PRO 12:Connacht vs Leinster Sportsground Fri 28th Sept@20.00 live on TG4

ouncer

After the promise of many quality new signings 2012 looked like the year Connacht would finally stamp their credentials in the Pro 12. To date its been injury after injury. The list is extensive and not complete
- Reynecke
- Muldoon
- Parks
- Murphy
- Griffin
- O'Halloran
- Duffy
- Pooleman

And then we have the resting of players for different reasons during different games
- Wilkinson
- McCarthy
- Swift
- Nikora

Its a lottery as to who will play against Leinster but to date Connacht have not been able to field a full strength team and that looks likely to continue. At the moment we only seem to have George, Swifty and McSharry firing on full guns and thats a huge disappointment with all the potential in the team

Robbo

It may be easier to name the Connacht players who are actually 100% fit rather than the injuries at this stage. I can see two possible results here; an all out Leinster rout or a rain soaked arm wrestle that *could* go either way but is edged by Leinster in the last quarter.

I'd like to see Jarvis maintained at outhalf, Buckley to start, George at 8 where he should be and the garryowen to be used sparingly. I expect to see none of this actually happen.

40% chance of rain on Friday, which is obviously compiled by someone who's never been to the Sportsground.

durkadurka

My first trip to the sportsground. Looking forward to it.

I reckon Leinster will send a weak team. It's the last chance of a rest before an intense three week stretch.

thomond2006

ouncer wrote: »

- Reynecke
- Muldoon
- Parks - calf problem
- Murphy - out for season - knee ligaments
- Griffin
- O'Halloran
- Duffy
- Pooleman

What's the timeline for the return of these players? I only know of Parks and Murphy.

tiger_cub

ouncer wrote: »

After the promise of many quality new signings 2012 looked like the year Connacht would finally stamp their credentials in the Pro 12. To date its been injury after injury. The list is extensive and not complete
- Reynecke
- Muldoon
- Parks
- Murphy
- Griffin
- O'Halloran
- Duffy
- Pooleman

Paul O'Donoghue out for two months as well.

I can see some of those on the injured list being named on the team.

profitius

Thats a big injury list. Its disappointing because with a full team out they would have at least 6 more points than they do now. It must be frustrating for EE.

I see Munster are sending props to London Irish on loan. Is Elwood against loan signings?

thomond2006

profitius wrote: »

Thats a big injury list. Its disappointing because with a full team out they would have at least 6 more points than they do now. It must be frustrating for EE.

I see Munster are sending props to London Irish on loan. Is Elwood against loan signings?

I wouldn't mind sending Deasy up for a few weeks/months, he can play 10-15 (Connacht have injuries all across the backs) and he's stuck in the As for Munster and doesn't look likely to get much first team action this year (JJ Hanrahan got on the bench for the Dragons game and he didn't).

He's better off benching for Connacht than playing B&I Cup. Going by recent selections he's 4th in the pecking order of flyhalves and behind Downey, Laulala, Earls, Barnes and Dineen in the centre. His only chance of gametime is as a fullback really.

ouncer

watched hanrahan in the world u-20s. some of the strangest penalty kicks i've seen but the guy can well play at 10. would take him in front of parks any day for connacht

CIARAN_BOYLE

profitius wrote: »

Thats a big injury list. Its disappointing because with a full team out they would have at least 6 more points than they do now. It must be frustrating for EE.

I see Munster are sending props to London Irish on loan. Is Elwood against loan signings?

I'm pretty sure that you can't play for two different Rabo teams in the one season.

Teferi

I wish this is on a Saturday. Impossible to get down to Galway for it on a Friday evening.

thomond2006

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that you can't play for two different Rabo teams in the one season.

Any good reason why that rule exists?

errlloyd

thomond2006 wrote: »

Any good reason why that rule exists?

I think its to stop centrally contracted teams and union branch teams like Irish ones taking the piss by moving players around depending on the time of the season and the performance of various teams and stuff.

As much as it would be great for Connacht and Ireland if Munster's spare props could play for Connacht while not needed and brought back when injury required, I think it would give Connacht a huge advantage over say Zebre or Treviso.

Morf

thomond2006 wrote: »

Any good reason why that rule exists?

I thought it was 3 teams in a season.

ouncer

gavin is out for months with hamstring, toh has bad bruising, rest unsure, yes frank is out but wanted to see marmion do what he can do with the irish u-20s. feckin great signings to have pooleman and parks incapable of playing a game. thank god we have regulars like swifty and macca who have done it for us for years

profitius

errlloyd wrote: »

I think its to stop centrally contracted teams and union branch teams like Irish ones taking the piss by moving players around depending on the time of the season and the performance of various teams and stuff.

As much as it would be great for Connacht and Ireland if Munster's spare props could play for Connacht while not needed and brought back when injury required, I think it would give Connacht a huge advantage over say Zebre or Treviso.

I can understand that. I think they should maybe allow it but put a limit on it ie Connacht can only bring in a maximum of 2 loan players from Rabo teams.

f1dan

Robbo wrote: »

It may be easier to name the Connacht players who are actually 100% fit rather than the injuries at this stage. I can see two possible results here; an all out Leinster rout or a rain soaked arm wrestle that *could* go either way but is edged by Leinster in the last quarter.

I'd like to see Jarvis maintained at outhalf, Buckley to start, George at 8 where he should be and the garryowen to be used sparingly. I expect to see none of this actually happen.

40% chance of rain on Friday, which is obviously compiled by someone who's never been to the Sportsground.

It's almost like you delved into my brain and extracted my exact feelings about this game.

I also expect Connacht to play very well in phases and then either knock the ball on or pass it into touch when in a promising position. Based on experience, this is bound to happen on more than one occasion.

macslash

Probably a silly question, but is there any chance of paying at the gate on Friday?

[Jackass]

I know the Connacht injury list is extensive, but if it's any consolation, Leinster players have been 50 / 60% fit in some games and a lot of players coming off as a "precaution".

Couple that with the fact that we've already used over 40 players in 4 games so far this season, and Leinster have looked completely out of sorts.

Probably not the worst time to be playing Leinster, not just with the lack of continuety, but also the seeming lack of fitness of players flogged to death by the Irish player management system, plus the likes of Strauss, O'Brien, Ruddock, Ryan, Boss, D. Kearney, R. Kearney, Fitzgerald amongst others sidelined. D'Arcy, Healy & Sexton coming off with knocks last time out.

From a Leinster point of view, its been a frustrating start to the season, Scarlets was embarresing, Dragons we were very poor, Treviso was poor and lucky to get the win in the end, Edinburgh again like Dragons, a game we should have run away with and just let them back in and could have lost it!

Personally, I'd take any kind of win in Galway and just get it out of the way. Neither teams look on fire, but I'd be cautious about this one as a Leinster fan, Connacht are always dangerous in an interpro.

bamboozle

what's the story with Harris-wright? dont think he's been involved yet
from the games i've seen Connacht are crying out for a 10 to come in and dictate for them, Scarlets & Glasgow games were a litany of poor kicks and pedestrian back line moves.

durkadurka

bamboozle wrote: »

what's the story with Harris-wright? dont think he's been involved yet
from the games i've seen Connacht are crying out for a 10 to come in and dictate for them, Scarlets & Glasgow games were a litany of poor kicks and pedestrian back line moves.

Am I misreading you? JHW is a hooker.

merchantdon

errlloyd wrote: »

I think its to stop centrally contracted teams and union branch teams like Irish ones taking the piss by moving players around depending on the time of the season and the performance of various teams and stuff.

As much as it would be great for Connacht and Ireland if Munster's spare props could play for Connacht while not needed and brought back when injury required, I think it would give Connacht a huge advantage over say Zebre or Treviso.

Got a good laugh out of this one, we have Loughney, White, Wilkinson & Buckley. with the exception of Botha i wouldn't have any of the Munster starting props ahead of those four never mind there "spares"

Munster can keep there spare props, were doing very nicely in that department ourselves.

Really hope we have Loughney & Buckley fit for Friday and that Leinster play Ross & Healy as that's a match up I've been waiting to see.

Podge_irl

I think they're two separate points!

phog

Guy talks up Connacht

Easterby admitted that he is worried by the lack of cohesion that the schedule has allowed.

"Of course there is a time pressure," he said. "The coaches don't like looking past what is in front of them. For me, I'm a bit removed from that side of things. You have a huge game at the Aviva against Munster after a horrendously tough game against Connacht, with them having a full deck.

"It is a concern because that rhythm is very difficult to come by when you are having to change the starting 15 and 23 each week.

"Connacht's training won't be compromised by national camp and they rested a lot of players last week. They have a lot more depth in their squad this season, but they did rest half of what would be termed their first-team regulars in a narrow loss in Glasgow.

"So they will be fantastically prepared for this week and we have been compromised in our preparation. That one will be tough, then the Munster match and the two Heineken games."

To stress the point, Easterby went through the number of alterations that Schmidt has had to make to his team each week. He made six changes between their opening-day defeat to Scarlets and their win over the Dragons, 11 a week later against Treviso and seven for Saturday's victory over Edinburgh.

Is he genuinely worried or just taking some pressure off the lads, I think it's the latter.

Podge_irl

Connacht certainly don't have a full deck. If they did I would be worried with the way Leinster have been playing, but I think they'll grind out a result. I am worried about a potentially poor performance again though.

bamboozle

durkadurka wrote: »

Am I misreading you? JHW is a hooker.

a mix between bad punctuation and misreading!

irishbucsfan

As far as I know Harris-WRight has been injured

ambid

merchantdon wrote: »

Got a good laugh out of this one, we have Loughney, White, Wilkinson & Buckley. with the exception of Botha i wouldn't have any of the Munster starting props ahead of those four never mind there "spares"

Munster can keep there spare props, were doing very nicely in that department ourselves.

Really hope we have Loughney & Buckley fit for Friday and that Leinster play Ross & Healy as that's a match up I've been waiting to see.

Love this post. There is so much negativity around Connacht's results and performances this year that it's great to see a positive attitude.

ouncer

and maintaining a positive note seems parks may be available for next weekend while pooleman has done more damage to himself in training which does him for another while

Donald Coyle

ouncer wrote: »

and maintaining a positive note seems parks may be available for next weekend while pooleman has done more damage to himself in training which does him for another while

Disappointing that Poolman hasn't been available, but I suppose that's the risk of getting in SH players at the end of their season. Potential to be carrying a lot of minor injuries.

seanin4711

and feck all of them are playing,
EE will be under pressure this season if we don't top our league position this time round.
I big sponsorship deal,big signings,season tickets going through the roof, sports ground redevelopment and nought to show for it.(we were super jammy to beat zebre)
TO field any sort of team on Saturday will be a good start but its the tactics which i have a problem about!
box kicks with no players running on to pressure the opponents is a real worry and our line out is wayward.it seems like we run out of gas at 60-65 mins always!
positives are that EE hand was forced against the warriors due to injuries last week and that gave valuable game time to fringe players and they played quite well.

Robbo

Today's Advertiser has Parks "hopeful" to start.

Parks was one of 15 players unavailable against Glasgow, and injuries have continued to hamper training. While Andrew Browne, Frank Murphy, Danie Poolman, Gavin Duffy, John Muldoon, Brian Murphy, and Paul O’Donohue are definately out of action, it is hoped the remainder of the squad will have made a full recovery. Mike McCarthy pulled out of Irish squad training with a quad strain, but he should be fit to return to the second row, while up front Nathan White (shoulder) is expected to line out with Brett Wilkinson and Ethienne Reynecke. It is hoped Tiernan O’Halloran will have recovered from a dead leg after missing last weekend’s fixture, and he or Matthew Jarvis could line out at fullback to replace the injured Connacht captain. Eoin Griffin, if fit, should return to the centre, while outhalf Miah Nikora was also rested last week after suffering a shoulder injury.

Filling in the gaps here and channeling Mystic Meg:

1. Wilkinson 2. Reynecke 3. White 4. Swift 5. McCarthy 6. O'Connor/Kearney/Gannon 7. Faloon 8. George

9. Marmion 10. Parks/Nikora 11. O'Halloran 12. McSharry 13. Griffin/Henshaw 14. McRae 15. O'Halloran/Jarvis

seanin4711

Robbo wrote: »

Today's Advertiser has Parks "hopeful" to start.

Parks was one of 15 players unavailable against Glasgow, and injuries have continued to hamper training. While Andrew Browne, Frank Murphy, Danie Poolman, Gavin Duffy, John Muldoon, Brian Murphy, and Paul O’Donohue are definately out of action, it is hoped the remainder of the squad will have made a full recovery. Mike McCarthy pulled out of Irish squad training with a quad strain, but he should be fit to return to the second row, while up front Nathan White (shoulder) is expected to line out with Brett Wilkinson and Ethienne Reynecke. It is hoped Tiernan O’Halloran will have recovered from a dead leg after missing last weekend’s fixture, and he or Matthew Jarvis could line out at fullback to replace the injured Connacht captain. Eoin Griffin, if fit, should return to the centre, while outhalf Miah Nikora was also rested last week after suffering a shoulder injury.

Filling in the gaps here and channeling Mystic Meg:

1. Wilkinson 2. Reynecke 3. White 4. Swift 5. McCarthy 6. O'Connor/Kearney/Gannon 7. Faloon 8. George

9. Marmion 10. Parks/Nikora 11. O'Halloran 12. McSharry 13. Griffin/Henshaw 14. McRae 15. O'Halloran/Jarvis

Three words
MAKE THOSE TACKLES

[Jackass]

merchantdon wrote: »

Got a good laugh out of this one, we have Loughney, White, Wilkinson & Buckley. with the exception of Botha i wouldn't have any of the Munster starting props ahead of those four never mind there "spares"

Munster can keep there spare props, were doing very nicely in that department ourselves.

Really hope we have Loughney & Buckley fit for Friday and that Leinster play Ross & Healy as that's a match up I've been waiting to see.

Was gutted to see White leave Leinster. Quality player. Would definitely take him back, but think Leinster are looking more long term trying to develop Hagan, but pound for pound, White is one of the best tightheads in the country.

Robbo

seanin4711 wrote: »

Three words
MAKE THOSE TACKLES

I've been up the Sportsground all week, firing dirty great wrenches off a belt sander at them.

If you can tackle a wrench, you can tackle a Leinster player.

As an aside, in the absence of Duffy (who's status as captain I don't agree with since a fullback is often too far away from the action to really fulfil the role), who's going to wear the armband? I'd guess Swift or McCarthy.

irishbucsfan

Joe is just mad

EDIT:

The Leinster team to face Connacht in Friday night's RaboDirect PRO12 interprovincial derby in the Sportsground, Galway (KO: 8pm, Live TG4) has been named...
Ireland international Rob Kearney will make his first seasonal start - and 121st Leinster appearance - and the Louth man is named in a backline which also includes Fergus McFadden who starts on the right wing.

Gordon D'Arcy will be partnered by Brendan Macken, who scored a brace of tries last weekend, with Isa Nacewa moving to the left wing.

John Cooney links up with Ian Madigan at half back.

In the pack, Shane Jennings leads the team and he is joined in the pack by Ben Marshall and Quinn Roux - with the South African lock set to make his 2nd appearance for the province.

Heinke van der Merwe comes into the front row, while the province can call on an all-Ireland international front row off the bench in ex Connacht hooker Sean Cronin, Cian Healy and Mike Ross.

In addition to TG4, the Official Leinster Supporters Club (OLSC) can confirm the following broadcast arrangements for supporters around the world this weekend:

Australia - Replay on Setanta Australia at 1.15pm EST Saturday
New Zealand - Live coverage on The Rugby Channel at 6.55am Saturday
USA - Delayed coverage on Fox Soccer Plus at 7pm EST Friday
Asia - Delayed coverage on Setanta Asia at 8.15pm HKT Saturday

For more information about watching games abroad including details of our bases in London, New York, Newcastle, Dubai, Sydney and Christchurch please CLICK HERE.

LEINSTER:

15: Rob Kearney
14: Fergus McFadden
13: Brendan Macken
12: Gordon D'Arcy
11: Isa Nacewa
10: Ian Madigan
9: John Cooney

1: Heinke van der Merwe
2: Thomas Sexton
3: Jamie Hagan
4: Quinn Roux
5: Tom Denton
6: Ben Marshall
7: Shane Jennings CAPTAIN
8: Leo Auva'a

REPLACEMENTS:

16: Sean Cronin
17: Cian Healy
18: Mike Ross
19: Devin Toner
20: Jordi Murphy
21: Luke McGrath
22: Noel Reid
23: Fionn Carr

REFEREE: Peter Fitzgibbon (IRFU), ASSISTANT REFEREES: David Wilkinson, Michael Black (both IRFU), TMO: Seamus Flannery (IRFU)

Fireball07

Potent backline...and the pack should have enough to compete with Healy, Cronin, Ross and Toner to come off the bench to give them a boost at the right time.

Tox56

Is Conway injured? Disappointed he's not involved at all

Robbo

Parks starts!


#connachtrugby XV v Leinster RH; TOH, EG,DMcS, FV; DP, KM; DB, AF,NW; MS, MMcC; EMcK, JOC, GN; Subs JHW, BW, RL, DG, WF, MN, MF

thomond2006

Connacht XV
15. Robbie Henshaw
14. Tiernan O’Halloran
13. Eoin Griffin
12. Dave McSharry
11. Fetu’u Vainikolo
10. Dan Parks
9. Kieran Marmion
1. Denis Buckley
2. Adrian Flavin
3. Nathan White (captain)
4. Michael Swift
5. Mike McCarthy
6. Eoin McKeon
7. Johnny O’Connor
8. George Naoupu

Replacements (from):
16. Jason Harris-Wright
17. Brett Wilkinson
18. Ronan Loughney
19. Dave Gannon
20. Willie Faloon
21. Dave Moore
22. Miah Nikora
23. Mata Fifita

Winters

Interesting match ups on the pitch, looking forward to this game.

White at captain too, intriguing and very good choice.

Hippo

Fairly callow-looking Leinster pack. Would be delighted to get away with a win here, but I'll be surprised. Connacht always play like lunatics against us.

molloyjh

Hippo wrote: »

Fairly callow-looking Leinster pack. Would be delighted to get away with a win here, but I'll be surprised. Connacht always play like lunatics against us.

Callow pack? I wouldn't agree with that at all. The only potential cause for concern would be Sexton and Marshall. But both have done well any time I've seen them this season. Roux and Denton are big physical lads and will hit anything that moves. And Hagan has started the season well.

It's a far stronger 23 than I was expecting. Pretty happy with it all told. Although I'm not sure we'll get the performance we're after, and playing in the Sportsground is always a pain in the hole, I'm still confident enough we can scrape the win. I want to see Kearney fire a few up and unders Vainikolos way and get Ferg chasing. Raging I'm not going to get to go....

EDIT: Also great to see JHW on the bench. Hope he gets some game time.

thomond2006

Why does this match have to half clash with Cardiff vs Ulster?

Teferi

Hippo wrote: »

Fairly callow-looking Leinster pack. Would be delighted to get away with a win here, but I'll be surprised. Connacht always play like lunatics against us.

It's a stronger team then I was expecting and I think we will win it but I agree with you, Connacht always raise their game against us and they are normally hard enough to beat at home anyway.

Hippo

molloyjh wrote: »

Callow pack? I wouldn't agree with that at all. The only potential cause for concern would be Sexton and Marshall. But both have done well any time I've seen them this season. Roux and Denton are big physical lads and will hit anything that moves. And Hagan has started the season well.

Well if Sexton and Marshall are causes for concern, so is Leo who's been decidely average this season. Roux is still unproven here, this is his 2nd start. That's half the pack with question marks over them about to take on a fired-up Connacht. Would have preferred to have Dev in there maybe ahead of Denton. Plenty of reason to be concerned...though of course I'd love to be proved wrong!

[Jackass]

Wow, really interesting team. Macken has been steadily improving, delighted to see him starting and it's an exciting half back pairing. Madigan v Parks should be good! I can't wait to see that backline though.

Joe is really turning more and more to the young lads this season, which is great to see. Marshall looked good previously, great physicality and also great to see Hagan starting.

Slight concern over second row pairing, not sure one way or another how much they will be able to stamp their authority on the game and also very suprised to see Sexton starting. He's well down the pecking order, so hope he really looks to take this opportunity and more than anything, hope his darts go well.

Should be an interesting game, can't wait!

Theta

thomond2006 wrote: »

Why does this match have to half clash with Cardiff vs Ulster?

Its being repeated at 1.30 AM on Setanta

http://harpin2.blogspot.ie/2012/09/box-kix-sep-27-oct-4.html

roycon

john cooney and dave mcsharry are ripping it out of each other on twitter at the moment in anticipation of the match. theyre good friends though its not serious

Would be more worried about leo auvaa than any of the young lads. Cant wait to see quinn roux in action. he looks like a quality player

Robbo

Robbo wrote: »

I've been up the Sportsground all week, firing dirty great wrenches off a belt sander at them.

If you can tackle a wrench, you can tackle a Leinster player.

As an aside, in the absence of Duffy (who's status as captain I don't agree with since a fullback is often too far away from the action to really fulfil the role), who's going to wear the armband? I'd guess Swift or McCarthy.

To answer my own question, White is taking over as captain. Interdasting,

Morf

Robbo wrote: »

To answer my own question, White is taking over as captain. Interdasting,

He was the captain of Waikato though, wasn't he?

porterbelly

Morf wrote: »

He was the captain of Waikato though, wasn't he?

I'd say it may have been a stipulation in signing, making him vice captain or maybe 3rd captain behind Gavin and Mul