Great turnover from Blade to stop that try. Inconsistent refereeing from Adamson though. He penalised Kolisi for the exact same hands on the ground steal 20 minutes ago.
Thornbury and Oliver are pure beasts. Best 40 minutes of rugby by Connacht in a while. Really thought Porches yellow was harsh. Both players were high so it could be looked at just as unfortunate much like Fafitas incident some minutes later. It's a contact sport so you have to give the benefit of the doubt to both attacking and defensive player, not just the attacking player. There was absolutely nothing malicious
Bench will be big in this game.
Delighted Aungier is there, he was great last week. Duggan is great around the park but will be a worry against this lot in the scrum. Expect Buckley to go 65+.
Need to push on as we're not the sort of team that can trust our defense for long.
Hendrikse looks vulnerable to a charge-down on every kick.
Mack showing lack of time at fb with that kick
Outrageously good kick from Fassi for the 50/22.
He is quality.
How many times do we conceed from poor kick chase a kickoff receipt missed or just a simple missed tackle.
From Hansen's kick once Fassi landed it looked like a try. In fairness Porch and Hansen did really well to stop him short but was only a matter of time before they overpowered us for the try.
Also just to note why are attacking teams never penalized for throwing the jumper across the line. The jumper landed on top of bealham there before Connacht had engaged I thought. Looks like might have got a pretty serious injury too hopefully he will be ok for the NZ tour
That had gone on for a few more phases we probably would have lost a man to the bin.
Need the next score.
Agreed on both but not looking good.
Edit: yep there it is. Bar one or 2 decent efforts early on we just can't handle the power in the tight
And that's the game.
21 unanswered points in 15 mins.
Sharks are very good tbf.
Edit: if that's crooked we've not had a straight line out all day.
Their front row look 60kg+ bigger than ours.
Conor Fitz has had a great game. Kudos
Power game always kills us in the 2nd half of these games.
Coming away from SA with 1 win from 2 is decent to be fair. Those are not the results that killed us this season.
Sharks are a massive large pack. It's funny how different they are at home versus away! The league will benifit fron these S.A clubs.
While the game was well over how was that tackle on DTM before the last try not at least a penalty. Took a head in the chin while sidestepping a tackler.
It's a card of some colour for the dtm tackle.
These saffa tmos are a genuine joke show.
Edit: absolutely savage work from dtm there. Great stuff.
Agreed, they are not shabby teams. Overall an enjoyable game to watch and while we lost we deffo tried. And there so many games this year that was not the case which killed our position in the league
Thought DTM actually performed very well in his cameo. Hopefully he can build on that for next season
.
Any word on Bealham?
Buccs have returned to AIL 1B, good news for the academy/sub academy players getting game time there. Declan Adamson, Sam Illo, Darragh Murray, Oisin McCormack, Ciaran Booth, Will Reilly, and Josh O'Connor started in the final.
No Cathal Forde?
Last game of the season against Zebre. What's the likelihood that some of our departing players get to make a final appearance in the Sportsground? Dillane, Arnold, Tuimauga, Papali'i?
He's with Corinthians.
I rated him but Tuimauga has played 10 games for us, don't think there's any need for an emotional send off. Would much rather we got Sam Illo involved.
Dillane is a different kettle of fish I guess. Has he been injured? Has only started twice since his departure was announced.
Sharks are unreal at home.
Results against European sides there,
37-20 Scarlets
5-21 loss to Edinburgh
51-3 Dragons
28-23 Leinster
41-21 Connacht
They've also beaten all the other South African sides there except for the Stormers who they drew with.
No shame losing there.
Hopefully the new additions will push us closer next year.
Pity Connacht didn't sign Jack Dunne! He's been really good lately.
Next season will be a blank slate. I think Friend should look to get Forde and Jennings involved as often as he can. While Adam Byrne is a good signing, he will struggle to get into the xv. His defense hurts him. Dooley will add to the side as will Murphy. Murphy can spell for Prendergast and fill in the 2nd row. I hope Hawkshaw comes good. He didn't set the world alight for Leinster but, a new start can be the making of him.
If Connacht are unable to fix the midfield defense, then they'll be cut apart by the better sides. The challenge cup is a chance to integrate the young players and get them up to speed.
I believe Connacht wanted to sign Dunne but in the end he chose Exeter
Over on Babbling 'brook, Xanthippe has put together a table of red and yellow cards imposed in the URC this year.
Connacht top the table - clear evidence as to how poor our discipline has become.
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