Connacht Rugby Thread - Part III - The Violence of the Lams

d-gal

thomond2006 wrote: »

Since the Italian teams were introduced to the league, the following have been the points earned by the 6th placed team, starting with the most recent season: 57, 55, 54, 56, 60.

Connacht have 32 points with 14 matches remaining, so 7 wins (ignoring BPs) should be (more than) enough to qualify for Europe. Looking at their schedule Connacht have already played many 'banker win' matches like Italians x 2 and Dragons at home, but surely 6th is very achievable now. The 4 remaining Challenge Cup weekends will allow for squad rotation.

We are also 9 points ahead of Ulster and play them on the 26th at home. Beat them and they are gonna find it very hard to ping us back

Diabhal Beag

I knew when the flounce turned the corner that this would be a major season for Connacht. Full credit to him imo.

S12b

Thought Craig Ronaldson was brilliant tonight. Picking our first choice backline is getting tough, especially with Poolman coming back. Stick with the current midfield and Robbie at 15 and 2 of Healy, Poolman, TOH on the wing? Personally, I'd love to see Ronaldson at 10, Aki/Henshaw midfield and TOH at 15.

connachta

Guys you know what? we've beaten Munster away!!!!!!!!:D
COOOOOOOOOO-NNAAAAAAAACHT

We must repeat it again and again!

connachta

S12b wrote: »

Thought Craig Ronaldson was brilliant tonight. Picking our first choice backline is getting tough, especially with Poolman coming back. Stick with the current midfield and Robbie at 15 and 2 of Healy, Poolman, TOH on the wing? Personally, I'd love to see Ronaldson at 10, Aki/Henshaw midfield and TOH at 15.

And Leader not far from the Irish squad

wp_rathead

Shelflife wrote: »

If we get screwed over by a TMO decision, I will find you and I will kill you !!!

...Bloody TMOs

gally74

The ref looked for 3 replays for tiernans try.... Why oh why if someone had even looked at a Munster player I feel he would have disallowed it

its_phil

d-gal wrote: »

We are also 9 points ahead of Ulster and play them on the 26th at home. Beat them and they are gonna find it very hard to ping us back

Said the same about Edinburgh last Christmas and it was only a cock up in Zebre that saved us IIRC.

Hagz

gally74 wrote: »

The ref looked for 3 replays for tiernans try.... Why oh why if someone had even looked at a Munster player I feel he would have disallowed it

He was shown three different angles. He came to the correct decision, so what exactly is your complaint?

BrokenMan

Interesting to see Aly took over captaincy when Mul was in the bin.

RogerThis

Wowwe wow we wow!!!!

What a game from Connacht, a real 'coming of age' game.
I thought that Munster would have too much for us, after getting a weeks rest. Couldn't be more prouder of the boys.

Beating Munster two games in a row, have we ever done that before? Undefeated in 2015.

Glasgow came from the bottom of the league to winning it in a few years, why can't Connacht.

We should be aiming for a top 4 finish.

flouncer

How can I be more delighted with life, the universe and just about everything. Did you look at that scrum. It was such a joy. Its nice to be right but Shane is a total animal. Buckley, delahunt, white. What a joy to watch such a steady scrum. You didn't believe me. It was fantastic.

ye lads are a bit touched.

flouncer

[Deleted User] wrote: »

ye lads are a bit touched.

Nobody would object if you suggested the flounce is touched :-)

fatgav

Got a bit of flack from a Munster supporting mate for saying this, but IMO tonight was bigger and better than the win in Toulouse (and I'm happy to say I was at both).

Toulouse was a giant-killing David over Goliath win and the subsequent games in the Heineken Cup that year demonstrated that.

Tonight was a game where our cards were marked going in, and one where we were fully-deserving of the win and overcame plenty, in terms of the TMO/yellow card decision and injuries coming into the game too. And that's before you talk about the significance of winning in Thomond and putting 13 years without an away inter-pro win behind us.

We also have to be optimistic now that this tangible improvement will be reflected in the league table in May. A massive, massive night. Thrilled doesn't cover it.

flouncer

fatgav wrote: »

Got a bit of flack from a Munster supporting mate for saying this, but IMO tonight was bigger and better than the win in Toulouse (and I'm happy to say I was at both).

Toulouse was a giant-killing David over Goliath win and the subsequent games in the Heineken Cup that year demonstrated that.

Tonight was a game where our cards were marked going in, and one where we were fully-deserving of the win and overcame plenty, in terms of the TMO/yellow card decision and injuries coming into the game too. And that's before you talk about the significance of winning in Thomond and putting 13 years without an away inter-pro win behind us.

We also have to be optimistic now that this tangible improvement will be reflected in the league table in May. A massive, massive night. Thrilled doesn't cover it.

It was a decent game of rugby. Every minute the commentary suggested Connacht are exciting and Munster are not.keatley ain't great. That's a start. Anyway life all good in the west

b.gud

thomond2006 wrote: »

Since the Italian teams were introduced to the league, the following have been the points earned by the 6th placed team, starting with the most recent season: 57, 55, 54, 56, 60.

Connacht have 32 points with 14 matches remaining, so 7 wins (ignoring BPs) should be (more than) enough to qualify for Europe. Looking at their schedule Connacht have already played many 'banker win' matches like Italians x 2 and Dragons at home, but surely 6th is very achievable now. The 4 remaining Challenge Cup weekends will allow for squad rotation.

This isn't a dig at you Thomond because I know you're not putting us down and you didn't bring it up but...

I don't want to hear anyone talking about we should have 6th place sorted. We should be focusing on staying at the top of the table and making the play offs. If any of the other Irish teams were at the top of the table now they wouldnt be talking about "ok we should have 6th place secured now" they would be talking about winning the league and so should we. We showed tonight that we're not the poor cousin anymore. We've always been able to pull off wins at home but now we're starting to win away as well. We can definitely finish in the top 4 as long as we continue on the path we've started.

If we only finish 6th this season I'll be a bit disappointed

connachta

b.gud wrote: »

If we only finish 6th this season I'll be a bit disappointed

I won't :cool:

RogerThis

RogerThis wrote: »

Wowwe wow we wow!!!!

What a game from Connacht, a real 'coming of age' game.
I thought that Munster would have too much for us, after getting a weeks rest. Couldn't be more prouder of the boys.

Beating Munster two games in a row, have we ever done that before? Undefeated in 2015.

Glasgow came from the bottom of the league to winning it in a few years, why can't Connacht.

We should be aiming for a top 4 finish.

Got that wrong, Munster won in March 2015. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Anyway the last time we won an away inter pro, we got 7 years of bad luck ie Michael Bradley.
Surely the IRFU can't inflict another 7 years of bad luck on us again. It was only Munster, hopefully the IRFU weren't watching.

I have watched many games against Munster where they would line out a second string team, and still beat us.

Ulster are the only team that have the hex on us now. When was the last time we beat them?

flouncer

did we answer the robbie henshaw transfer question yesterday?

Utah_Saint

great win. The Aki try was superb.

Really hope Connacht can finish the season as top Irish province. Lam showing the other coaches how to earn your keep

phog

flouncer wrote: »

did we answer the robbie henshaw transfer question yesterday?

When Henshaw moves you'll be told it was his decision. What you won't be told is who influenced it.

If the IRFU are serious about Connacht then they need to ensure he stays at Connacht.

BTW, Congrats on the win. Best Irish Province at the moment.

connachta

I woke up this morning having made two dreams about Connacht (one of them crazy, they were playing beach rugby against Leinster, true story!:D)

The reality is far better than anything we could have dreamt 2 years ago. For the first time as a Connacht supporter, I'm serene, peaceful.

Lose Heenan? Nepia Fox Matamua steps in
Lose Nepia? Connolly steps in brilliantly
And Moloney's next

White is 34? Bealham's ok, Menuargia promising
Naoupu's 33? Masterson already is a Masterpiece
Muldoon? SOB is indeed a 2.0 version of SOB, the future is all to take for him

Cooney out for 3 months? I rate Caolin Blade highly
And even Henshaw isn't irreplaceable, Parata looked great.

And we have McCartney, McSharry, Roux, McKeon, Marshall and Poolman on the verge of return, I can't imagine where there gonna play. The fight for any spots is absolutely incredible

ClanofLams

b.gud wrote: »

This isn't a dig at you Thomond because I know you're not putting us down and you didn't bring it up but...

I don't want to hear anyone talking about we should have 6th place sorted. We should be focusing on staying at the top of the table and making the play offs. If any of the other Irish teams were at the top of the table now they wouldnt be talking about "ok we should have 6th place secured now" they would be talking about winning the league and so should we. We showed tonight that we're not the poor cousin anymore. We've always been able to pull off wins at home but now we're starting to win away as well. We can definitely finish in the top 4 as long as we continue on the path we've started.

If we only finish 6th this season I'll be a bit disappointed

Agree 100%.

With that in mind, next weeks match against Cardiff is very tricky. It would be easy to look at the table and see 1 from 8 and think we should win. They have had a ridiculously difficult start (4 provinces and ospreys away) with Cardiff Arms being used as fan zone for the World Cup. They were were within 5 points of us at the Sportsground (albeit we should have won by more) and didn't lose any province by more than 8.

If we play at our best we can get a win but we will need to be at our best.

maoriincork

What a game. Well done lads so pleased for the whole of Connacht.
I was asked as we began to file out of Thormon by another Connacht fan who was as happy and pleased as I what I thought of that.
And without a doubt I had to say it was as good as the World Cup final for me.
A special win. Living in cork with rugby mad mates whom could not understand why the son chose Connacht over Munster to play for. Now we see it.

b.gud

ClanofLams wrote: »

Agree 100%.

With that in mind, next weeks match against Cardiff is very tricky. It would be easy to look at the table and see 1 from 8 and think we should win. They have had a ridiculously difficult start (4 provinces and ospreys away) with Cardiff Arms being used as fan zone for the World Cup. They were were within 5 points of us at the Sportsground (albeit we should have won by more) and didn't lose any province by more than 8.

If we play at our best we can get a win but we will need to be at our best.

Completely agree we should be targeting the win but we def can't take it for granted

porterbelly

maoriincork wrote: »

What a game. Well done lads so pleased for the whole of Connacht.
I was asked as we began to file out of Thormon by another Connacht fan who was as happy and pleased as I what I thought of that.
And without a doubt I had to say it was as good as the World Cup final for me.
A special win. Living in cork with rugby mad mates whom could not understand why the son chose Connacht over Munster to play for. Now we see it.

Your son has a big future, going great guns this year.

testtech05

maoriincork wrote: »

What a game. Well done lads so pleased for the whole of Connacht.
I was asked as we began to file out of Thormon by another Connacht fan who was as happy and pleased as I what I thought of that.
And without a doubt I had to say it was as good as the World Cup final for me.
A special win. Living in cork with rugby mad mates whom could not understand why the son chose Connacht over Munster to play for. Now we see it.

If ya don't mind me asking maoriincork, which one of the lad's is your son?

wp_rathead

testtech05 wrote: »

If ya don't mind me asking maoriincork, which one of the lad's is your son?

Rory Parata

testtech05

wp_rathead wrote: »

Rory Parata

Thanks wp_rathead!! Have to agree with porterbelly he has a huge future, some great performances already this season!!