Connacht v Dragons 7.30 RTE 2

SomeFool

Teams

Dragons: 15 Will Harries, 14 Adam Hughes, 13 Tom Riley, 12 Ashley Smith, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Jonathan Evans, 8 Toby Faletau. 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Lewis Evans, 5 Robert Sidoli, 4 Adam Jones, 3 Ben Castle, 2 Tom Willis (capt), 1 Hugh Gustafson.
Replacements: 16 Steve Jones, 17 Pat Palmer, 18 Phil Price, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Andrew Coombs, 21 M Jones, 22 Mike Petri, 23 Pat Leach.



Connacht: 15 Ian Keatley, 14 Troy Nathan, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Keith Matthews (capt), 11 Fionn Carr, 10 Miah Nikora, 9 Cillian Willis, 8 Eoin McKeon, 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 Andrew Browne, 5 Michael McCarthy, 4 Michael Swift, 3 Jamie Hagan, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Brett Wilkinson.
Replacements: 16 Adrian Flavin, 17 Rodney Ah You, 18 Dylan Rogers, 19 Bernie Upton, 20 Mike McComish, 21 Frank Murphy, 22 Niva Ta'auso, 23 Brian Tuohy.


You'd know Thomond was missing, no match thread!! Anyone watching this tonight, should be a close one! Will be interested in how Keatley does at FB.

PhatPiggins

Connacht rarely get hammered any more.Could be close despite the injury woes

Risteard

What's the story with the coverage? I'm on RTE2 now but all I see is some guy talking about bats?

SomeFool

Not on til 7.30, has started on s4c though.....

Risteard

Alright, it was coming up as starting at 7 on RTE2.

Hennybug

Victor Costello taking over the Neil Francis mantle :mad:

B0X

Connacht in for a bad beating?

SomeFool

B0X wrote: »

Connacht in for a bad beating?

I don't see them getting a bad beating but they need to tighten up a bit to compete.

durkadurka

You'd know Thomond was missing, no match thread!! Anyone watching this tonight, should be a close one! Will be interested in how Keatley does at FB.[/QUOTE]

He was even starting the odd Leinster thread!!

brianthebard

stupid try, keatley seems incapable of kicking for the sideline lately...

SomeFool

awful

Horribly lazy penalty to give away there (Dragons took the scrum).

If you kick the ball, move forward!

Fantastic from Cronin there, deserved more.

SomeFool

A real let off there! Still 7-0

Some great turnovers from Connacht so far. Liking the look of the young scrum half Willis too. Organising the backs well, and his defensive cover has been excellent.

Need to hold the ball a bit more, Nikora kicking it too much.

Sweet strike, 7-3 now

Johnny O Connor putting in a super shift so far as usual.

Risteard

Great stuff by Griffin.

Boom! Trytime for Connacht.

Very well done by Griffin. Direct running, simple stuff.

its_phil

O'Connor has been immense.

The stupid mistakes need to be cut out...but then again how long have connacht fans been saying that!

GO ON CONNACHT.Great play by Griffen!

brianthebard

great try! Agree about willis, looking good tonight.

seanin4711

Want to tighten up a lot.great try happy days!!!!!

SomeFool

TRY!!!!!

irishbucsfan

Two weeks in a row that Griffin has looked a top player.

Surely Connacht have to entrust the 13 jersey to him now

seanin4711

Keep our heads.
cmon connacht.
Keatley munster you can have him.

ambid

Hennybug wrote: »

Victor Costello taking over the Neil Francis mantle :mad:

Crikey.

How so? I've only just switched on. What did he say?

Woah, maybe 2/3 forward passes in that try!

Horrible

SomeFool

seanin4711 wrote: »

Keep our heads.
cmon connacht.
Keatley munster you can have him.

To be fair he's being exposed as a 15 but he is a quality 10.

WallyGUFC

Boom.

seanin4711

Bad miss there by Lewis,hands in and looked forward.

seanin4711

Jaysus he is woeful

Connacht are a far better team than Dragons. A little bit of continuity, and some confidence, and they could murder them.

crisco10

some of willis' passes have been painful. i count 3 in the last 10mins that just missed the bread basket by some distance.

crisco10

crisco10 wrote: »

some of willis' passes have been painful. i count 3 in the last 10mins that just missed the bread basket by some distance.

Think I hit him with the commentor's curse! Was having a stormer until I mentioned him!

irishbucsfan

SomeFool wrote: »

To be fair he's being exposed as a 15 but he is a quality 10.

Havent seen that in a long time

crisco10

Deleted User wrote: »

Think I hit him with the commentor's curse! Was having a stormer until I mentioned him!

I was wondering!!!

Connacht are frustrating to watch. they are playing well but just make simple mistakes at the worst times.

SomeFool

Deleted User wrote: »

Connacht are a far better team than Dragons. A little bit of continuity, and some confidence, and they could murder them.

They really get ragged when they go through the phases, need to keep things tighter.

profitius

seanin4711 wrote: »

Keep our heads.
cmon connacht.
Keatley munster you can have him.

Gladly take him! He's a very good prospect.

SparKing

If Keatley does go, can't see him replacing Warwick to any degree, Move Nathan to Full Back bring on Ta'uso and move Griffin to the wing,
Missing Gavin Duffy big time

its_phil

crisco10 wrote: »

Connacht are frustrating to watch. they are playing well but just make simple mistakes at the worst times.

Welcome to connacht rugby

SomeFool

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Havent seen that in a long time

Because he's being moved around the backline a lot. He's place kicking is good tonight, I'd like to see him behind a decent pack getting better ball, I won't suggest he's going to be a Sexton or a ROG but he is a good player.

its_phil

SparKing wrote: »

Gavin Duffy big time

So painfully true

SparKing

SomeFool wrote: »

I won't suggest he's going to be a Sexton or a ROG but he is a good player.

Then why leave Connacht?
Will he play regularly anywhere else?

SparKing

SparKing wrote: »

If Keatley does go, can't see him replacing Warwick to any degree, Move Nathan to Full Back bring on Ta'uso and move Griffin to the wing,
Missing Gavin Duffy big time

wha??? He's been impressive at 13 and anonymous on the wing. I think he's earning that 13 jersey and will be hard to dislodge.

SomeFool

SparKing wrote: »

Then why leave Connacht?
Will he play regularly anywhere else?

He'll get gametime at Munster, I can see him doing a good job there. He wants to move his rugby up a level and challenge himself to see if he can get into the Irish set up.

SparKing

Deleted User wrote: »

wha??? He's been impressive at 13 and anonymous on the wing. I think he's earning that 13 jersey and will be hard to dislodge.

Based on how many appearances? talking about this game not in general,

SparKing

SomeFool wrote: »

He'll get gametime at Munster, I can see him doing a good job there. He wants to move his rugby up a level and challenge himself to see if he can get into the Irish set up.

I genuinely hope he does, he's been great for us.
Sound lad too by all accounts.

its_phil

Have to say Matthews has been very good since taking over the captaincy.Had my doubts when he took it on

seanin4711

Come on mike catch the flipping ball

seanin4711

Keep them under the cosh,defense immense.hope we can keep it up for another half an hour.

crisco10

Touch wood but so far Dragon's have really gone nowhere with the ball in hand. Some great aggressive defense from Connacht.

PhatPiggins

Yer man Swift is some work horse

Jeez Lewis is pedantic

Incredibly harsh penalty there against Connacht going forward with the ball. Can't see how the rucker went straight to ground. He was forced down.