Pro 12: Cardiff Blues v Connacht; KO 7.30pm Arms Park; Friday 22th Feb; Not on TV

freyners

Cardiff: 15 Chris Czekaj 14 Owen Williams 13 Richard Smith 12 Gavin Evans (c) 11 Harry Robinson 10 Rhys Patchell 9 Lewis Jones 8 Robin Copeland 7 Rory Watts-Jones 6 Michael Paterson 5 James Down 4 Macauley Cook 3 Benoit Bourrust 2 Kristian Dacey 1 Taufa'ao Filise

16 Rhys Williams 17 Nathan Trevett 18 Scott Andrews 19 Luke Hamilton 20 Thomas Young 21 Liam Davies 22 Ceri Sweeney 23 Gareth Davies

Connacht 15. Gavin Duffy (captain) 14. Danie Poolman 13. Eoin Griffin 12. Brian Murphy 11. Fetu’u Vainikolo 10. Miah Nikora 9. Kieran Marmion 1. Brett Wilkinson 2. Jason Harris-Wright 3. Nathan White 4. Michael Swift 5. Andrew Browne 6. John Muldoon 7. Willie Faloon 8. Eoin McKeon

Replacements: Ethienne Reynecke, Denis Buckley, Ronan Loughney, Mick Kearney, TJ Anderson, Paul O’Donohoe, Matthew Jarvis, Matt Healy

We have a huge opportunity to reel in Cardiff and Treviso as we aim to top our highest ever position last year of 8th. We are carrying a lengthy injury list (again) and consequently the likes of Brian Murphy and TJ Anderson make rare appearances at 12 and the bench respectively. Elsewhere Gavin Duffy returns to captain the side in Robbie Henshaws absence. Tiernan O'Halloran has picked up an injury which sees Vainikolo return to the side after being rested last week. Andrew Browne and Mick Kearney swap positions with Browne given the nod at 5 this time. Buckley is fit again and returns to the squad at 17.

EDIT Dan parks has pull out with injury, Nikora promoted to 10 and matt healy promoted to bench. Jason Tovey pulls out for cardiff, gareth davies replaces him on the bench

We threw away the reverse fixture at the start of the year through stupid handling errors and poor decision making. If we can play like we did v Ospreys last week we could sneak a win away.

Guess who the ref is:(

Referee: Dudley Phillips (IRFU, 32nd competition game)

Assistant Referees: Sean Brickell, Jason Langdon (both WRU)

Citing Commissioner: Gwyn Bowden (WRU)

Not on TV, so G bay and the FB and Twitter pages are your best bet for updates.

irishbucsfan

That Cardiff side reads like a who's who of "who?"

irishbucsfan

Also, both sides have 2 out halves on the bench!

wp_rathead

Great to see Buckley back in squad- plus a back 3 of Duffy, Fetu'u and Poolman is exciting enough- really wish was TV coverage
If the game was on a Saturday I'd have gone over to it- Friday evening games really are a balls to get to for away fixtures

freyners

by my count this is our 8th game not to be televised, could be more cause i only started taking count around the leinster game

.ak

That's an absolute joke tbh.

mogwai81

Connacht have some of the most exciting young Irish players coming through ( Buckley, Marmion, McSharry, Griffin,
Henshaw etc) But get the short straw when it comes to tv coverage. Very frustrating!!

freyners

.ak wrote: »

That's an absolute joke tbh.

To hell or to Connacht indeed.

Half the reason why some people on this board dont rate some of our talents as highly, impossible for them when they dont see them regularly

Robbo

freyners wrote: »

To hell or to Connacht indeed.

Half the reason why some people on this board dont rate some of our talents as highly, impossible for them when they dont see them regularly

It must be an absolute mother****er from the commercial side of things as well, trying to pitch to blue chip sponsors when all you can offer them is highly variable TV exposure.

thomond2006

Rabo games tend not be scheduled in the early afternoon, why is that?

Are they concerned with clashing with Premier League?

Digifriendly

thomond2006 wrote: »

Rabo games tend not be scheduled in the early afternoon, why is that?

Are they concerned with clashing with Premier League?

Probably clash with AIL club games. BTW why is Treviso vs Munster on at same time as Scotland vs Ireland? The coverage on TG4 is deferred to later.

CatFromHue

Digifriendly wrote: »

Probably clash with AIL club games. BTW why is Treviso vs Munster on at same time as Scotland vs Ireland? The coverage on TG4 is deferred to later.

I presume it suits the Italians on their end.

Robbo

Cardiff 8 point favourites. If it wasn't three days to payday, Poolman is 12/1 to score first try...

macslash

Nikora in for Parks - let change. And Matt Healy on the bench.

freyners

macslash wrote: »

Nikora in for Parks - let change. And Matt Healy on the bench.

where ya hear that, not seeing it on FB or twitter

its_phil

macslash wrote: »

Nikora in for Parks - let change. And Matt Healy on the bench.

Ah f***

macslash

http://www.facebook.com/Connachtrugby

freyners

wonder why i still cant see it

anyways, ill edit the op, cheers for the update

freyners

jason tovey pull out for cardiff, gareth davies replaces him on the bench

thomond2006

Try Poolman, conv missed.

its_phil

Faloon Try converted

12-0

WTF?! :eek:

thomond2006

Try Faloon :O

converted 0-12

thomond2006

3-12

gally74

thomond2006 wrote: »

3-12

Fallon for Ireland....

gally74

Robbo wrote: »

Cardiff 8 point favourites. If it wasn't three days to payday, Poolman is 12/1 to score first try...

OK name a bet for Sunday and I'm there

thomond2006

unconverted Cardiff try; 8-12

thomond2006

8-15 at halftime

C'mon Connacht, this would be a great result...

freyners

Robbo wrote: »

Cardiff 8 point favourites. If it wasn't three days to payday, Poolman is 12/1 to score first try...

Danie poolman, he scores against welsh

freyners

JHW gets a yellow card, patchell kicks penalty. 11 - 15

freyners

14-15

Zzippy

14-18

Inspector Coptoor

14-18

Hon Connacht

freyners

18-19 unconverted try for blues

freyners

Faloon gets another try, 18-23

BP?:p

.ak

Sounds like a great game...

freyners

.ak wrote: »

Sounds like a great game...

if only their was some sort of device you could watch the game live on

oh wait there is, just not for us:(


Come on lads, big result needed

freyners

22-23

crisco10

Following it on http://matchdaylive.rabodirectpro12.com/index.php?mobile=0

is just not the same!

Zzippy

22-26!

freyners

22-26

Inspector Coptoor

22-26

this would be some win

crisco10

22-26. 73 mins!

Inspector Coptoor

78 mins gone, still 4 points up

freyners

FT 22-26
Huge win

Zzippy

FULL TIME: Cardiff Blues 22-26 Connacht!

Yessssssss!!!!!!!!!!

petebricquette

Aaaaaw yeah! Get in!!

wicklowdub

Superb result

MayoForSam

Great stuff Connacht, 2 tries in the first 6 minutes was a brilliant start, Faloon and Poolman have been excellent signings.

thomond2006

Well done Connacht, these are the games you should be winning.

CatFromHue

Robbo wrote: »

Cardiff 8 point favourites. If it wasn't three days to payday, Poolman is 12/1 to score first try...

This is the way I feel about that now

Crimsonforce

I can't believe there's no footage of it
Here's hoping s4c has it