Cardiff Blues v Connacht 30 Sep 2010 Match Thread

Zzippy

Cardiff Blues v Connacht, Cardiff City Stadium, Thu 30 Sep 19.05 RTE2


Cardiff Blues take on Connacht in an unusual Thursday evening game because of the Ryder Cup taking place down the road at Celtic Manor. Cardiff come off the back of a 19-7 away win in Treviso, courtesy of Dan Parks' boot, and 3 wins from 4 in the league so far, leaving them 3rd in the table on 14 points.

Connacht have made a confident start under new coach Eric Elwood, with 2 wins and a draw, and have shown a new attitude to away games. They come off the back of a tough draw with Ulster at the Sportsground, and travel on Wednesday with only one training session under their belts since that match due to injuries, and a day less preparation than Cardiff, who played on Friday.

Gavin Duffy (back), Troy Nathan (back), Keith Matthews (dead leg) are all doubts, as well as most of the pack who all put in big games on Saturday, but all going well Connacht should field a mostly unchanged side.

To have any chance here Connacht must maintain their discipline and not give Parks the kicking opportunities he relishes, but with a 100% win record at home to Connacht its hard to see past a home win. I think most Connacht fans would be happy with a losing bonus point on the road, as long as the performance and attitude is right.

outwest

id go with

troy (if fit)
teirnon o h
niva
wynne
carr
nikora
willis
mccormish
ofisa
browne
umpton
swift
hagen
croinin
loughney.

a few changes but the lads have played every game this season so far.

a losing point. would be a great result for us, 13 points before europe starts, it will be a great start to the season.

porterbelly

Have to get Gavin Duffy on the pitch at full back if at all possible, don't trust Troy at 15. Hopefully he's recovered in time from his injury.

thomond2006

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/2010092882297/connacht-name-squad-to-face-cardiff

Forwards:
Ronan Loughney, Brett Wilkinson, Dermot Murphy, Sean Cronin, Adrian Flavin, Rob Sweeney, Jamie Hagan, Andrew Browne, Michael Swift, Bernie Upton, Michael McCarthy, Ray Ofisa, Mike McComish, Johnny O’Connor

Backs:
Cillian Willis, Frank Murphy, Miah Nikora, Ian Keatley, Fionn Carr, Keith Matthews, Niva Taauso, Aidan Wynne, Troy Nathan, Gavin Duffy, Darragh Fanning.

With Cavalieri to come next week in the ACC, I'd say Elwood will play a strong team. Maybe rest the players who are doubtful just in case. A losing BP would be a good return from this game.

Cardiff have got good depth in the backs so even if their selection is second string I wouldn't fancy Connacht.

outwest

joc being back adds to elwoods options

Otacon

BTW this is also being shown on BBC 2 Wales [channel 991 I think] for those ex pats among us.

thomond2006

outwest wrote: »

joc being back adds to elwoods options

Even Concrete will find it difficult to get back in the team with Ofisa playing so well. Unless you move one of them to 6 of course.

outwest

ya ofisa goes to 6 joc to 7,

u cant drop ofisa tho, the form 7 in ireland, maybe even the league.

could well be at the wc with samoa

Zzippy

thomond2006 wrote: »

Even Concrete will find it difficult to get back in the team with Ofisa playing so well. Unless you move one of them to 6 of course.

Yup, Ofisa playing out of his skin, but has taken some big knocks in recent games so bring on Johnny at half time and give him a rest, and get Johnny some game time, win win situation!

I think it will be mostly an unchanged team, the lads have been playing very well as a settled team, and next week gives an opportunity to rotate a few players before the Bayonne game.

PhatPiggins

If Cardiff field their full team I don't think a losing BP is realistic, I'd expect them to rest a few though.

I'll be interested to see how Hagan gets on against Jenkins(if they both play)

profitius

Connachts squad dept will start to have an effect now I'd say. If I was Elwood I'd concentrate on the ML and rest the best players when the Amlin is on. If they do well in the ML they'll get bigger crowds for more matches than the Amlin cup.

outwest

ya but its the italians in the first round of the cup.

bayone is our first home game. as a connacht supporter, wining as many games as possible is more importent. gettign out of the group would be a great, get a home quarter would have the place packed out

Zzippy

profitius wrote: »

Connachts squad dept will start to have an effect now I'd say. If I was Elwood I'd concentrate on the ML and rest the best players when the Amlin is on. If they do well in the ML they'll get bigger crowds for more matches than the Amlin cup.

That's the big issue. With a squad of 28/30 players, once you've played 4/5 games in a row week in week out injuries start to mount up and you don't have the replacements there who can slot in. They've done really well so far to be so competitive, and bene lucky with injuries, but a few of those and Elwood will be really scraping the barrel for players. We had a great run in the Amlin last year, but realistically I don't think we can win it, and I'd rather see us doing well and finishing up the table in the ML.

thomond2006

Yeah, Connacht's run in the Amlin pool stage came at a cost, their ML form before the Six Nations was very poor. Plus I think they had ran of the steam by the Toulon game.

I think ACC progression (and a home quarter final) and a decent ML finish is achievable if Elwood picks his fights carefully.

outwest

PhatPiggins wrote: »

If Cardiff field their full team I don't think a losing BP is realistic, I'd expect them to rest a few though.

I'll be interested to see how Hagan gets on against Jenkins(if they both play)

if they do play, i hagen does well, then i would fell confident with hagen getting a game v samoa in november,

i dont think cardiff will play a full team, out of fear of any more injuries happenign to their big names before the hcup. they have won 7 out 7 in cardiff, hopefully we can make it 7 out 8

Digifriendly

profitius wrote: »

Connachts squad dept will start to have an effect now I'd say. If I was Elwood I'd concentrate on the ML and rest the best players when the Amlin is on. If they do well in the ML they'll get bigger crowds for more matches than the Amlin cup.

Very wise. Connacht have 11 home games in the ML - If they win the vast majority of those (which I think they're well capable of doing) pick up the odd away win (as they did at Glasgow) and pick up bonus points along the way (which they're already doing) they'll be well on the way to securing a place at Europe's top table. To win the Amlin they will have to defeat some pretty strong English and French teams which is not impossible the way Connacht are playing at the moment but I think the ML is still the best route to the HC.

Its tough to deal with so many games with such a small squad but I'm glad to see Eric Elwood is putting his best foot forward for every game at this stage. For example in the Bradley era a game like Glasgow away would have been sacrificed with everything then put resting on the Ulster game. Eric Elwood went into the two away games with the intention of taking each game on its own merits and letting the Ulster game look after itself in time and it yielded the desired results and that helps generate momentum and belief.

As the season goes on this will be more difficult to manage but at present lets give Cardiff a good game and maybe the Cavalieri game could be viewed as a chance to mix up the team a bit and still get the result before another run of tough games.

I feel Cardiff want to get a top 4 spot this year to show that they are ready to be up there consistently with Ospreys, Munster and Leinster in all competitions and to avoid any potential Welsh hc qualification issues. Not too many teams will get much in Cardiff so the pressure is off Connacht to some extent but another strong performance will keep momentum going. We're unlikely to get any points but the team have exceeded expectations away from home to date so hopefully they will again

At least we're unlikely to see Cardiff score 46 points unaswered in the first half like this time two years ago.:mad:

seanin4711

http://www.cardiffblues.com/news/4651.php

Genuine respect i feel !

just wondering on any major injury worries for us?

The key to moving up the magners league table is bonus points!

slan
j

outwest

15 Ben Blair
14 Leigh Halfpenny
13 Casey Laulala
12 Dafydd Hewitt
11 Chris zekaj
10 Dan Parks
9 Gareth Cooper

8 Xavier Rush (c)
7 Sam Warburton
6 Michael Paterson
5 Deiniol Jones
4 Bradley Davies
3 Tafa'ao Filise
2 Rhys Williams
1 John Yapp


16 Kristian Dacey
17 Gethin Jenkins
18 Scott Andrews
19 Paul Tito
20 Andries Pretorius
21 Kristian Baller
22 Ceri Sweeney
23 Tom Shanklin


1 Brett Wilkinson
2 Adrian Flavin
3 Jamie Hagan
4 Michael Swift
5 Andrew Browne
6 Michael McCarthy
7 Ray Ofisa
8 Mike McComish

9 Frank Murphy (C)
10 Ian Keatley
11 Fionn Carr
12 Keith Matthews
13 Niva Ta'auso
14 Troy Nathan
15 Gavin Duffy

16 Dermot Murphy
17 Ronan Loughney
18 Rob Sweeney
19 Bernie Upton
20 Johnny O'Connor
21 Cillian Willis
22 Miah Nikora
23 Darragh Fanning

profitius

What position does Dermot Murphy play?

porterbelly

profitius wrote: »

What position does Dermot Murphy play?

Hooker, Cronin is being rested because of the Irish player management yoke.

outwest

croinin being rested, does this mean he gonig to be the 2 for the AI's

flavin will do the job that needs to be done, hopefully we can get a good start, and keep up the same level of defence.

seanin4711

Strong cardiff side don't think we will get in bonus point range.
Hope I am wrong.
Slan
J

thomond2006

Very strong Cardiff side. I don't think Connacht will get anything from this.

outwest

believe thomond, believe,

its a different connacht team this year, anytihngcould happen,

Judgement Day

Looks tough for Connacht but with their present form a small bet on them to win at 9/2 on looks tempting and the Draw at 30/1.

thomond2006

outwest wrote: »

believe thomond, believe,

its a different connacht team this year, anytihngcould happen,

I didn't say you would get hammered. I hope I'm wrong obviously, I'd dearly love Connacht to win.

Of course "anything can happen". Very easy to predict that before a game.

wixfjord

Cant see past a big Cardiff win here.
Good to have a game on a Thurs night too!

OT but saw Laulala up close and personal at the RDS, and hes a cracking centre, and a beast of a runner.

seanin4711

Judgement Day wrote: »

Looks tough for Connacht but with their present form a small bet on them to win at 9/2 on looks tempting and the Draw at 30/1.

looking for them myself!
s
connacht at 10/11 (+14) not bad i think we might cover that!
slan
s

laugh

Match on a Thursday night is great.

PhatPiggins

seanin4711 wrote: »

looking for them myself!
s
connacht at 10/11 (+14) not bad i think we might cover that!
slan
s

You can get them +16 with VC

thomond2006

+15 with PP. Definitely think Connacht can finish within 14 at least.

outwest

good run by carr,


i could get use to thursday night magners

thomond2006

Keatley chance here. Hagan buckled Yapp in the first scrum.

Great kick, 3-0!

G'wan Connacht.

Dan Parks replies immediately with a penalty, 3 - 3.

brianthebard

great score. Connacht looking confident, should be good game.

brianthebard

what a run by carr.

outwest

unreal from carr, should of passed tho

thomond2006

Carr, what more can you say?

TheTMO

Carr and Bowe for wing in the AIs. Its a must.

wixfjord

Mother of god what speed.
This lad has to play a part in the AI's. How guys like Dowling and Murphy have been picked ahead of him is crazy.

TheTMO

wixfjord wrote: »

Mother of god what speed.
This lad has to play a part in the AI's. How guys like Dowling and Murphy have been picked ahead of him is crazy.

Very odd decisions indeed....

outwest

ofisa can hit people hard

outwest

holy water for hagen is needed

outwest

our defence is outstanding.

outwest

lucky there, troy doing well so far

Mushy

Still 3-3?

outwest

parks drop goal,

9 3 cardiff

Steyr

I hate you Dan Parks.

brianthebard

lol that was a mile forward. unlucky should have made a lot more of those opportunities than we did.

Why is Hagen still hobbling around the pitch? He's obviously going to have to come off and playing on in the meantime will only hinder and lengthen recovery time.

outwest

great run by keatley

some_dose

Keatley and Carr are seriously impressive and dangerous players. Hope they get their starts in the AI's