Pro12 Semi-Final 2: Connacht vs Glasgow, Galway 21 May 18.30. Live Sky, TG4, BBC Alba

connachta

Biggest day in Connacht history, and no one bothers for a dedicated topic?????
I do, and with a Preview :angel::


Connacht v Glasgow 18:30 : Play-Off Semi, 21 May

Glasgow
15. Stuart Hogg 14. Tommy Seymour 13. Mark Bennett 12. Peter Horne 11. Sean Lamont
10. Finn Russell 9. Henry Pyrgos

1. Gordon Reid 2. Fraser Brown 3. Zander Fagerson
4. Leone Nakarawa 5. Jonny Gray (Captain)
6. Ryan Wilson 7. Simone Favaro 8. Josh Strauss

Replacements
16. Pat MacArthur 17. Ryan Grant 18. D'arcy Rae 19. Tim Swinson 20. Adam Ashe 21. Grayson Hart 22. Duncan Weir 23. Taqele Naiyaravoro

Connacht
15 Tiernan O Halloran 14 Niyi Adeolokun 13 Robbie Henshaw 12 Bundee Aki11 Matt Healy
10 AJ MacGinty 9 Kieran Marmion

1 Ronan Loughney 2 Tom McCartney 3 Finlay Bealham
4 Ultan Dillane 5 Aly Muldowney
6 Eoin McKeon 7 Jake Heenan 8 John Muldoon (captain)

Replacements:
16 Dave Heffernan 17 JP Cooney 18 Rodney Ah You 19 Andrew Browne 20 Sean O Brien 21 John Cooney 22 Shane O Leary 23 Peter Robb

Ref : Marius Mitrea, assisted by Nigel Owens

Stats of the day

2nd choice Connacht LH 311 min played this season vs 2nd choice Glasgow TH 603 min played
on the bench 3rd choice Connacht LH 85min played this season vs 3rd choice Glasgow TH 149 min played

average recent tackling rate success for Connacht against Glasgow/Treviso/Leinster/Embra 85,7%
average recent tackling rate success for Glasgow against Connacht/Zebre/Treviso/Munster 83,3%

age of the teams

Front row : Connacht 88 years Glasgow 75 years
2nd row : Connacht 55 years Glasgow 50 years
Back row : Connacht 82 years Glasgow 83 years
9/10 : Connacht 49 years Glasgow 49 years
12/13 pairing : Connacht 48 years Glasgow 49 years
Back-three : Connacht 77 years Glasgow 86 years

Sub front-row: Connacht 78 years Glasgow 79 years
Other Subs Connacht 120 years Glasgow 127 years

Stats are interesting to break the common wrong feelings :
No Connacht props Loughney and J.P won't be at ease, they have played very few even compared to their Glasgow opposite
No Connacht tackling rate isn't that low compared to Glasgow (some teams are 90%+)
No Connacht lineup is not at all a "young" team compared to Glasgow

Billysays no

You make an interesting point about age. This Connacht team has grown up. When pat first arrived it was just a bunch of kids. Average age of back line was I think 21.

I worry about pyrgos being back today. I think Glasgow missed him badly last time ouut

Neil3030

Biggest day in Connacht history or not, the lack of tables is not acceptable

ionadnapokot

Glasgow

Glasgow looked dangerous even with 14 men last time. Weather forecast to be a bit better this week. Hope And think Connacht can score at least two 5 pointers and another Bundee masterclass to ensure a famous win.

Billysays no

Rumour has it that pat instigated the 'missing laptop' to build team spirit. I figure that lesson will get us over the line :-)

thomond2006

Lamont starting over Naiyaravoro?

mansize

Glasgow

Come on Connacht

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Dan McFarland and Dan Parks

Weather looks good. Suits both teams. Hoping for a more entertaining game than their previous meeting.

Digifriendly

Just to be clear this match is live on BBC2 Scotland (Ch. 970 here in NI via Sky) and not BBC Alba. If you don't have Sky Sports and want English commentary this is the place to watch the game but be warned if the match a couple of weeks ago is anything to go by it will be a very myopic one sided commentary.

thomond2006

Digifriendly wrote: »

Just to be clear this match is live on BBC2 Scotland (Ch. 970 here in NI via Sky) and not BBC Alba. If you don't have Sky Sports and want English commentary this is the place to watch the game but be warned if the match a couple of weeks ago is anything to go by it will be a very myopic one sided commentary.

Apt username!

mansize

Glasgow

Digifriendly wrote: »

Just to be clear this match is live on BBC2 Scotland (Ch. 970 here in NI via Sky) and not BBC Alba. If you don't have Sky Sports and want English commentary this is the place to watch the game but be warned if the match a couple of weeks ago is anything to go by it will be a very myopic one sided commentary.

They were dreadful

mansize

Glasgow

Come on BBC!

Stheno

Good luck Connacht!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Dan McFarland and Dan Parks

Finn Russell off for HIA after 1 minute. Lot of medics around him.

EDIT: Not Russell, someone else, but Russell looks crocked too.

thomond2006

Fagerson and Russell off for HIA, nasty collision with Aki

Edit: Looks like Russell being stretchered off, fingers crossed all OK.

crisco10

Finn looks crocked ...

dtpc191991

Anuone else watching BBC? Picture quality seems terrible

mansize

Glasgow

dtpc191991 wrote: »

Anuone else watching BBC? Picture quality seems terrible

It's difficult to watch tbf

Russell not in a good way here at all

Korat

Woah I hope Russell is ok. Huge blow to lose two players in the first minute.

Adbrowne

He was standing up but looked like his legs wobbled, now being stretchered off with oxygen mask on.

Wish them both well.

crisco10

Korat wrote: »

Woah I hope Russell is ok. Huge blow to lose two players in the first minute.

Ferguson might return but Russell is screwed.

Watching on bbc, sound is ahead of pictures. .back to tg4

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Dan McFarland and Dan Parks

Joe is there. Must be watching Hogg for the Lions tour.

former total

Glasgow

Losing Russell is an absolute hammer blow for Glasgow. Plus their TH now has to play 80 minutes.

Advantage Connacht in a big way.

thomond2006

Lucky that Aki wasn't pinged for holding on

mansize

Glasgow

Connacht need a score for all this possession

thomond2006

Prop clearance from MacGinty.

thomond2006

Madness to not take the points

thomond2006

The pick up from Aki. Amazing.

Glasgow

Connacht 5- Glasgow 0 Actually not

captbarnacles

WOOOOOW

keith16

TRY TiME!

pc7

Very harsh

thomond2006

Clear knock on. Pity.

pc7

thomond2006 wrote: »

Clear knock on. Pity.

Felt the slow mo made it looks so much worse. Did the ref or linesman catch it?

Inspector Coptoor

Glasgow

No try

Awful pity

Adbrowne

pc7 wrote: »

Felt the slow mo made it looks so much worse. Did the ref or linesman catch it?

Think near side TJ might have called it

keith16

pc7 wrote: »

Felt the slow mo made it looks so much worse. Did the ref or linesman catch it?

Obviously they didn't and they let the game run on for some considerable time.

Either the TMO becomes a real time function and they spot things like this and stop the game from the sideline, or they bin it. Stupid to let the game carry on for as long as it did.

TMO is ruining rugby IMO.

mansize

Glasgow

Finally

irishbucsfan

keith16 wrote: »

Obviously they didn't and they let the game run on for some considerable time.

Either the TMO becomes a real time function and they spot things like this and stop the game from the sideline, or they bin it. Stupid to let the game carry on for as long as it did.

TMO is ruining rugby IMO.

It's 2 phases. It's not very long at all.

Inspector Coptoor

Glasgow

Poor by Loughney there.

Went straight to ground with no leg drive and got isolated

crisco10

When faced with the in your face defence from Glasgow, the quick hands from connacht can look like just shovelling it on...

Glasgow's defensive pressure is intense, hard fast line and competing at most rucks.

mansize

Glasgow

And it's even again

former total

Glasgow

keith16 wrote: »

Obviously they didn't and they let the game run on for some considerable time.

Either the TMO becomes a real time function and they spot things like this and stop the game from the sideline, or they bin it. Stupid to let the game carry on for as long as it did.

TMO is ruining rugby IMO.

No, the ref spotted a possible infringement but let the game run on in case he was wrong.

Absolute textbook refereeing and exactly the situation the new TMO rules were designed for.

keith16

irishbucsfan wrote: »

It's 2 phases. It's not very long at all.

How many meters was it?

former total

Glasgow

keith16 wrote: »

How many meters was it?

Doesn't matter.

irishbucsfan

keith16 wrote: »

How many meters was it?

That''s not really relevant at all. You could take 5 minutes to go 5 meters.

thomond2006

pc7 wrote: »

Felt the slow mo made it looks so much worse. Did the ref or linesman catch it?

Slow mo will make everything look worse but I don't think that was marginal.

crisco10

Thats 3 HIA's caused by Aki alone in this half. monster.

mansize

Glasgow

Christ these commentators are as bad as the GAA lads for shout outs to people they met...

pc7

thomond2006 wrote: »

Slow mo will make everything look worse but I don't think that was marginal.

Ah I know, glasses a bit tinted tonight