Connacht Team Talk Thread VI - Some like it TOH

My take on the expiring contracts:

Paddy McAllister - We haven't gotten a huge pile out of him over the past two years to be honest, but he is nevertheless a decent squad player. Would love to see us sign an NIQ loosehead but failing that we could do worse than giving Paddy another year.

Conor Kenny - Decent 4th choice, with no-one coming up behind I'd like to see him stay.

Cillian Gallagher - Sadly I think it's time for a change of scenery for him. Conor Oliver was plagued by injury at Munster but has gotten a clear run here, hopefully the same can happen for Gallagher. Such a shame to see a genuinely elite level indigenous talent so plagued by injuries.

Quinn Roux - Sign him up. We have some excellent locks but Quinn is still our best option on the tighthead side.

Josh Dunne - Was quite excited about him when I saw him playing underage when he first arrived here, sadly I haven't ever seen much from him in adult rugby, either for Wegians or Connacht A. Still like to think there's a decent player there, and he is still very young. Hard to see space in the senior squad for another young backrower though.

Stephen Kerins - Have no idea why he never kicked on from a really promising u20s run. Personally feel he may have been mismanaged but I am aware I do not know what goes on behind closed doors. He needs to move on for gametime because he's not going to get it at Connacht.

Conor Dean - Not sure how much potential he has to be brutally honest. Probably needs to go somewhere to get some proper games under his belt.

Sean O'Brien - Think he's done more than enough to get a deal but with 5 centres signed up already there may not be space for him. Personally would sign him up because Peter Robb is pretty much a non-factor with all the injuries unfortunately.

Stephen Fitzgerald - Would be extremely cut-throat to let him go but that's professional sport and I don't think we can justify carrying 9 senior back 3 players, especially since Sammy Arnold was playing a bit of wing when fit too.

Colm de Butiléar - See above. Hopefully he can get a deal elsewhere and work on his defence, which has been poor any time I've seen him play.

realhorrorshow wrote: »

Sean O'Brien - Think he's done more than enough to get a deal but with 5 centres signed up already there may not be space for him. Personally would sign him up because Peter Robb is pretty much a non-factor with all the injuries unfortunately.

Haven't seen enough of most of the others to give an opinion, but I'd be shocked if Sean O'Brien was not offered a contract. He's been very good in his outings over the last months. There are currently three injuries at centre (Farrell, Robb, Arnold) and Aki's discipline has seen him miss a lot of games. Tom Daly must have put in some colossal minutes this year. O'Brien is needed and has put in the performances.

Congrats to Bundee on being selected for the Lions

Delighted for Bundee. Interest in this tour just went up dramatically

Can't say I saw that coming, but delighted for Bundee. First Oranmore Lion if I'm not mistaken :-)

Absolutely delighted for Bundee.

Not to be a killjoy on a great day for the province and recall this came up in 2017 after lions selection but Connacht shouldn’t be tweeting congrats to Henshaw. He left the province, no other province would be tweeting congrats to someone who opted to move on.

Happy for him that he’s playing well and all, but tweeting congrats to Leinster player looks a bit small time in my view.

freyners wrote: »

I see where your coming from but i don't agree. I'm all for clubs acknowledging their former players.

They first addressed our current player and then acknowledged a player who came through our pathway and became an international while in our system. I think it would be small time to snub it imo

I can get that perspective too to be fair and it’s important for Marist Buccs etc so can see both sides. I just don’t think you would see Munster tweeting Sean Cronin or Leinster tweeting Jordi Murphy.

But not really a big deal all things considered.

backcamslua wrote: »

Added to the fact that Robbie's affiliated homeclub is Buccaneers which is still under the Connacht umbrella -well done Robbie and all at Bucs!

Yeah that’s fair enough. It’s still a player who opted to leave Connacht when they were at their peak and dealt a serious blow to the province in doing so. When you contrast with the loyalty the likes of Muldoon showed in far darker days (not that he was ever gonna make the Lions), tweeting out congrats wouldn’t be for me. But appreciate there are plenty of different perspectives on it.

its_phil wrote: »

He was produced by Buccs and Marist, not even a product of the academy given how early he joined the senior ranks. No reason not to be proud of it and I think it’s as much of an acknowledgment of the grassroots as Robbie himself.

Yeah, you could argue that in congratulating Robbie, Connacht Rugby are actually congratulating themselves - "A player, who started playing with a Connacht rugby club, and went on to play for the province, has now made the Lions. Robbie Henshaw's selection is a great achievement. This shows what young rugby players in Connacht can aspire to." Or words to that effect.

Evil_g wrote: »

I'm with Clanoflams. Henshaw turned his back on Connacht.

He, and a lot of other people at the time, effectively said you had to leave Connacht to become a Lion.

No other province would congratulate a player who did that.

Ah now turned his back is a bit strong, man gets better job offer is all it is.

PCeeeee wrote: »

It's a professional sport. If no lad ever left their province then no home grown fella would ever be paid his value.

Provinces can’t be outbid by each other so financially makes no impact which province you play for except potentially in marketing/commercial deals.

ClanofLams wrote: »

Provinces can’t be outbid by each other so financially makes no impact which province you play for except potentially in marketing/commercial deals.

Had forgotten that.