Connacht Vs Ulster build up thread ( insert smart joke about both provinces here)

Utopia Parkway

Former Former wrote: »

Connacht at least need a viable alternative if not an outright replacement. He just isn't a top level out half.

Been much better this season to be fair. Still has his moments but he definitely has genuine talent. Just not consistent albeit he’s improved in that regard.

Wegians89

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Carty needs to understand when to kick and when to stuck it up the jumper. Game management
He is a player that didn't play enough rugby as a youngster,
His skill set is predominantly from gaelic football

Pretty sure he was a soccer player and had trials with some big English team. I think people are being overly critical of him here. He has things to work on, as does every ten in the country apart from Sexton. But he’s playing some very good stuff. Most of the pundits were praising him post game. Pre game Bowe and stronger were describing him as leathal from a dead ball situation and he has been this year.eho would have thought that two/three years ago? I think he’s a better defender than most tens in the country and he’s very good ball in hand.he still has work to do on finding touch and his game management and I’d love to see what Schmidt could do for him in Irish camp (not getting capped but just in that environment). He’s come through some terrible abuse from both fans of opposition and Connacht fans and I think he deserves a lot of credit for how far he has come on. Connacht genuinely are a worse team when he isn’t playing and the only two Irish 10s who I think could improve Connacht are Sexton and Byrne.

Former Former

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Been much better this season to be fair. Still has his moments but he definitely has genuine talent. Just not consistent albeit he’s improved in that regard.

Agree with all that but Connacht look very well placed to qualify for Europe next season and you'll need someone who can do it week in week out against the best sides. That's just not Carty.

Interested Observer

Was watching this on Rugbypass, you could clearly hear the TG4 commentators over the Eir ones which was a bit odd.

EOS sounded like he would have preferred to be anywhere else. I don't know how he keeps getting commentary and punditry gigs. He's absolutely awful.

Utopia Parkway

Interested Observer wrote: »

Was watching this on Rugbypass, you could clearly hear the TG4 commentators over the Eir ones which was a bit odd.

EOS sounded like he would have preferred to be anywhere else. I don't know how he keeps getting commentary and punditry gigs. He's absolutely awful.

I don’t mind EOS usually but he did sound bored out of his tree tonight. Wasn’t the best match I know.

jhenno78

Zzippy wrote: »

Marty Moore really has gone backwards since moving to Wasps. He was anonymous tonight.

In fairness to Moore, the ref was singling him out for penalties that seemed to be collapsing on the (ulster) loose-head side.

Diabhal Beag

Thought Blade was absolutely fantastic. Himself and Faianga were our standouts. Carty's work for Blade's try was absolutely brilliant too. Carberry not on Carty's level this season.

connachta

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Thought Blade was absolutely fantastic. Himself and Faianga were our standouts.

Problem is they both need rest. 8-day tournaround will help, Blade will start again but I think SOB/Boyle/Copeland with Butler or Fainga'a as 20 might be the most powerful we have to face munster physicality..

Jump_In_Jack

connachta wrote: »

Problem is they both need rest. 8-day tournaround will help, Blade will start again but I think SOB/Boyle/Copeland with Butler or Fainga'a as 20 might be the most powerful we have to face munster physicality..

Butler went off early enough tonight so he should be grand for next week.

Were there any injuries tonight on either side?

McPhillips went off unexpectedly I thought, and Coetzee had a HIA, I missed the end, did he pass it?

connachta

Our back-up scrum-half, Denis Buckley, looks ok, that's the main point

troyzer

Great game as a neutral. It would be easy to chalk it down to a poor day at the office for Ulster.

But I think Connacht unfairly have not been given credit in the past. I've been guilty of that as well. Always rushing to slap my own team rather than say Connacht were legit.

Well, they're starting to look legit now. I still think Carty is too inconsistent, there's a critical lack of depth in places and Connacht always look wobbly with a lead. But I also think assuming the conferences stay the same, Glasgow will be much weaker next year. They're going to be gutted in the summer. If Carty can get more consistent, and the team adds a few more players I think they could be competing for top seed next year. In their conference at least.

Anything less than a playoff and Heineken cup spot for next year is an utter failure for a team playing this well

Former Former

connachta wrote: »

Problem is they both need rest. 8-day tournaround will help, Blade will start again but I think SOB/Boyle/Copeland with Butler or Fainga'a as 20 might be the most powerful we have to face munster physicality..

No, Connacht have to go absolutely full strength again. Anyone who needs a rest can get it in the European weekends. Connacht have a golden opportunity here, a win over Munster would be huge for this season AND next season.

stephen_n

Zzippy wrote: »

Fair enough, I didn't see much of them. He was definitely second best to Buckley tonight, but that's something he shares with a lot of Buckley's opponents and no shame in it.

In fairness to Moore the problems weren’t on his side of the scrum.

Wegians89

Former Former wrote: »

No, Connacht have to go absolutely full strength again. Anyone who needs a rest can get it in the European weekends. Connacht have a golden opportunity here, a win over Munster would be huge for this season AND next season.

Personally think 6 sob 7 butler 8 boyle 20 faingaa is the best balance to go at Munster. Blade will start if fit. Himself and Gibson park will be pushing cooney am for McGrath very and McGrath for 3rd and 4th spot in international set up post World Cup

Bazzo

stephen_n wrote: »

In fairness to Moore the problems weren’t on his side of the scrum.

Moore and O'Sullivan were both pinged/being driven backwards on a couple of occasions.

awec

Complete and utter fcuking rubbish.

Also offside all day, every day for that try.

nice_guy80

Wegians89 wrote: »

Pretty sure he was a soccer player and had trials with some big English team. I think people are being overly critical of him here. He has things to work on, as does every ten in the country apart from Sexton. But he’s playing some very good stuff. Most of the pundits were praising him post game. Pre game Bowe and stronger were describing him as leathal from a dead ball situation and he has been this year.eho would have thought that two/three years ago? I think he’s a better defender than most tens in the country and he’s very good ball in hand.he still has work to do on finding touch and his game management and I’d love to see what Schmidt could do for him in Irish camp (not getting capped but just in that environment). He’s come through some terrible abuse from both fans of opposition and Connacht fans and I think he deserves a lot of credit for how far he has come on. Connacht genuinely are a worse team when he isn’t playing and the only two Irish 10s who I think could improve Connacht are Sexton and Byrne.

Fair enough
He played county U16 and minor football for Roscommon and with St Brigids underage

Wegians89

Was southampton carty had trials with

stephen_n

Bazzo wrote: »

Moore and O'Sullivan were both pinged/being driven backwards on a couple of occasions.

The red mike seemed to indicate it was O’Sullivan each time. Moore seemed ok, I was watching because Bent mullered Buckley the last day.

Bazzo

stephen_n wrote: »

The red mike seemed to indicate it was O’Sullivan each time. Moore seemed ok, I was watching because Bent mullered Buckley the last day.

You could hear the touch judge calling O'Sullivan because Mitrea was on the other side but Mitrea himself also penalised Moore on multiple occasions. Buckley has also done a number on a fair number of good tightheads over the years.

freyners

Surprised how harsh people are on carty. Bar a few questionable kicks i thought he was pretty good again today and is clearly riding a high confidence wise. Id fully back him if we made cc next year, hes hit a new level this season

stephen_n

Bazzo wrote: »

You could hear the touch judge calling O'Sullivan because Mitrea was on the other side but Mitrea himself also penalised Moore on multiple occasions. Buckley has also done a number on a fair number of good tightheads over the years.

Ok fair enough, I didn’t hear Mitera say anything other than 1 white. So didn’t realize Moore got done, he seemed fine to me looking at it.

eezipc

awec wrote: »

Complete and utter fcuking rubbish.

Also offside all day, every day for that try.

Makes you lose any resemblance of faith in mods.

Elvisjuice

eezipc wrote: »

Makes you lose any resemblance of faith in mods.

why ? nothing wrong with speaking straight

evil_seed

Elvisjuice wrote: »

why ? nothing wrong with speaking straight

We've all been handed warnings for speaking straight. Mods should be held to a higher standard

MarinersBlues

freyners wrote: »

Surprised how harsh people are on carty. Bar a few questionable kicks i thought he was pretty good again today and is clearly riding a high confidence wise. Id fully back him if we made cc next year, hes hit a new level this season

Absolutely.

He did great work to set up Blades try.
He kicked very well.
I have always said he does great work in defense and that is still the case.

The crossfield kick to Kelleher was the biggest no-no for me, but he still nearly pulled it off.

We have have signed a few decent international outhalves recently and the last three managers have all seen Carty as the clear starter.

Connacht play risky attacking rugby. Sometimes it comes off sometimes it doesn't. That doesn't mean they are inconsistent. It's the nature of the gameplan, and they are confident they will get the upperhand doing this.

Their form currently backs that up.

blackdog1

Watched the game last night. Thought Carey was taking the scrum in and up and was lucky he got away with it. That being said ulster should have dealt with it. Connacht to me were just more physical on the night. Doesn't help ulster when you have Nagle and Treadwell in the row, they're lacking a bit of dog. That Connacht backrow is also under rated, very good unit and delahunt was excellent, much better than herring.
Kicking by both sides was poor. McCloskey made a big difference, whenever he's not playing ulster aren't great... Bring serious physicality to the backs. Also Think the ulster backrow is just not working against more physical teams. You need a Ruddock type 6.

Paul Smeenus

blackdog1 wrote: »

Watched the game last night. Thought Carey was taking the scrum in and up and was lucky he got away with it. That being said ulster should have dealt with it. Connacht to me were just more physical on the night. Doesn't help ulster when you have Nagle and Treadwell in the row, they're lacking a bit of dog. That Connacht backrow is also under rated, very good unit and delahunt was excellent, much better than herring.
Kicking by both sides was poor. McCloskey made a big difference, whenever he's not playing ulster aren't great... Bring serious physicality to the backs. Also Think the ulster backrow is just not working against more physical teams. You need a Ruddock type 6.

Think Reidy makes a real difference - much better balanced than with Timoney who's fast but doesn't have Reidy's nous or toughness.

connachta

Former Former wrote: »

No, Connacht have to go absolutely full strength again. Anyone who needs a rest can get it in the European weekends. Connacht have a golden opportunity here, a win over Munster would be huge for this season AND next season.

I kinda agree but it's not about theory, it's about some guys who need their rest now, exhausted overplayed runners might cost us the game.


Blade isn't in this category yet, Thornbury and SOB neither as they were injured in Oct/November. Butler and Buckley were rested for Both Perpignan games so good to go. Our 3 hookers alternate so are fresh like a spring breeze



So in the end your're right about 95%, i'm relieved.
There are still 2 who could prove to be exhausted IMO, and should be kept as impact players on the bench : Fainga'a and Kelleher.


Fainga'a played from February to December 1500 minutes of rugby with only 1 month off after Super Rugby
Kelleher played 762 minutes over 800 possible minutes since the 29th of September (3 months he's constantly on)

blackdog1

Paul Smeenus wrote:

Think Reidy makes a real difference - much better balanced than with Timoney who's fast but doesn't have Reidy's nous or toughness.

Hes still too soft but a step up in the tight from timoney. Look at SOB last night spent the whole time looking for lads to smash... That's the type of 6 you need. Timoney and Reidy don't have it. Those boys love hanging out with the backs. Face it Coetzee is the only angry bastard you have and it shows in hard games.