Connacht v Benneton Treviso, Sportsground, Saturday 5pm, Not on TV

freyners

Teams are as follows

Connacht XV: R Henshaw; T O’Halloran, D Poolman, D McSharry, F Vainkilo; D Parks, K Marmion; D Buckley, J Harris-Wright, N White ©, M Swift, M McCarthy, A Browne, J O’Connor, E McKeon. Replacements A Flavin, R Ah You, R Loughney, J Muldoon, M Kearney, D Moore, M Nikora, G Duffy

Treviso

15 Brendan Williams, 14 Andrew Vilk, 13 Christian Loamanu, 12 Andrea Pratichetti, 11 Angelo Esposito, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Marco Filippucci, 7 Valerio Bernabò, 6 Manoa Vosawai, 5 Corniel Van Zyl (c) 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Jacobus Roux, 2 Franco Sbaraglini, 1 Matteo Muccignat

Replacements: 16 Enrico Ceccato, 17 Alberto De Marchi, 18 Ignacio Fernandez-Rouyet, 19 Giovanni Maistri, 20 Enrico Targa, 21 Giulio Toniolatti, 22 James Ambrosini, 23 Luca Morisi

Connacht make 6 chances to the team from lasts weeks defeat to the Ospreys.

Denis Buckley comes back in at LH, Macca has been released form the irish camp and will play at 5. Andrew Browne, JOC and EOin McKeon make up the backrow. Danie Poolman makes his home debut at 13 while Robbie Henshaw is back playing at FB. Gavin Duffy has returned from injury and is on the bench, alogn with the called up Mick Kearney

Last Year this game ended in a disappointing 13-15 defeat and Connacht will be hoping to do a lot better this time round. The signs however are alot better this time round. We have been playing good rugby as of late and players like Henshaw and McSharry have given some real threat in our backline. Couple that with starting, in my opinion, our two best props at scrum time and we should have the platform they need to threaten.

Treviso are a tough team to break down and they will be looking at this game to pick up points away and gave Toulouse a real test away two weeks ago. However Connacht recent form coupled with this being a home game should see them get the victory.

This game is not on TV, updates available on the Connacht Facebook Page and Twitter account.

Teams taken from the Irish times website and the Benneton Treviso website respectively.

OldRio

Might be coverage on radio ?

freyners

OldRio wrote: »

Might be coverage on radio ?

I havent heard anything about galway bay doing it so I didnt put it in the OP, if so I'll edit it in

irishbucsfan

It's a weak enough Treviso team. A bonus point would be great

Zzippy

This is a must-win game. Our only other game during the November internationals is away to Dragons, and they will only be missing Faletau on international duty so should have a pretty full team.

Looking forward to seeing Poolman and McSharry together in the centre, and its good to see Duffy back, although I'm glad he wasn't parachuted straight back into the starting XV, Henshaw has earned the jersey and its up to Duffy to win it back. Strong pack and a good bench, Rodney apart

McCarthy has been the form second row in Ireland this year, if he puts in another good shift tomorrow and doesn't get selected next week it will be a joke. Especially if DOC is picked!

wp_rathead

Zzippy wrote: »

McCarthy has been the form second row in Ireland this year, if he puts in another good shift tomorrow and doesn't get selected next week it will be a joke. Especially if DOC is picked!

Don't hold your breath Z:o

Robbo

Forecast is durty so it'll have to be won the hard way before a bonus point can be considered.

Mal-Adjusted

I suppose there's no weblinks?

wp_rathead

Robbo wrote: »

Forecast is durty so it'll have to be won the hard way before a bonus point can be considered.

Shame there is no Over/Unders market on PP for this game:(

f1dan

Word of warning to anyone travelling from outside Galway city: wrap up well, it's bloody miserable down here!

dregin

OldRio wrote: »

Might be coverage on radio ?

I saw Connaucht's last game listed here as not on TV, but Hogans on George's street had it listed as one of the matches they showed that day...

Not sure Galway Bay FM covering this in its entirety

http://tunein.com/radio/Galway-Bay-FM-958-s6496/

Taco Corp

On a day when none of Munster, Leinster, or Ulster are playing either TG4 or RTE should be showing this game

wp_rathead

5pm Kick off time on a Sat clashes with Premiership matches- explains why no one is touching it really

Wet. Windy. Cold. Ahhh ya can't beat a match at the Sportsground, Hon Connacht ta foooook :P

OldRio

wprathead wrote: »

5pm Kick off time on a Sat clashes with Premiership matches- explains why no one is touching it really

Wet. Windy. Cold. Ahhh ya can't beat a match at the Sportsground, Hon Connacht ta foooook :P

I think you will find most if not all English premiership matches will be finished by 5pm.
Also Leinsters game tommorow is televised and clashes with English premiership soccer.

Mal-Adjusted

wprathead wrote: »

5pm Kick off time on a Sat clashes with Premiership matches- explains why no one is touching it really

that only makes sense if all the Irish Channels are showing premiership...

.ak

Yeah. What's on the box today that's so important it's not worth buying?

irishbucsfan

What are TG4 showing at 5?

Hagz

.ak wrote: »

Yeah. What's on the box today that's so important it's not worth buying?

Flicks over to TG4 to see what's on. Sees a woman irish dancing to accordian music.

.ak

Abair Amhrán....

.ak

Such a pity really. I think it'll be a tight match, probably great atmosphere. Not really looking forward to watching Scarlets get their jollies on with Zebre...

irishbucsfan

.ak wrote: »

Such a pity really. I think it'll be a tight match, probably great atmosphere. Not really looking forward to watching Scarlets get their jollies on with Zebre...

Quins - Gloucester is on Sky Sports. Should be light years better.

decisions

So not even radio coverage. That's poor.

its_phil

decisions wrote: »

So not even radio coverage. That's poor.

It's on Galway Bay FM. Strong wind.

http://tunein.com/radio/Galway-Bay-FM-974-s15126/

Browne with turnover, good man!

Blackheath

its_phil wrote: »

It's on Galway Bay FM. Strong wind.

http://tunein.com/radio/Galway-Bay-FM-974-s15126/

Browne with turnover, good man!

Keep us informed

its_phil

Blackheath wrote: »

Keep us informed

3-0 Parks

its_phil

Rain atrocious with a very strong cross wind. Parks tucking a kick into the 22 after Connacht gone back after a few phases. That's where he earns his money for me.

its_phil

6-0 Parks from 38m and 3m to the right of posts

decisions

Sounds like a very scruffy game.

Connacht dominating line out.

its_phil

Treviso have lost 6 lineouts in a row.

Poolman TRY! After great defensive pressure Park dink through, Henshaw chip on and a skilful Poolman finish!

Conversion added. 13-0

decisions

Try Connacht!

dropkickrugby

who had the wind first half lads?

its_phil

dropkickrugby wrote: »

who had the wind first half lads?

Connacht and it finished against them from the sounds of things

decisions

13-3 20 min left.

eyeball kid

Treviso with a penalty. 13-3 at the moment.

decisions

Treviso with a penalty off the post.

13 - 3 with 10 min left.

eyeball kid

Sin binning for Treviso is back on the field. During that 10 mins, Treviso scored a penalty and Conn got nothing. Very disappointing.
Sounds like TG4 made a good call on not showing this game.

decisions

I'd say that dancing yoke made for more exciting viewing.

Parks penalty miss.

decisions

Try Connacht.

Gavin Duffy with his 1st touch.

eyeball kid

Try for Duffy with his first touch of the game.

Edit: Parks missed the conversion. 18-3, only a few minutes left.

Mal-Adjusted

the Galway Bay FM lads aren't happy at all with the quality on the field. pity, but at least the weather is a mitigating factor...

a win is a win is a win...

Partick Thistle

IS it over?

eyeball kid

Partick Thistle wrote: »

IS it over?

Yeah, finished 18-3. 2 tries to Connacht. A pretty dismal game by all accounts not helped by equally dismal weather.

wp_rathead

Didn't think the game was that bad all things considering

Very impressed with Eoin McKeon and Andrew Browne tonight

The Treviso lineout really was shambles for them

freyners

it was a decent game, weather made a right ****e of things.

Macca won alot of trevisos lineout. Browne had a good game on his game back.

Zzippy

Decent game my ar$e, that was rubbish! Can't blame the weather for everything, we had enough possession and chances to really put them away and coughed up possession over and over again... no cutting edge, no imagination. That game was won by half time and we did our best in the second half to give it back to Treviso, silly penalties, one knock-on after another, no go-forward ball, no-one running onto a pass, all standing still and passing it laterally across the pitch. Treviso were awful, but they actually deserved a losing bonus point from that game, that's how bad Connacht were.

Plus points: Buckley, Swifty, Browne, JOC, Parks all put in good shifts, Parks kicking was excellent all game, got us out of trouble a few times and kept them pinned back in their own half. Only for him...


Minus points: Lineout was a shambles in second half. Handling was atrocious, even given the conditions. Fetu is still very dodgy under a high ball. Too many penalties. Performance level nowhere near good enough, especially in the second half.

Shelflife

Way too negative zippy, while I concede that everything wasn't as it should Connacht were always in control of the game.
The bonus point was never really on with the conditions tonight, at one point the lines mans flag in front of us pointed to the left when the flags at the end of the pitch pointed right .
Treviso were poor , Connacht were workmanlike.
Fetu was much improved tonight, he dropped one backwards but caught everything else, considering the conditions that was good.
Plus: Parks, Buckley, swift, macca, I thought brown had a blinder some good hits, carrys and great covering work.
Not a good game , but a good result. And a bonus point denied to trevisio.

Shelflife

Shelflife wrote: »

Fetu was much improved tonight, he dropped one backwards but caught everything else, considering the conditions that was good.

He made one catch that he should be making and put in a good kick, there was one Treviso kick down his throat which he failed to attack at all similar to the Cardiff and let it bounce. Having said that thought he wasn't our worst performer on the night, at least he was trying to get us go forward ball.

shuffol

Haven seen much of Connach this season, have noticed from match reports thaere's nowhere near as many plaudits coming O'Hallorans way as last year, is that due to him being played on the right wing and if so is it worth it just to accomodate Vainokolo who generally seems to be poor? Last june I'd have put TOH above Zebo, Gilroy and D.Kearney who were all in a similiar stage of their development.

porterbelly

shuffol wrote: »

Haven seen much of Connach this season, have noticed from match reports thaere's nowhere near as many plaudits coming O'Hallorans way as last year, is that due to him being played on the right wing and if so is it worth it just to accomodate Vainokolo who generally seems to be poor? Last june I'd have put TOH above Zebo, Gilroy and D.Kearney who were all in a similiar stage of their development.

He hasn't started the season as well as last, but then again he has scored the same amount of tries as Zebo and Gilroy

evil_seed

Zzippy wrote: »

Decent game my ar$e, that was rubbish! Can't blame the weather for everything, we had enough possession and chances to really put them away and coughed up possession over and over again... no cutting edge, no imagination. That game was won by half time and we did our best in the second half to give it back to Treviso, silly penalties, one knock-on after another, no go-forward ball, no-one running onto a pass, all standing still and passing it laterally across the pitch. Treviso were awful, but they actually deserved a losing bonus point from that game, that's how bad Connacht were.

Plus points: Buckley, Swifty, Browne, JOC, Parks all put in good shifts, Parks kicking was excellent all game, got us out of trouble a few times and kept them pinned back in their own half. Only for him...


Minus points: Lineout was a shambles in second half. Handling was atrocious, even given the conditions. Fetu is still very dodgy under a high ball. Too many penalties. Performance level nowhere near good enough, especially in the second half.

Couldn't have said it better. Treviso wanted nothing to do with that game didn't want to be there at all last night. There was 20 minutes in the 2nd half where we were terrible, I'll call it the usual 20 minutes we've been crap in all season. They went down to 14 and they got 3 points. We did nothing. Treviso were unlucky not to get into LBP range when a penalty went off the post and I have a feeling if that happened Connacht would have started to panic a bit. This all happened in the 20 minute spell of muck