Zebre vs Connacht, Sunday 23, 16:15 (local time) Stadio Lanfranchi BT Sport / beIN S

connachta

Team announcement in a few minutes

I'd like to see it unchanged, except Poolman straight in for TOH as FB (let Cian on the wing, Ili 23, and add Danie experience for a tricky one)
SOB for Muldoon (deserves a bit of rest on the bench as N 20, and McKeon deserves to go on as blindside)
Marmion for Blade (Brought a lot against Toulouse)
Roux starting, Dillane benching (as expected last week)
And that's all

phog

I read on Twitter this morning that this game in via the Red Button on BT Sport.

evil_seed

it's on BT sports extra

I'd go with

locks,heff, cain gleb
roux, brownie
eoin, jake, mul
marms, jack
danie, craig, rory, niyi, cian

connachta

evil_seed wrote: »

it's on BT sports extra

I'd go with

locks,heff, cain gleb
roux, brownie
eoin, jake, mul
marms, jack
danie, craig, rory, niyi, cian

Going without Bundee is a risk we can't afford to take

b.gud

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/connacht-team-to-face-zebre-8/#ConnachtNews

Connacht team to face Zebre
Sun 23rd October, kick off 16:15, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Live on BT Sport / beIN Sport

(Connacht caps in brackets)

15 Cian Kelleher (5)
14 Niyi Adeolokun (38)
13 Peter Robb (19)
12 Craig Ronaldson (53)
11 Stacey Ili (2)
10 Jack Carty (60)
9 Kieran Marmion (107)
1 JP Cooney (33)
2 Shane Delahunt (19)
3 Finlay Bealham (63)
4 Quinn Roux (35)
5 Andrew Browne (146)
6 Sean O’Brien (21)
7 Jake Heenan (38)
8 John Muldoon (captain) (281)

Replacements:

16 Dave Heffernan (63)
17 Dominic Robertson-McCoy (0)
18 Conor Carey (3)
19 Ultan Dillane (33)
20 Eoin McKeon (91)
21 Caolin Blade (26)
22 Shane O’Leary (20)
23 Bundee Aki (47)

Injured/Unavailable: Tom McCartney, Denis Buckley, Ronan Loughney, Ivan Soroka, Conan O’Donnell, Ben Marshall, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Eoghan Masterson, Rory Moloney, John Cooney, Marnitz Boshoff, Eoin Griffin, Matt Healy, Tiernan O’Halloran, Josh Rowland, Darragh Leader, Ciaran Gaffney, Cormac Brennan.

b.gud

b.gud wrote: »

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/connacht-team-to-face-zebre-8/#ConnachtNews

Connacht team to face Zebre
Sun 23rd October, kick off 16:15, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Live on BT Sport / beIN Sport

(Connacht caps in brackets)

15 Cian Kelleher (5)
14 Niyi Adeolokun (38)
13 Peter Robb (19)
12 Craig Ronaldson (53)
11 Stacey Ili (2)
10 Jack Carty (60)
9 Kieran Marmion (107)
1 JP Cooney (33)
2 Shane Delahunt (19)
3 Finlay Bealham (63)
4 Quinn Roux (35)
5 Andrew Browne (146)
6 Sean O’Brien (21)
7 Jake Heenan (38)
8 John Muldoon (captain) (281)

Replacements:

16 Dave Heffernan (63)
17 Dominic Robertson-McCoy (0)
18 Conor Carey (3)
19 Ultan Dillane (33)
20 Eoin McKeon (91)
21 Caolin Blade (26)
22 Shane O’Leary (20)
23 Bundee Aki (47)

Injured/Unavailable: Tom McCartney, Denis Buckley, Ronan Loughney, Ivan Soroka, Conan O’Donnell, Ben Marshall, Nepia Fox-Matamua, Eoghan Masterson, Rory Moloney, John Cooney, Marnitz Boshoff, Eoin Griffin, Matt Healy, Tiernan O’Halloran, Josh Rowland, Darragh Leader, Ciaran Gaffney, Cormac Brennan.

Good team all considering. Zebre are going to look at that line up and are going to get themselves very up for this game. Opening 20 is going to be important for Connacht.

connachta

we might be in trouble without Aki, but Robb 13 will at least bring proper defense
Glad to see McCoy back

connachta

very interesting to see Lam trying to adress scrum disaster with JP moved to LH, Bealham back to TH. Wait and see

Eagles team in London to play Irish should have Poolman, Steevenson, Loughney in its rank, then...

b.gud

connachta wrote: »

very interesting to see Lam trying to adress scrum disaster with JP moved to LH, Bealham back to TH. Wait and see

Eagles team in London to play Irish should have Poolman, Steevenson, Loughney in its rank, then...

http://www.connachtrugby.ie/eagles-team-to-face-london-irish/#ConnachtNews

evil_seed

I'd say they travelled with the team
Not happy with that selection. Shows, like last season, a bit of disrespect to Zebre

connachta

No for Poolman and Lough, must have travelled as 24-25th men
yes for Lewis

b.gud

evil_seed wrote: »

I'd say they travelled with the team
Not happy with that selection. Shows, like last season, a bit of disrespect to Zebre

If everyone was fit then yes it would be disrespectful. But with all the injuries at the minute, it's not far off the strongest possible team, the only exception being Bundee on the bench

connemara man

evil_seed wrote: »

I'd say they travelled with the team
Not happy with that selection. Shows, like last season, a bit of disrespect to Zebre

I can see what you're saying but the pack is as good as full strength. We have our starting half backs our starting 12 with ok not Bundee ( who could be carrying some I'll effects from last week) outside him but Robb is a good player. TOH is a forced replacement Stacey for Poolman is the real questionable call there for me.

Zzippy

Surprised to see some rotation for this after the 22-10 "half-defeat" to Zebre recently - as well as Zebre's much improved form this year - they may have only 3 points but they only lost to Glasgow by 5 and Cardiff by 2. Like Venjur said we need a good start, which we didn't get in the abandoned game and looked on for a bad defeat. Possibly Pat has an eye on the Leinster game and short turnaround for that, but still a risky selection.

Mr Tickle

What's the plan for covering the back three? O'Leary as a Full back?

Bridge93

The difference between zebre home and away is as stark as with any team I can think of.

b.gud

To those that think we're being disrespectful to Zebre can you name which players you think fit this bill and who is fit and available to replace them?

To my mind the only one is Bundee on the bench and as someone else pointed out he could very easily be carrying a knock. He's really been in the wars in his last 2 games

wp_rathead

That is still a strong side - but Jaysus has Poolman pissed in Lams cornflakes or something?

With O'Leary and Aki on bench we've no one to cover the back 3 really, seems mad to leave him out

KBurke85

Poolman could have picked up a knock in training during the week. It does seem to happen a bit to this Connacht squad.

wp_rathead

KBurke85 wrote: »

Poolman could have picked up a knock in training during the week. It does seem to happen a bit to this Connacht squad.

Not in the unavailable list.. I'd assume he is 24th man for the backs alright

RoundBox11

What's the story with Dillane on the bench again? Has he had a drop in form lately? Surely he'd be ahead of Browne no?

b.gud

RoundBox11 wrote: »

What's the story with Dillane on the bench again? Has he had a drop in form lately? Surely he'd be ahead of Browne no?

Probably 2 reasons, 1 to limit his game time as he's been due a rest for the past few games but we haven't been able to give it to him because of injury to Roux/Browne. And secondly he gives much more impact off the bench than Roux.

Browne is more import to the Connacht game plan than both Roux and Dillane. He plays the pivot role that Muldowney had last year, Ultan played it a couple of times when Browne was injured but he's not quite as good at it as Browne. If Browne is fit he's an automatic starter at 5 and 4 is a shoot out between Roux and Dillane

connemara man

RoundBox11 wrote: »

What's the story with Dillane on the bench again? Has he had a drop in form lately? Surely he'd be ahead of Browne no?

Browne is our playmaker in the pack. If anything it'll be dillane and Roux swapping as they are more along the same style. Ultan is a bit more dynamic and Roux is a devil at the breakdown

Bazzo

Not as happy as I could be with the team but as others have said there's nothing to be done about it really, it's injury enforced.

Hopefully some of the fringe lads are motivated by the chance to put their hands up. Cooney at loosehead will be an interesting one to watch, Loughney isn't getting any younger and we have Bealham, Carey and Robertson-McCoy all available at tighthead now.

gavkm27

Worried about the back 3, Kelleher wasn't upto much if I remember in the Glasgow game and it's only since linking up with TOH that has made him what he is. Will be big test for him, haven't seen anything of Stacey yet apart from him looking very small!
Great to see Delahunt starting and really looking forward to seeing 2.0 ,this is his year!!

connachta

my worry is not mainly about Robb (has Aki ever played on the bench? this guy never rest, starter or injured until now)

it's about the only two areas Zebre can match us : scrum (can J.P do the job?) and high balls/last defender (that's why I'd prefer Poolman rather than Kelleher/Ili

Cathalthesmart

Lets stop worrying about Zebre, if Connacht play well and everyone does what is asked of them they will win. That is no dis respect to Zebre but the truth, the only way Zebre can upset the odds is if Connacht dont turn up. Plus that is some powerful bench to bring on.

connachta

Cathalthesmart wrote: »

Lets stop worrying about Zebre, if Connacht play well and everyone does what is asked of them they will win. That is no dis respect to Zebre but the truth, the only way Zebre can upset the odds is if Connacht dont turn up. Plus that is some powerful bench to bring on.

Zebre 22 Connacht 10. Different times you'd say, but 4 weeks ago only

former total

Pat Lam isn't remotely worried about this game. He wouldn't be resting Aki otherwise.

Cathalthesmart

connachta wrote: »

Zebre 22 Connacht 10. Different times you'd say, but 4 weeks ago only

O cool, so Connacht played well that day did they?

connachta

Cathalthesmart wrote: »

connachta wrote: »

Zebre 22 Connacht 10. Different times you'd say, but 4 weeks ago only

O cool, so Connacht played well that day did they?

Zebre did, as they did against Scarlets and Glasgow, and put them under pressure in Parma
I'm not saying we're not favourite, I'm saying it's a real embush, not only "showing respect" phrasing

But the more I look to the team the more I think Lam balanced it well : We struggled because we were so light against Toulouse, Italians have the same target/strategy, so he "muscled" his selection with Roux, SOB Robb, Delahunt J.P Cooney and McCoy. Without forgeting to ponderate with "electric finishers" in the back-three. Smart move Pat!