Match Thread: Connacht Rugby v Glasgow Warriors, Sat 2nd Nov 17.00, NO TV

Zzippy

| |

Gavin Duffy|

15

|Nikola Matawalu
Fionn Carr|

14

|Byron McGuigan
Darragh Leader|

13

|Mark Bennett
Dave McSharry|

12

| Gabriel Ascarate
Matt Healy|

11

|DTH van der Merwe
Dan Parks|

10

|Duncan Weir
Kieran Marmion|

9

|Chris Cusiter
||
Brett Wilkinson|

1

|Gordon Reid
Jason Harris-Wright|

2

|Dougie Hall
Rodney Ah You|

3

|Jon Welsh
Michael Swift |

4

|Tom Ryder
Craig Clarke|

5

|Jonny Gray
Mata Fifita|

6

|Rob Harley
Jake Heenan |

7

|Chris Fusaro
George Naoupu|

8

|Josh Strauss
| |
Replacements
| |
Dave Heffernan|

16

|Fraser Brown
JP Cooney|

17

|Moray Low
Nathan White|

18

|Ed Kalman
Aly Muldowney |

19

|Richie Vernon
Mick Kearney|

20

|Leone Nakarawa
Paul O'Donohoe|

21

|Tyrone Holmes
Craig Ronaldson|

22

|Scott Wight
Tiernan O'Halloran|

23

|Finn Russell

For the first time in quite a while Connacht find themselves propping up the table, with 1 win from their opening 6 games, while Glasgow are in the top 4, wirh 5 wins and 21 points from their opening 6. Glasgow have become quite a force over the last 2 years since the arrival of Gregor Townsend, while Connacht have struggled to adapt to the gameplan of new coach Pat Lam this season, although recent matches have shown a return to the fighting spirit that characterised Eric Elwood's teams.

On paper, this looks like a straightforward win for Glasgow, who routinely dismantled Connacht last season in what was Elwood's last game. The Warriors have won all 3 of their away games so far this season, and have won on two of their last three visits to Ireland. With the upcoming autumn internationals, however, Glasgow have been forced to rotate their team, with several new faces coming in, while Connacht are missing just Robbie Henshaw on international duty. A long injury list, however, has forced Lam to dig deep into his reserves, with centre Darragh Keader coming in to make just his second professional start and Mick Kearney set to make his first appearance this season off the bench.

The eagerly awaited return of Dave McSharry completes the centre partnership, with Fionn Carr, Matt Healy and Gavin Duffy making up the back 3. The half back partnership of Marmion and Parks continues, with Marmion set to continue his good form. Parks accuracy with the boot will be important this evening, with the weather set to be "blustery".
In the pack, Jason Harris-Wright returns from injury, with the rest of the starting 8 unchanged from last week's outfit which dominated Leinster for much of the game.

Glasgow have brought in dangerman Niko Matawalu at full back, where his lightning pace and quick feet may cause problems. McGuigan and DTH van der Merwe on the wings are quick and will need to be watched. Hooker Dougie Hall makes his 150th appearance, but he will be tested tonight as Connacht's lineout has been a strength this year with the arrival of Craig Clarke and Aly Muldowney.

Connacht have come close to big scalps over the last 3 weeks against Saracens and Leinster, and if they can bring the same fierceness in defence and competiveness at the breakdown as they did last week they may just cause an upset.

phog

Pity it's not on TV, would love to see this game.

Best of luck.

wp_rathead

Will JUST about make kick off - but my usual place in Clan Stand prob be taken

I honestly dont know how game will go
If we play like past 3 weeks im confident of a win but worry is we often don"t show same intensity in these kinda games

Great see McSharry back starting, along with JHW
And White and Kearney on bench is also encouraging

Hope Leader has good game

Zzippy

Just checked forecast - winds up to 70 knots on the west coast today, possible storm surge in Galway Bay! Could be a low scoring game...

ionapaul

At the family home in Galway this weekend so planning to go with my wife assuming it won't be lashing... Would we be OK to get tickets at the gate without too much bother or too long a wait?

connemara man

If Connacht bring the intensity to this match that they have shown in the last month we should take something from the game,
The pack have been playing well so today should suit them. I feel Duffy isnt hitting his usual highs this season hes not the same under the high ball which today he could see a lot of. I dont expect fluid back play but I hope Leader has a good game

connemara man

ionapaul wrote: »

At the family home in Galway this weekend so planning to go with my wife assuming it won't be lashing... Would we be OK to get tickets at the gate without too much bother or too long a wait?

Youl be able to get tickets there, I think if you buy online or ring them up ahead you can collect on the gate and skip the queue

its_phil

ionapaul wrote: »

At the family home in Galway this weekend so planning to go with my wife assuming it won't be lashing... Would we be OK to get tickets at the gate without too much bother or too long a wait?

You can print them at home on tickets.ie and avoid 3 euro surcharge on the gate

freyners

Great write up!

thomond2006

Try Glasgow

durkadurka

What happened marmion?

freyners

durkadurka wrote: »

What happened marmion?

Im not there but I can only presume ouncer finally snapped after marmion let george take the ball away and attacked him with photos of Eoin Reddan

Jokes aside i hope hes ok, anyone actually know?

CatFromHue

10 mins to go and it's Conn 12 16 Glas

wp_rathead

freyners wrote: »

Im not there but I can only presume ouncer finally snapped after marmion let george take the ball away and attacked him with photos of Eoin Reddan

Jokes aside i hope hes ok, anyone actually know?

Thigh injury

POD did well when he came on
As did Ronaldson

Heenan showed he is human by missing 2 tackles, but was good otherwise

Clarke showed his class tonight

Stupid try early on from our own scrum, and our inability to gather at restart cost us dearly

CatFromHue

LBP against the team at the top of the league isn't too bad.

connemara man

An awful game lacking in urgency from the beginning. We kicked away 9 points, I thought the decision making at times was poor, on 5 metre line why go for the posts when the scrum is winning penalties??..
2 weeks to regroup if we dont start getting wins on the board its going to be a long season.

wp_rathead

connemara man wrote: »

An awful game lacking in urgency from the beginning. We kicked away 9 points, I thought the decision making at times was poor, on 5 metre line why go for the posts when the scrum is winning penalties??..
2 weeks to regroup if we dont start getting wins on the board its going to be a long season.

Thought was right to go for posts myself at that point, we were 9-16 down so needed to score twice anyway

connemara man

wprathead wrote: »

Thought was right to go for posts myself at that point, we were 9-16 down so needed to score twice anyway

I think there was a penalty try coming we were well on top at that stage in the scrum

BeardySi

Certainly looked that way, their scrum was buckling badly...

Utopia Parkway

CatFromHue wrote: »

LBP against the team at the top of the league isn't too bad.

Connacht are rock bottom of the table though. At this stage they need wins not losing bonus points.

hermano

Sloppy restarts cost us. They got some vital some vital scores and played down the clock with them.

Once again when Connacht have the line at their mercy they're just not clinical enough.

Former Coach

Biggest mistake tonight was just before half time when we didn't trust ourselves in the pack to continue through the phases ( a la Munster!) and ended up firing the pass to the backs to the left of the posts- we had an extra man on the right hand side at the time but I'd still have left it with the pack,. We need to be more patient in these situations and eventually the gap will appear....it may not be pretty but I'd take it!
Had two decent penalty chances in the second half but I'm always loath to blame kickers, especially with Sportsground wind and rain! Ronaldson was very good (fantastic break) when he came on.
This was a match we undoubtedly should have won, especially with Glasgow missing so many with international duty & injuries.