Leinster (Pro12 runners up) vs Connacht (Pro12 Champions), RDS 29/10 17.15 SKY

Adbrowne

TeoReid wrote: »

lineout was ****e though

Game wasnt perfect but the pro's far outweigh the con's. Backrow depth is unreal. Hopefully Conan stays fit. Was good to see him and Byrne not afraid to chip the ball over defenders and turn them instead if just taking contact. Forcing Connacht to play from their own 22 and getting a hard press on them will generate huge errors.

Adeolokun (?) threw one awful pass into his own ingoal area at one stage. Its admiral to a degree but 2-4 at this stage and only 10 points on the board ain't good.

Interested Observer

Adbrowne wrote: »

Adeolokun (?) threw one awful pass into his own ingoal area at one stage. Its admiral to a degree but 2-4 at this stage and only 10 points on the board ain't good.

The second try came from the resulting scrum.

its_phil

Adbrowne wrote: »

TeoReid wrote: »

lineout was ****e though

Game wasnt perfect but the pro's far outweigh the con's. Backrow depth is unreal. Hopefully Conan stays fit. Was good to see him and Byrne not afraid to chip the ball over defenders and turn them instead if just taking contact. Forcing Connacht to play from their own 22 and getting a hard press on them will generate huge errors.

Adeolokun (?) threw one awful pass into his own ingoal area at one stage. Its admiral to a degree but 2-4 at this stage and only 10 points on the board ain't good.

5 of the top 6 played in six games with a game in hand against Zebre. Context badly needed there.

Not in the slightest worried about it.

wp_rathead

its_phil wrote: »

5 of the top 6 played in six games with a game in hand against Zebre. Context badly needed there.

Not in the slightest worried about it.

Exactly, still just 4 points down from corresponding fixtures last season

former total

its_phil wrote: »

5 of the top 6 played in six games with a game in hand against Zebre. Context badly needed there.

Not in the slightest worried about it.

Nah it's too early to panic. The only concern is that two losses have come at home so ground may need to be made up on the road. Newport is as good a place as any to start, next weekend.

Gotta start kicking for territory though.

AbusesToilets

Adbrowne wrote: »

Game wasnt perfect but the pro's far outweigh the con's. Backrow depth is unreal. Hopefully Conan stays fit. Was good to see him and Byrne not afraid to chip the ball over defenders and turn them instead if just taking contact. Forcing Connacht to play from their own 22 and getting a hard press on them will generate huge errors.

Adeolokun (?) threw one awful pass into his own ingoal area at one stage. Its admiral to a degree but 2-4 at this stage and only 10 points on the board ain't good.

The pass itself was alright, just good pressure defense on Aki prevented him from moving it on. There was space there to exploit. A kick there wouldn't have been much better.

evil_seed

A few things annoyed me with rthe game. Connachts lack of composure in the first half, way too panicked in trying to get the try at the end of the half.
Cartys weaknesses are masked by Ronaldson being beside him. When He went off injured were turned into the beginning of the season Connacht with no shape or direction.
Our inability to react to Leinsters break down attack. We needed to flood the break down but were left isolated too much.

Adbrowne

wp_rathead wrote: »

Exactly, still just 4 points down from corresponding fixtures last season

what would be a concern for me would be the lack of LBP from the 4 defeats. Is there an all or nothing mentality in the Pro12 because the main focus is the ERCC?

its_phil

Adbrowne wrote: »

wp_rathead wrote: »

Exactly, still just 4 points down from corresponding fixtures last season

what would be a concern for me would be the lack of LBP from the 4 defeats. Is there an all or nothing mentality in the Pro12 because the main focus is the ERCC?

I'm not sure how there's been an all or nothing mentality about Connacht. Two TBPs in Ulster and Edinburgh games doesn't scream ECC being the be all and end all.

Adbrowne

its_phil wrote: »

I'm not sure how there's been an all or nothing mentality about Connacht. Two TBPs in Ulster and Edinburgh games doesn't scream ECC being the be all and end all.

Ok but in a couple of the defeats they seemed to just not consider the idea of staying in the game to try and nab a LBP. Last night seemed to be we stick to our plan and we either score the tries to win or we lose by 10-15 points. At the end of the season a few points could be the difference between a playoff or not, or worse still, ERCC or Challenge cup.

BoardsMember

Adbrowne wrote: »

TeoReid wrote: »

lineout was ****e though

Game wasnt perfect but the pro's far outweigh the con's. Backrow depth is unreal. Hopefully Conan stays fit. Was good to see him and Byrne not afraid to chip the ball over defenders and turn them instead if just taking contact. Forcing Connacht to play from their own 22 and getting a hard press on them will generate huge errors.

Adeolokun (?) threw one awful pass into his own ingoal area at one stage. Its admiral to a degree but 2-4 at this stage and only 10 points on the board ain't good.

Dont like seeing forward kick, wither wgen Conan or Seanie did it. Conon should have taken the tackle on his own terms and looked for support. Seanie was a bit of Keith Wood moment. When did you last see an All Black backrow forward kick the ball in similar circumstances?

molloyjh

BoardsMember wrote: »

Adbrowne wrote: »

TeoReid wrote: »

lineout was ****e though

Game wasnt perfect but the pro's far outweigh the con's. Backrow depth is unreal. Hopefully Conan stays fit. Was good to see him and Byrne not afraid to chip the ball over defenders and turn them instead if just taking contact. Forcing Connacht to play from their own 22 and getting a hard press on them will generate huge errors.

Adeolokun (?) threw one awful pass into his own ingoal area at one stage. Its admiral to a degree but 2-4 at this stage and only 10 points on the board ain't good.

Dont like seeing forward kick, wither wgen Conan or Seanie did it. Conon should have taken the tackle on his own terms and looked for support. Seanie was a bit of Keith Wood moment. When did you last see an All Black backrow forward kick the ball in similar circumstances?

Are you serious? Conans kick led to a try, was really well executed and exactly the right thing to do. Seanies kick was actually a very decent clearing kick, which again was the right play.

molloyjh

Also, shouldn't we be changing the thread title again to something like:

Leinster (Winners) vs Connacht (Losers)

Get on it ak! :pac:

blackdog1

I wouldn't be too confident. We were in trouble until ronaldson went off. He's the guy who runs that back line and defence. Don't think they have won a game this season without him..?

Interested Observer

blackdog1 wrote: »

I wouldn't be too confident. We were in trouble until ronaldson went off. He's the guy who runs that back line and defence. Don't think they have won a game this season without him..?

Confident about what?

And they lost Ronaldson and brought on... Aki right? You know, the best centre in the league?

irishgrover

don't think in the general scale of things it had that much impact on the game. Connacht had a purple patch to begin with and it ended when Ronaldson went off injured, replaced by Aki, who seems to be carrying a knock.
Having said that Ronaldson is a great player. Last year Henshaw was regularly moved to FB to accommodate Craig in the centre.
Regardless, Leinster woke up after 20 minutes and clearly deserved the win.

mr. pleasant

Turns out that these games at home, during the international window, against teams ranked low in the table are the right games to test some of Leinster's depth and bring young players through.

From a Connacht perspective it's not all doomed either. With a third of the regular season played (and assuming they win their game in hand) it's just 3 points to 6th place. It's 8 points to a playoff place though and 11 behind the top 3. That did look a tad different last year.

Adbrowne

its_phil wrote: »

I'm not sure how there's been an all or nothing mentality about Connacht. Two TBPs in Ulster and Edinburgh games doesn't scream ECC being the be all and end all.

Ok but look at it this way. Connacht have lost 4 games already this season. They lost 7 in all of last season and collected 5 LBPs. Those 5 LBP's added up to a win effectively, otherwise its an away playoff.

Ulster had 69 points at the end of last season and finished 4th, so if Connacht lose another 4 games this season and dont get any LBPs they therefore have to win the other 12 remaining games with TBPs to get a playoff spot if last season is any indication.

Munster qualified for ERCC with 63 points. I expect the same sort of points to be required this season but most importantly Connacht have lost at home to Glasgow and Ospreys who both look like they will offer a good challenge this season.

connachta

http://www.rugby.net/s/lqy3ZVQj2PK
Based on combined stats. Heenan has done a lot of "unseen work" not a shocker as some said

connachta

Ireland jersey in 2019:angel:

wp_rathead

Why did you have to remind me of this game Connachta

connachta

wp_rathead wrote: »

Why did you have to remind me of this game Connachta

For the sake of truth and Jake's reputation !