Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Utopia Parkway · 05-02-2021 10:18PM

Actually played some smart rugby here the last 10 minutes. Pinned the Dragons back with kicks.

its_phil · 05-02-2021 10:18PM

Marmion been the difference since coming on

macslash · 05-02-2021 10:18PM

I'm liking Dowling. Having a great debut

05-02-2021 10:20PM

Bench has been massive. Added some composure to things. Having someone like Marmion coming in is very reassuring.

Bazzo · 05-02-2021 10:20PM

macslash wrote: »

I'm liking Dowling. Having a great debut

Big unit who puts himself about, very useful player to have and very young so who knows how far he'll go. Especially with Roux unavailable for large parts of most seasons.

molloyjh · 05-02-2021 10:22PM

Anyone know why Carty ran into an area of the pitch where he'd have no support a min ago? Its as well the game is over because that was daft.

05-02-2021 10:22PM

No harm turning over one of the regions away from home with the weekend that's in it.

Dragons have absolutely no organisation around the breakdown and it's feeding into their lack of discipline.

Bazzo · 05-02-2021 10:23PM

molloyjh wrote: »

Anyone know why Carty ran into an area of the pitch where he'd have no support a min ago? Its as well the game is over because that was daft.

He was looking for the reason he hasn't been selected for the national side

its_phil · 05-02-2021 10:25PM

Hopefully that last defensive set against the maul at the end will be a good springboard mentally for the team.

realhorrorshow · 05-02-2021 10:25PM

When we stopped giving away soft penalties it was clear just how inept the Dragons are. Job done but discipline and maul defence are massive work ons moving forward.

Dave_The_Sheep · 05-02-2021 10:26PM

FACECUTTR wrote: »

I'm going to predict a 5 pointer tonight. Hopefully the Ospreys muck show is well and truly put to bed.

Got there in the end!

molloyjh · 05-02-2021 10:26PM

Only saw the last 30, but Connacht were by far the better side. Marmion and Daly the stand outs in that time. Pitch was in some state. You cant get more than a TBP though so job done.

connachta · 05-02-2021 10:26PM

Massive, massive 5 points. If we're in Europe next season it's because of tonight peculiarly

Utopia Parkway · 05-02-2021 10:30PM

molloyjh wrote: »

Only saw the last 30, but Connacht were by far the better side. Marmion and Daly the stand outs in that time. Pitch was in some state. You cant get more than a TBP though so job done.

Rodney Parade always seems to look like a ploughed field somehow.

Bazzo · 05-02-2021 10:30PM

I would say that there were signs of improvement and we came away with the points so I'm happy but I feel like I'm saying that way too much lately. The first half was a disgrace. Carty was excellent in play but very dodgy goal kicking.

ElisaAtWar · 05-02-2021 10:32PM

Connacht is a right puzzle these days. Intercept trys like never before. But on the flip side they no longer know how to maul. Andy Friend may have brought some positives from his sevens experience but overall this team is going backwards at a rate of knots. To nearly equate to Dragons sums up his tenure. His experience is not what is needed in Connacht. Nice guy but the team is all over the shop

molloyjh · 05-02-2021 10:33PM

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Rodney Parade always seems to look like a ploughed field somehow.

I remember a few years back we played our opener there. They had just done up the pitch and it was in really good nick. I thought "oh, maybe they're getting their act together". Well, more fool me.

I know the weather has been crap, but that pitch surely shouldn't have been that bad.

ClanofLams · 05-02-2021 10:36PM

Bazzo wrote: »

I would say that there were signs of improvement and we came away with the points so I'm happy but I feel like I'm saying that way too much lately. The first half was a disgrace. Carty was excellent in play but very dodgy goal kicking.

Very much this.

Incredibly frustrating to see more or less errors the same and very much avoidable repeatedly happen.

Anyway beat Cardiff at home next and that should nearly be enough to secure Europe. Should have wrapped it up already really but that would represent season objective achieved I suppose.

tobdom · 05-02-2021 10:38PM

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

Connacht is a right puzzle these days. Intercept trys like never before. But on the flip side they no longer know how to maul. Andy Friend may have brought some positives from his sevens experience but overall this team is going backwards at a rate of knots. To nearly equate to Dragons sums up his tenure. His experience is not what is needed in Connacht. Nice guy but the team is all over the shop

Bullsh**, respectfully.......
Need a new defence coach, delighted that Friend was retained

its_phil · 05-02-2021 10:39PM

molloyjh wrote: »

I remember a few years back we played our opener there. They had just done up the pitch and it was in really good nick. I thought "oh, maybe they're getting their act together". Well, more fool me.

I know the weather has been crap, but that pitch surely shouldn't have been that bad.

Think I heard craggy podcast say there hasn’t been a game there since December. Awful pitch

ionadnapóca · 05-02-2021 10:42PM

its_phil wrote: »

Marmion been the difference since coming on

Still find his fall from Farrell’s grace a little perplexing

Obviously his preference is for Park & Byrne
But Marmion is a superior half back
& Carty!

05-02-2021 10:43PM

Happy with the result even if it was a lot harder than it needed to be. 5 points on the road is a good evenings work all the same.

Two more games coming up against Cardiff and Treviso. 2 wins would go a long way to securing 2nd place. Sooner we get this wrapped up the better.

Even if we secure 2nd in the pool it shouldn't paper over the cracks. This season we have effectively played 2nd string teams in 3/4 of our games so really the league position isnt reflective of where we are.

We have a lot of fundamentals of a good side but the maul defence plummeted to a new low tonight and some of the other penalties to give dragons field position were incredibly dumb. At 20-20 with another ref we could easily have been down to 14. If there was a crowd there I think we'd probably have lost with the pressure that would come on the ref.

For now we need to knuckle down and finish the season strong but I hope behind the scenes the work is going in to change things up for next season. Andy Friend needs to be ruthless now in terms of coaches and playing personnel or we cant advance any further.

05-02-2021 10:44PM

its_phil wrote: »

Think I heard craggy podcast say there hasn’t been a game there since December. Awful pitch

Newport County FC play there too. Doubt their known for their champagne football on that surface.

molloyjh · 05-02-2021 10:54PM

SqueakyKneecap wrote: »

When one of the worst teams in the league were a couple of solid passes sticking away from beating us you know there's a lot of worries defensively in spite of a 5 pointer.

The maul is criminally weak. It's actually getting worse now that teams are pinpointing it. I'm probably repeating myself to an annoying degree but it is cataclysmically poor for a professional union side. It's like watching Sonia O'Sullivan in Athens trying to break early despite knowing you're about to be slaughtered.

Positives were Healy, Blade, Delahunt, Boyler back at 8 and Carty for being savvy enough to take a drop on a poor enough night by his high standards.

Was the DG really that smart? They had advantage in the 22 in a very, very kickable position. The 3 points were effectively in the bag. Have a go at more. Worst case scenario is that they go through a few phases and run down the clock a bit more, effectively guaranteeing the result by leaving Dragons too little time to get 2 scores. Best case scenario get 5 or 7 and run down the clock as a result. The DG was probably the worst of the options available. No more points than already in the bag and no time run down on the clock. It obviously didn't matter in the end, but seemed a poor option at the time to me.

connachta · 05-02-2021 10:57PM

I do think we will naturally advance further. I'm optimistic (for once) on the long term

Duggan
Aungier
Murray
Dowling
Prandergast
Boyle
Reilly
Sullivan

Are all U23, already showing senior level

Porch is great games after games.
Carty, Daly and SH are very good
Dillane, Thornbury, Delahunt, Heff, Bealham in career for 5 years too
Oliver is small but a nice openside
+ Bundee

We've always been less complete, less filled province but...
That's 20 names to build on for a very bright future

(I put aside injury prone guys and 30+ ones, and still found 20 at least as a core bone in 2025)

ionadnapóca · 05-02-2021 11:00PM

Boyle is 24 now
Just nitpicking!
Nice BR

connachta · 05-02-2021 11:01PM

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Boyle is 24 now
Just nitpicking!
Nice BR

I knew.
But he's been so brillant for 2 seasons he deserved to be in the youth list!

its_phil · 05-02-2021 11:01PM

molloyjh wrote: »

Was the DG really that smart? They had advantage in the 22 in a very, very kickable position. The 3 points were effectively in the bag. Have a go at more. Worst case scenario is that they go through a few phases and run down the clock a bit more, effectively guaranteeing the result by leaving Dragons too little time to get 2 scores. Best case scenario get 5 or 7 and run down the clock as a result. The DG was probably the worst of the options available. No more points than already in the bag and no time run down on the clock. It obviously didn't matter in the end, but seemed a poor option at the time to me.

But they were only 7 up. If he felt it was worth having two chances at 3 to get the insurance score, I wouldn’t think it was that poor a call.

Conservative would be a fair shout on it.

ionadnapóca · 05-02-2021 11:07PM

SqueakyKneecap wrote: »

He missed a handy penalty from a very similar position against Munster. It was much smarter than risking a repeat.

He should have just hoofed it up in the air across the pitch giving the winger a 0 or 20% chance of getting the ball.
Remind you of anyone?

Carty took the correct % play considering the clock and score.
Miss and you go back and have a 3 point kick anyway.

05-02-2021 11:15PM

I remember Connacht went years without kicking a drop goal. They had some record that they had never kicked a drop goal in Europe or something. Not sure if anyone remembers the details. Remember a few games where we'd be going over and back with no notion of a drop goal in our head so I'm always happy to see us take one when needed.

The ref tonight allowed fairly good advantages so Connacht might have had a shot at a try but bp was in the bag no need to risk advantage over in that situation. At that stage 3 points was as good as a try in my mind. It was the nail in Dragons coffin. They werent going to retrieve a 10 point deficit even with Connachts propensity to throw them lifelines.

The one that bugs me with Carty is the conversion for try 2. It's one you have to nail every time but those type of kicks are ones he misses too often and it spoils his other excellent work.

Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

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