Connacht Team Talk Thread V - The Friend Zone

Former Former

You've got a Friend in me

ClanofLams wrote: »

Missed the first half but f***k me that second half was frustrating. Rushed the drop goal should have played a few more phases. Two points all wouldn’t have been bad given being 17-3 down. 4-1 is a killer.

5-1...

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

Former Former wrote: »

5-1...

Christ I forgot it was bp try. Fks sake, disaster altogether

Utopia Parkway

Carty was bad but TOH was even worse. And Kelleher's error was abysmal.

An unbelievable catalogue of errors really.

I think most kickers would have taken on that penalty near the end but Carty doesn't have great range from the tee.

And even after that they rushed the drop goal attempt for no good reason.

Few lads lost their heads I think.

Ospreys must be pissing themselves.

Burkie1203

Mul, it's over

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Carty was bad but TOH was even worse. And Kelleher's error was abysmal.

An unbelievable catalogue of errors really.

I think most kickers would have taken on that penalty near the end but Carty doesn't have great range from the tee.

And even after that they rushed the drop goal attempt for no good reason.

TOH is a bit of a one trick pony. He does that little kick step and then gets tackled. He has regressed a lot in the last 18-24 months.

Carty had to take that kick on. If he didn't nail it it's either a 22 or Ospreys clear the ball and they get a lineout. Surely they have a drill to go thru 8-10 phases up The middle to try and win a more favourable positioned penalty.

Connacht game management is awful at times. There is a complete lack of a basic solid kicking game at clutch moments.

Redo91

You've got a Friend in me

Just saw the result. Farce of a result with Ospreys missing so many! Also why are we so poor when the opposition go down to 14?!

Bazzo

Mul, it's over

Very poor result.

I don't think Carty should be criticised for kicking to the corner instead of going for the posts at around 76'. It was hardly him declining to take on responsibility considering he went for the drop goal a minute or two later, more likely he just thought it was out of his range.

I missed most of the first half but there was some very poor playing across the board until about the 60' mark when most woke up, didn't deserve to win the match based off that but it felt cruel to have any sort of result pulled at the very last minute like that.

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

That’s the first time this season I’ve seen that sh!t. Compared to last season where it was nearly weekly it’s great. Seems people are hugely overreacting to it, it’s still been a pretty positive start to the season in general. I said before the match 9/10 wins out of the next 12 games would lead to a good season and that still stands, even if one of the easier wins was there for the taking yesterday.

Listening to Murray kinsella interviewing Conor Murray during the week I picked up something that I think could be applied to yesterday, everything can be traced back to the nine. The back line didn’t fire at all, the pack competed but the backs weren’t in the game and I feel that’s on the back of maybe rushing marmion back from injury.

For the first time I can remember Tom Farrell was completely anonymous, I can’t remember him making a single carry or tackle in the game. Bundees only influences came from mauls. Carty had an okay game apart from a few missed touches and the last few minutes. Why rush the drop goal?

The real problem though is the back three. Niyi can look like the best winger in the world in an open game where both teams are throwing the ball around but once you kick to his corner he’s in trouble. Postitioning isn’t great and I’ve seen props kick the ball more naturally then he does. Toh looks like he’s lost a yard of pace and I think that’s due to him constantly being rushed straight back in from injury. Haven’t seen many eagles matches but I can assume leader hasn’t been preforming to well cause there’s been plenty of time to give him senior minutes and he hasn’t got them. I’d like to see how de buitlear get a few minutes this season. Especially with the Reece deal gone.

FirstFiveEigth

Wegians89 wrote: »

Listening to Murray kinsella interviewing Conor Murray during the week I picked up something that I think could be applied to yesterday, everything can be traced back to the nine. The back line didn’t fire at all, the pack competed but the backs weren’t in the game and I feel that’s on the back of maybe rushing marmion back from injury.

I think you've a good point there, Marmion hasn't really set the world alight by his high standards this season and our ball from the breakdown has been fairly slow. Blade seems to give us better tempo when on, but I feel its a symptom of a bigger problem in that our forwards don't dominate the breakdown, or when carrying into contact like Leinster do and the ball we get is far too slow and often messy, allowing defences loads of time to set up.


Also our backline can be quite slow to reload between phases which is no good if we want to test defences. If we could get ball back in 2/3 seconds rather than the 5/6 it often takes, then we can trouble anyone, but it's just not happening, it really doesnt matter how good our backline moves are if we cant stress the defence with our tempo.

I remember a couple of seasons ago under Lam we'd often see forwards play the ball from the base of a ruck if the ball was available, a lot of teams seem to have a policy where a certain number of forwards must be committed to every ruck, and the 9 then has to play the ball, regardless of if the opposition commits numbers or not, not only does this slow our attack but can leave us short out wide at times when the defence has become disorganised after a number of phases. It would be great to see that utilised more often rather than seeing forwards standing in the breakdown doing nothing to help our attack when the ball is free to be played. Many of our forwards have excellent handling skills and there's no reason they couldn't take on this role when needed. I get that they may not know some backline calls but often opposition teams will struggle more against off the cuff play rather than the patterns they will have studied all week.

freyners

The Friend Zone

Marmion left out of the squad for italy. May indicate hes looked as first choice for the following weeks game. Also may indicate absolutely nothing

typhoony

Now that we're 2 months into the new season my opinion on our progression is that we're not seeing a huge improvement on last year, some better defensive performances but attacking we've not shown enough, the squad depth is good however the 1 to 15 is of the same quality as last year, more importantly none of the signings of the last 2 years look to have improved the overall team quality enough for us to be competing at the business end of the season, so in summary I can see us just failing to make the play-offs

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

There’s definite improvement from last season which was appalling really, 7 wins from 21. Whether or not the improvement will be enough for top three is questionable, was hopeful enough until Friday but that was a sickener.

It’s not out of the question still but pressure on now for Dragons and two games in SA - three wins at a minimum needed and ideally bonus points.

Wonder if Marmion might play 40 this week? Wouldn’t expect him to normally but being just back could probably do with some more game time.

Utopia Parkway

The killer results so far this season have been Glasgow at home on the opening day. Ahead coming towards the end of the game and Glasgow with a man in the bin. Completely blew that win. And the Ospreys game last Friday. Up against a severely under strength Ospreys side, Connacht produce a bizarre error strewn performance from a number of players. Win those two games like they should have and things would be a lot rosier looking. Unfortunately there is still a lack of consistency there.

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

Marmuon trained with the squad today, would expect him to play 40-60 minutes at the weekend. Thornbury back in training (inpho sport pictures). Good if he’s back with roux gone. Think Conan will shift back to tight head cover this week with bealham gone. Cain huxford, sob3.0 and Jordan Duggan also trained with the squad

Richie_Rich89

Mul, it's over

typhoony wrote: »

Now that we're 2 months into the new season my opinion on our progression is that we're not seeing a huge improvement on last year, some better defensive performances but attacking we've not shown enough, the squad depth is good however the 1 to 15 is of the same quality as last year, more importantly none of the signings of the last 2 years look to have improved the overall team quality enough for us to be competing at the business end of the season, so in summary I can see us just failing to make the play-offs

Failing to score versus 13 men for 10 minutes up in Ulster is a seriously bad look.

I can't help wondering where they'd be now under Keane if Nucifora hadn't had him kicked out. They'd gone through the pain with the new coach adapting, but we didn't get to see the two steps forward after the one step back

flatty

They were really poor against sale.

Bazzo

Mul, it's over

Team's out..

1) Buckley
2) McCartney
3) Carey
4) Dillane
5) Cannon
6) O'Brien
7) Fainga'a
8) Butler

9)Marmion
10)Horwitz
11) De Buitléar
12) Farrell
13) Godwin
14) Kelleher
15) O'Halloran

16) Delahunt
17) Burke
18) O'Donnell
19) Maksymiw
20) Connolly
21) Blade
22) Carty
23) Griffin

Hope those who can't see Twitter at work appreciate me transposing the entire thing

Excited to see how Horwitz and De Buitléar get on, and Burke and Maksymiw off the bench. I'll be keeping an eye on Connolly as usual too. In another time I think he'd have been pushing to start for us.

Bazzo

Bazzo wrote: »

Team's out..

1) Buckley
2) McCartney
3) Carey
4) Dillane
5) Cannon
6) O'Brien
7) Fainga'a
8) Butler

9)Marmion
10)Horwitz
11) De Buitléar
12) Farrell
13) Godwin
14) Kelleher
15) O'Halloran

16) Delahunt
17) Burke
18) O'Donnell
19) Maksymiw
20) Connolly
21) Blade
22) Carty
23) Griffin

Hope those who can't see Twitter at work appreciate me transposing the entire thing

Excited to see how Horwitz and De Buitléar get on, and Burke and Maksymiw off the bench. I'll be keeping an eye on Connolly as usual too. In another time I think he'd have been pushing to start for us.

I honestly do, thank you

Wegians89

The Friend Zone

Interesting the Copeland hasn’t been picked again, don’t think he’s injured?

BeardySi

You've got a Friend in me

Fierce quiet in here this morning....

At least the weather's looking decent, hope it holds!

Diabhal Beag

Dragons 5/1 to win and a +15 handicap. I wouldn't that confident myself after the last few weeks.

freyners

The Friend Zone

Leader in. Kelleher out. Injury during the captains run

Burkie1203

Mul, it's over

How did they butcher that

Inspector Coptoor

I can't believe it's not Butler

Bonus point could be sewn up by HT here.

errlloyd

Dragons are terrible. Lovely to see connacht attacking

vienne86

Dragons are woeful, but Connacht are great to watch here.

evil_seed

The Friend Zone

The Dragons are the worst team I've seen this season against us. Absolute manure.

Who wants to pitch in for some long John's for Jack for the winter?

Burkie1203

Mul, it's over

Connacht can rack up 60 here

Former Former

You've got a Friend in me

Ah Dillane. Height of stupidity.

ionapaul

Mul, it's over

Pity the defence didn't hold out there at the end, but a bonus point win is a bonus point win I suppose! Dragons terrible. Hope Connacht can go on a bit of a run now.

ClanofLams

Mul, it's over

So after eight games Ospreys are on 23 points, Connacht on 21 points, Munster playing their eighth tomorrow on 19 and Cardiff playing their eighth tomorrow on 17. Bang in the mix regardless of what happens tomorrow.

Only one very disappponting performance, last week v Ospreys, it was a big missed opportunity given the conference set up but still reasonably pleased with the start.