespective but I was disappointed all the same. Credit where credit is due. Remember when ITV4 didn't show highlights of Harelquins defeat to Connacht in the HC though they showed all of Harlequins' other games? I think we call this English 'arrogance'. Methinks some of this has sadly rubbed off on Ulster media as well. Do you think I may be right?

its_phil

Digifriendly wrote: »

I'm an Ulster supporter but I was somewhat annoyed when opening up Monday's Belfast News Letter to discover that a report on Saturday's game covered barely a third of a page. I'm pretty sure if Ulster had won there would have been a full page or even 2 page spread. This kind of attitude irks me. Connacht were the better team and deserved to win but little credit was given to them in the article. There was more about Paul Marshall's injury. I know that these articles are always going to be written from a particular prespective but I was disappointed all the same. Credit where credit is due. Remember when ITV4 didn't show highlights of Harelquins defeat to Connacht in the HC though they showed all of Harlequins' other games? I think we call this English 'arrogance'. Methinks some of this has sadly rubbed off on Ulster media as well. Do you think I may be right?

Nothing new really down south either. The Sunday Indo barely gave it a corner compared to the Sunday Times which gave a full report. The Irish Times are usually very good for coverage though.

I wouldn't call it arrogance, but it doesn't reflect well on media outlets that don't report the full game. Some journalists just aren't arsed travelling down to Galway to watch games unless it features Munster or Leinster.