Rabo Pro12: Connacht vs Edinburgh, Sportsground, Fri 24 Feb 1930

Zzippy

Connacht XVto face Edinburgh

Connacht Rugby have announced the team that will face Edinburgh this Friday night.

Academy prop Denis Buckley earns his first competitive start for the province in the absence of Brett Wilkinson who is involved with the Ireland setup this weekend. 22 year old Buckley made his debut for Connacht last September against Treviso and despite being a member of the Connacht Academy the Creggs born loose-head has made a big impact in a number of Connacht's major games this season. With 5 caps to date Buckley has starred against both Italian outfits, including Connacht's season opening victory over Treviso, as well as European power-houses Toulouse and the famous victory over Harlequins in the Sportsground.

The only other change to the starting line-up sees the return of Frank Murphy to scrum-half. Murphy has been out of action with a groin injury since the first week in January and his return to full fitness sees him replace Paul O'Donohoe in the number 9 jersey.
Connacht's match against Edinburgh is not being televised so the only way to catch all the action live is by getting down to the Sportsground on Friday night. Tickets can be purchased from www.connachtrugby.ie or from www.ticketmaster.ie

Connacht XV to face Edinburgh (The Sportsground - Friday 24th February - ko 19.30)

15 Gavin Duffy (C)
14 Fetu'u Vainikolo
13 Kyle Tonetti
12 Henry Fa'afili
11 Tiernan O'Halloran
10 Niall O'Connor
09 Frank Murphy
01 Denis Buckley
02 Adrian Flavin
03 Ronan Loughney
04 Michael Swift
05 Mike McCarthy
06 John Muldoon
07 Eoghan Grace
08 George Naoupu

16 Ethienne Reynecke
17 Dylan Rogers/Brett Wilkinson
18 Stewart Maguire
19 Mick Kearney
20 Ray Ofisa
21 Paul O'Donohoe
22 Matthew Jarvis
23 Eoin Griffin

Worried about Buckley starting. If Wilko isn't in the 22 for Ireland why is he not released - its not like they'd seriously consider a Connacht player for a competitive 22 next week, is it? :rolleyes:

Podge_irl

Zzippy wrote: »

Worried about Buckley starting. If Wilko isn't in the 22 for Ireland why is he not released - its not like they'd seriously consider a Connacht player for a competitive 22 next week, is it? :rolleyes:

He will be released but probably not til today as they'll want him there for competitive scrum practice. Several Leinster players came back to the team for the Thursday Treviso game (D Kearney and some others) but only started on the bench as they hadn't been training with the team all week.

wp_rathead

Zzippy wrote:

The only other change to the starting line-up sees the return of Frank Murphy to scrum-half. Murphy has been out of action with a groin injury since the first week in January and his return to full fitness sees him replace Paul O'Donohoe in the number 9 jersey.

09 Frank Murphy
21 Paul O'Donohoe

...No Moore:(:(

Robbo

No TV for this so anyone who was 50/50, get your arses to the Sportsground. Buskers have a deal on for pre-match dinner, pint and match ticket for €20.

Two things are worrying me about that matchday 22: Buckley starting and Griffin still not being deemed fit enough to start.

Embra Team:

15 Chris Paterson

14 Tom Brown
13 Jim Thompson
12 Matt Scott
11 Tim Visser

10 Gregor Hunter
9 Chris Leck

1 Kyle Traynor
2 Andrew Kelly
3 Jack Gilding
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Sean Cox
6 Stuart McInally
7 Roddy Grant CAPTAIN
8 Netani Talei

Substitutes
16 Alun Walker
17 Mike MacDonald (Stirling County)
18 Ulises Gamboa
19 Esteban Lozada
20 Hamish Watson
21 Alex Black
22 Phil Godman
23 Dougie Fife

irishbucsfan

Dinner pint and match ticket for 20 quid is unreal. Fair play.

.ak

I'd imagine any player coming back into contention from an injury should be benched. They could easily take a couple of knocks that's best avoid in 60+ minutes. Better to have them come on against a tired side for 20 or 40 min.

CatFromHue

Is Borlase fit to be part of the senior squad yet?

cuculainn

Where is Nikora these days??? Surely he is worth a place on the Bench. Or is he injured?

shuffol

You'd expect the crowd might be a bit down considering the u-20s are playing in Athlone at the same time and there's a fair few Connacht players in the 22.

Digifriendly

shuffol wrote: »

You'd expect the crowd might be a bit down considering the u-20s are playing in Athlone at the same time and there's a fair few Connacht players in the 22.

Unfortunate clash. Could they not have put this either on Thursday evening (like Scarlets vs Treviso game was) or on Saturday evening (as Glasgow vs Leinster is)?

evil_seed

Is it time to open a can of worms? Why would you go to see the u-20s ahead of Connacht anyways? Does not compute

Zzippy

I have 2 free tickets for tonight's game that friends can't use - they're free to a good home

Anyone interested PM me for phone no., I can meet at the gate outside beforehand and give them to you.

Face value - FREE!

Robbo

Lovely day here, no wind, no rain. Bizarre.

On account of the conditions, I suggest everyone jump on the fact that the Paddy Power handicap of Connacht -1 is most definitely (famous last words) wrong.

I feel in me bones there's tries in this one with O'Halloran and Visser on the pitch. I'd like to see Frank Murphy play like a man possessed. I get the feeling that he hasn't been entirely fit for most of the season until he elected for groinal surgery. Why Dave Moore isn't at least one the bench is beyond me.

Zzippy

10-3 to Connacht at half time. Try Vainikolo after a turnover scrum. Pen and conversion NOC. Paterson missed a drop goal and pen for Edinburgh

CatFromHue

Are you sure about the 10-3. On the Pro12 website and ESPN they have it as 10-0?

If it weren't for Edinburgh's HEC form Bradley would be under a fair bit of pressure

eyeball kid

Any update on the score here?

culchienator

16-13 connacht. 62 minutes gone

eyeball kid

20 mins to hold on then.

CIARAN_BOYLE

19-13 Connacht according to RDPro12 site

Donnielighto

http://www.facebook.com/Connachtrugby

CIARAN_BOYLE

If Connacht can deny Edinburgh the lbp then Connacht will move ahead of Edinburgh

DDC1990

Try Connacht.

According to FB.

Thats the 4 points plus Edinburgh go home with nothing.

Great result.

EDIT: Connacht Rugby
Mike McCarthy crosses in the corner. Jarvis kicks a difficult touchline conversion Final Score in the Sportsground Connacht 26-13 Edinburgh

CIARAN_BOYLE

26-13 McCarthy try jarvis conversion

Connacht up to 9th in the league

Donnielighto

Final score, 26-13 Connacht win, up 2 places in the league, dragons have two games in hand

eyeball kid

BBC website is really slow at updating their scores.

liam12989

Thanks Zzippy for tickets. great game..

napoupu was very good made some great carries. the pack was completely dominant i taught and at scrum time we held our own even with young buckley starting.

i taught scrum improved when maguire came on but this could be to tiredness on their behalf..

jarvis came on 2..got 2 good kicks, noc kicked well missed one complete sitter tho.

Zzippy

CatFromHue wrote: »

Are you sure about the 10-3. On the Pro12 website and ESPN they have it as 10-0?

If it weren't for Edinburgh's HEC form Bradley would be under a fair bit of pressure

Apologies, I was posting from a mobile while holding a pint in the other hand

10-0 indeed at half time. NOC substituted after 50 mins or so when he was having a decent game, Jarvis not that great when he came on, kicking out of hand was poor. Gave away 2 bad tries in second half to Visser and Paterson, Edinburgh looked dangerous on the break, but Connacht kept their composure and closed it out in the last few seconds. Makes a welcome change from losing matches late on...

George was fantastic tonight, always available and made some great carries. Very surprised by Buckley, he more than held his own in the scrum (first try came off an Edinburgh scrum that we turned), and looked more mobile in the loose, made some good tackles.

Swifty and Macca were their usual excellent selves. Tonetti did well, and TOH and Duffy were solid if not spectacular. Griffin was good when he came on and won a couple of turnovers.

Delighted with the win, hopefully we've turned a corner now...

its_phil

How was NOC in open play? Was very dissapointed with some of the fans on Facebook who liked the substitution of NOC, very harsh on a guy who's 6/7 kicks in a row now.

Tonetti and George sounded like they had a good game. I'd like to see Tonetti 12 and Griffin 13 against Scarlets. Grace seemed to play well according to radio?

CatFromHue

Was there much of a to do about Bradley being back in The Sportsground?

liam12989

no didnt seem to be anything about him back in sportsground tbh.

and NOC didnt help his case from missing his easiest kick...it was straight infront of posts.

jarvis has strange style of kicking his kicking of out hand was awful

connemara man

Was a good game to watch NOCs kicking was good but I felt jarvis got the ball moving quicker to the backline we had a great scrum really deserve a giant pat on the back good crowd fairly vocal
Where I was standing a few things were shouted up and one guy took a photo of him not very happy

Cleahaigh

its_phil wrote: »

How was NOC in open play? Was very dissapointed with some of the fans on Facebook who liked the substitution of NOC, very harsh on a guy who's 6/7 kicks in a row now.

Tonetti and George sounded like they had a good game. I'd like to see Tonetti 12 and Griffin 13 against Scarlets. Grace seemed to play well according to radio?

O'Connor was injured. He looked in a fairly bad way coming off, think he puked a bit. Possible concussion?

phog

Great result for Connacht, I know Edinburgh haven't been getting the results in the Pro12 like they are in the H/Cup but they are always a difficult team to put away, fair play to Connacht.