Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

Utopia Parkway · 24-03-2021 02:53PM

marley45 wrote: »

Had a look through the turnover stats and they back up your argument. Thornbury has most turnovers for us with 9 which is 5 behind leader Cloete. Bundee has 8, and then that's all we have in the squad with more than 5 turnovers for the season.

Cardiff, Ulster and Munster have several players each with over 5 turnovers.

Back row has to be better in winning turnovers. Fairly unusual to have a second row leading a team in turnovers I would imagine. Oliver at 5 is our leading back rower.

molloyjh · 24-03-2021 05:31PM

Larbre34 wrote: »

Yeah well they should've.

I don't see how Aki could've made that belly-to-belly tackle any safer at full tilt. Billy V dipped into him as Aki himself dipped and BV caught a bell ringer for himself as Aki moved to wrap him. It wasn't reckless or malicious and a ban does precisely nothing to avoid such similar occurrences from the same player or any other player in the game. It was accidental and in a full contact sport, accidents will happen, despite all parties' best efforts to minimise them.

Billy V never dipped. Watch it again. His head stayed at the same height the whole time. Aki made zero effort to avoid the head. None. He deserved the card and the ban. He had a responsibility to get lower and not clock Billy V in the head. The damage contact like that can do is very, very serious. The response to it needs to be very, very serious too. That was all on Aki 100%.

Zzippy · 24-03-2021 05:44PM

molloyjh wrote: »

Billy V never dipped. Watch it again. His head stayed at the same height the whole time. Aki made zero effort to avoid the head. None. He deserved the card and the ban. He had a responsibility to get lower and not clock Billy V in the head. The damage contact like that can do is very, very serious. The response to it needs to be very, very serious too. That was all on Aki 100%.

That's a bit black and white. Aki went low, Billy V went low. Yes it needs to be dealt with but that tackle was high by 2 inches, no more. Let's not make it sound like he tried to kill the guy.

sydthebeat · 24-03-2021 05:49PM

aki never went low....

this is the point of contact.. aki is practically upright

irishbucsfan · 24-03-2021 05:55PM

I think the reaction to this ban underlines exactly why the officials deciding these things are independent!

realhorrorshow · 24-03-2021 05:59PM

marley45 wrote: »

Had a look through the turnover stats and they back up your argument. Thornbury has most turnovers for us with 9 which is 5 behind leader Cloete. Bundee has 8, and then that's all we have in the squad with more than 5 turnovers for the season.

Cardiff, Ulster and Munster have several players each with over 5 turnovers.

I wouldn't mind the lack of turnovers if it was due to a concerted effort to fan out and cover the width of the pitch in defence, however we do neither and that's extremely disappointing.

24-03-2021 06:05PM

Tacklers need to bend at the hip. No hinge no chance of mitigation if you big a head.

Just the way it is

RonnieL · 24-03-2021 06:06PM

Different angles can be chosen to suit your preferred narrative. Bottom line is, players are being asked on one hand to lower tackle height, and on the other to contribute positively to the "dominant tackle" stats. The language we hear before/after games against bigger teams all surrounds the need for the players to "front up", not get bullied, impose themselves physically etc. Everyone who watches enough rugby knows that games are won up front, and if the opposition are allowed to get over the gain line at will, then you're going to lose. I'm in no doubt that Bundee was out there doing precisely what Andy Farrell and the coaches wanted him to do. The margins are just too fine. I watched the highlights of the game last night, and Robbie Henshaw was immense, but he put in some very upright tackles which could easily have resulted in nasty head clashes. They didn't, and Robbie won man of the match.

sydthebeat · 24-03-2021 06:09PM

RonnieL wrote: »

Different angles can be chosen to suit your preferred narrative..

:rolleyes:

... but nothing can change the images of what actually happened ....

It was a risky tackle attempt that bundee couldnt control.
It would be considered unlucky but you must take into account the fact he was sent off not 20 months ago for an extremely similar tackle.. so he really should have known better.

hopefully he will learn going forward

salmocab · 24-03-2021 07:20PM

I think ultimately the only issue is some people are getting away with these incidents and some are getting punished, Akis ban is fair and whilst it might seem unfair that someone else got away with it that’s their own good luck, not Aki being treated harshly.

ShineyShiney · 24-03-2021 09:06PM

It will eventually become the norm to put the attacker down while ceeding the gain line until that time it's going to be difficult for 10,12,13 to meet the coaches expectations of holding that line against hard carries.

Cast iron red, but I wouldn't be too hard on any player getting caught with these at present, too many inconsistencies in interpretation from refs to force coaches to plan for multiple line dominant carries from opposition.

When every tackle like this leads to a card then style of play will change.

molloyjh · 24-03-2021 09:42PM

Zzippy wrote: »

That's a bit black and white. Aki went low, Billy V went low. Yes it needs to be dealt with but that tackle was high by 2 inches, no more. Let's not make it sound like he tried to kill the guy.

Ah yeah, I def made out like he tried to kill him. That's absolutely what I was saying. Yeah.

Aki did not go low. He did clock Billy V on the chin. And that may have caused a concussion. And concussions do, have and will cause very, very serious damage. There was nothing in my post that isnt well known by all and sundry and nothing to suggest Aki tried to do anything at all other than make a poor tackle.

Zzippy · 24-03-2021 11:32PM

sydthebeat wrote: »

aki never went low....

this is the point of contact.. aki is practically upright

Aki's leg is bent and his knee is about 6 inches off the ground there. That photo is not showing what you think it is. Vunipola is also clearly bent forward and not upright or at his full height either. It's hard to tackle an attacker going low. Aki obviously needs to improve his tackling further and get lower again but he was low there.

Former Coach · 24-03-2021 11:42PM

molloyjh wrote: »

Ah yeah, I def made out like he tried to kill him. That's absolutely what I was saying. Yeah.

Aki did not go low. He did clock Billy V on the chin. And that may have caused a concussion. And concussions do, have and will cause very, very serious damage. There was nothing in my post that isnt well known by all and sundry and nothing to suggest Aki tried to do anything at all other than make a poor tackle.

Don’t really know why you are persisting with this rot!
Bundee clearly dipped as he attempted the tackle. Problem was that Vunipola also dipped as he braced himself for contact. There was contact with the head and a red card was inevitable but to suggest that it was deliberate is just nonsense.

Zzippy · 24-03-2021 11:56PM

molloyjh wrote: »

Ah yeah, I def made out like he tried to kill him. That's absolutely what I was saying. Yeah.

Aki did not go low. He did clock Billy V on the chin. And that may have caused a concussion. And concussions do, have and will cause very, very serious damage. There was nothing in my post that isnt well known by all and sundry and nothing to suggest Aki tried to do anything at all other than make a poor tackle.

He tried to make a poor tackle? Come on man, this is getting ridiculous.

its_phil · 25-03-2021 04:32PM

molloyjh wrote: »

Ah yeah, I def made out like he tried to kill him. That's absolutely what I was saying. Yeah.

Aki did not go low. He did clock Billy V on the chin. And that may have caused a concussion. And concussions do, have and will cause very, very serious damage. There was nothing in my post that isnt well known by all and sundry and nothing to suggest Aki tried to do anything at all other than make a poor tackle.

The fire of paragraph one defused using petrol from the last line.

molloyjh · 25-03-2021 04:34PM

Former Coach wrote: »

Don’t really know why you are persisting with this rot!
Bundee clearly dipped as he attempted the tackle. Problem was that Vunipola also dipped as he braced himself for contact. There was contact with the head and a red card was inevitable but to suggest that it was deliberate is just nonsense.

I would really love to know where I ever said it was deliberabte on Akis part. I didn't. It wasn't.

molloyjh · 25-03-2021 04:36PM

Zzippy wrote: »

[/B]

He tried to make a poor tackle? Come on man, this is getting ridiculous.

Okay so that was badly phrased. My point is that he wasn't deliberately hitting high and certainly wasn't trying to kill him. But I do love how my poor phrasing is ridiculous and your claims of me saying he was trying to kill Billy V wasn't....

realhorrorshow · 25-03-2021 05:32PM

Moving on.. What 23 do we want to see for the Leicester game? My shout:

1. Denis Buckley
2. Shane Delahunt
3. Finlay Bealham
4. Ultan Dillane
5. Gavin Thornbury
6. Eoghan Masterson
7. Conor Oliver
8. Paul Boyle
9. Caolin Blade
10. Jack Carty
11. Matt Healy
12. Tom Daly
13. Sean O'Brien
14. Alex Wootton
15. John Porch
16. Dave Heffernan
17. Jordan Duggan
18. Jack Aungier
19. Niall Murray
20. Abraham Papali'i
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Conor Fitzgerald
23. Tiernan O'Halloran

Bazzo · 25-03-2021 05:38PM

If Aungier is fit I'd start him after Monday tbh.

connachta · 25-03-2021 05:41PM

realhorrorshow wrote: »

Moving on.. What 23 do we want to see for the Leicester game? My shout:

1. Denis Buckley
2. Shane Delahunt
3. Finlay Bealham
4. Ultan Dillane
5. Gavin Thornbury
6. Eoghan Masterson
7. Conor Oliver
8. Paul Boyle
9. Caolin Blade
10. Jack Carty
11. Matt Healy
12. Tom Daly
13. Sean O'Brien
14. Alex Wootton
15. John Porch
16. Dave Heffernan
17. Jordan Duggan
18. Jack Aungier
19. Niall Murray
20. Abraham Papali'i
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Conor Fitzgerald
23. Tiernan O'Halloran

OK with 22, I'd trust BOD instead of TOH to impact and cover 13/14

Why did Aungier not play in Wales?
Hope he's available

Zzippy · 25-03-2021 05:44PM

connachta wrote: »

OK with 22, I'd trust BOD instead of TOH to impact and cover 13/14

Why did Aungier not play in Wales?
Hope he's available

Aungier had a trapped nerve after training on Sunday.

realhorrorshow · 25-03-2021 05:46PM

Would have no problem with Aungier starting. O'Donnell I'd be less keen on, he seems well short of match sharpness/form and a quarter final is not the time to find it. Thought he was very poor on Monday tbh.

RonnieL · 25-03-2021 06:08PM

Yeah, the jury is still very much out for me on BOD. I'd give Finlay a pass for his performance on Monday because of the circumstances of his late call up. The centre partnership picks itself, but what cover do we have if there's an injury?

connachta · 25-03-2021 08:03PM

RonnieL wrote: »

Yeah, the jury is still very much out for me on BOD. I'd give Finlay a pass for his performance on Monday because of the circumstances of his late call up. The centre partnership picks itself, but what cover do we have if there's an injury?

Either BOD or Sullivan, that's a reason why I would not have TOH at 23

connachta · 25-03-2021 08:15PM

Cathal Forde (out half) & Oisin McCormack (back row) have been added to Connacht challenge cup squad.

It's because Dean and Butler are out, but good sign for McCormack!

backcamslua · 25-03-2021 09:57PM

connachta wrote: »

Cathal Forde (out half) & Oisin McCormack (back row) have been added to Connacht challenge cup squad.

It's because Dean and Butler are out, but good sign for McCormack!

Lads were on 30+ extended panel submitted ahead of the Champions Cup -don't expect that there would be any changes when it moves to Challenge Cup??

Lucas44 · 26-03-2021 02:28AM

realhorrorshow wrote: »

Not overly surprising. Have you heard anything about the other academy players?

SOB released along with de buitleir & Dean. Although SOB may earn a dev deal after his last few games

bayern · 26-03-2021 09:41AM

https://www.rugby-transferts.com/carcassonne-sinteresse-a-un-joueur-du-connacht-177934/

French press reporting that Caracassone are signing Abraham Papali'i

Wegians89 · 26-03-2021 10:06AM

bayern wrote: »

https://www.rugby-transferts.com/carcassonne-sinteresse-a-un-joueur-du-connacht-177934/

French press reporting that Caracassone are signing Abraham Papali'i

Really thought they’d give him another year, has all the attributes to make a decent player, just needed time and effort. Hope that means there’s another 8 coming in

Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

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