Jordan Duggan fine thankfully. Interesting to see Daly Bolton in centre. Good to see Kilgallen getting opportunity too.
First time back in Sportsground since covid, roll on tomorrow evening!
Tomorrow 5.30 KO!
What day is the LI game on ? I wonder if it will be streamed on YouTube like the Munster game last season ?
Great bit of info there thanks guys. Looking forward to getting to a couple of games!!
Why is The Sportsground operating at 50% capacity?
2021/22 Season Ticket holders (i.e. those who purchased 20/21 season tickets and then deferred them until 21/22) are not bound by any vaccination terms or conditions and their tickets must be honoured.
For anyone wondering why they went with 50% instead of 75% this is answered in their FAQ
I'm a little confused how this will work for those of us who donated some of the cost of last years ticket to the club, I assume we would then be asked to pay the difference owed to get the new season ticket for this year.
I have a friend who donated his whole ticket price last year surely he would still be treated as a renewal as well in this case, and just need to pay for the new ticket. It would leave a bit of a sour taste if not.
Waiting to hear back from the club how it will be handled. Cant wait to get back in for a game again!!
75 if everyone is fully vaccinated. Connacht going for 50 so vaccination not relevant. Less work on the gates for them and all season ticket holders can still be accommodated
It's 75% for outdoor I thought ?
How the 50% capacity will be counted?
Based on classic configuration, which means 3750, or extended one, which means we could have our typical 4500 attendence?
For London Irish, with Jamie Dever back to the Sportsground, i'd test
1) Bealham
2) Delahunt
3) Aungier
4) Dillane
5) Fifita'a
6) S.Masterson
7) Butler
8) E.Masterson
9) Marmion
10) Carty
11) Wootton
12) Daly
13) Bolton
14) BOD
15) TOH
16) Tierney-Martinn
17) Burke
18) McCoy
19) Murray
20) Oliver
21) C.Reilly
22) C.Fitz
23) Hansen
24) Arnold
25) Dowling
26) Sullivan
BTW Wootton has to play too. And Sullivan
No Botham, Navidi and Adams (mainly), vs us
Hope some of our internationals will be available, at least Dillane and Bealham.
I'd be ok without Boyle (Prendergast 6/Masterson 8), Blade (Marmion) or Heff (Delahunt)
More worried about a second row without any of Thornbury/Ultan, and LH of course...
I'd like to see Daly, Bolton, Hansen, Thornbury (if fit), Dillane, Aungier (if fit), S.Masterson starting vs London Irish
At least Connacht didn't concede any tries off mauls. That's one thing I'm hoping to see a lot less of this season. Curious to hear a prop report as well (an an update regarding Duggan).
Great to see Farrell with the set up Oliver's try. Rest of it is fairly standard preseason stuff. Reilly fond of a quick tap
Like these are tries conceded you won't see in a competitive match
https://twitter.com/connachtrugby/status/1434090262993715202?s=19
Id agree, in general you would prefer to win but there are too many oddities in selection in matches like this to read much into the scoreline.
Yeah I don't think you can read much into a pre season friendly scoreline
From watcher of Worcester
"the second half was massively fragmented with changes and stoppages. Connachts bench was emptied by about 60 minutes long before ours and their depth (or lack of it) really showed IMO."
We have to look mainly at the HT score, 17-10, which isn't bad.
Depth will be there with Boyle, Bealham, Heff, Daly, Dillane, Thornbury, Papali'i, Aungier, Blade, and players fitting in after coming or coming back (Bolton, Hansen, Farrell, Robb, McGrath, Fifita'a, Illo, McCormack,Tierney-Martin)
Any news about Duggan off early?
Good to see we’ve improved in defense 😂
I know it's first game of season and wasn't a full strength team by any means, but looks like Connacht defensively as porous as ever!
Full time: Worcester 52 - 39 Connacht
Jordan Duggan off early in friendly. Hopefully nothing serious if an injury but not great to be one injury away from disaster in the front row either way.
Heads up doesn't mean less structured.
The structure will be there to give choices. It means that when someone skips a pass out it means they saw something or something bwas called even if the play called was something tighter or a kick etc...
We've been progressing this way for a few seasons
And by all accounts KK wasn't great at putting across what he wanted. But Andy is and he's better at giving the right autonomy to his coaches
The last time we played heads / less structured Rugby , was the year KK was in charge and that season went t!ts up . Hopefully the coaches are better communicators .
That’s interesting but attack has been pretty decent. A proper defensive structure would be a big plus. Even maul defence and sorting out restarts from defending perspective would make a major difference.
What's very interesting is the fact that both McCoy and McGrath are listed as TH, leaving wiiiide open (though not proven) my theory : Bealham will switch to LH!
McCoy/McGrath/Aungier/Illo, 4 TH with only 2 LH, in all logic Bealham will be the 3rd LH (waiting for Buckley)
Some may say it's friendly experimental team, but I can't see the point not to try McGrath or McCoy as converted LH if it was the chosen solution
Latest "Master of None" podcast is well worth a listen - Tom Daly was on, and he spoke a few times about a new attacking philosophy, which he described as being a lot faster, and more "heads up".
Excited to see Oisin McCormack getting some senior team action, thought he was great for the irish U20s. Curious about Greg McGrath, and looking forward to Dowling and Murray in the row.
Surprised not to see Jack Aungier on the sheet.
Tom Farrell is back, three academy players on bench, Booth, McCormack & Kilgallen. Greg McGrath & Shayne Bolton set for debuts off bench.
1. Jordan Duggan
2. Shane Delahunt
3. Dominic Robertson-McCoy
4. Oisin Dowling
5. Niall Murray
6. Cian Prendergast
7. Conor Oliver
8. Jarrad Butler
9. Kieran Marmion
10. Jack Carty
11. Matt Healy
12. Sammy Arnold
13. Tom Farrell
14. John Porch
15. Tiernan O’Halloran
16. Jonny Murphy
17. Matthew Burke
18. Greg McGrath
19. Eoghan Masterson
20. Ciaran Booth
21. Oisin McCormack
22. Colm Reilly
23. Conor Fitzgerald
24. Shayne Bolton
25. Ben O’Donnell
26. Diarmuid Kilgallen
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