Connacht v Treviso Friday 2nd Dec sportsground 19.30 on gbfm

seanin4711

well boys and girls lets just hope we can get the show back on the road with Treviso,no guarantee of that either as they are a decent unit.
we really need a performance from 1 to 15.
what say you?

Shelflife

Season hinges on this game imo, win it and we are back in the hunt to stay ahead of Ulster, lose it and we head towards bottom of the table.

Much more important than the HC game next week.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Disappointing that its not televised but I understand that having three provinces playing on the friday was going to mean no television coverage for Connacht

thomond2006

This is a must win for Connacht.

If Treviso send their first choice I'd be worried.

cuculainn

Yeah it is a must win.........and win ugly if necessary....need to turn possession and territory into points (penalties and drop goals if necessary)

points are more important than performance at this stage

CatFromHue

Connacht have won already in Treviso so it's well within them to beat them in Galway. Treviso though have had some good results on the road in beating Ulster and Glasgow but have lost their last 2 games at home.

As others have said a win though is a must for Connacht. Not only to get their season going again but also Treviso would be one of their main rivals in the league. Both would be seen as lower half teams so stopping Treviso getting points is very important.

I think Connacht will win though.

Zzippy

Connacht XV to face Treviso
Connacht Rugby have announced the starting XV that will face Benetton Treviso on Friday night at the Sportsground.

Head Coach Eric Elwood has opted for a side that blends an experienced pack with an exciting and dynamic backline. In total there are7 changes in the starting lineup that faced the Ospreys last week.

Ethienne Reynecke and Ronan Loughney have been called into the frontrow, they join Brett Wilkinson after making their mark against Toulouse a fortnight ago.

A powerful secondrow combination of Michael Swift and George Naoupu backs them up while Dave Gannon, John Muldoon and Ray Ofisa, who earns his 100th cap for Connacht, complete the backline.

Frank Murphy and Niall O'Connor make for a changed midfield. The halfback pairing last played together in Connacht's narrow defeat to the Cardiff Blues in October at the Sportsground.

Centre sensation Dave McSharry moves back to 12 while Connacht's latest signing, Kyle Tonetti, gets his first taste of senior action at outside centre, the 24 year old flyer joined Connacht from Sale Sharks earlier this year.

Mark McCrea earns a start on the right wing, the former Ireland U19 winger scored the match-winning try against Dragons earlier this season. He is joined by Tiernan O'Halloran on the left wing and captain Gavin Duffy in the backline.

Connacht team to face Benetton Treviso (The Sportsground, Friday 2nd December, kick-off 19.30)

15 Gavin Duffy (C)
14 Mark McCrea
13 Kyle Tonetti
12 Dave McSharry
11 Tiernan O'Halloran
10 Niall O'Connor
09 Frank Murphy
01 Brett Wilkinson
02 Ethienne Reynecke
03 Ronan Loughney
04 Michael Swift
05 George Naoupu
06 Dave Gannon
07 John Muldoon
08 Ray Ofisa

16 Adrian Flavin
17 Dennis Buckley
18 Rodney Ah You
19 Mick Kearney
20 Eoghan Grace
21 Paul O'Donohoe
22 Matthew Jarvis
23 Fetu'u Vainikolo

Zzippy

McCrea in for Tuohy, Tonetti gets his first start at 13, McSharry back to 12, NOC in for Nikora with Jarvis on the bench, all interesting changes. I'm looking forward to seeing Tonetti for the first time.
More changes in the pack too, Loughney in for Rodney, Swifty back, Dave Gannon at 6 is a strange one, thought he was an out-and-out 2nd row, but he's interchangeable with George at 5 I suppose. Several lineout options anyway.

This is a game where we really have to forget about the last weeks and the HEC and front up big time, we know we can beat Treviso but have to go out and do it. Time to end the losing streak!

The Connacht Clan have a Q&A session in the Clan bar afterwards with a few of the players, including JOC and Keith Matthews, so a good opportunity to show Keith our appreciation for all he's done in the last few years.

seanin4711

cuculainn wrote: »

Yeah it is a must win.........and win ugly if necessary....need to turn possession and territory into points (penalties and drop goals if necessary)

points are more important than performance at this stage

drop goals,hmm what are they?

Robbo

This lineup pleases me. Problem is I'm away on Friday.

I get the feeling we're going to play at a high tempo.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Is Griffin injured thats two games in a row he was left out of

Shelflife

Hamstring I heard.

seanin4711

we need concrete! !!!!

Zzippy

seanin4711 wrote: »

we need concrete! !!!!

Another week or two apparently, prob unlikely to be back for the home Gloucester match.

thomond2006

Starting line-up:
15 Ludovico Nitoglia
14 Tommaso Iannone
13 Ezio Galon
12 Andrea Pratichetti
11 Brendan Williams
10 Willem De Waal
9 Fabio Semenzato
8 Marco Filippucci
7 Paul Derbyshire
6 Manoa Vosawai
5 Benjamin Vermaak
4 Francesco Minto
3 Ignacio Fernandez Rouyet
2 Franco Sbaraglini
1 Michele Rizzo (captain)

On the bench:
16 Diego Vidal
17 Matteo Muccignat
18 Lorenzo Cittadini
19 Corniel Van Zyl
20 Valerio Bernabò
21 Gonzalo Padrò
22 Edoardo Gori
23 Kristopher Burton

Head Coach: Franco Smith.

GerM

That's a very beatable side that Treviso are bringing over. They've suffered several injuries and are also resting a few more players for this one. Strange really as you would think they'd target this game. Instead they put out a strong side last week and a weak one this. They seem to target the higher profile matches rather than the games that most would see as more winnable. Connacht by 12 if weather holds off.

CIARAN_BOYLE

GerM wrote: »

That's a very beatable side that Treviso are bringing over. They've suffered several injuries and are also resting a few more players for this one. Strange really as you would think they'd target this game. Instead they put out a strong side last week and a weak one this. They seem to target the higher profile matches rather than the games that most would see as more winnable. Connacht by 12 if weather holds off.

I think its more that they target their home matches where their fans are and if they get a decent home record the crowd will come to see wins and then they have a decent support base to fund the team

freyners

very winnable, in fact if we dont ill be shocked, some interesting changed on both sides but we should have an edge.

Connacht by 6-10 at 4/1 isnt a bad option either

ouncer

will be interesting to see how tonetti teams with mcsharry. faifili has been simply awful so other options are needed at centre and its great to see tonetti a chance. I'm a bit surprised first that tuohy isn't togging out but more surprised that vainikolo isn't preferred to mcccrea. Would suspect mccrea will have to impress majorly to be on the field past half time. Seems the only regulars in the back line these days are duffy and o'halloran (and griffin when fit). And that in itself is a problem. How can you get a team to function when you are changing personnel every game. The same applies to the forwards. The common ploy is to replace the front three in every game. Are they not fit enough to play out 80 minutes. How can there be any consistency if the team is revamped every week

d-gal

Looking forward to seeing Tonetti. He played with 'wegians against UCD and destroyed them on his own, scoring 2 tries and setting up another.
Out of interest if he sets the world alight can either him, griffin or mcsharry play anywhere else besides centre?

thomond2006

Tonetti can play 10 I think?

CIARAN_BOYLE

ouncer wrote: »

The common ploy is to replace the front three in every game. Are they not fit enough to play out 80 minutes. How can there be any consistency if the team is revamped every week

Thats standard procedure in most teams to change the front row. You have to carry front row subs so why not use them. Playing in the front row at club level is not really an 80 minute thing any more.

Cian Healy played 21 times for Leinster last season and only once did he manage 80 minutes and Ross only managed 3 80 minute games out of 27 appearances.

d-gal wrote: »

Looking forward to seeing Tonetti. He played with 'wegians against UCD and destroyed them on his own, scoring 2 tries and setting up another.
Out of interest if he sets the world alight can either him, griffin or mcsharry play anywhere else besides centre?

Tonetti has played a chunk of rugby at outhalf and I wouldn't be surprised if he could do well on the wing if need be.

thomond2006

Why are Connacht playing a number 8 at lock (Naoupu) and a lock at 6 (Gannon) ?

freyners

thomond2006 wrote: »

Why are Connacht playing a number 8 at lock (Naoupu) and a lock at 6 (Gannon) ?

strange one,

my opinion

george is too good of a player to leave on the bench for us but hes lot a lot of his spark, the dynamic runs of old haven't re-appeared yet so i presume they felt that gannon would cover the ground better than george at the moment.

IIRC george played four v ospreys too

porterbelly

thomond2006 wrote: »

Why are Connacht playing a number 8 at lock (Naoupu) and a lock at 6 (Gannon) ?

Wouldn't be surprised to see the back 5 look like 4.Swift 5.Gannon 6.Muldoon 7.Ofisa 8.Naoupu at an early point in the game

I've said before that George needs to lose weight if he's to recapture his dynamic best. Maybe the management feel that with his extra bulk he'd be better served at lock and put himself about in the tight freeing the lighter Gannon to get around the park.

Robbo

porterbelly wrote: »

Wouldn't be surprised to see the back 5 look like 4.Swift 5.Gannon 6.Muldoon 7.Ofisa 8.Naoupu at an early point in the game

I've said before that George needs to lose weight if he's to recapture his dynamic best. Maybe the management feel that with his extra bulk he'd be better served at lock and put himself about in the tight freeing the lighter Gannon to get around the park.

The more I thought about the pack configuration today, the more I thought it was some kind of devious ploy to mess with Treviso's heads.

maxfly

thomond2006 wrote: »

Why are Connacht playing a number 8 at lock (Naoupu) and a lock at 6 (Gannon) ?

What is more curious is that muldoon (a 6/8) is playing a 7 and Ray (a 7) is playing at 8!!! Backrow should be mul, ray and george. Vainakola should be in team.... haven't heard that he's carrying a knock. Ah You should be given the bullet and a deal should be done to get Jamie Hagan back from Leninster!!! He's clearly not going to feature for leinster when they have a full squad.

maxfly

porterbelly wrote: »

Wouldn't be surprised to see the back 5 look like 4.Swift 5.Gannon 6.Muldoon 7.Ofisa 8.Naoupu at an early point in the game

I've said before that George needs to lose weight if he's to recapture his dynamic best. Maybe the management feel that with his extra bulk he'd be better served at lock and put himself about in the tight freeing the lighter Gannon to get around the park.

hope u are right!

Robbo

Dirty old day for a game, this match is going to be won up front.

freyners

woo...can go to this after all

C'MON CONNACHT

thomond2006

I'm following updates on Connacht's FB page. 0-10 to Treviso so far.

thomond2006

Another try for Treviso, 0-15.

duckysauce

:eek:

its_phil

McSharry having a cracker going by the commentary on GBFM

its_phil

Try Connacht from McSharry and conversion

thomond2006

Whew. C'mon Connacht!

Samich

Cmon Connacht

its_phil

anyone looking to listen here's link
http://tunein.com/radio/Galway-Bay-FM-974-s15126/

thomond2006

10-15, Vosawai in the bin.

CIARAN_BOYLE

13-15 now Come on Connacht

Samich

Good stuff!! C'mon

thomond2006

C'mon lads, time to turn Con's season around.

Juwwi

How longs left?

CIARAN_BOYLE

robbie1977 wrote: »

How longs left?

6ish minutes

sickpuppy

robbie1977 wrote: »

How longs left?

5 and half mins

its_phil

Pathetic

CIARAN_BOYLE

Game over 2 point loss

d-gal

At my wits end, connacht are an absolute joke, embarrassing to be a fan. Knock on after knock on and getting beaten by a B team, an absolute ****ing joke. Sick of it at this stage, 8 losses in a row

thomond2006

FT

13-15, disasterous result.

sickpuppy

Knock ons 2 and 4 metres from the opposition line i feel sorry for the fans
must be so tough to stomach play like tonight.
How many times did the commentators say a try on here and then another daft mistake and they lose the ball.

porterbelly

PLAYERS AND MANAGEMENT HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME. THIS IS HAPPENING WEEK AFTER ****ING WEEK. SILLY MISTAKES COSTING US GAMES.

The same oul bladder is trotted out by Elwood every week about it being little things and we're moving in the right direction. Well no we're bloody not becasue we can't close out a game to save our lives. Thats about 6 games this season when we've done the exact same thing

NOT ****ING ACCEPTABLE