WWW : Connacht vs Leinster

CMOTDibbler · 27-03-2016 10:23pm

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

I actually thought Marmion played very well overall. He brings a level of pace and speed of pass to the position that we haven't seen at international level for Ireland since Peter Stringer. There are still some deficiencies in his game but I think it's now time for Schmidt to back him as his number two scrum half and work with him to mould his game into what he wants rather than reverting back to Reddan time and again.

Marmion was much improved from where he was before the 6N. He's shown similar levels of improvement in the past, lets hope this time it sticks. He really needs to stake his position as number 2. Reddan btw, was very good when he came on. He still has a role to play as a sub if needed. He can put in a very good 20-30 minute shift.

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

McGrath was awful - a long way from international standard. Given that he's only a year younger than Marmion he has a lot of ground to make up. Seems very mouthy towards officials also any time I've seen him play.

Really? Bar tryimg to box kick into the wind, I thought he put on a very assured display. Extremely quick to the breakdown and snappy with his delivery. He certainly was not 'awful'.

Billysays no · 27-03-2016 10:26pm

Iompair wrote: »

A rematch in good weather and Connacht can make it 2 weeks from 3 easy Leinster were pretty poor in conditions ideally suited to their brand of rugby.

True and its what annoys me most about Irish/Leinster rugby. Weather was shocking and should have suited the crash bang of Leinster. It proves there is more to rugby than hard yards. Lams quote "The boys know I cannot stand running straight into people." says it all

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 27-03-2016 10:26pm

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

Marmion was much improved from where he was before the 6N. He's shown similar levels of improvement in the past, lets hope this time it sticks. He really needs to stake his position as number 2. Reddan btw, was very good when he came on. He still has a role to play as a sub if needed. He can put in a very good 20-30 minute shift.

I suppose the thinking with still relying on Reddan so much in the Ireland set up could be that we never really sub Murray off unless he gets hurt or the game is well won. If it's a weekend where Marmion could be getting 80 minutes under his belt with Connacht maybe he's better off there than getting 10 minutes for Ireland.

Obviously at some point we'll have to make the transition from Reddan to someone else though. There's no word on his plans for next season?

its_phil · 27-03-2016 11:22pm

CatFromHue wrote: »

its_phil wrote: »

Really don't see the difference between Aki and the two of them. Stander was a project player and more than likely had intentions of becoming an international for Ireland even before he set foot in Ireland.

Don't see why Aki is so unsuited for Ireland just because of his honesty.

There's honesty

yeah it looks ok, i'm not too keen on it though

and there's honesty

it makes you look fat

The drop the term project player on every signing because that's the whole point. They're signed with an intention of playing for Ireland.

Nucifora may as well tell them every project players don't speak about playing for Ireland until the week of your first cap and then belt out the words to Amhran na bhFiann.

I think Aki will be just as committed to Ireland as Stander, Payne or Strauss. Four very passionate guys

CatFromHue · 27-03-2016 11:30pm

He hasn't broken any rules, prob isn't saying anything that other project players are thinking and I've no doubt if he gets the chance he'll be 100% committed. It's just the way he talked about approaching it.

He said he prob wasn't going to be an AB, if he's up to it he'd like an Ireland cap, and if all else fails he always has Samoa. That's not what International rugby is about.

At least with the other guys they won't be playing International rugby for another team as soon as they decide they won't make the SA or Ireland teams.

Billysays no · 27-03-2016 11:40pm

heres another passionate guy
http://www.sportsfile.com/id/1130770/

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 27-03-2016 11:49pm

Billysays no wrote: »

heres another passionate guy
http://www.sportsfile.com/id/1130770/

He'll never play for Ireland with his socks around his ankles like that.

Stheno · 27-03-2016 11:50pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

He'll never play for Ireland with his socks around his ankles like that.

Zebo lol

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 27-03-2016 11:55pm

Stheno wrote: »

Zebo lol

Look at the resistance to Zebo though. All these years on the fringes, eventually only getting to play in an unnatural position because Rob K and his knee socks were injured. There's no way Joe lets 2 of them in the side.

Stheno · 27-03-2016 11:56pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Look at the resistance to Zebo though. All these years on the fringes, eventually only getting to play in an unnatural position because Rob K and his knee socks were injured. There's no way Joe lets 2 of them in the side.

Is it not zebos diving like a soccer player when he scores that annoys Joe? :pac:

phog · 28-03-2016 12:00am

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

He'll never play for Ireland with his socks around his ankles like that.

Remember all the fuss about that.

Diabhal Beag · 28-03-2016 12:06am

Fionn Carr was also held back by ankle socks IMO.

Billysays no · 28-03-2016 12:11am

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Look at the resistance to Zebo though. All these years on the fringes, eventually only getting to play in an unnatural position because Rob K and his knee socks were injured. There's no way Joe lets 2 of them in the side.

lets see. will he have a choice. as connacht continue their upward spiral maybe joe will accept a player with socks about the ankles from connacht? Could this be possible? Shock, horror

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 28-03-2016 12:13am

Billysays no wrote: »

lets see. will he have a choice. as connacht continue their upward spiral maybe joe will accept a player with socks about the ankles from connacht? Could this be possible? Shock, horror

Can you have an upward spiral?

Billysays no · 28-03-2016 12:15am

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Can you have an upward spiral?

fair point. We are at the top :-)

Yeah_Right · 28-03-2016 1:27am

Billysays no wrote: »

lets see. will he have a choice. as connacht continue their upward spiral maybe joe will accept a player with socks about the ankles from connacht? Could this be possible? Shock, horror

I thought the game showed why TOH and Matt Healy aren't really in the running for an Irish jersey. They were very average.

freyners · 28-03-2016 1:29am

Yeah_Right wrote:

I thought the game showed why TOH and Matt Healy aren't really in the running for an Irish jersey. They were very average.

Ah now. Matt had his worst game for connacht in a while but Toh was brilliant imo. Brilliant in the air. Countered well and put in a busy shift covering across the field. Maybe I'm missing something but fwiw he was one of our best players yesterday

CatFromHue · 28-03-2016 1:45am

I thought TOH had a good game but didn't do anything to push him ahead of any of the other full back candidates for Ireland.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 28-03-2016 1:49am

CatFromHue wrote: »

I thought TOH had a good game but didn't do anything to push him ahead of any of the other full back candidates for Ireland.

Outside of Zebo and Rob K I think TOH and Olding are probably the only FB's looking at breaking into the Ireland squad? Schmidt seems to look at Payne and Henshaw as purely centres and that doesn't leave a lot of options. Even with Olding it very much depends on where Ulster play him. He's probably destined for the 23 shirt.

Billysays no · 28-03-2016 2:06am

CatFromHue wrote: »

I thought TOH had a good game but didn't do anything to push him ahead of any of the other full back candidates for Ireland.

Aside from toh being excellent all game long, closely watch the last two minutes of the game. Then you see the difference over zebo and Kearney.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 28-03-2016 2:08am

Billysays no wrote: »

Aside from toh being excellent all game long, closely watch the last two minutes of the game. Then you see the difference over zebo and Kearney.

Wasn't he subbed off on 70 minutes?

Edit: My mistake, it was a HIA he went off for.

wp_rathead · 28-03-2016 2:10am

Didn't have his most standout performance thought TOH was fine- found touch with a beaut in the first half.

I rewatched the match today (twice, but the first was in the morning in bed when I was still drunk so doesn't really count) and Healy actually played alright, did a hand off to McFadden which was rather enjoyable - but he knocked on the ball 3 times in contact and that is inexcusable. Atleast his defence was better than it was against Edinburgh but it is the second match in a row he didn't have the greatest day..

Brown had a great impact when he came on, stealing a lineout and then hitting a ruck sending 2 leinster lads and a connacht team mate flying (he did then mess up a lineout of his own mind)

VdF had a great game I thought for Leinster, a constant nuisance.

Bundee is the bad boy Connacht needed- with himself and Quinn Roux in the pack we finally got abit of bite and some enforcers that won't let teams bully us..

Nacewa very lucky he didn't go to the bin for either high tackle on Niyi or for his deliberate slap down of a pass (his tackle on AJ was grand imo)

A big moment was with around 10mins to Leinster win a penalty and Kirchner tries to be smart and use the wind and kicks it across the pitch to find touch and it doesn't. It's then another while before Leinster get back up and start building the phases and are on the Connacht tryline.. Had it been 10minutes of that pressure who knows what would have happened..

Also, why the feck didn't Madigan go for a drop goal at the end..?

Bazzo · 28-03-2016 2:10am

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Wasn't he subbed off on 70 minutes?

He went off for a HIA around the 65 min mark but came back on and finished the game.

wp_rathead · 28-03-2016 2:14am

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Wasn't he subbed off on 70 minutes?

went of for 5 minutes at 65th min, came back on at 70th

Yeah_Right · 28-03-2016 3:27am

CatFromHue wrote: »

I thought TOH had a good game but didn't do anything to push him ahead of any of the other full back candidates for Ireland.

That's it. He did nothing to make me sit up and say "holy ****! This guy should be playing test rugby" He was a solid Pro 12 fullback.

CatFromHue · 28-03-2016 4:41am

wp_rathead wrote: »

Nacewa very lucky he didn't go to the bin for either high tackle on Niyi or for his deliberate slap down of a pass (his tackle on AJ was grand imo)

A big moment was with around 10mins to Leinster win a penalty and Kirchner tries to be smart and use the wind and kicks it across the pitch to find touch and it doesn't. It's then another while before Leinster get back up and start building the phases and are on the Connacht tryline.. Had it been 10minutes of that pressure who knows what would have happened..

Also, why the feck didn't Madigan go for a drop goal at the end..?

I can't remember the slap down but I thought a penalty for the high tackle was a fair call. It wasn't a clothesline and he pulled out of it straight away without causing any damage/problem to Niyi too.

As for Madigan I forgot he was playing for large parts of the game and he certainly had no interest in tackling Aki. Tbh the question of "why the feck didn't Madigan" applies to alot of things, he's been poor to average for nearly 3 seasons now.

neelia11 · 28-03-2016 9:41am

wp_rathead wrote: »

Nacewa very lucky he didn't go to the bin for either high tackle on Niyi or for his deliberate slap down of a pass

The tackle on Niyi was high but nothing more then a penalty. I remember him knocking on but didnt think it was deliberate. If that was a YC in your opinion then Marmion should have gone too then when he slapped a ball down at a Leinster scrum ???

Hagz · 28-03-2016 10:33am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UL6nUarSDg

Hagz · 28-03-2016 10:34am

What the hell is Aki doing at the final whistle? I'm surprised McFadden didn't blow a gasket.

johnnyryan89 · 28-03-2016 12:19pm

Hagz wrote: »

What the hell is Aki doing at the final whistle? I'm surprisd McFadden didn't blow a gasket.

I'd say it was to do with McFadden's attempt at tackling or getting the ball off of Marmion, probably felt it was a bit late, unnecessary or whatever seeing as the ball was out of play or he was probably telling him to get to f@ck that I'll be taking your place on the Irish team next year

WWW : Connacht vs Leinster

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