Connacht -v- Zebre: 28th February 2013: KO 19:45

Robbo

With the opportunity to climb up to 7th place if a bonus point is forthcoming, Connacht go into this as favourites. Injuries mean that Brian Murphy gets his second start in a row at inside center, having performed admirably and played a part in Faloon's first try last week. Robbie Henshaw returns from the Ireland camp and Dan Parks has shaken a hamstring problem that saw him pull out of last weeks game at the last minute.

Zebre are missing a couple of players due to Italy commitments (Orquera most notably) and Buso gets a rare start as the non-kicking outhalf. However, they pack a considerable punch in the Second and Back Rows with No.8 Van Schalkwyk having caused Connacht problems in the past.

Connacht will be looking at dominating the Zebre scrum much like the HEC fixture 6 weeks ago and building on the likely penalties. Nomadic, potential American prop Dave Ryan will be looking at reminding Munster of his development.

|Connacht|Zebre
1|Brett Wilkinson|Andrea DE MARCHI
2|Jason Harris-Wright|Andrea MANICI
3|Nathan White|David RYAN
4|Mick Kearney|Josh SOLE
5|Andrew Browne|Marco BORTOLAMI
6|John Muldoon|Filippo FERRARINI
7|Willie Faloon|Mauro BERGAMASCO
8|Eoin McKeon|Andries VAN SCHALKWYK

9|Kieran Marmion|Alberto CHILLON
10|Dan Parks|Paolo BUSO
11|Gavin Duffy (C)|Sinoti^2
12|Brian Murphy|Gonzalo GARCIA
13|Eoin Griffin|Matteo PRATICHETTI
14|Danie Poolman|Leonardo SARTO
15|Robbie Henshaw|Alberto BENETTIN

16|Adrian Flavin|Carlo FESTUCCIA
17|Denis Buckley|Matias AGUERO
18|Ronan Loughney|Luciano LEIBSON
19|TJ Anderson|Emiliano CAFFINI
20|George Naoupu|Nicola BELARDO
21|Paul O'Donoghue|Guglielmo PALAZZANI
22|Miah Nikora|Alberto CHIESA
23|Fetu Vainikolo|Samuele PACE


TV: TG4
Radio: Galway Bay FM
Weather Forecast: Dry, with a slight breeze from all directions.
Betting: Connacht 1/9, Draw 33/1, Zebre 7/1
Handicap: 14 Points

freyners

Us and the favourites tag has never been a good fit

wp_rathead

Zebre +14 is a hell of a great bet- we never hammer Italian teams

eyeball kid

Hopefully Faloon continues his good form since coming back from injury. I'd be hopeful of the win, bonus point would be a nice ..well bonus. As Freyners said, us and favourites doesn't sit well together.

Haven't seen too many games recently. How's Duffy doing on the wing?

thomond2006

"Sinoti to the power of two"

P_1

thomond2006 wrote: »

"Sinoti to the power of two"

Damn those Italian wingers and their mathematical names

JohnFalstaff

Weather Forecast: Dry, with a slight breeze from all directions.

Sums up the Sportsground alright!

Zzippy

Perfect evening in Galway, hardly a breath of wind. Clear enough skies - will be cold but dry. Should be a good game.

G'wan Connacht!

Wexfordboy89

is dave ryan still IQ just i know he was called up last summer to the USA squad but dont know if he played or not.anyway hope for a connacht win

thomond2006

Wexfordboy89 wrote: »

is dave ryan still IQ just i know he was called up last summer to the USA squad but dont know if he played or not.anyway hope for a connacht win

He didn't get capped for USA.

He wants to play with Italy through residency, he's in his second season in Italy.

freyners

Reminds me of the toulouse game here tonight. Perfect weather. Slight apparitions of robbos breeze from a directions.

Wexfordboy89

thomond2006 wrote: »

He didn't get capped for USA.

He wants to play with Italy through residency, he's in his second season in Italy.

oh right sure good luck too him no great loss really

Wexfordboy89

WHAT A TRY!!!!

Eoin mckeon

gally74

Wexfordboy89 wrote: »

WHAT A TRY!!!!

Eoin mckeon

McKeon for ireland

Wexfordboy89

close one there zebre almost in.that sinoti fella is quick :eek:

CIARAN_BOYLE

gally74 wrote: »

McKeon for ireland

I'd actually seriously consider picking him at 8 for the summer tests if SOB and Heaslip are with the Lions

crisco10

Just realised this is on Tg4! boom!

Wexfordboy89

penalty missed by zebre 7-0 13mins gone

Wexfordboy89

penalty zebre 7-3 17mins gone

gally74

Wexfordboy89 wrote: »

penalty missed by zebre 7-0 13mins gone

Duffy try after many phases

Inspector Coptoor

14-3 Connacht.

3 wins in a row on the cards - would be awesome

connachta

Brian Murphy has a great game, defence and attack...

macslash

soft try..14-13 now..game on

captbarnacles

Great Zebre try...note to Earls - that's how you look for support runners

jamiedav2011

BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

:rolleyes:

crisco10

Great introduction for Loughney! he won't be happy with himself..

awec

17-19 to Zebre now.

crisco10

Ah jesus Connacht. Come on! completely lost control of this game. 8 mins, 2 points and field position. it can be done.

Just need some fricking go forward ball!

crisco10

Don't get that. Connacht had a tap over pen coming, why take the drop? why not at least try a grubber into the in goal?

Still, ahead again. get field position!

CIARAN_BOYLE

crisco10 wrote: »

Don't get that. Connacht had a tap over pen coming, why take the drop? why not at least try a grubber into the in goal?

Still, ahead again. get field position!

a lot of teams go for the drop goal if they have advantage and don't want to risk advantage over. Gives you two chances at getting 3 points

Inspector Coptoor

23-19

Not long left.
In the red zone

thomond2006

You have to feel sorry for Zebre, still haven't won a competitive game but have seven losing bonus points in the league.

dromdrom

How did Dave Ryan do?

captbarnacles

wprathead wrote: »

Zebre +14 is a hell of a great bet- we never hammer Italian teams

Tyvm

freyners

don't know how we managed to nearly throw that one away. Tense last few minutes.

Brian Murphy is looking at home at 12, lovely hands and great defence.

jamiedav2011 wrote: »

BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

:rolleyes:

is that seriously all you came here to post?

It happens in every stadium, for every team, when the crowd think the wrong calls been made, get over it.

freyners

dromdrom wrote: »

How did Dave Ryan do?

Zebre scrum had the edge for most of the game, although it was on the LH side that did the damage

crisco10

crisco10 wrote: »

Don't get that. Connacht had a tap over pen coming, why take the drop? why not at least try a grubber into the in goal?

Still, ahead again. get field position!

Most definitely the right decision, Connacht were struggling for territory and scores during the 2nd half and given the dubious nature of the officials tonight I wouldn't have taken the risk of advantage over. With only 5 minutes left you get ahead by any means necessary. After that Connacht pinned them in and never looked like letting it slip again. Zebre were very good on the night. They are getting closer more often now and will take someone's scalp before the end of the season. Connacht weren't hectic but 3 wins on the bounce is a good 3 weeks work.

Zzippy

As predicted, Zebre put up a good fight. After 2 early tries there was talk of a bonus point, but that's something we've found elusive so far this year, and Zebre were unlucky not to get more from this game tbh.

Duffy had a great first half. Marmion and Henshaw were excellent as usual. Very impressed with Murphy, first time I've seen him in action. McKeon was very good again, and Faloon and Muldoon played well.

Sinoti is a serious threat, has proved it again and again, wouldn't be surprised to see him playing in France next year.

Still, 3 wins from 3, momentum is a great thing!

irishbucsfan

Sounds like the Connacht back line is flourishing and finding strength in depth all the time. Is Billy Millard sticking around next season?

connemara man

I was at the match last night I felt Connacht took the foot of the gas when they got the second try abd let Zebre into the game, I felt the ref was awful at scrum time I could see the Zebre prop had his arm on the ground at times once with the ref standing there. There was a lot of positives a 3rd win on the trot good back line play but sadly loose in defence

Robbo

With the way Connacht started, I thought the bonus was on the cards but we let Zebre into it way too much in the second half. I thought the scrum would have been stronger as well but perhaps that's down to lacking McCarthy in the second row.

In the end, it's 4 from 4 over Zebre this year when we could have easily let 2 if not 3 of them slip away. It's a shame that with Treviso's unexpected 3 pointer, no progress has been made up the table but the form reading WLWWW is nice to see.