Connacht Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread.

Zzippy

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Connacht Rugby is pleased to announce the signing of two promising Irish backs for next season.
Shane Monahan of Blackrock College and Darragh Fanning of St Mary’s College will link up with their new colleagues when pre-season training commences at the Sportsground in a few weeks.
The two players, both aged 23, have impressed at a variety of levels over the past few years.
Shane Monahan, a winger/centre, was on the Ireland U-20 side which captured a Six Nations grand slam in 2007. The side was coached by new Connacht coach Eric Elwood and his assistant Dan McFarland.
Darragh Fanning, a winger or full-back, has impressed for Leinster Schools and the Irish Colleges side.

No mention of Tonetti, does that mean he's going to Sale?

Robbo

Zzippy wrote: »

No mention of Tonetti, does that mean he's going to Sale?

I'd say there'll be a bit of a tug of war and it'll be a while yet before we know either way.

In other news Duffy, Cronin and Muldoon are all starting against the Barbarians on Friday.

bamboozle

hasnt there been talk of Ben Reilly of Clontarf and Copeland of Mary's being snapped up by Connacht? both second rows, both very good at AIL level.

Borders no.2

bamboozle wrote: »

hasnt there been talk of Ben Reilly of Clontarf and Copeland of Mary's being snapped up by Connacht? both second rows, both very good at AIL level.

Ben Reilly was on trial with us during last season. I remember he was named in the A team for a game with Munster but was replaced just before kick off. Not sure about either. We have a fair few options in the 2nd row:
Swift
McCarthy
Upton
A.Browne
Nolan

In relation to squad numbers Naoupu, Campbell and Timani went, Conor Higgins and Dermot Murphy went as well who were on academy & development contracts so that should leave space for us to strengthen especially when you consider Ulster got granted two extra spots to fill in their squad for next season given the extra 4 matches.


Prop is one area we definitely need to strengthen, we need a 3rd choice hooker, although I presume that'll be filled by one of the local lads and of course a number 8 to replace George Naoupu. After that if we can get Cillian Willis and Kyle Tonetti in the squad I'd be more than happy.

profitius

Hopefully they'll turn out to be good signings for Connacht. They'll strengthen the backs options. Tonetti looks like he's on his way to Sale, he would have been another good signing.

Zzippy

Robbo wrote: »

I'd say there'll be a bit of a tug of war and it'll be a while yet before we know either way.

In other news Duffy, Cronin and Muldoon are all starting against the Barbarians on Friday.

Duffy's a surprise, especially at 13, good to see the other 2 start, hopefully they get enough ball to show what they can do. Can see Duffy and McFadden switching about a bit, seeing as McFadden is more a 13. Pity Fionn Carr isn't included, this would be a great opportunity for him to shine.

shawpower

Zzippy wrote: »

Duffy's a surprise, especially at 13, good to see the other 2 start, hopefully they get enough ball to show what they can do. Can see Duffy and McFadden switching about a bit, seeing as McFadden is more a 13. Pity Fionn Carr isn't included, this would be a great opportunity for him to shine.

Duffy starting at 13 kind of shows how shallow our centre resources actually are for Ireland. He's a good player, but 13?

fatguy2k1

Zzippy wrote: »

No mention of Tonetti, does that mean he's going to Sale?

i heard the other two lads names banded about but i've never heard of Tonetti, which is a good indication that he won't be coming to connacht.

Edit - oh yeah, and connacht season ticket holder can get a €5 of a match ticket for the Galway United v Bhos match on Tuesday night if you present it on the gate
http://www.galwayunitedfc.ie/connacht-rugby-season-ticket-holders

gaius c

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Connacht Rugby is pleased to announce the signing of two promising Irish backs for next season.
Shane Monahan of Blackrock College and Darragh Fanning of St Mary’s College will link up with their new colleagues when pre-season training commences at the Sportsground in a few weeks.
The two players, both aged 23, have impressed at a variety of levels over the past few years.
Shane Monahan, a winger/centre, was on the Ireland U-20 side which captured a Six Nations grand slam in 2007. The side was coached by new Connacht coach Eric Elwood and his assistant Dan McFarland.
Darragh Fanning, a winger or full-back, has impressed for Leinster Schools and the Irish Colleges side.

Both are also fairly physical players as is Tonetti if Connacht could get him too.

Borders no.2

In today's Galway Advertiser that Tonetti had initially signed but it now looks unlikely he'll join Connacht which is a pity but I wonder is there a case for some compensation for Sale?;)

fatguy2k1

Decent draw for us - we're in was a good chance of winning it. english (which might screw up a pre-season game), french and italian teams in the group.

happy enough but not as happy as Stade fans will be....

Borders no.2

Who'd we get?

outwest

when was the draw

Hennybug

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Who'd we get?

Can't find anything on the ERC site?

Borders no.2

Harlequins, Bayonne and Cavalieri it looks like. Not official yet

http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/176_221.php

outwest

that a good group, would like to have quins as our first game at home,

Zzippy

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/2010060982225/muls-diary-part-one

Connacht skipper John Muldoon will be keeping fans updated on the Irish tour Down Under this summer. Here’s the first of his letters from New Zealand ……

We didn’t have any time to dwell on the outcome of the Baabaa’s match on Friday night as we had to get ourselves into travel mode for the long journey to New Zealand.

With an early wake up call 4.30am there were some tired heads on the bus.

Three flights later we arrived in Auckland at midnight on Sunday. Needless to say, there were some very grouchy and odour-fuelled bodies.

As usual Fogs (John Fogarty) was the worst but as we know from his time in Connacht, it doesn’t require three long flights halfway round the world for him to make an impact in this regard.
My room mate is Niall Ronan from Munster. I've known Niall for a long time as we played Irish u18 together, which now seems like a very long time ago.

We trained twice Monday which I must admit was tough going. The legs and mind were still suffering a lot from jetlag.

While in the gym I met an Irish man, his family were from Connemara, with a good west Galway name Joyce.

The rest of Monday was a write-off. The biggest battle was trying not to sleep after dinner. I managed to stay awake until bedtime and I woke up Tuesday morning feeling like a new person after a great night’s sleep.

Niall had to go for a walk around 3.30am as he didn’t fight the urge to sleep at 9’o’clock and he spent a while ceiling-watching during the night.

The Tuesday morning of a match week is always strange as you are really trying to avoid Deccie (Declan Kidney) like the plague. If Deccie
comes talkin to ya that means bad news.

I'm not quick over the ground by any means but I made sure to stay well away. Thankfully when the team was named in our meeting both Sean and myself managed to get starting places!!

Obviously it's going be a special occasion and it's also very nice to have a fellow Connacht player there stuck in it too.

At this stage Saturday can't come quick enough. But our travel isn't done yet as we fly on Thursday to New Plymouth.
It’s been fairly hectic since we arrived here and we haven’t had much time to see the place or get up to much.

But Gavin, Sean and myself are to meet up with a familiar face from home in Troy Nathan and his lovely girlfriend Eimear.

No pressure Troy but you never stop talking about how good it is so you better have a good day planned!!! We've a lot to see in a couple of hours!

I’ll let you know later whether or not Troy has a future as a travel guide ……

I guess now we know why Troy started playing so well this year

Robbo

Zzippy wrote: »

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/2010060982225/muls-diary-part-one



I guess now we know why Troy started playing so well this year

Ah, the love of one good lady.

I saw him in town one day being led from shop to shop by her, it was the picture of domestic bliss.

redroar1942

Zzippy wrote: »

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/2010060982225/muls-diary-part-one



I guess now we know why Troy started playing so well this year

Nathan "the lounge room lothario" Nathan settles down !!

Say it ain't so

Robbo

Connacht Appoint Defence Coach.

Bit of a surprise on this one. First a dedicated backs coach a video analyst and now this? Please let the next pleasant surprise be a covered Clubhouse side stand with my own personal beer taps...

seanin4711

when are the pre season games on???
slan

Robbo

seanin4711 wrote: »

when are the pre season games on???
slan

Judging by last year, mid August would be a good bet.

Borders no.2

Good news on the defence coach, there looks to be a good support system in place for EE in which to work.

Anyone have any news on the Gavin Duffy to Ulster situation? Are there any player signings in the pipeline, we have a few gaps to fill yet.

I think the first friendly is the 13th of August. One of the friendlies is Harlequins which means we will be playing them 3 times this season.

Don't forget the game in Aviva Lansdowne Road on 29th July. Should be a few Connacht lads playing!

CatFromHue

Robbo wrote: »

Connacht Appoint Defence Coach.

Bit of a surprise on this one. First a dedicated backs coach a video analyst and now this? Please let the next pleasant surprise be a covered Clubhouse side stand with my own personal beer taps...

thats an interesting link

CONNACHT MANAGEMENT 2010/11
Director of Coaching: Eric Elwood
Team Manager: Tim Allnutt
Asistant Coach: Dan McFarland
Backs Coach: Brian Melrose
Defence Coach: Mike Forshaw
Video Analyst: Conor McPhillips

alot are ex connacht players excpet for mike forshaw and brian melrose.

i just did a quick google for melrose as i'd never heard of him and he has a pretty nice record

http://www.irishrugby.ie/22_20896.php
http://www.entertainoz.com.au/Speakers/Sport/Rugby/Brian-Melrose

it'll be interesting to see how he gets on

ballinasloe

Anyone hear any more on this rumour...heard Connacht could be looking at doing some form of a swap.

Would be a terrible loss.

fatguy2k1

seanin4711 wrote: »

when are the pre season games on???
slan

quins on friday 13th of August and Scarasens on saturday 21st of August.

There is NO truth in Gavin going to Ulster. None what so ever.

theKramer

CatFromHue wrote: »

thats an interesting link

CONNACHT MANAGEMENT 2010/11
Director of Coaching: Eric Elwood
Team Manager: Tim Allnutt
Asistant Coach: Dan McFarland
Backs Coach: Brian Melrose
Defence Coach: Mike Forshaw
Video Analyst: Conor McPhillips

it'll be interesting to see how he gets on

Who's the forwards coach/scrum coach?

Robbo

theKramer wrote: »

Who's the forwards coach/scrum coach?

Dan McFarland.

gally74

looking forward to the new season, going to buy a season ticket ... for the first time, its good value and win or lose i always enjoy the games,